Chapter 12: Nursery Rhyme

"Riding a horse in Liaodong, dong-dong-dong, ahead comes a stinking wild boar."

"Stinking wild boar, ugly to see, truly fierce and unreasonable."

"Unreasonable, charging about wildly, from behind flies a great black bear."

"Great black bear, truly brave, defeats the wild boar — top-notch!"

At some point, a nursery rhyme called "The Flying Bear" began to circulate in the palace, sung among the serving eunuchs and maids. At first Zhu Youxiao paid it no mind — were there ever few nursery rhymes of all kinds in the palace?

Once he happened to be heading to the Imperial Manufactories Directorate when he heard two young maids singing this rhyme, so he pricked up his ears and listened for a while, only then understanding that the rhyme was about Xiong Tingbi going to Liaodong.

"You two," Zhu Youxiao said, walking down from the palace corridor, "where did you hear this nursery rhyme?"

"Your Majesty, forgive us!" The two young maids had been enjoying themselves, but suddenly seeing the Emperor appear, their faces went pale in an instant, their legs trembled, and with a thud they knelt to the ground.

"I hold no blame against you; speak." Zhu Youxiao gave a faint smile.

The two young maids lay prostrate on the ground in terror, and for a long while said nothing. It was Chen Hong who grew anxious and hurriedly said: "His Majesty is asking you a question!"

One of the maids, slightly bolder, shuffled forward on her knees two steps, kowtowed, and said: "This slave heard it from others too — in the palace there is none who does not know it, none who has not heard it."

"None who does not know, none who has not heard…" Zhu Youxiao savored these words carefully, then looked at Chen Hong and said flatly: "You know of it too."

Oh my goodness! Chen Hong was utterly annoyed at that maid — with just one sentence she had sold him out!

"In reply to Your Majesty, this slave has heard a little, but this slave is stupid and cannot understand it." Chen Hong bowed his body and said respectfully.

"Go, investigate where this nursery rhyme came from." Leaving these words behind, Zhu Youxiao walked straight off.

Chen Hong stood frozen in place — where else could it have come from but from Your Majesty yourself, who made it up! But since the Emperor wanted him to investigate, he dared not not investigate.

By the time Zhu Youxiao returned to Qianqing Palace, Wei Zhongxian had already been waiting a long time at the door of the carpentry workshop.

He paced back and forth at the door, his horsetail whisk swaying this way and that, and from time to time shook his head and sighed: "What is to be done about this…"

It seemed Wei Zhongxian was troubled by something, and the ever-shrewd man did not even notice the Emperor had returned.

"What matter, and what is to be done?" Zhu Youxiao said abruptly, standing behind Wei Zhongxian.

Old Wei was so startled he nearly jumped out of his skin; snapping back to his senses, he hurriedly turned and knelt, saying: "Your Majesty, this old slave does not know where to begin."

"If there is a matter, speak of the matter." Zhu Youxiao opened the workshop door and strode over the threshold inside.

"This old slave…" Wei Zhongxian followed him in like a loyal dog, hesitating as he spoke: "This old slave recently heard a nursery rhyme…"

"'The Flying Bear'?" Zhu Youxiao picked up a block of raw wood from the desk and lightly tapped it with his finger.

"In reply to Your Majesty, exactly so. This rhyme has already spread widely through the palace. This old slave has heard that it came into the palace from the common folk outside… And some of the great officials, hearing that Your Majesty has been bewitched by evil Daoists…" As Wei Zhongxian spoke, his voice grew softer and softer, and he prostrated himself lower and lower.

He feared the Emperor would blame him, for after all, it was he who had found the Daoist.

"Go and call Chen Hong in." Zhu Youxiao expressionlessly picked up a carving knife and began to scrape at the block of wood, as if he had not heard Wei Zhongxian's words at all.

Wei Zhongxian was taken aback, not quite understanding what the Emperor intended, but still respectfully acknowledged and slowly withdrew.

Zhu Youxiao paced back and forth in the great hall with his hands behind his back, pondering what should be done.

Meanwhile, Chen Hong came in and, seeing the Emperor deep in thought, knelt silently more than three meters away. He had even already prepared himself for how to face his Emperor's towering fury.

After pondering for a long while, Zhu Youxiao slowly spoke: "Chen Hong, I am entrusting you with a task. I give you three days; take your men and conduct a thorough purge of the palace."

After a brief pause, Zhu Youxiao continued: "In the palace, what should stay and what should not stay — you know. Go and handle it!"

"This slave receives the decree." Chen Hong had not been blamed, but instead entrusted with a weighty task — needless to say, his excitement was extraordinary.

Last time His Majesty had sent him to deliver an edict; if he could handle this matter well too, then he would surely be given important duties.

Seeing Chen Hong leave, Zhu Youxiao said to Wang An, who was attending at his side: "Eunuch Wang, you are an old hand who served the late Emperor, and also the closest inner attendant by my side. There are many with schemes in the palace. Chen Hong is young and does things without a sense of measure. Keep an eye on him — if there is the slightest stir, report it straight to me. You need not have any scruples; I trust you."

"Rest assured, Your Majesty. This old slave knows what to do." Wang An naturally understood the Emperor's meaning, and after making a bow, answered respectfully.

His Majesty was having him keep watch on Chen Hong, to keep him from running wild during this affair, and at the same time to see that he carried out the task properly.

This sort of business was all too familiar to the eunuchs of the palace, and an old eunuch like him had no shortage of channels of information within the palace.

"You may leave now! Without my permission, no one is to enter." Zhu Youxiao gave his final instruction.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang An slowly withdrew.

Three days had passed. At this moment, Zhu Youxiao was seated on the enormous dragon throne in Qianqing Palace.

In these three days, many things had happened: two people had been placed under house arrest by the Emperor, countless people had been killed, and the faint fragrance of plum blossoms that had once hung in the air of the Forbidden City had now been replaced by the stench of blood.

The two placed under house arrest were Consort Li Xuanshi (Consort Kang of the Taichang Emperor) and Consort Dowager Zheng (Noble Consort Zheng of the Wanli Emperor). Noble Consort Zheng had a very famous son — the father of the later Southern Ming Hongguang Emperor: the Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun.

Zhu Youxiao had reasons for placing these two under house arrest — because they were two restless women.

Li Xuanshi was the lesser of the two; she merely wanted to seize power. Noble Consort Zheng's aims were far less simple — not to mention her single-minded desire to put her own son on the throne, she was also implicated in the Red Pill Case.

His cheap father had been emperor for only one month before dying, and the matter very likely involved Noble Consort Zheng.

On the twenty-first day of the seventh month of the forty-eighth year of Wanli, the Wanli Emperor died of illness. His cheap father succeeded to the throne and changed the era name to Taichang, known to history as the Taichang Emperor.

On the first day of the eighth month, at his cheap father's enthronement ceremony, his "jade steps were calm and harmonious," his bearing "pure and without any sign of illness" — that is, his gait and demeanor were normal, with no symptoms of disease.

Later, his cheap father's night of serving eight women in one evening was connected to Noble Consort Zheng — those women were sent by her.

As a result, in a single night his father was depleted, and the eunuch who treated his illness — the inner attendant Cui Wensheng, a brush-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy — gave his cheap father rhubarb.

After taking it, his cheap father suffered unstoppable diarrhea, going to the latrine thirty or forty times in a single night.

Let alone a man weakened to the extreme — even a sturdy fellow could not withstand such purging.

If anyone said there was no conspiracy in this, Zhu Youxiao absolutely would not believe it.