Chapter 66

Just as in history, Wang Pu, the Regional Commander of Datong, was the first to sense that the tide was turning against them.

Wang Pu's troops immediately began preparing boats again to commence their westward retreat.

Wang Pu was like the first domino to fall; the second to retreat westward was Li Fuming, the Regional Commander of Shanxi.

However, this time, both Wang Pu and Li Fuming were fighting with their backs to the water.

Furthermore, the Ming military had prepared a large number of boats in advance.

Consequently, a vast amount of supplies and equipment was not abandoned.

During the westward retreat, there was no particularly severe dispersal or rout.

As for Hong Taiji's side, having committed every available man, the Eight Banners soldiers—who originally possessed few naval forces—simply abandoned all their boats at the docks, mounting their entire navy onto horses to join the battle.

Watching ally after ally retreat behind them,

even though Cao Cao Bianjiao was eager to slay the enemy, he could only sigh deeply in frustration.

Ultimately, under Bai Bai Guangen's forceful persuasion,

Cao Cao Bianjiao had no choice but to reluctantly order a withdrawal.

Seeing the Ming army gradually retreating in disarray, the Eight Banners troops, who had initially felt some apprehension, immediately became exhilarated.

"I thought these Han Chinese had been injected with chicken blood, but aren't they just the same old useless lot?"

"These people truly are mud that cannot be built into a wall; what a pity for such fine armor."

"Your Majesty, please cross the river quickly; my bondsmen are lacking armor!"

"..."

Meanwhile, in the Songshan camp on the other side,

Hong Hong Chengchou, completely stunned by Hong Taiji, stared in shock at the memorials sent back by the various Regional Commanders.

He immediately hid within the central command tent and, just as in original history, dispatched an urgent memorial to the imperial court.

The wheel of history, with its powerful inertia, dealt a stinging slap to the civil and military officials of the Great Ming from top to bottom.

Liaoxi is in crisis! Songshan is in crisis! Guanning is in crisis!

68, the Imperial Clansmen deploy!

Memorials from Songshan flooded toward the capital like snowflakes,

shattering the rare tranquility of the Chongzhen reign.

The state machinery, which Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang, and Su Qiao had painstakingly patched together and repaired with great difficulty, now once again faced imminent collapse.

What Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian did not know was that

the current situation in Songshan

was already far better than the predicament Songshan faced in original history.

In original history, Songshan had lost all its supplies and grain, and the city only fell after Hong Taiji besieged it to the point where the defenders had resorted to cannibalism.

At this moment, however, Songshan had retained nearly all its grain and provisions, and even possessed more than half of its firearms.

The entire Songshan garrison was now thoroughly armed to the teeth.

Inside the Hall of Heavenly Purity,

Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, holding Hong Hong Chengchou's memorial, bowed with clasped hands and stated,

"Your Majesty, Songshan is in crisis; 130,000 troops are entirely trapped within Songshan. If we do not rescue the forces at Songshan, the state risks total collapse!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, expressionless, coldly gazed at the crowd of ministers before him who had already descended into chaos.

Collapse of the state?

Was this merely a matter of the state collapsing?!

With the slightest misstep, the Great Ming would be finished right here!

The Great Ming of today possessed neither soldiers fit for battle nor generals capable of leading them.

Generations of commanders—old, middle-aged, and young—were all at Songshan.

If Songshan fell, Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian could truly wash his hands of everything.

The civil and military officials, who had originally pinned their hopes on a great victory in Liaodong to quickly recover their silver,

now found themselves plunged into a situation bordering on despair.

Zhang Zhang Zhiji, the Duke of Britain, looked excitedly at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian and said,

"Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to immediately mobilize troops from all over the realm to lift the siege of Songshan."

"If Songshan is lost, our silver, and indeed our Great Ming, will be in imminent peril!"

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian stared fixedly at the flustered ministers below, numbly murmuring,

"Have all you lords forgotten that outside this capital, the Great Ming still possesses 100,000 troops?"

Hearing this, Zhang Zhang Zhiji froze.

He raised his head, wearing a look of utter confusion.

"100,000 troops? Does Your Majesty mean... the various Princes?!"

As soon as these words were spoken,

the entire court of civil and military officials nearly dropped their jaws in shock.

They were aware that Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian had imprisoned all the imperial clansmen of the realm in the suburban capital to train them as the Feather Forest Guard.

However, they had never truly believed that Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian would actually send these feudal princes onto the battlefield.

At most, they assumed he was merely disciplining these princes, waiting until they could no longer endure it, forcing them to spit out the silver from their respective princely mansions to precisely fill the deficits caused by slaughtering the officials like pigs.

Before the entire court could react,

Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's expression suddenly changed, and he shouted sternly,

"Wang Wang Wang Chengen!"

"This slave is present!"

"Immediately transmit the edict to Grand General Lan: the Feather Forest Guard shall depart the pass at once to reinforce Songshan and must break the siege of Songshan."

"Defeat the enemy in Liaodong and restore the mountains and rivers of my Zhu clan!"

Wang Wang Wang Chengen remained kneeling and declared in a loud voice,

"This slave accepts the imperial decree!"

Immediately, Wang Wang Wang Chengen strode out of the Qianqing Palace with long, rapid steps.

At this moment, the civil and military officials of the entire court finally came to their senses.

Zhang Zhang Zhiji looked at Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian with genuine concern and said,

"Your Majesty, war is a matter of life and death; it cannot be treated as a child's game."

"The various princes have long resided in their fiefs; having trained for less than a month, they are now to take the field and slay enemies... Alas."

Zhang Zhang Zhiji hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

Could he possibly say outright that these 'imperial nobles' were incompetent?

Seeing Zhang Zhang Zhiji hemming and hawing, Wen Wen Tiren, the current Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, pulled Zhang Zhang Zhiji aside, squeezed to the front before Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian, and cried out loudly,

"Your Majesty, this is a major affair of state and cannot be treated as a game; thirteen hundred thousand troops are already besieged at Songshan."

"Now sending these one hundred thousand imperial clansmen to Songshan—is this not merely adding chaos to the court?"

Wen Wen Tiren's implied meaning was perfectly clear.

Those thirteen hundred thousand men were our very last reserve.

They were already waiting to be rescued.

Now another one hundred thousand are being sent there.

Next time, would we not have to rescue over two hundred thousand?!

Is this not pure and simple disruption!

Looking at the assembly of ministers before him,

a cold sneer suddenly appeared on Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Zhu Youjian's face.

"Do all you dignitaries look down so greatly upon my Zhu family?"

The moment these words were spoken,

the civil and military officials of the entire court instantly fell to their knees.

Who would dare look down upon the Zhu family?

Every single official in the court thought exactly this.

Yet not one person dared to actually speak it aloud!