"For lunch, my father is hosting a banquet. I specially asked Ci'an to come and invite the factory master." It has to be said that Prince Heng's Mansion is keeping its attitude very low. In terms of status, Zhu Ci'an is the eldest son of Prince Heng. In terms of age, he is older than Chang Yu, but he can't speak clearly at this time. I don't dare to call myself a prince, but I always say a word of kindness, and even have the prince personally come to treat me to a meal. Looking at him sweating profusely, it seems that he has gone through a lot of trouble to find Chang Yu.
It turned out that it was time to have lunch. Chang Yu really felt a little hungry, so he stood up and said, "Let's go."
"And Li Shoubei, money..."
"They don't have time." Zhu Cian was interrupted by Chang Yu mercilessly before he finished speaking. He turned around and said to Li Shiyuan: "Mobilize the people to transport war preparation supplies to the city immediately. If there is not enough, demolish the houses next to the city wall. The matter of compensation will be left to the Yamen after demolishing the houses first." Be responsible, and if you encounter any obstacles, kill them as a warning to others! Also, send a message to Magistrate Qian on behalf of this supervisor: From now on, all the officials in the yamen will be on duty for 12 hours, and they are not allowed to leave their posts without permission, and they are not allowed to neglect their duties. If caught by this supervisor, they will be executed without mercy!"
"As a humble leader," Li Shiyuan hurriedly left with his men. Only then did Chang Yu leave the teahouse and saw a carriage parked outside the door. He smiled slightly and said, "The prince is really interested."
"Mr. Factory Superintendent, you have worked so hard all the way, so your father sent a carriage..." Zhu Cian said quickly. Chang Yu snorted and suddenly remembered something: "Ah, I didn't bring any money. The prince helped our family pay for the tea." .
"No need, Master. You are defending the city for the people of Qingzhou. I will treat you to tea." The old man in the teahouse said tremblingly, clasping his fists. Chang Yu returned the gift: "I will take care of the duties of defending the city." He said Zhu Cian made a gesture, and Zhu Cian quickly asked the servant to get a piece of broken silver and throw it on the table. When he turned around, Chang Yu had already got into the car. Guo Chongshan jumped on the shaft and grabbed the driver's whip: "I'll drive the car."
Who is this person? Zhu Cian was very curious, but did not dare to ask. He got on his horse and followed the carriage towards the palace.
Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, the great eunuch of Dongchang, personally came to Qingzhou Mansion to supervise the war and protect the vassal. Prince Heng Zhu Youyi wanted to entertain him well and held a luncheon in the palace. He also had the prefect Qian Lianghan and guard Li Shiyuan as his companions. In the main city, having one civil servant and one military escort is the highest standard.
Of course, the banquet was also extremely rich and luxurious.
It's just that...one guest came.
Chang Yu looked at the delicacies on the table and couldn't help but swallow. He was too lazy to say that the Zhumen's bones were frozen to death due to the smell of wine and meat, but when he thought about the soldiers outside living on gruel every day, I couldn't help but sigh to myself. It really was tight in the front and tight in the rear. I raised my head and glanced at Prince Heng: "There's so much to eat!"
"Qian..." Prince Heng was interrupted by Chang Yu when he started to speak: "My lord, do you think those two are free? Come here to eat and drink. Will Qingzhou City still be defended?"
"Yes, yes, yes, Eunuch Chang is right. The military situation is urgent now, how can we just focus on eating and drinking..." Chang Yu had already moved his chopsticks while he was talking, wolfing down the food and muttering: When will he be able to finish such a dish?
"Hey, it seems that Eunuch Chang is very hungry." Prince Heng sat down and winked at Zhu Cian next to him, who turned around and left the hall.
"Eunuch Chang, you said earlier that there are two thousand Tatar vanguards not far from here. He, they will approach the city as soon as tonight, will they attack the city immediately?" Zhu Youyi's teeth trembled as he spoke, thinking of those people He was trembling all over because of the ferocious-looking Tatars.
Chang Yu smiled slightly: "What did our family do when we first arrived at the palace?"
Zhu Youyi was startled: "Take a bath and sleep." Then he understood what the little eunuch meant. He felt relieved and suddenly said: "The Tatar vanguard only has two thousand, and he was exhausted all the way. Eunuch Chang never thought of making a surprise attack on him." Eat this Tatar vanguard first?”
Chang Yu chuckled and almost spit out the food. This timid prince actually wanted to teach him how to fight: "Only more than two thousand? The prince sounded as if we have thousands of troops in the city. Our subordinates In addition, Li Shiyuan's numbers are not enough, and our two battalions are extremely exhausted and unable to fight a tough battle at this time. Could it be that the prince is counting on Li Shiyuan's 800 men to attack the Tatars?"
King Heng's face turned red and he looked a little embarrassed. Although he had not left home for a long time, he had heard about the ferocity of the Tatars. Li Shiyuan's men had nearly two-thirds of their defense in the city damaged. If they were to fight in the field...well, no. Dare to think.
"Besides, the Tatars are not as tired as the prince thought," Chang Yu said lightly. When he chatted with Jia Waixiong earlier, he learned that the Tatars were chasing him twenty miles away at first, but the two battalions arrived at Qingzhou City quickly. It has been an hour, and there is no warning signal from the city. You have to know that such a cloudless weather is twenty or thirty miles away, so the Tatar pioneers most likely feel that they can't catch up anyway, so they are no longer so Instead of pursuing urgently, they maintained their physical strength and marched normally.
"I just said casually that everything is decided by Eunuch Chang. I will vigorously support Eunuch Chang to defend Qingzhou City." King Heng said quickly. At this time, he had no gesture at all and was looking at the little eunuch's horse head. He was the most cooperative and obedient of the feudal kings Chang Yu met.
"The lives of hundreds of people in Prince Heng's Mansion are the same, and the lives of tens of thousands of people in Qingzhou City are also the same. The lives of our family and the brothers under our command are also our lives. Our lives are hanging by a thread, and our family will do our best." Chang Yu asked again with a serious look on his face: "How is the prince's affairs going?"
King Heng knew that the young eunuch was talking about donating money and food: "I have jointly issued a notice with the magistrate's office. Anyone who goes to the city to defend the enemy will be given one tael of grain per dou, and the people will be asked to carry stones." Sumu and other guards are responsible for providing half a bucket of food to each household throughout the day. At this time, they are registering at the east gate of the palace. I heard that there are hundreds of them..."
Chang Yu nodded slightly after hearing this. In fact, if the city could be defended, who would be willing to leave their homes? Since they couldn't leave the city anyway, it would be better to help the officers and soldiers defend the city. And because of Li Shiyuan's record two years ago, they still had confidence in the officers and soldiers. At that time, the Tatars There are also thousands of people who are not holding on as usual. Although this wave is turbulent, there are tens of thousands of reinforcements from officers and soldiers outside. What's more, this time Prince Heng's Mansion is so generous. Not only do they work in charge of food, but they also give rice and go up to the city to guard. Or even one tael of Japanese silver, which is definitely a huge sum of money!
To put it simply, King Heng and Qian Lianghan set up a compulsory militia and a volunteer militia in Qingzhou City. They mobilized the entire people to go to the city to kill the enemy, and provided food for transportation and logistics. They also mobilized the people in Qingzhou City. When they got up, no matter whether they could defend the city or not, where could they find such good things as food, drink, and food? The people even began to feel lucky that they had not left the city to seek refuge.
You must know that if you accidentally escape from the city and take refuge in the barren mountains, you will starve to death, or you may be robbed and killed by bandits, or you may be kidnapped by the Qing army in the mountains. Even if you escape, if Qingzhou City is not defended after the Qing army leaves, The house will be in ruins, everything will be gone, and it will be a dead end. If you can hold on to yourself, your original life will still be poverty-stricken.
But now there is a high chance of holding on. As long as you work hard, you can earn money and food, which can even be equal to what you have saved for more than ten years. As long as the Tatars survive and retreat, they can live a good life.
It’s no wonder that the people of Qingzhou City were mobilized in just over an hour, and they were even more energetic and proactive than they were in Taiyuan.
…………………………………………………………………………
Thank you book friends for voting!
