Chapter 159: Heads Roll at Prince Fu's Manor

The sixteen-year-old beauty let out a sharp "Ah—" of alarm, but hurriedly rolled off Prince Fu's body and into the inner side of the bed, grabbing the brocade quilt in passing to cover both the prince and herself.

Prince Fu's pleasure had been interrupted, and he could feel the member down below threatening to slip out of control; seeing the state his personal eunuch was in, he immediately roared in fury: "You wretched thing! Who told you to come in? Did We not say that no one was permitted to disturb Us?"

The eunuch, for his part, had no leisure to savor the flash of beauty that had just flickered before his eyes; his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, and he steadied himself and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, an imperial messenger has arrived outside the manor to proclaim an edict."

Only then did Prince Fu say impatiently: "We know. Summon someone in to attend to Our dressing."

The eunuch, however, did not immediately take the order and call for attendants, but went on: "Your Highness, the imperial messenger says that the Princess Consort and the heir must go together."

Zhu Changxun grew all the more impatient and said angrily: "Then go. It must be that the little emperor in the capital has some reward to bestow — what is there to make such a fuss about?

When the late emperor was alive, was it not the same every year? Get out, and have someone come in to attend to Our dressing — that is what matters!"

Zhu Changxun's eunuch wanted to add that there was also a large contingent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard encircling Prince Fu's manor outside, but on second thought, did that not just prove how deeply the prince enjoyed the emperor's favor, that the pomp for delivering an edict was grander than for others?

So, after thinking it over, he said nothing more, but simply took the order and withdrew, summoning attendants to help the prince dress and wash.

How fast could a man pushing three hundred catties dress and wash? The prince dawdled through his toilette inside the manor, and Xu Xianchun, waiting outside Prince Fu's manor, began to grow impatient.

Seated on horseback, Xu Xianchun tapped his riding crop lightly in his palm and said to Cao Huachun, who stood beside him with an air of utter unconcern: "I say, Eunuch Cao, surely His Highness Prince Fu doesn't think we've come to deliver him rewards and honors?

Still putting on such princely airs?"

Cao Huachun did not so much as raise his eyelids and said in a low voice: "What of it? So long as this edict remains unread, he remains Prince Fu for that time, and we remain mere servants. Let us wait."

Xu Xianchun gave a "Heh," and said no more, but in his heart he kept turning over the idea of sending more Embroidered Uniform Guard agents to that region of the Southern Seas; then he reflected that it was not within his jurisdiction, and his mood soured further, and his resentment toward Prince Fu swelled all the more — other people could just fucking scatter a few seeds and get a harvest, while all the good land in Luoyang had been seized by you; shouldn't those mud-legged peasants starve to death?

Yet however great his resentment, for the time being he had to suppress it.

So long as Prince Fu had not emerged from his manor to receive the edict, there was nothing he could do — unless Prince Fu refused to accept the edict, in which case he would be able to give the prince a thorough dressing-down.

By the time Prince Fu had finished washing and dressing, he first met with his princess consort, Lady Zou, and then together with Lady Zou and the chosen attendant Lady Yao, bringing along his heir Zhu Yousong, they proceeded toward the main gate.

Zhu Yousong was now twenty years of age, but like Prince Fu, he indulged daily in wine and women; seeing Prince Fu deploy such a grand array to receive an imperial edict, he laughed and said: "Royal Father, today it is merely an edict arriving from our imperial elder brother's side — why make such a great show of it?"

Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun, laughed and said: "It is merely giving your imperial elder brother a bit of face. The little emperor has just ascended the throne, and We are his imperial uncle.

Our Great Ming rules the realm by filial piety, and this realm was originally stolen from Us by that ghost of a father of his — how could he not defer to Us by three parts?

It is simply that when a flowered sedan chair is borne, everyone lifts; give him a little face now, and later We can secure better fiefs for your two younger brothers."

Hearing Zhu Changxun mention his two younger brothers, Zhu Youqu and Zhu Youhua, Zhu Yousong smiled and replied: "Royal Father is wise. The two younger brothers are still small; when the time comes, we shall rely on our imperial elder brother to grant them somewhat better fiefs."

The family chatted and laughed as they made their way toward the main gate, followed by Prince Fu's full ceremonial retinue. But the moment the main gate swung open, Prince Fu's heart sank straight down into his stomach.

Zhu Yousong, being younger after all, saw the array outside and assumed only that the emperor held their house in high regard; he said softly to Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun: "Royal Father, with such a display today, I wonder what reward our imperial elder brother has bestowed upon our house?"

Zhu Changxun, however, felt a chill in his heart and roared: "Shut your mouth!"

Seeing Zhu Changxun's fury, Zhu Yousong, though puzzled in his heart, had after all lost face before the crowd; he retreated a few steps in embarrassment.

Zhu Changxun paid no heed to the astonished princess consort and the others behind him, but addressed Xu Xianchun and Cao Huachun, who still sat upright on their horses without dismounting: "You two have come to Luoyang today — is it to arrest Us and take Us to the capital?"

Cao Huachun's eyelids, which had remained lowered all this while, only now lifted; he looked at Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun, and said: "Your Highness, there is an edict. Receive the edict."

Had this been one of the twenty-four princes enfeoffed at the dynasty's founding, they would long since have caught wind of it, and it is likely someone would have followed the example of the Yongle Emperor, then Prince of Yan, and launched a Jingnan campaign.

But ever since the Yongle Emperor's time, these Ming princely feudatories had been raised like pigs — which of them still possessed the mettle of the founding twenty-four princes? They likely could not even match the Prince of Ning of the Zhengde era.

Seeing Cao Huachun's manner, Zhu Changxun understood everything in his heart; a bleak smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and he immediately ordered an incense table to be set out, then knelt on the ground and said: "Your subject Zhu Changxun receives the edict."

Only when the entire Prince Fu household had knelt in a great sweeping wave to reverently receive the imperial edict did Cao Huachun give a cold laugh, take the edict from the tray that a junior eunuch behind him had been holding, open it, and read aloud: "By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun, has lost his wits and brought calamity and disorder to his fief, acting contrary to the civilizing teachings of the Exalted August Emperor, our founder.

The Princess Consort of Fu, Lady Zou; the chosen attendant, Lady Yao; and the heir of Fu, Zhu Yousong, have failed in the duty of remonstrance proper to a person, a wife, or a son.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard is hereby ordered to arrest them all in chains and convey them to the capital, to be handed over to the Imperial Clan Court for disposition. Thus decreed."

Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun, his heart now dead as ashes, knew that this time there was surely no escaping calamity; he merely smiled bitterly, knocked his head on the ground, and said: "Your subject Zhu Changxun accepts the edict and gives thanks for His Grace."

Zhu Changxun resigned himself to his fate as the Embroidered Uniform Guard clapped him in chains, but Zhu Yousong cried out in a loud voice: "Release this little prince! Our imperial elder brother must have been deluded by petty men for this to happen today!

When this little prince makes the truth clear to our imperial elder brother, you will all certainly be punished for your crimes!"

Before Xu Xianchun could open his mouth, Zhu Changxun barked a rebuke first: "Shut your mouth! You are forbidden to speak another word!"

Zhu Changxun was deathly afraid that Zhu Yousong would say something else that ought not to be said, which these men from the Depot and the Guard would report back to the little Chongzhen Emperor — then there truly would be not the slightest room for maneuvering left.

As for being arrested and taken to the capital now — what could that Imperial Clan Court, which existed in name only, possibly do to him?

Cao Huachun, seeing that Zhu Yousong had sheepishly shut his mouth, then turned his head toward the officials and guards of Prince Fu's manor, who were still kneeling in a mass, gave a cold laugh, and went on: "His Majesty has a separate edict for the administrator, the instructors, the inner seal-keepers, the Guard Commander, and the ceremonial guardsmen of Prince Fu's manor.

Gentlemen, please receive the edict."

After all these civil and military officials of Prince Fu's manor had knocked their heads and cried out that they received the edict, Cao Huachun then took another imperial edict, opened it, and read: "By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Prince Fu having lost his wits, the left and right administrators failed in their duty as subjects, betraying the weighty trust of the late emperor.

They are to be beaten to death with the heavy rod."

"The instructors of Prince Fu's manor have failed in their duty as subjects, such that Prince Fu lost his wits and virtue and became a scourge to his fief. They are to be beaten to death with the heavy rod."

"The inner seal-keepers of Prince Fu's manor colluded within and without, bringing harm to the fief and damaging Prince Fu's benevolence and virtue. They are to be strangled."

"The Guard Commander and ceremonial guardsmen of Prince Fu's manor have brought harm to the fief and damaged Prince Fu's benevolence and virtue. Beheaded!"

As this string of edicts, murderously decreeing either strangulation or beheading, came down one after another, it was not only all the civil and military officials and everyone high and low in Prince Fu's manor — even Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun, felt his heart sink utterly to the very bottom.

This little emperor was ruthless indeed.

Just this string of civil and military officials alone already numbered sixty or seventy men; aside from a few insignificant minor civil officials like the document-sorting clerks, correspondence officers, and the judicial office, and some eunuchs of the household service office, not a single one of the rest was spared.

Before anyone could react, Xu Xianchun, who had not made a sound all this while, waved a hand and said to the Embroidered Uniform Guard behind him: "Seize them, and carry out the sentence!"

The assembled civil and military officials of Prince Fu's manor erupted in an uproar; they had assumed that even if they were condemned to death, they would have to wait until autumn for the execution, or at least be dealt with after reaching the capital — but from the look of things, the sentence was to be carried out immediately.

Before the crowd could make any response, the Embroidered Uniform Guard that Xu Xianchun had brought from the capital simply began seizing men one by one according to their official robes; once the men were seized, they first dragged out the left and right administrators.

A squad leader addressed Xu Xianchun: "Sir, their identities have been verified."

Xu Xianchun merely nodded and lightly uttered two words: "Beat to death."

Where at this moment were there benches to tie a man down before carrying out the punishment?

The Embroidered Uniform Guard kept it simple: two men pinned one administrator to the ground, and two more raised the long staves in their hands and brought them smashing down; heedless of the administrators' howls of agony, they merely counted out the strokes one by one, and after several tens of strokes, both administrators had perished together.

The squad leader went over and checked for breath, then reported back to Xu Xianchun: "Reporting to Your Excellency, the convicts have expired."

Xu Xianchun, his face utterly expressionless, said: "Continue!"

Remember that Hind helicopter in *Lord of War*? Take off the LH94742 rocket pod, and Yuri could brazenly declare, "It's a rescue helicopter."

His sheer, overpowering shamelessness left Ethan Hawke apoplectic. That, after all, is a movie — but in the real world, there is indeed one weapon that leaves the coast guard utterly helpless.

That is the PLA's Type 63 107mm rocket launcher.

Many people know this "AK of artillery pieces," but probably no one has ever seen what it looks like disassembled — a pile of steel tubes, steel rods, and iron frames; tossed among farming equipment materials, you wouldn't spare it half a glance.

And so, tens of thousands of Type 63 107mm rocket launchers were shipped all over the world under the name of agricultural machinery.

(End of Chapter)