Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 414
Yang Chao's troops were too limited, and sending [-] troops to pursue them was already the limit. For this reason, there were not many troops stationed in Nanjing City, and every place occupied had to be defended. The further the advance, the more scarce the troops would be.

Moreover, the main purpose of many men chasing after him was to recapture the emperor, but Wuhu did not find them. Let the Qing army attach great importance to Zhu Cihong first. I am afraid that when they retreat, Zhu Cihong will be the first to retreat. I am afraid that they have retreated under the protection of heavy troops. If it is further away, it will lose the meaning of chasing.

Moreover, Yang Chao's army is too exhausted, it is already at a limit, and accidents such as collapse may occur at any time.

The first battle of Yangzhou, the battle of Huai'an, and the second battle of Yangzhou. In just a few months, the army fought continuously, basically without time to rest, and was already exhausted.

When Yangzhou was attacked for the second time and Duoduo was encircled and wiped out, it had already been deeply reflected. If the army was not too exhausted, how could it be possible to lose tens of thousands of people to destroy the demoralized Qing army that was trapped in the lonely mountain and had been tortured by fireworks? .

If the army is too tired, the morale will be low, and if the morale is low, the combat power will be insufficient. It is not bad to be able to perform [-]% of the time.

Moreover, after one battle after another, Yang Chao's army suffered too much damage. When he set out from Yangzhou to attack Huai'an, it was an army of 15. Tens of thousands, nearly 5 casualties.

He had to recuperate immediately, and it would take at least a month for his injuries to recover, and he had to recruit new soldiers to form a force of 20 before Yang Chao had the energy to continue launching large-scale battles.

In addition, there are a lot of government affairs. The Qing army may have already operated the capture of Zhu Cihong, and it is not yet known how serious the consequences will be.

This is a problem, a very big problem, how should Yang Chao deal with it.

Zhu Cihong was pushed to the throne by himself. Now that Zhu Cihong has been arrested, shouldn't he establish a new king again?

This is not difficult for Yang Chao. Yang Chao brought back four princes from Beijing back then, all of whom were born of Emperor Chongzhen. Brother Chance.

However, after Zhu Cihong escaped, many civil and military officials in Nanjing fled, and several princes also ran away, but fortunately one stayed. Zhu Cijiong, the third son of Emperor Chongzhen, not only stayed, but was also at Yang Chao's house.

At that time, the emperor ran away the night before, and the city of Nanjing didn't know the news until the next day. Some civil servants ran away, some wanted to surrender, and some committed suicide. The two princes also ran away, Zhu Cihuan and Zhu Cizheng. Not knowing where to go, Yang Chao wondered if they were captured along with the emperor.

But this does not affect Yang Chao's establishment of a new king. The reason is very simple. Zhu Cijiong, who fled to his own home, has more inheritance rights, because Zhu Cijiong, like Zhu Cihong, was born to the queen of Emperor Chongzhen, and he is a brother of the same mother. In terms of theory, Zhu Cijiong was born to the queen and is a direct son. From Zhu Cihong's point of view, Zhu Cijiong is a direct brother.

The principle of succession in the Ming Dynasty was not to set up a concubine, but not to set up a youngster. If there is a son, the son should be established, and if there is no son, then the eldest son should be considered. Here, or from Hongguang Emperor Zhu Cihong, Zhu Cijiong is a well-deserved first heir.

Therefore, if Yang Chao establishes him, it should be said that he will least cause others to make irresponsible remarks.

But some people don't want to, Zhu Cijiong himself doesn't want to be emperor.

Zhu Cijiong's list was smaller than Zhu Cihong's. When others ran, surrendered, or died, he didn't dare to run, surrender, or die, so he went straight into Yang's house and took refuge in his sister's arms.

Auntie Zhu protected her younger brother, and at the same time was saddened by the capture of another younger brother.

At this time, Yang Chao approached Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong to discuss the matter of supervising the country, and hoped that Zhu Cijiong would come out to stabilize the situation in the name of supervising the country during Zhu Cihong's capture. Crying to Yang Chao, saying that their siblings are pitiful and helpless, their country is ruined and their family is ruined, they dare not ask for great wealth, but they want to live in the world, and hope that Yang Chao will not push his brother to the fire.

Yang Chao couldn't help being surprised. In this era, there are many masters who want to be emperors. For example, King Fu, in history, King Tang, King Gui, and even King Lu all ascended or wanted to become emperors. The person who is most qualified to be an emperor dares not to be an emperor.

This Zhu Cijiong is a mystery in history. Since the city of Beijing was broken, he has disappeared. If a person deliberately hides himself, it is impossible for others to find out. That Zhu Cihuan is obviously a troublemaker, and Zhu Cijiong doesn't know where to hide and live in seclusion.

Obviously this is a person who values ​​his life more than power.

"Princess, letting King Ding supervise the country is for the sake of the overall situation. Your Majesty is held by the Qing army, and the people of the world are unstable. Only when King Ding comes forward to supervise the country can the people of the world be stabilized!"

Yang Chao explained to Aimee Zhu.

Sitting at the side, the princess kept crying: "King Ding is young, how can he take on such a big responsibility. And if King Ding supervises the country, where will His Majesty be placed? If His Majesty is not the emperor, wouldn't it be useless to the Tartars? Can you keep him?"

After speaking, Aimee Zhu began to sob and cry again.

Standing in Aimee Zhu's position, she was right to think about it.

Although Aimee Zhu was not born to Empress Chongzhen, her mother died early, she was raised by the empress since she was a baby, and she has been close to the two princes Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong since she was a child, and the relationship between the three is like that of siblings.

Now a younger brother is captured by the Qing army, and a younger brother is taking shelter with her. She can't let this younger brother follow in the footsteps of that younger brother, and let this younger brother become a supervisor. In fact, he is planning to become the emperor. What to do with Zhu Cihong who was caught, after it has no effect on the Qing court, he might just die.

Aimee Zhu absolutely didn't want to see her two younger brothers being used one by one by civil servants and military generals, and ended up in a tragic end, and she didn't want to see Zhu Cihong who was arrested died because of it.

"You said that you would never betray me, I beg you son-in-law, don't force him."

Auntie Zhu cried and begged.

Yang Chao did promise not to let her down. At that time, he was asked to tell the emperor about his concubine, but now Auntie Zhu has moved out.

In fact, the most important thing is that Zhu Cijiong disagreed. He himself disagreed with Jian Guo, and asked his sister to speak for him, crying in front of Yang Chao, and said that Yang Chao had promised her that she would not let her down. Moving out made Yang Chao quite helpless.

Yang Chao doesn't have to worry too much about the attitude of his wife, Aimee Zhu. At most, she should be wronged. Zhu Cijiong himself doesn't want to, but Yang Chao can't force him.

In fact, the purpose of Yang Chao's discussion with his wife was to hope that Auntie Zhu could persuade his younger brother, but he never thought that Zhu Cijiong would do the work of his older sister before Yang Chao, and asked his older sister to help him say that he should not be forced to supervise the country.

Yang Chao himself was actually very hesitant. The last time Zhu Cihong was made emperor, Yang Chao was responsive at first, and would basically agree to all Yang Chao's memorials, but later it developed to Yang Chao's opinion, and the court definitely opposed it.

Yang Chao knew that his political ability was still insufficient, or that his political understanding was too surprising to people of this era, so he either accommodated the bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty and acted like them, or he forced these people to act according to his own ideas. It is arbitrary.

But Yang Chao is not very willing to accept both. Yang Chao is psychologically unacceptable to go along with bureaucrats. If he wants to act arbitrarily, Yang Chao knows that this kind of sequelae is too great, and the opposition he encounters is too great. The civil official group will never Cooperate, and Yang Chao is not without worries. He is alive now, and he has a heavy army in his hand. If something happens to him, what kind of revenge will be received by his family? Look at Zhang Juzheng's death. Selling, Yang Chao absolutely cannot accept it.

In addition to these two, there is another option, and that is to learn from Yang Jian and Zhao Kuangyin and directly usurp the throne by himself.

However, if Yang Chao usurps the throne, the name will not be justified, and the opposition will definitely be louder. It is estimated that in the south of the Yangtze River, except for the places under the control of his own army, other places will object. Infield battle.

Moreover, as a military general, Yang Chao put aside the Ming royal family and proclaimed himself emperor. This bad head may cause a situation out of control, but all the generals with soldiers in their hands may become kings and hegemons one by one. Look at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China , the provinces have known the consequences since they declared their independence.

Yang Chao didn't want to see such endings as civil war, warlords from all over the country, and great chaos. Even Cao Cao didn't directly usurp the throne, but had to support a Han Xiandi as the banner, because he was afraid of an uncontrolled situation.

That's why Yang Chao thought of asking Zhu Cijiong to supervise the country and take the actual power himself, but Zhu Cihong himself disagreed.

Yang Chao was also worried about a situation like that of Zhu Cihong, that is, after Zhu Cijiong came to power, he not only did not cooperate with him, but stood against him, so he did not want to force him. Started working as a wife, but it still didn't work.

But when Yang Chao was hesitating, unexpected things happened in both Jiangxi and Fujian.

Zhu Cihuan has supervised the country in Fujian, and announced to the world that he was willing to shoulder the responsibility of rejuvenating the Ming Dynasty when he was in danger and was ordered to shoulder the responsibility of rejuvenating the Ming Dynasty on the grounds that Emperor Hongguang was captured and the country could not live without a king for a day.

"Zheng Shi!"

Yang Chao couldn't help but think that Zheng's group still took the step of electing the emperor and coercing the emperor to order the princes.

It's really a trick of good fortune. It seems that the Zheng family is not only willing to be a marine power, but Zheng Zhilong has never given up on his efforts to advance to the scholar-bureaucrat class.

But this made Yang Chao embarrassed, Zhu Cihuan's imperial edict had been delivered, and he had to accept it himself.

The Zheng family did a great job of hiding it, and they didn't push Zhu Cihuan out until it was announced to the world.

(End of this chapter)