On May 18, the 27th year of Chongzhen, news of the Ming army's entry into Korea reached Nanjing.
The Crown Prince Zhu Cilang of the Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party in Nanjing and the Nanjing nobles all received the news at the same time.
"Is the news true?" Zhu Cilang asked.
"It is true!" The messenger replied, "The eastern and western armies marched south at the same time! Li Dingguo of the western army captured Yizhou without a single blow, and Li Xianzhong of the eastern army killed Li Sizhong and captured Zhongcheng."
"I understand. Go down."
"yes."
As soon as the messenger left, Ni Yuanlu arrived.
After Zhu Cilang relayed the news, Ni Yuanlu pondered for a long time.
Seeing that Ni Yuanlu had not spoken, Zhu Cilang could not wait any longer and asked, "Sir, what's next..."
Ni Yuanlu raised his head, his eyes deep: "Raise the army, now is the time!"
"Should we wait until the Jiannu are completely wiped out before starting the war?"
"No, because there's no chance of winning that way."
This time it was Zhu Cilang's turn to think deeply.
After an unknown amount of time, he asked, "Then shall I call together the court officials and nobles to discuss the matter?"
Ni Yuanlu shook his head: "No hurry."
"Why?"
"Because I have a few things to tell Your Highness."
"Sir, please speak!"
Ni Yuanlu said seriously, "The first thing is the reason for the uprising! The Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions of Emperor Taizu Gao stipulated that if there are no upright ministers in the court and there are treacherous people in the court, the princes should train the troops and wait for orders, and the crown prince should secretly send orders to the other princes to lead the troops to suppress the uprising. So... Your Highness should raise the army in the name of serving the king and clearing the court of evil."
“Okay.” Zhu Cilang took note of it carefully.
Ni Yuanlu continued, "The second thing is that Your Highness is only responsible for shouting slogans and providing money and food. As for when to send troops and where to send troops, he is not responsible at all."
"Okay," Zhu Cilang nodded again and wrote it down, "Anything else, sir?"
"One last thing."
"Sir, please speak!"
"After shouting slogans and sending out troops, Your Highness will fall seriously ill, and then use this opportunity to hand over the official seal to the minister in power. Whatever happens afterwards has nothing to do with you, Your Highness the Crown Prince."
"I understand." Zhu Cilang nodded vigorously, "Thank you for your teachings, sir."
Ni Yuanlu bowed and said, "Since Your Highness the Crown Prince has understood, I will take my leave first."
Zhu Cilang stood up anxiously: "Where are you going, sir?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will not leave Nanjing. I just want to catch up with some old friends."
Zhu Cilang felt relieved: "Sir, please drink less to avoid hurting your body."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I will take my leave."
After Ni Yuanlu left, Zhu Cilang summoned Nanjing court officials and nobles to discuss the issue of sending troops.
He said in front of everyone: "Everyone, I wrote a letter to my father several months ago, begging him to write a personal letter in reply. But to this day, I have not received a personal letter from my father. I think the imperial court in the capital has been controlled by treacherous officials and eunuchs!"
"That treacherous minister is Xie Sanbin, and that eunuch is Wang Chengen!"
"The Imperial Ming Ancestor's Instructions states that if there are no loyal ministers in the court and there are treacherous people within the court, the princes will train the troops and wait for orders, and the crown prince will secretly send orders to the other princes to lead the troops to suppress the traitors."
"For my father and the vast territory of Ming, I will raise an army to serve the king!"
The Donglin Party and the nobles, who had already fallen into a situation where they would surely die if they did not rebel, immediately responded when they heard this: "Your Highness is wise!"
Zhu Cilang nodded: "In that case, please ask the Ministry of Rites to write a letter of patriotism on my behalf, and send it to the whole country immediately, calling on the elite troops from all towns to come to Beijing to support the king!"
"I obey your order!" Nanjing Minister of Finance Gao Hongtu responded with a salute.
(The meaning here is not the imperial edict, but the meaning of the prince's order.)
"Where is the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War?"
"I'm here!" Ren Jun stood up.
"How many troops can the Nanjing court mobilize?"
"30,000 troops from the Nanjing garrison, 20,000 from the Yangtze River naval forces, 10,000 from the grain transport forces, and 50,000 from the Fujian naval forces, a total of 110,000 troops."
......
Since many things had already been discussed in advance, Ren Jun just repeated the plan.
final.
Ma Shiying was appointed commander-in-chief of the Western Army, Zhu Guobi was appointed commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army, and Zheng Zhilong was appointed commander-in-chief of the navy.
Everything went according to plan.
However, there was controversy among the people over the timing of sending troops.
The nobles led by Zhu Guobi believed that troops should be sent immediately to catch Beijing off guard.
The Donglin Party headed by Ma Shiying believed that we should wait.
Wait for Zheng Zhilong's navy to head north from Fujian to Nanjing, and then march towards Beijing together.
"Speed is of the essence in war!" Zhu Guobi said, "It will take at least four or five days for the news to reach Fujian. Even if Zheng Zhilong is as fast as he can be, it will take him about fifteen days to reach Nanjing, which adds up to twenty days."
"These twenty days are enough time for the news to reach the capital, and for Xie Sanbin and others to make corresponding preparations!"
"This is extremely disadvantageous to us!"
"That's right," said Xu Wenjue, Duke of Wei. "Sending troops involves too many people and too many things. No matter how secretive we are, the news will leak out. Once the capital knows about it, we won't be able to catch them by surprise."
Ma Shiying retorted: "Then what do you say we should do? Zheng Zhilong has 50,000 soldiers and horses under his command. It's a huge difference with him or not!"
After in-depth discussion, everyone decided to postpone the dispatch of troops.
First, let Zheng Zhilong lead his troops north in the name of fighting pirates.
After Zheng Zhilong arrived in Nanjing, he issued a manifesto to the whole country to support the king.
Considering that it would take time for Zheng Zhilong to march north from Fujian, the time for the troops to be dispatched was set on June 8th, twenty days later.
During this time, everyone else performed their duties.
On May 22, the order reached Fujian.
At the same time, a messenger from North Korea arrived in Fujian with a secret letter.
Shi Fu came to Zheng Zhilong with the letter and said, "Sir, Shi Lang has sent a letter."
"Oh?" Zheng Zhilong was very surprised, "Is he okay?"
"Just barely alive."
"Is he alright?"
"Yes," Shi Fu handed over the letter and said, "The Jiannu know they can't stop the Ming army's attack, so they want to borrow our boats to cross the sea to Dongfan."
"Dongfan..." Zheng Zhilong shook his head: "No! Dongfan is our retreat route, we must not let the Jiannu get there first."
Shi Fu looked frustrated: "But Shi Lang is still in the hands of the Jian Nu. If you refuse them, Shi Lang might die!"
"This..." Zheng Zhilong was a little embarrassed.
Shi Lang was Shi Fu's nephew.
Shi Lang's father and brother had been killed by Zheng Chenggong.
If Shi Lang were to die again, Shi Fu would no longer be loyal to him.
But he didn't want the Jiannu to get there first.
What to do?
Got it!
Zheng Zhilong walked up to Shi Fu and whispered to him, "Agree on the surface, and then send some merchant ships over. When we get there, only rescue Shi Lang, and don't care about anyone else!"
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