I have a cornucopia

Chapter 247 Wearing a yellow robe?

Isn’t it the best that a young girl is the regent?
This issue has been openly discussed among Yang Feng's Northern Expedition generals.

Pukou.

The enemy tower in Puzi Mountain.

On this city wall, which can be said to be the commanding height in the city, the commanders of the various camps of the Northern Expedition Army who have already crossed the river are leaning on the railing and gazing at the mighty river under the moonlight.

"Throughout the ages, so many things have happened, just like the endless Yangtze River flowing on!
The Ming Dynasty lasted for more than 270 years, and it had experienced 16 emperors, tyrants, incompetent rulers, and wise rulers. However, under the rule of a female ruler, the country actually showed signs of revival.

It's really ridiculous.

Now that the Northern Expedition is imminent, with the King of Donghai leading the charge himself, success is almost certain.

Even when the Jianlu were at their peak, they were no match for the King of Donghai. They were defeated by a small force of his, which broke through Shenyang and captured his fake emperor and fake empress dowager. Moreover, their strength has been greatly weakened after a series of defeats.

But if we can recapture the Northern Capital and wipe out the Jianlu, what should we do next?
Go straight to Xi'an and bring back His Majesty?"

Gu Jiang, the commander of Suzhou Camp, looked at the mighty river under the moonlight and said with a heavy face full of concern for the country and the people.

There are still countless lights on the silver Yangtze River under the moonlight. Those are the ships crossing the river. After all, an army of 40,000 cannot be completed in a short time. Even if there are enough ships, there must be docks to accommodate them. What's more, it is not just soldiers crossing the river, but also a large number of artillery, chariots and other supplies, as well as cavalry horses. It may not be possible to complete the crossing even by tomorrow.

There isn't even just one landing point.

The militia from Guangdong and Guangxi boarded ships at Dashengguan and then landed at Xijiangkou.

Of course, this is not important.

After all, their commander was in the city picking up girls at the moment.

As for Gu Yanwu being able to be the commander of Suzhou Camp, this is actually quite normal. First, the generals of the regiment must be truly capable, and he is indeed capable. Second, he is not the real heir of a wealthy family. After all, he is going to inherit the family business, and it would be too hasty to fight desperately on the battlefield. Third, he must be a young generation with a certain influence in these families. So he perfectly meets these conditions. He is capable, from the Gu family of Kunshan, and his family background is not bad. His grandfather is Zuo Zanshan, and his great-grandfather is the assistant minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War. But his father's generation is a bit not so good, so he also needs to use the battlefield to improve his status.

The standards for militia commanders were generally the same. In addition, there were some officials who were originally in the north. After moving south, there were no positions available for them, so they were elected as militia commanders when they returned to their hometowns.

But they are all young and their positions are not high.

Of course, relying on their military exploits in militia training, especially after gaining a certain amount of military power, these young generations have indeed become important members of the family.

Or the new scholars.

Taxi.

A true taxi.

He is good at writing books and good at leading troops into battle.

They even have some scientific knowledge, including economic knowledge. There must be people like Song Yingxing who can compile artillery firing tables. After all, war is not a game of tricks. If you don't have real skills, you will lose your life, or even your entire family. They have formed a new class, gradually breaking away from the old Confucian scholars and becoming the real power in the local area, second only to the elders.

It can even influence the elders to a certain extent.

But the elders still have the final say, after all, they control the purse strings.

The relationship between the two sides is becoming more and more like that between the Senate and the military and political elites, although, of course, not the elites like Xizong.

"Welcome back His Majesty? Let him mess up the world again? He was already a tyrant when he was in the capital, and he was willing to kill all the ministers. His tyrannical nature was revealed. Now he has been trapped by Li Zicheng for so long, and we don't know what he has become. Once he succeeds, he will act recklessly. The court now has a rare appearance of a sage ruler and virtuous ministers. Let him destroy all this?"

Ge Lin said angrily.

"Why are you looking at me? Even though my brother-in-law is Yang Feng's best friend, how could he know all these things?"

Ji Yingzhong blurted out something that was obviously not careful enough...

What things?

Of course, this is Yang Feng’s real ambition.

These bastards are putting on airs here, their fundamental purpose is to find out how far Yang Feng wants to go, whether he wants to be a hero and risk his life, or to imitate Huan Wen and put on a show.

Everyone was a smart person, and they all knew that Yang Feng should agree with them on the issue of Chongzhen. Welcoming Chongzhen back would not only be of no benefit to the gentry, but would also be asking for trouble for Yang Feng.

But the problem is that they don't know what Yang Feng really wants.

Although this bastard was like a shadow hanging over Jiangnan's head, he himself actually didn't participate in the affairs of the court at all. After all, Ma Shiying was a coward, and even Yang Feng only came to Nanjing occasionally to stay for a few days, so there was no way to know what he was thinking.

The only one here who can be considered to have a close relationship with Yang Feng is Ji Yingzhong.

His brother-in-law Du Li is a good friend of Yang Feng, and his sister and Yang Feng's sister are as close as sisters. They are considered core members of Yang Feng's camp, so he can only hope that Ji Yingzhong knows something that others don't know.

but……

"I really do not know!"

Ji Yingzhong said helplessly.

"Don't you even know some traces? Don't you know anything about your sister's coming and going in the Yang family?"

Jiang Tianyi, the commander of Huizhou Camp, said with some disbelief.

He is Jin Sheng's confidant. Although he is only a scholar and his family is not rich, he is the one Jin Sheng truly values ​​the most.

The latter has resigned and returned to Huizhou to teach. After all, the Nanjing court is not very interesting at the moment.

"What do you want? His illegal deeds and usurped objects? There are countless of them. It is true that he killed people in front of His Majesty in the imperial palace in the capital. It is also true that he was rude to His Majesty. Most of his rebellious deeds that were spread among the people are true. There are even more that have not been spread among the people."

Ji Yingzhong said unhappily.

"That's puzzling."

The commander of Ganzhou Camp, the still very young Wei Xi said.

He is from Ningdu.

The Ganzhou militia was headed by Zeng Yinglin, a former military official. Because of his outstanding talents, he was Zeng Yinglin's main subordinate.

This militia is mainly composed of mountain people, and they are quite combat-capable.

Ningdu!
"Since it is puzzling, don't think about it. In the final analysis, we cannot rely on others. No matter what the King of Donghai is planning, at least he will not harm our business. If he wants to march north, then we will march north, but what we want is also good for him. Since he likes to talk about public opinion, then let's talk about public opinion. The rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of every man. Moreover, we are entrusted by our hometown and are about to go to the battlefield for the country. Even if we leave a will, there is nothing wrong with it. The Book of All Peoples is here. Those who want to sign it can come."

Gu Jiang said.

As he said this, he took out a book of all nations that he had written long ago and turned around to place it on the table.

Everyone looked at each other...

Of course, they already knew the contents of this book for all nations. In fact, this matter had been discussed long ago, but they only signed it after crossing the river.

Crossed the river. The Northern Expedition began.

For those of them who were about to go to the battlefield and didn't know whether they could come back alive, writing a letter to the Regent would be quite tragic and heroic. It would also be easy to create momentum, or to shut Yang Feng up. After all, Yang Feng was the only one who was truly capable of giving them a heavy blow.

The content of the letter was very simple: Please appoint a crown prince...

Crown Princess.

The title of fake prince.

After all, the crown prince had been deposed, and the other princes were in Xi'an. Although they could theoretically appoint another prince, it would be meaningless to the Nanjing court. However, if the Northern Expedition was successful, the next step would be to welcome back Chongzhen. Even if they did not really take action, they would at least make a gesture to welcome Chongzhen. This would be dangerous. If Li Zicheng really appointed another crown prince, as long as he was a child, he could be sent to Jiangnan, and then a bunch of assistant ministers and even guards would be sent to him.

Then they can interfere in state affairs with justification.

In this way, they could interfere with the Nanjing court without having to worry about posing a threat.

It's nothing more than sending a baby over. As long as he is the one who is appointed as the crown prince, he is still the crown prince even if he is a baby.

You can even use this baby to govern the country.

This is totally possible.

If the side requested to welcome Chongzhen back to the capital, then Li Zicheng could send an infant prince. He could then say that he sent the prince first and then the emperor, and at the same time he could disgust the Nanjing court.

Therefore, we must eliminate the problem of the crown prince from the root and use the title of crown prince as regent.

She is a woman, so she cannot be made the crown prince, but under special circumstances, she can use the title of crown prince, so she can be called the crown prince regent. As for being a woman, this is not a problem, and she is not the real crown prince. There are a lot of great Confucian scholars here, even top scholars such as Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi, who have many ways to explain. In this way, she is just using the title of crown prince to regent, because there are no adult princes. As the only adult among His Majesty's children, she is the eldest sister and has an obligation, but she is not the real crown prince. Anyway, the crown princes are all her younger brothers. When the princes grow up, no matter who is made the crown prince, she can return it.

This would prevent Li Zicheng from bringing a baby to Nanjing. Even if he did, she could still represent the baby under the name of the prince.

Of course, it doesn't matter.

Because this theory is just the skin, the real point is to strengthen the ruling power of the regent, and theoretically solve the temporary problem of the princess being the regent and turn it into the prince being the regent.

If he has been using the title of the crown prince for a long time, the common people will recognize him as the crown prince.

Even if necessary, she can directly succeed the throne as the crown prince. What princess? She is obviously the crown prince. We have called her the crown prince for many years. Does it matter whether she is a man or a woman? After putting on the crown prince's robes and crowns, who cares whether it is a man or a woman? It can be said that this is a key step for the princess to become the queen. Of course, this is the will of the people. It must be the will of the people. It is the letter of the people signed by these soldiers from all over the country on behalf of their hometown elders. Who says they are not the people? They are all the people!

There was not a single official soldier in the Northern Expedition Army.

All of them are civilians.

"Every man has his share of responsibility for the fate of his country, and we should take the lead in this world!"

Ge Lin said.

Then he walked to the table and signed his name.

The others looked at each other, then stepped forward and signed the letter from all people requesting the establishment of a crown prince.

Of course, they are just the leaders, and all the soldiers under them will sign later. This is not a big problem. In fact, almost all the militia in Nanzhi are literate, and most of the people in Zhejiang and Jiangxi are also literate. The reason why most of them are literate is only because these two provinces have some poor and mountainous areas with bad waters, and the literacy rate there is indeed not high, but the literacy rate in their core areas is also very high.

Gu Jiang looked at the signing scene with satisfaction.

At this moment, a beacon fire was lit in the distance...

West River Estuary.

Zhang Jiayu was looking into the distance nervously.

In the winter wheat fields under the moonlight, countless cavalrymen swarmed in.

These were the harassing Qing troops. After all, this place was only a few dozen miles away from Quanjiao, which was controlled by the Qing army. It was impossible for them to just watch the Northern Expedition Army land in large numbers.

"Hold on. The Emperor and Empress Dowager of the Jianlu have been captured by the King of Donghai. There is nothing to be afraid of. We are heading north to promote the name of the Cantonese people. If we defeat the Jianlu and return, it will also bring glory to our family tree."

he shouted, sword raised.

The soldiers of the Guangzhou camp who had just landed beside him were still very sensitive to the genealogy, although they still looked panicked. After all, it was their first time to encounter the enemy, especially the large group of cavalry on the plains, and on their flanks there was only the Guangxi camp that had just landed, and only a small part of it had landed. As for the Yingtian militia stationed at the mouth of the Xijiang River, they were obviously not going to leave the city. These guys were not familiar with the Guangzhou camp. The militia, after all, was like this. You couldn't expect the Yingtian militia and the Guangdong militia to actively support each other.

Fortunately, the Guangzhou Battalion was well-trained. Although they had never been on the battlefield, they at least knew how to form a battle formation. They formed an obviously copycat Spanish phalanx that was somewhat messy.

This cannot be blamed on them.

After all, they really never fought a war.

The cavalry on the opposite side howled in the moonlight and made thrilling hoofbeats, like a group of demons rushing out of the darkness.

then……

Suddenly some soldiers turned around and ran away in fear.

Zhang Jiayu cursed in grief and anger, but at the same time more soldiers began to flee.

"Anyone who dares to desert the battlefield will be expelled from the family tree!"

He yelled a little angrily.

But his roar only made the fleeing soldiers hesitate.

At this moment, the musketeers in front finally fired. Although they didn't aim well in panic, the powerful force of the turtledove gun still knocked more than a dozen cavalrymen off their horses. This scene made the soldiers somewhat excited. After all, they also realized that they could really kill the enemy, and the enemies who could be killed were much less scary. Of course, the musketeers in front had no time to reload, and then retreated and hid in the spear forest. At the same time, the enemy's arrows shot at them, and one arrow even hit Zhang Jiayu in the chest.

But it was directly bounced off by the breastplate.

"Their arrows can't hurt us!"

he shouted in surprise.

The formation that was already crumbling in panic did not collapse.

But the Qing army was not stupid enough to charge directly into the forest of spears. As the bullets from the turtledove guns whistled, they quickly split to both sides and continued to shoot arrows...

At this moment, the ignored soldiers of the Guangxi camp who had landed had already mounted their horses under the leadership of their commander Bai Gui and formed a battle formation under the cover of the woods. While the Qing cavalry were firing at the Guangzhou camp, this brave general, who had several liters of arrows burning on his body after his death in battle, led his cavalry to charge, and amid the excited shouts of the Guangzhou camp soldiers, he crashed into the Qing cavalry from the flank.

"kill!"

Bai Gui, holding a spear, roared and began to chisel through.

"Reload quickly, the Jianlu are just so-so, they can't even shoot through our armor!"

Zhang Jiayu shouted excitedly.

The soldiers who finally managed to stabilize themselves quickly returned to their normal state, and completed the process of reloading and firing amid the continuous falling arrows...

(End of this chapter)