Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 47 Ghost?
May 5th, 16: PM

It was already late when Ji Qingyuan returned to the city, and it was already past midnight when he reported to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

After talking to Xiang Rensheng about the guard camp's training tomorrow, Zhu Cilang sent him back to Zhongshan, while he himself was lazy and stayed in the city wall.

Li Chaodong was naturally honored to have the prince stay overnight, but the captain surnamed Liu seemed to be even more excited than him.

This is not surprising. Although his qualifications are shallower than Li Chaodong's, there is not much difference in ability. If Zhu Cilang had walked a little further that day, the position of Qianhu might have fallen on his head.

So when he learned that Zhu Cilang was going to stay overnight on the city wall, Captain Liu felt that the opportunity had come and after patrolling the camp, he obediently guarded outside the city wall.

Captain Liu's attentiveness naturally gave people the suspicion of flattery, but all of these captains had wasted years in this position, so how could they remain calm when faced with such an opportunity?

Li Chaodong knew the subordinate's thoughts clearly, but he did not have the slightest idea of ​​interfering. He even called him to a secluded place and solemnly told him, "Old Liu, you also know what His Highness values. Don't forget to patrol the camp."

"Thank you for your advice, sir. I understand."

If it were somewhere else, Captain Liu might have thought that this was a warning from his superior, but at this moment he knew that there was no other meaning in these words except a reminder.

This was naturally due to the good character of Li Chaodong, but the 40,000 to 50,000 militiamen in the camp north of the city also played a significant role.

Now that the vacancies in each department have been filled, if they are to assist in the defense, they must be formed into a separate army. At that time, these centurions will have the opportunity to be promoted above their level.

Although this news was not known to everyone in Yingtian, only a few people in the army were unaware of it.

Therefore, Li Chaodong never worried that Captain Liu would pose a threat to him, and Captain Liu did not think that getting close to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would make Li Chaodong wary.

Two or three quarters of an hour later, Li Chaodong finally inspected the entire area under his jurisdiction. When he returned to his tent, it was already past midnight.

Normally, he would have fallen asleep immediately, but tonight he did not do so. Instead, he rolled up his quilt and went to the city.

When he was patrolling the city just now, although there were only one or two people in poor health who reacted among the other centurions, there were quite a few on his side.

Fortunately, Li Chaodong sent more people in advance, otherwise he would not know how many empty sentries he would have discovered during this patrol.

What's more, His Highness will be staying in the city tonight. If he is caught in the act, wouldn't his future be ruined by a meal?
To be honest, although Li Chaodong bears a lot of responsibility in this matter, Zhu Cilang also played a role in fueling the flames.

If he hadn't come, Li Chaodong would never have squandered the pork that he had planned to eat for a month or two in just one meal.

Nor would he forget that his soldiers could not tolerate food that was too greasy just because he only thought about His Highness' dislike of having a special meal.

But these are just gossip. How could the soldiers, including Li Chaodong, really blame the Crown Prince who fed them well?

"Wu Changrui, hurry up, I can't hold it anymore!"

Before he reached the top of the city wall, Li Chaodong heard someone shouting in a low voice.

"Just leave it where it is and cover it with soil later."

Hearing this, Li Chaodong rushed to the top of the city wall in two steps: "Asshole! Go find some more barrels! What will we do if the prince comes here after you guys mess up like this!"

After saying that, Li Chaodong stood there and hesitated for a moment, but in the end he couldn't bear to spend the night with this bunch of filthy people, so he turned around and walked towards the city wall.

"Remember to pour it out! Out of the city!"

Seeing that their general had left and Wu Changrui had no intention of getting up, the soldier guarding the wall immediately squatted down.

"How can others be on guard if you're just standing there?!"

This action caused strong dissatisfaction among others, but fire and water are merciless, so Lao Li could only enjoy himself while joking with the person who was talking: "Lao Wang, don't be so tough, you might get hit in the crotch when it's your turn." "Go away, hurry up and shovel the dirt."

After all the commotion, none of them wanted to sleep anymore. Since they still had a chance to catch up on some sleep tomorrow, they all started chatting in low voices.

"My second aunt's nephew is now on Zhongshan Mountain. He was also present when His Highness was welcomed out of prison."

When the soldier called Lao Wang first opened his mouth, few people listened to him, but when the word "Your Highness" came out of his mouth, everyone around him turned their attention to him.

"Your Highness once said that the emperor's meals were not much different from ours, and even his clothes were patched."

"Pfft."

As soon as Lao Wang finished speaking, they heard a burst of laughter from the other side. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Wu Changrui grinning, obviously not bothering to believe even a bit of what Lao Wang said.

This is not surprising. His fifth elder brother is the Gaoqiao Wei Lijing. Although this official position is a formal sixth-rank official, to put it bluntly, he is just one of the many staff members of the garrison.

But even for officials like these, the daily meals they receive are not comparable to those of soldiers like them, let alone the emperor who rules over such a huge empire?
"Don't disbelieve me, His Highness said this himself."

Lao Wang guessed what Wu Changrui was thinking and naturally wanted to find out something, but how could he prove something that had been passed down by word of mouth at the moment?

"It's hard to say. Judging from the behavior of our Highness, the late emperor must have been very frugal."

Just at this moment, someone more experienced said something, and everyone changed the topic from the emperor's meal to something else.

"If Your Highness had crossed the river earlier, there would be no need for that tyrant emperor."

Since Hongguang ascended the throne, all kinds of rumors have been circulating in the market, and the three major cases, for example, caused a big stir.

This caused Hongguang, who had not come to the throne in a legitimate way to begin with, to lose the last bit of his prestige, and also forced him to rely heavily on the so-called eunuch party that had helped him ascend the throne.

As a result, the other disadvantaged forces in the Hongguang Dynasty completely gave up when they saw that they had no chance of turning the situation around.

Naturally, the common people were unable to tell which of these rumors were true and which were false. They could only label Hongguang with a big label based on the situation which was getting worse day by day.

Time passed slowly as the soldiers talked to each other, and by the end of the year, most of them had already fallen into a deep sleep.

"Wu Changrui, it's your turn to go on guard."

Wu Changrui was still a little groggy when he was first woken up, but then he felt his stomach churning.

Fortunately, except for the sentry, everyone else had gone to bed, otherwise if the toilet was occupied by someone, he would have to squat on the city wall.

However, after all the fussing in the night, there was not much food left in his stomach. He squatted on the bucket for only a stick of incense before standing up.

Thinking about the big piece of fat meat he had eaten for dinner, he couldn't help feeling a little regretful.

Everyone knew that his fifth brother was an officer in the garrison, but no one knew that his fifth brother was just a relative who was about to be five generations removed from the line of kin. Otherwise, how could he have been a soldier for so many years, and how could he have felt sorry for not being able to keep that big piece of fat in his stomach for a little longer.

But it doesn't matter. His Highness is fair. As long as I can make some contribution in the city, why should I be afraid that I won't be able to get a big piece of fat meat in the future?
As he thought about it, he carried the bucket and walked towards the city wall, but before he took a few steps, he heard a few "clicks".

Who knocked over the bucket?

This was the first thought that came to Wu Changrui's mind, but when he walked to the battlement and was about to pour out the contents of the bucket, he saw several objects with a faint oily sheen floating in the air outside the city.

"Ghost!!!"

(End of this chapter)