Zhu Cixi's carriage had just left the border of Shandong.
The great eunuch Lu Jiude said: "Prince, the canal has been completely opened, and we will be able to take a boat through the canal later.
By boat, we can reach Nanjing city faster."
Zhu Cixiang glanced at Shandong behind him.
A large number of Shandong elite soldiers were transferred to Beizhili.
Shandong has also suffered from drought in the past two years, which has produced many small groups of rebels.
The troops in Shandong territory are insufficient and there is no way to exterminate these rebels, who have gradually grown in strength.
If Zhu Cihong had not been protected by Zhou Yuji and his troops, he would not have been able to leave Shandong.
Crown Prince Zhu Cixi left the capital for the first time.
Since he was a child, he has always seen the prosperous scene of the capital city.
He used to think that all places in the Ming Dynasty were as prosperous as entering the city.
Along the way south, he discovered that the country of Ming Dynasty was riddled with holes.
There were so many poor people in the Ming Dynasty, and there was chaos everywhere.
Most of the people are skinny and skinny, and the winter in Shandong is extremely cold. They walk shirtless on the streets.
It's not that they don't want to wear clothes, it's that they don't even have any clothes to hide their shame.
He passed by many cities, and outside these cities there were refugees freezing to death everywhere.
The crown prince Zhu Cixi was very puzzled, why did the Ming Dynasty become like this?
The Ming Dynasty in his eyes now and the Ming Dynasty introduced by those scholars are completely two different Ming Dynasties.
How does Crown Prince Zhu Cixiang think?
He couldn't figure it out either, and his head was always confused.
The Crown Prince's team began to board the transport ship.
They went south along the Grand Canal.
Zhu Cixiang stood on the deck, thinking about the peasant uprisings in the past dynasties.
Peasants' uprisings occurred frequently, which meant that they could no longer survive and the court would not give them a way to survive.
Zhu Cixiang had no way to solve this matter.
This matter is not a high priority now. His primary purpose is to survive first.
Zhu Cihong asked Lu Jiude: "Eunuch Lu, how is the battle situation on the front line?"
At a young age, he was sent to Nanjing by his father.
This must be an extremely dangerous situation on the front line. His father had no choice but to let him take refuge in Nanjing.
Lu Jiude said with a sad face: "Prince, the situation on the front line is not optimistic.
The thieves in yellow have now occupied the entire territory of Henan and are storming North Zhili.
There are hundreds of thousands of troops in the North Zhili region, but most of them are guard military households with weak combat effectiveness.
It is extremely difficult for these people to block the offensive of the thieves in yellow.
The emperor followed the advice of the civil servants and asked gentry from all over the country to organize group training.
Our family also doesn’t know how well these regiments are armed and whether they can stop the thieves in yellow."
Lu Jiude is not optimistic about the regiment training and armed forces at all.
Even if a farmer picks up a weapon, he cannot become an elite soldier.
Only through the training of blood and fire can one transform into an elite soldier.
But the thieves in yellow would never give the group the opportunity to train their weapons.
These regiments were trained to be armed, and when they encountered thieves in yellow clothes, they could not stop them from charging, and there was no chance of transforming into elite soldiers.
Zhu Cixiang looked at the great power of the Ming Dynasty and sighed.
He doesn't know what to do now to help his father.
Zhu Cihong asked Lu Jiude for advice again, what should he do after arriving in Nanjing?
…………………………
Nanjing Qian Mansion.
Donglin Party leader Qian Qianyi looked at the backbone of the Donglin Party and said: "Everyone should get the news that the crown prince is about to arrive in Nanjing.
If we want to go out of the city to meet the Crown Prince, we must hold the Crown Prince in our hands and let the Crown Prince receive the education of our Donglin Party.
I will personally serve as the Crown Prince's teacher.
We need to keep the crown prince close to loyal people and stay away from eunuchs."
Everyone in the Donglin Party understands what Qian Qianyi said.
Northern Zhili survived the attack of the yellow-clad thieves. They taught the crown prince that this was a long-term plan to catch the big fish.
When the crown prince becomes the emperor, it will be the time for their Donglin Party to reap the rewards.
Northern Zhili could not withstand the attack of the yellow-clad thieves, and Emperor Chongzhen died for his country.
The crown prince will be crowned the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
The support will make the East Democratic Party's position more stable.
At that time, only the southeast region was left in the Ming Dynasty. Only the Donglin Party existed in the court, and the Donglin Party became a dominant party.
Let the Ming Dynasty truly become the Ming Dynasty of Donglin.
The big bosses of the Donglin Party quickly reached an agreement to determine the distribution of their interests after the Crown Prince Zhu Cihong came to Nanjing.
Fang Kongzhen saw Hou Xun's gesture and asked, "The imperial court asked us to dispatch a large army to serve the king.
The crown prince has come to Nanjing, and we have to leave enough troops to defend the yellow-robed thieves. Do we still need to send troops to serve the king?"
When Shi Kefa heard this question, he slapped the table and said: "How can we be Qinwang in this situation?
The army of thieves in yellow clothes from the south is attacking Fujian and Jiangxi.
Fujian and Jiangxi have now been captured by thieves in yellow.
The middle army of yellow-robed thieves has captured Huguang, and their warships have all reached Jiujiang.
After breaking through Jiujiang, how far is it from Nanjing?
The two armies of thieves in yellow are about to meet in Jiujiang. By then, the Yangtze River defense line will face even greater pressure.
If we still have the ability, we can send troops north to Qinwang.
Now it is really impossible to send out troops from the north. We have submitted the request for reinforcements for a long time, but there is no movement from the court.
It will be good if we can stop the yellow-clothed thieves who are just looking at us with our land in the two southeastern provinces."
Qian Qianyi said with a smile: "Why are there no reinforcements? The troops coming with the crown prince are not reinforcements.
There were also Huang Degong's troops who came to Nanjing to supervise tax collection.
If he doesn't listen to our command, why doesn't he listen to the Crown Prince's command?
Now that South Zhili is in such a critical situation, they must be sent to the front line to block the offensive of the thieves in yellow."
Shi Kefa's eyes lit up and he said: "This is such a wonderful strategy, let these two troops block the yellow robed thieves.
It can buy time for our team to practice armed training.
Now compared to the armed strength of the group training and the thieves in yellow, the gap is still a bit big.
We have contacted the Hongyi people and purchased a large number of Hongyi cannons.
Our regiment does not engage in field battles with the yellow-robed thieves and builds a large number of forts to block the yellow-robed thieves' offensive.
Once the yellow-robed thieves' offensive is blocked by us.
We will have time to train a large number of elite soldiers."
Shi Kefa also had another meaning that he did not explain clearly.
There is no army around the crown prince, so he is not tough in his words and cannot resist the arrangements of their Donglin Party.
…………………………
The Donglin Party organized a large number of people to come outside Nanjing. They lined up and kept cheering.
Qian Qianyi and other Donglin bosses were at the front of the team, waiting for Crown Prince Zhu Cixiang to disembark.
Not far from this team, there was a well-equipped army waiting in formation.
This is the Beijing camp troops led by Huang Degong.
They soon saw large ships arriving outside Nanjing.
The ship docked at the dock, and soldiers carrying muskets quickly stepped off the ship.
Zhou Yuji led his troops to disembark, and after ensuring the safety of the surrounding area, he notified Crown Prince Zhu Cixiang to disembark.
Zhu Cixiang felt a little seasick, so he was helped off the boat by Lu Jiude.
Lu Jiude led the way, and Zhu Cixiang quickly arrived in front of the Nanjing officials.
Qian Qianyi led everyone to kneel down to Zhu Cixiang.
"I pay my respects to His Highness the Crown Prince. His Highness is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old."
The surrounding people, at the gentry's signal, all knelt down and chanted the thousand years.
Zhu Cixiang personally helped Qian Qianyi up and said at the same time: "You are all pillars of the Ming Dynasty. Please recover quickly."
Qian Qianyi stood up and prepared to walk into Nanjing with Zhu Cihong.
Lu Jiude was just one step behind, and Zhu Cixiang immediately remembered what Lu Jiude had taught him on the boat.
"If the prince wants to settle down in Nanjing, he must grasp two points.
The first is righteousness.
As the crown prince, the prince does not need to listen to anyone except the orders of Emperor Chongzhen.
As long as General Huang Degong and General Zhou Yuji are by the Crown Prince's side.
No one can make the prince do something that goes against his heart.
These two armies were the guarantee that Emperor Chongzhen left for the prince to settle down and live in peace.
They can suppress all disobedience, obey the prince's orders, and conquer all disobedient people.
No matter who it is, they want the prince to move these two armies away from him.
They all want to transfer the crown prince's confidants and want to be Cao Cao and monopolize power."
Zhu Cixiang is most worried now that someone wants to be Cao Cao and kidnap him to command the Ming Dynasty and usurp the Ming Dynasty.
"Eunuch Lu, go and call General Huang over. Let's go into the city together."
Lu Jiude smiled and immediately went to inform Huang Degong to come over.
Huang Degong was ostracized by the Donglin Party and could only stand in the distance to protect the crown prince's team.
When he heard that the crown prince took the initiative to call him over, Huang Degong was extremely happy.
After seeing the crown prince Zhu Cihong, he knelt down on one knee.
"The last general, Huang Degong, was ordered by the Holy One to stay and protect the crown prince."
Zhu Cixiang helped Huang Degong up with his own hands.
"Thank you for your hard work, General Huang. Ci Xiang will have to rely on General Huang's protection in Nanjing from now on."
Huang Degong cried excitedly: "The general will defend His Highness to the death. As long as the general has one soldier left, he will never let anyone harm His Highness."
Zhu Cixiang saw Huang Degong's performance and was very satisfied with what he did.
On the way to Nanjing, he kept thinking, why did the Ming Dynasty lose so quickly? It failed so miserably.
When he saw a master of the seventh-rank county magistrate, he kept scolding the commander of the guards who was a third-rank officer.
He immediately found one of the reasons: the status of military commanders was too low.
In the prosperous times, it is understandable that the status of generals is low.
In these troubled times, it is inappropriate for the status of generals to be so low.
Zhu Cihong heard Lu Jiude say that some of the generals with heavy troops have become very domineering.
After the test just now, he found that Huang Degong was not domineering at all. He was a man who was loyal to the Ming Dynasty.
Qian Qianyi accompanied Zhu Cixiang all the way, with a constant smile on his face.
However, from the corner of his eye, he looked at Lu Jiude, Huang Degong and others who were chatting about Zhenghuan from time to time.
Eunuch, I didn’t expect that there would be eunuch beside the Crown Prince.
It seems that the eunuchs have taken control of the military.
The Donglin Party must completely eliminate the eunuchs and correct the crown prince's ideas.
In the headquarters of their Donglin Party, the Eunuch Party must not be allowed to gain a foothold.
The eunuchs now have control of the army and must send out the troops in the hands of the eunuchs.
It would be too risky to let them stay in Nanjing.
…………………………
Zhu Cixiang soon moved into the imperial palace in Nanjing.
There are always eunuchs and maids cleaning here, and the house is very well preserved.
Zhu Cixiang entertained the important civil and military ministers and the guarding eunuchs in Nanjing at the Imperial Palace in Nanjing.
Lu Jiude read out the imperial edict of Emperor Chongzhen.
The Ming Dynasty allowed the gentry to organize regiment training to resist the yellow-robed thieves.
The crown prince Zhu Cixi was sent to oversee the country in Nanjing and handle all affairs in the southern provinces.
After Zhu Cihong saw them kneeling down to receive the order.
Zhu Cixiang imitated his father's posture and pretended to be mature.
"You all, my father has already stated this in the imperial edict.
I will supervise the country in Nanjing and handle the affairs of the southeastern provinces.
The gentry in the southeast can contribute money and effort to organize large-scale regiment training and defend the southeast together with the Ming Dynasty.
If the thieves in yellow really attack us, we won't end up well."
The Donglin Party bosses looked at each other a few times.
Shi Kefa stood up and said: "Your Highness, the yellow-robed Yangtze Navy has now reached Jiujiang.
The Yellow Army's Southern Route Army has captured all of Jiangxi and the coastal areas of Fujian.
We are now left with only two provinces, Southern Zhili and Zhejiang.
Please, Your Highness, send troops immediately to protect these two provinces."
When Zhu Cihong heard what Shi Kefa said, his expression changed drastically.
"How is this possible? Only South Zhili and Zhejiang are left in the southeast region."
His father sent him to Nanjing to leave a spark of fire for the Ming Dynasty, believing that the southern region was safer.
Zhu Cixi really didn't expect that the southern region would be like the northern region, with most of the areas being captured by the yellow-robed thieves.
Qian Qianyi saw the panic expression on the crown prince Zhu Cixiang.
He stood up and said: "Your Highness, the two southeastern provinces are extremely critical now.
The southeastern gentry worked hard to organize group training, and all the good guys went to the front to resist the yellow-robed thieves.
However, the yellow-robed thieves were too powerful and could not stop the yellow-robed attackers.
The Southeast region is leaderless and has no way to unite to resist the yellow-robed thieves.
Especially General Huang, the task he got was to protect His Highness.
None of us can mobilize this powerful army.
Now only His Highness's order can mobilize the Ming armies in the two provinces to unite and jointly resist the yellow-robed thieves."
Zhu Cihong heard two important officials of the Donglin Party say this.
He became more panicked and didn't know what to do.
He secretly looked at the eunuch Lu Jiude.
Qian Qianyi and other Donglin Party members saw Zhu Cihong's actions and hated him in their hearts.
They were determined to eliminate the eunuchs.
Lu Jiude received the look of help from Crown Prince Zhu Cixiang.
Despite the murderous gaze of the Donglin party, he brought the crown prince Zhu Cixiang to the back hall to discuss the current situation with him.
"Prince, I just learned about the situation in the southeast region from General Huang.
The situation here is indeed very critical now, and all forces must be united to block the offensive of the thieves in yellow.
Otherwise, our southern region may fall into the hands of thieves in yellow earlier than the northern region.
Now we can only ask General Huang and the guards in various places to immediately mobilize them to the front line to block the offensive of the yellow-clothed thieves.
But when Zhou meets General Zhou, he must stay.
The prince must have enough trustworthy troops around him.
Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty, I don’t know whose Ming Dynasty it will become.”
After Lu Jiude finished talking about what they should do now, he gave more specific suggestions to Crown Prince Zhu Cihong.
……………………
Crown Prince Zhu Cixi walked out of the back hall, regaining his calm and confident appearance.
He sat on the main seat and directly ordered: "General Huang Degong, to defend the Anqing area of Jiujiang, we must block the Yangtze River to prevent the yellow-robed thieves from attacking.
General Huang has the authority to mobilize local troops and horses to help defend the Yangtze River.
Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, and the governor of Nanzhili organized military training in various places to resist the yellow-clad thieves from Huguang.
Shi Kefa went to Shandong to recruit troops and tried to recruit as many troops as possible to defend against the yellow-robed thieves.
…”
Qian Qianyi looked at the orderly arrangements made by Crown Prince Zhu Cixiang.
He actually transferred all the powerful people from the Donglin Party out of Nanjing and asked them to go to various places to defend against the yellow-robed thieves.
Lu Jiude, the great eunuch, is very dangerous, and the eunuchs are going to cause trouble again.
The time now is not right. When the time is right, they must first bring down the eunuchs.
Only by obeying the Donglin Party's arrangements could the Ming Dynasty stop the thieves in yellow.
Crown Prince Zhu Cixi issued an order to mobilize the Ming army from various places. The Ming army in southern Zhili and Zhejiang were mobilized immediately.
They rushed to the front line to prevent the thieves in yellow from entering the southeastern hinterland.
