"But..." Zhu Cilang stood up from his seat: "The students are in a mess and can't calm down!"
Ni Yuanlu smiled slightly: "Your Highness must always remember your identity."
"You are neither a civil official nor a military commander. You don't need to make plans or lead troops into battle. You just need to sit in the palace and share the power."
"After defeating the enemy, you can take back the power. This is the way of an emperor."
After listening to Ni Yuanlu's analysis, Zhu Cilang relaxed a little. Although he was still very nervous, he felt much better than before.
"Then... sir, what should I do next? Call all officials to a meeting?"
"Your Highness, there is no need to summon the officials, because they will be here soon."
As expected, before Ni Yuanlu finished speaking, the eunuch's voice was heard outside the palace: "Your Highness, the Minister of War Shi Kefa and a group of civil and military officials are seeking an audience outside the palace."
Zhu Cilang stood up and took a few deep breaths. After calming himself down, he ordered, "Let them in."
"As you wish."
The crowd rushed in, making the already small Chunhe Hall even more crowded.
Shi Kefa, the Minister of War, was the first to speak: "Your Highness, Fengyang Prefecture reported that the bandit Li Chuang led tens of thousands of troops to the south."
"After leaving Suzhou, they split into three groups, one group attacking Lingbi."
"All the way to Fengyang."
"There is another way to attack Mengcheng County."
"According to my guess, his final destination will be... Nanjing!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the Chunhe Hall fell into complete silence.
Li Zicheng attacked Beijing last March.
Under your majesty's command, Li Zicheng was defeated.
In March of this year, Li Zicheng attacked Nanjing.
Who will be in charge?
Zhu Cilang took another deep breath and tried to keep his tone calm: "What good ideas do you have?"
Without waiting for others to speak, Shi Kefa stepped out of the line and said, "Don't panic, Your Highness. If an enemy comes, we will stop him. If a flood comes, we will block it with earth. Although Li Chuang is coming with great force, there are still many soldiers available in Nanzhili."
"As long as the arrangement is proper, Li Chuang will definitely not be able to gain any advantage."
With Shi Kefa's words, Zhu Cilang finally felt a little calmer.
"Minister Shi, what troops are available in Nanzhili?"
Shi Kefa reached into his sleeve and pulled out a notebook. He opened it and began to read: "Marquis of Funing Zhu Guobi is the commander of the grain transport and is stationed in Huai'an. He has 5,000 soldiers under his command."
"Liu Zhaoji, the governor of Nanjing University and the deputy governor, has a thousand soldiers and horses stationed near Huai'an."
"The governor and his assistant, Sergeant Shan, has 5,000 soldiers under his command and is stationed in Suqian."
"Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, has 45,000 soldiers under his command, stationed in Fengyang, Huainan, and Fuyang."
"The Right Admiral of Nanjing is in charge of the river defense and patrolling the river. The 20,000 naval forces under the command of the Earl of Chengyi Liu Kongzhao are stationed outside Nanjing City."
"Henan General Li Jiyu, Deputy General Wang Zhigang, and Henan General Xu Dingguo, who are assisting in suppressing the bandits, have a total of 30,000 troops stationed in Bozhou, Shangqiu, and Xuzhou to suppress the bandits."
"In addition, the Nanjing Camp has 30,000 elite soldiers available for deployment!"
Zhu Cilang calculated that the total number of these soldiers was a total of 107,000.
It should be able to stop the thief Li Chuang.
Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang suddenly realized a problem. He stared at Shi Kefa and asked, "How many soldiers does Li Chuang have?"
"Eighty thousand!"
Something bad is going to happen! Zhu Cilang thought to himself that something was wrong.
Excluding Liu Kongzhao's navy, the military strength of both sides was similar.
"Minister Shi, are these troops enough?"
"Your Highness, I'm afraid it's not enough. So I've sent people north to contact Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo, asking them to quickly go south to protect Nanjing. Gao Jie has 27,000 soldiers and Liu Liangzuo has 10,000."
"In addition, I have also sent orders to Yuan Jixian and Qin Liangyu, asking them to immediately go down the river to help Nanjing."
After hearing about the military strength of these people, Zhu Cilang felt relieved.
Nanjing is stable!
"In that case, then give orders to all the troops. Make sure to keep the bandits out of Fengyang and Nanjing!"
Everyone looked at each other and said nothing.
The reason is just two words: lack of money!
If you want soldiers to go out of the city to fight, you must give them money and food, otherwise it will be useless for them to go.
The Nanjing imperial treasury was empty, with no money or food.
There is another problem when fighting outside the city: logistical supply!
Should the various departments solve the problem themselves? Or should the imperial court take responsibility?
If each tribe wanted to solve the problem on their own, they would need to conscript laborers and "raise food" from the people locally, which could lead to civil unrest if they were not careful.
The court was back to the original problem: no money!
"Your Highness, the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue has no money, and the money from the Beijing Ministry of Revenue will not arrive until the end of the month at the earliest. Without money and food, even if those soldiers are willing to go out of the city to fight, they have little chance of winning." Nanjing Ministry of Revenue Minister Gao Hongtu explained in a low voice.
After listening to Gao Hongtu's explanation, Zhu Cilang instantly lost his spirit.
He suddenly realized that he was facing the same problem that his father had faced.
What did the father do?
Let people donate money!
Zhu Cilang raised his head and looked at everyone: "Everyone, Jiangnan has been rich since ancient times. Can you borrow some silver from the wealthy merchants and gentry in the city? After the silver is delivered from Beijing, we can return it to them."
No one spoke.
Who will borrow it? In whose name?
Since ancient times, it has been easy to borrow money but difficult to repay it.
If Zhu Cilang doesn't pay back the money, those who borrowed the money will definitely ask the person who handled it for repayment.
The person in charge is just doing the work, not spending the money.
No one wants to do such a thankless job.
Seeing Zhu Cilang being left out, Shi Kefa sighed inwardly, and then said, "Your Highness, I am willing to give it a try. As for how much I can borrow, I am not sure."
Zhu Cilang was about to cry: "Minister Shi is indeed a pillar of the country. This matter will be handed over to Minister Shi."
"I will obey your highness' orders."
As soon as Shi Kefa retreated, Liu Wenbing, the governor of the Nanjing Camp, stepped out and raised his hand, saying, "Your Highness, the bandits will not be able to attack Nanjing in a short time. The most urgent task is to defend Fengyang."
"I just heard from Minister Shi of the Ministry of War that the 45,000 troops under the command of Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying are stationed in Fengyang, Huainan and Fuyang."
"On the surface, there may be no problem with dividing the troops to garrison, but it won't work against an opponent like Li Zicheng. He is good at besieging a point and attacking reinforcements. Dividing the troops to garrison is not only not conducive to defense, but also easy to fall into Li Zicheng's evil scheme. Your Highness, please quickly issue an order to let them unite the troops to garrison."
"As long as we hold on for half a month or twenty days, Yuan Jixian and Qin Liangyu's army will arrive. Yuan Jixian has cultivated land in Huguang and provided his own food and grass. Qin Liangyu borrowed five million taels of silver from the King of Shu, and the army has sufficient pay. The food and grass are also transported from Sichuan, so the court does not need to be responsible."
Zhu Cilang's eyes lit up. "Yuan Jixian... Qin Liangyu! Yes, Xinle Hou (Liu Wenbing) is right! Quickly order Ma Shiying to join forces to defend Fengyang and wait for the reinforcements from Yuan Jixian and Qin Liangyu."
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