Chapter 118: Entering the Palace

On the fifteenth day of the fourth month in the first year of Chongzhen of the Great Ming, the carriage of Wanyan Yuzhuo, daughter of the Xibe clan chieftain of Liaodong, entered the Great Ming's capital.

The common folk of the capital, however, remained quite unruffled — the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming had taken in no small number of women from foreign tribes; anyway, it was the Emperor's own affair, children born of foreign women could not become Crown Prince, and the Emperor wasn't ruining their own daughters, so who cared how many consorts the Emperor took into his rear palace?

If they had that kind of time, they'd be better off scraping together a couple more copper coins.

Of course, unruffled as they were, they still had to come and gawk — especially for the common folk living at the foot of the imperial city: if you didn't watch the excitement when it came, wouldn't you be wasting the finest hours of your life?

So from the very moment Wanyan Yuzhuo's carriage entered Beijing, she was destined to be gawked at, and Wanyan Yuzhuo saw for the first time what Han books described as rubbing shoulders and sweating like rain.

The weather in April had not been particularly hot, but with people pressing against each other on the capital's streets, they squeezed out the heat of a summer's day.

Stealthily lifting the carriage curtain to look outside, Wanyan Yuzhuo was at last convinced that the vastness of the Great Ming was far beyond what the mere tribes of Liaodong could compare to.

Yet even as she marveled at the sheer population of the Great Ming's common folk, she was also curious — if even one mouthful of spittle from each person could drown every last one of the Jianzhou barbarians in Liaodong, how was it that they were being beaten down by the Jianzhou barbarians?

That was it — it must be that these slaves were not serving with their whole hearts. Later she would ask her father for some good hands at training slaves, and then wouldn't her husband be able to wipe out the Jianzhou barbarians with a flip of his hand?

If she bore a son, and then begged her husband to bestow the land of Liaodong upon her and her husband's son, then that child's future prospects would be boundless.

By this point, Wanyan Yuzhuo had completely stopped thinking that if Chongzhen turned out to be some bookworm, she would beat him until he dared not get into bed — from the mere fact that he could sit upon the revered throne of the Ninth Five and command so many slaves, she could tell that her future husband was surely a great hero and great champion like Genghis Khan.

The Ming imperial city had originally been built upon the foundations of the Yuan Great Capital, its entirety representing the majesty of imperial power in red, gray, and golden yellow. In Liaodong, how could Wanyan Yuzhuo ever have seen such magnificent architecture?

Even if some books had described the appearance of the Yuan Great Capital, after generations of Ming emperors' renovations, Wanyan Yuzhuo could no longer recognize it.

In her heart now, Wanyan Yuzhuo secretly felt grateful to the matron who had taught her etiquette and rules along the journey. Now that she had learned these manners and such, she would not lose face before her future husband.

As for what Wanyan Yuzhuo was thinking at this moment, it was actually quite natural.

On the steppe, strength had always been revered; the weak lost everything, the strong possessed everything — since her future husband was this extraordinary, possessing all within the four seas, wasn't he naturally worthy of her wholehearted devotion?

When Wanyan Yuzhuo's carriage at last entered the palace and she came to pay her respects to Chongzhen and Empress Zhou, Chongzhen's mind, however, began to drift. Was Wanyan Yuzhuo beautiful?

She was beautiful — not yielding in the slightest to Empress Zhou or Consorts Tian and Yuan, and she possessed an added measure of wild beauty that one could not see in Empress Zhou, Lady Tian, or Lady Yuan.

Only at this very moment, that wild beauty had been tucked away by Wanyan Yuzhuo.

Chongzhen suddenly smiled, paid no mind to the uneasy Wanyan Yuzhuo, and abruptly said to Wang Cheng'en, "Make proper arrangements, and tell the people below to put some care into it."

After Wang Cheng'en bowed and acknowledged the order, Chongzhen then left the rear palace and turned instead to summon Cui Chengxiu, who had entered the capital right on the heels of Wanyan Yuzhuo.

Chongzhen was very curious — why had Yuan Chonghuan, who had been so full of oaths and pledges before leaving the capital, still gone to Liaodong just as he had in history? And was his target still Mao Wenlong? What exactly had Cui Chengxiu and his party done in Liaodong?

Cui Chengxiu's heart was also full of complicated feelings; on this trip to Liaodong, he had nearly never made it back to the capital.

After sighing with emotion to himself, Cui Chengxiu performed the grand ceremony of audience, then gathered his spirits, bowed, and said to Chongzhen, "Your Majesty, on this journey to Liaodong, your subject has indeed felt a great deal."

Chongzhen asked curiously, "Our beloved minister Cui is a man who has seen his share of storms — what could possibly give Our beloved minister Cui such great feeling?"

Cui Chengxiu said, "Your Majesty, on this journey, your subject first went to the Duke of Hu's place. Liaodong is truly a bitter and cold land; even the original steppe tribesmen on the Duke of Hu's side live rather harshly in Liaodong.

What many of them think of in their hearts is not at all rebuilding the old Xianbei state, but whether they could enter the passes and live, just like the Han people."

Chongzhen pondered for a moment and said, "When We previously had you permit them to enter the passes, the same as Han people, We had not originally imagined they would be willing to enter the passes.

However, the Xibe and the Xianbei are basically without distinction, and both are deeply Sinicized; if We truly permit them to enter the passes, it would not be a problem. But this matter cannot be rushed after all; it must still be brought to court for discussion."

Cui Chengxiu bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise. On this journey, your subject and the men of the Embroidered Uniform Guard escorted Consort Wan south to Dongjiang; on the road we encountered pursuing troops of the Jianzhou barbarians who tried to intercept and kill us."

The moment he brought this up, Cui Chengxiu felt the back of his neck and the base of his skull turn faintly cold and ache. That bastard Xiong Sen had spoken of it so lightly, and that son of a bitch Zhu Gang had agreed even more lightly — send me on my way first!

Feeling rather displeased no matter how he thought about it, Cui Chengxiu suppressed the question of whether he should make Zhu Gang treat him to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion or the Clear Breeze Lodge, and continued, "A dozen-odd Embroidered Uniform Guard riders and a dozen-odd Xibe tribal cavalrymen facing off against the Jianzhou barbarians did not actually come off worse, and the Xibe cavalry's losses were even somewhat lower than the Embroidered Uniform Guard's.

Although Her Ladyship the Consort's personal guard cavalry were also the elite of the Xibe tribe, our Great Ming's Embroidered Uniform Guard are also elite troops; from this it can be seen that the Xibe cavalry are fit for use."

After thinking for a moment, Cui Chengxiu added, "If the various lords of the court can permit the Xibe to enter the passes, Your Majesty might try recruiting cavalry from among the Xibe tribe; in this way, when facing the Jianzhou barbarians in battle, our Great Ming would have one more measure of assurance of victory."

Chongzhen, however, gave a cold laugh and said, "The various lords of the court? It would be a wonder if those people permitted it. When the time comes, there will inevitably be no small amount of wrangling."

Cui Chengxiu, however, said, "After your subject returns home today, he will first go pay a visit to Lord Shi and explain to him the stakes involved; Lord Shi will certainly support it. As for Lord Wen's side, your subject cannot say for sure."

Chongzhen said, "Wen Tiren has already been thrown into the Imperial Prison by Us."

Cui Chengxiu said in alarm, "Your Majesty, what crime did Chief Grand Secretary Wen commit?"

Chongzhen stared at Cui Chengxiu and said, "Do you truly not know? All along this journey, did you not hear a single word of the news that Wen Tiren had been thrown into the Imperial Prison?"

His heart prickling under Chongzhen's stare, Cui Chengxiu said, "Your subject is guilty, deserving of death, deserving of death."

Chongzhen, however, ignored Cui Chengxiu's posturing and said with a cold laugh, "The Kong family's hand has stretched a bit too far. Though Wen Tiren is loyal, in the end he still had to act according to the Kong family's wishes.

I truly do not know whether this court is surnamed Zhu or surnamed Kong!"

I only landed after eleven last night — Xiamen Airlines was delayed by nearly an hour. Then a friend dragged me off to indulge, and I fell asleep the moment I got back to the hotel... Sorry, sorry, there will be another update in a bit as compensation.

(End of chapter)