After having the inventory completed, Zhu Ci called Liu Zhaoji and He Gang over and said, "Divide these things between the two of you, then each of you take a cannon to stand guard."
Liu Zhaoji and He Gang were momentarily surprised. "Will Your Highness not keep them?"
Zhu Ci sighed, "The men I have on hand were all recruited on short notice; they won't know how to use these."
Liu Zhaoji asked blankly, "But I heard that Your Highness also brought firearms."
He Gang stood to the side and sighed. Why was this old Liu so stubborn? He should just do whatever His Highness told him to do.
Zhu Ci glanced at him with a half-smile and asked, "What? Are you still eyeing my firearms? Rockets are different from the others; these are something I've newly developed. They might know how to use rockets but might not know how to use Birdlock Guns. To make the best use of everything, this arrangement is the best."
Liu Zhaoji said nothing more, but his expression turned solemn as he said, "This general will certainly defend the city gates and will never let the Tartars enter the city by even a single step!"
Zhu Ci said, "As for the remaining two city gates, I will arrange for Li Cheng to guard the North Gate. Do you have any other recommendations?"
Liu Zhaoji mentioned a name, Zhu Ci nodded, saying, "Good, then it's him. I might not be in the city for the next while, so I'll leave the Yangzhou defense in your hands."
He Gang was startled. "Where is Your Highness going?"
Zhu Ci looked out the door and said, "I must take men to destroy the Tartars' cannons."
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: If I rely on you all, Yangzhou City is doomed sooner or later. Meow drags rockets out of the city. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 88
Absolutely not, Your Highness!
Liu Zhaoji and He Gang performed a duet.
The two of them were scared witless.
Forget whether it can be destroyed or not; even if it can be destroyed, the Crown Prince shouldn't have to risk his life going there himself.
Zhu Ci looked at them and said, "My mind is made up, there is no need to persuade me."
He paused, seeing that Liu Zhaoji and He Gang still wanted to say something, then sighed and said, "If I die in battle, it will not affect the overall situation, but if you die in battle, it will be a heavy loss."
Liu Zhaoji immediately said, "Your Highness, you are the will of the people; how could you not affect the big picture?"
Liu Zhaoji had been visiting the troops these past two days, he could see that this Highness was no mere showpiece; the military discipline under his rule was strict, every soldier was exceptionally robust, appearing even stronger than the soldiers under their own command.
This was an existence capable of facing ten thousand Tartars with only several thousand troops. Those soldiers were loyal only to him; in such a situation, if anything were to happen to him, I fear those soldiers would also turn into a disorganized mess.
Zhu Ci smiled. "Alright, I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, if things don't go as planned, I certainly won't force it."
What Zhu Ci actually didn't say was that he needed to personally go out and lure Alna out.
With the added advantage of the natural disasters, the probability of successfully defending Yangzhou was already quite high, but he was still somewhat uneasy.
After all, in the original book, the male protagonist was an almost omnipotent existence; he was the favored son of Heaven, turning every misfortune into a blessing.
Although from the current situation, his fight with Alna was a draw, at that time Alna only wanted to cover the retreat and had no chance to engage in a life-and-death struggle with him.
When the time for the siege actually comes, who knows what might happen?
Therefore, it would be best not to let Alna get involved from the very beginning.
Zhu Ci felt that Alna must also be eager to get rid of him.
Liu Zhaoji and He Gang looked deeply worried. Seeing that they could not change Zhu Ci's mind, they followed behind him every day warning him of the danger, saying that if anything truly happened, Yangzhou would be left leaderless.
Zhu Ci said with some helplessness, "Wasn't Yangzhou doing just fine before I came here?"
Liu Zhaoji shook his head frantically. "That's different. Before, we couldn't contact the imperial court, but now.."
For now, don't count on the Imperial Court either," Zhu Ci said decisively. "The people I have here were all recruited by me personally and have nothing to do with the Imperial Court. If I truly run into trouble, go and seek refuge with the Marquis of Huating.
Marquis of Huating?" He Gang was shocked. "Isn't.. isn't he a rebel?
Zhu Ci let out a soft laugh. "In this world today, what does it matter if they are rebels? The grain and fodder being transported from Suzhou right now were all sold to me by rebels."
Liu Zhaoji and He Gang exchanged a glance, hardly able to believe their ears.
The Crown Prince and the rebels are in league together—no, they're acting in collusion.. or rather..
Anyway, it's just impossible to understand.
Liu Zhaoji asked subconsciously, "What if the Marquis of Huating declares himself king?"
Zhu Ci said jokingly, "Then I shall also declare myself king."
He Gang said casually, "That should be called an ascension to the throne."
Zhu Ci..
Are you two following me around just to tell jokes?
After He Gang finished speaking, he also felt it was inappropriate. The Emperor wasn't dead yet; why would the Crown Prince ascend the throne?
Sigh, if it really doesn't work, why not just have the Emperor abdicate? He thinks the Crown Prince is much more reliable than the Emperor.
Zhu Ci couldn't be bothered to waste any more words with them; he waved his hand to drive them away, then called Li Cheng over.
After hearing this, Li Cheng's reaction was even greater than that of Liu Zhaoji and the others, he nearly spat out tears. "Young Master, I want to go with you too."
Zhu Ci waved his hand dismissively. "Why are you trying to join in on the excitement? You should focus on defending Yangzhou properly. If I don't succeed, I can still retreat, but I don't want to return to find that Yangzhou has been breached."
Li Cheng wiped away his tears and said, "How many people will the Young Master take with him?"
Zhu Ci thought for a long while before saying, "Kunpeng and the Jiao Long Squad should both come with me."
Li Cheng said worriedly, "This.. is it enough?"
Any more and we'll be easily discovered by the Tartars.
Although these two groups had such grand names, in reality, they only totaled about five hundred people.
Even if there were more, it wouldn't matter, because he needed to cross the river.
This flood was also very strange; it had no impact despite being so close to Yangzhou.
The scouts he sent out returned to report that after the flood peak passed through that night, the Huai River returned to calm. It was a very sudden wave of flooding that seemed to appear out of nowhere, with no discernible origin or destination.
Since the river had calmed, Zhu Ci would have to find a way to cut off the Tartars' rear.
If possible, he even wanted to take Huaian, so that Dodo's part of the army would effectively be caught in a pincer movement by them.
Of course, the prerequisite was that the plan goes smoothly.
Zhu Ci left as soon as he said he would, he left under the cover of night.
He did not know if there were Qing Army spies within Yangzhou. Based on his understanding of Alna, given that he had received that letter previously, it was highly likely that he would have planted people in Yangzhou in advance to see what the surprise was.
Unfortunately, he didn't know that Zhu Ci was merely bluffing at the time; as for any surprise, he hadn't prepared for anything at all.
But given the current situation, it could be considered a surprise he gave to Alna.
Zhu Ci led this troop all the way to the canal wharf, took a boat to travel to Gaoyou, after resupplying in Gaoyou, would head toward Baoing.
By this time, Baoing had already fallen into the hands of the Qing Army. Zhu Ci did not launch a rash attack on Baoing; instead, he took control of all the surrounding county towns around Baoing.
This process was actually not difficult; after all, the brutality of the Qing Army was evident to all. The first thing they did after occupying a place was to demand that the Han people shave their heads.
As the saying goes, "Keep your hair, lose your head; keep your head, lose your hair."
Han people, who had undergone thousands of years of Confucian education, were naturally unwilling, the resulting conflicts were even more intense.
Zhu Ci had no intention of occupying these county towns anyway; after all, his target was the Qing Army's Red-coated Cannon.
However, as he traveled, he could not bear to turn a blind eye whenever he saw the Qing Army ravaging the countryside, so he fought his way through as he went.
Not to mention, he had also recruited quite a few local commoners into his army.
Zhu Ci had originally brought only the elite of the elite and did not want to bring too many people to avoid being discovered by the Qing Army; naturally, he had not considered recruiting people along the way.
However, many men actively requested to enlist; their thoughts were simple, wanting nothing more than revenge.
Many of them had lost their parents, wives, children. The only reason they were still alive was that the Qing Army needed slaves, so they were spared.
Facing those pairs of bloodshot eyes, Zhu Ci saw the deep-seated hatred within them, he could only sigh as he accepted these people.
Anyway, he had occupied at least four County Towns along the way and had begun a massive land redistribution. At first, he could intercept the entire Qing Army to prevent them from sending word, but later on, he couldn't intercept them completely; furthermore, Dodo would surely become suspicious since he wouldn't be receiving any news from this side.
They would be discovered sooner or later, so he might as well just take them; otherwise, there would already be signs that these people were about to organize themselves to fight to the death against the Qing Army.
At this point, they had no choice but to go to Huaian, because their provisions were running low.
They were already on a forced march and hadn't brought much; according to Zhu Ci's plan, regardless of whether they succeeded or failed, they had to return within half a month.
With so many people suddenly added, the original food supplies would only last for five days.
After Jiang Quan learned of his decision, he couldn't help but say, "Young Master, seizing Huaian is still too dangerous. If Yangzhou fails to provide support, Huaian will become an isolated city. We can eat a little less and find a way to raid the Qing Army's grain; we will surely be able to hold out until we return."
After he finished speaking, he glanced at Jiang Xueyan. "You should also try to persuade the Young Master."
Jiang Xueyan said with an indifferent expression, "I listen to the Young Master; whatever the Young Master says is what it is."
Jiang Quan couldn't help but roll his eyes at her.
Zhu Ci smiled and teased him, "Not bad! You can even analyze the world's situation now?"
Jiang Quan looked at Zhu Ci with an angry expression. "Young Master!"
Zhu Ci suppressed his smile and said, "Do you think we can just go back now? Dodo will not let this opportunity slip away."
Originally, they might have been able to pull off a hit-and-run raid, but now it was impossible; even if Dodo did not know who was leading the troops, he would not allow him to take his men back.
Moreover, if they left now, what would happen to the County Town they had already "liberated"? If they left and the Qing Army returned to massacre everyone again, then what would have been the point of them coming here?
Now there was only one way forward, so Zhu Ci simply stopped hiding. He led his men to scout the Qing Army's supply route, hijacked a grain cart, finally intercepted the convoy transporting the Red-coated Cannons.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: With more and more people coming, is this still a sneak attack? *Cat crouching in a tree, sighing dejectedly. jpg*
Next update at 6:00 PM~