Chapter 185: The Western Prefecture

At that time, Sun Kewang issued orders throughout the realm in the Son of Heaven's name, mobilizing troops and pressing for provisions, none of which was ever reported upward. Life and death, reward and punishment, he wielded entirely at his own whim.

The Emperor, dwelling in Anlong, was not consulted in any of it.

In Guangxi, at Tian'an Pass in Tianzhou, several thousand Ming troops knelt prostrate along both sides of the road. From time to time, elite riders galloped down the middle of the road, and the horsemen carried no swords or blades in their hands—only a single great banner.

Wherever the banner arrived, the rider would bellow at the top of his lungs: "The Western Prefecture approaches! The Western Prefecture approaches!"

"Make haste to welcome the Western Prefecture! None may rashly take up arms!"

"......"

Countless riders spurred their horses past, and the words they shouted made the several thousand Ming troops on both sides press themselves flat against the ground, not daring to raise their heads for even a glance. On the road trampled by the warhorses, faint traces of mottled blood could be seen.

In the crowd, a young fellow asked the man beside him in a low voice: "Second Brother Zhang, why did General Liu abandon us?"

The big man called Second Brother Zhang let out a cold chuckle at this and whispered: "The Western Prefecture has come—if General Liu didn't run, would he still have a way to live? Think about it yourself: what has General Liu had us doing these past few days?"

The young fellow fell silent at that. Over these past days, under General Liu's orders, they had truly made a great enemy of the Western Prefecture.

Not only had they cut off the Western Prefecture army's grain route, they had also slaughtered the men the Western Prefecture had left behind to hold the rear, and they had garrisoned this Tian'an Pass precisely to keep the Western Prefecture army from marching north through it.

Now that the Western Prefecture had come killing, General Liu did not dare stand and fight. He left small fry like them behind and fled on horseback himself—truly not the act of a loyal comrade.

"Now that General Liu has run off, will we really live?" The young fellow was inwardly worried for his own life. After all, in the days before, they had killed quite a few of the Western Prefecture's men.

Second Brother Zhang did not share his worry. He shook his head and said: "The Western Prefecture is our great king too. We were only carrying out orders. Now that General Liu has fled, why would the Western Prefecture make trouble for us? Rest easy—the Western Prefecture will not kill us."

The young fellow still felt some fear in his heart at these words. He was about to say something more when the people around him suddenly stirred, and then he heard countless voices shouting at the tops of their lungs: "The Western Prefecture has come! The Western Prefecture has come!"

The Western Prefecture has come?!

The young fellow and Second Brother Zhang raised their heads as one and looked south. About a li away to the south, dust and smoke rolled thick, and several hundred cavalrymen were galloping straight toward them.

As the cavalry drew near, they slowed their pace, and the dust kicked up by the horses' hooves settled. Only then did the crowd see that at the head of this cavalry troop, one man was being escorted in their midst.

Those who knew him recognized at a single glance that this was none other than the Western Prefecture, the great lord Dingguo himself!

Once the Western Prefecture's great lord appeared before the Ming troops, the crowd instantly fell silent. Men standing side by side could scarcely hear their companions' breathing.

The Western Prefecture on horseback reined in his mount and let his gaze sweep over the several thousand surrendered troops on both sides, one by one. Then he raised his voice: "Fear not.

I and the Prince of Qin are brothers. It was the words of petty men that came between us, and now there is nothing more.

Return to camp, and I will await you there." After a brief pause, he added: "Those who return to camp shall receive a reward of twenty thousand taels of silver, and seven days' rest in camp!"

The moment the words fell, the surrendered troops on both sides burst into cheers: "Long live the Western Prefecture! Long live the Western Prefecture!"

Guizhou, Guiyang.

Ever since Sun Kewang had moved the Yongli Emperor to Anlong, the power of the court had fallen entirely into his hands. The so-called Yongli court was nothing but an empty shell with a hollow name, barely propped up by a small retinue of civil and military officials.

All great affairs of state and war were decided by Sun Kewang in Guiyang, then formally reported to the Yongli Emperor for approval. Day-to-day matters were not reported to the court at all.

Sun Kewang's conduct naturally led a considerable portion of the civil and military officials within the Southern Ming's jurisdiction to acknowledge the Yongli reign name in form only, while in their hearts there was only Sun Kewang, this "Lord of the State."

The Emperor was set aside entirely.

Indeed, in the ninth year of Yongli (the twelfth year of Shunzhi), Bai Wenxuan, the Ming General of the Left for the Restoration, even referred to himself as "your subject" in a memorial to Sun Kewang, using phrases such as "presented before the Lord of the State's imperial presence" and "sealed and submitted for the imperial perusal, to comfort the sagely heart."

The Marquis of Guyuan, Wang Shangli, was unwilling to be outdone. In Yunnan, at the Jinding Temple on Mount Jizu, he had a great bronze incense burner cast.

Although the inscription on the burner used the Ming calendar with the eighth year of Yongli, it made not a single mention of the reigning Son of Heaven, the Yongli Emperor, and only lavished praise on Sun Kewang.

In the inscription, he wrote: "The disciple of the Marquis of Guyuan, Wang Shangli, together with his son Guanglu, originally of Zhang Castle, Qunmen Suo, Guyuan Guard, Xiliang Prefecture, Shaanxi.

Since the dinghai year, I have followed the Lord of the State into Yunnan, and have set my heart on revering the Three Treasures, repairing and adorning the temples and monasteries of the various mountains...

Relying on the universal radiance of the Buddha's light, I pray above that the Lord of the State's sagely lifespan be boundless, and the imperial domain be firmly secured."

Besides great generals like Bai Wenxuan and Wang Shangli, a large number of civil officials of the Yongli court also artfully curried favor, seizing the chance to urge him to take the throne.

The Minister of War, Ren Zhuan, citing the Mandate of Heaven, proclaimed that the Ming's fortune had already run out and nothing more could be done, and advocated that the Yongli Emperor abdicate in favor of Sun Kewang.

The Compiler Fang Yuxuan, for his part, "fixed the imperial regalia of the Son of Heaven and set the court rites" for Sun Kewang, saying, "The emperor's star shines bright in the Well constellation," and submitted a memorial urging him to ascend the throne.

Ren Zhuan was not only zealous in urging Sun Kewang to take the throne.

Back when the Yongli Son of Heaven had been welcomed to Anlong, Sun Kewang had once prepared to go to Anlong for an audience with the Emperor, but Ren Zhuan dissuaded him, saying: "If the Lord of the State wishes to enter Anlong, how can two dragons meet face to face?"

And so Sun Kewang did not even perform this most basic of courtesies.

It was not only civil officials of the Yongli court like Ren Zhuan who went over to Sun Kewang. Even Ma Jixiang, the powerful minister at the Yongli Emperor's side in Anlong, secretly attached himself to Sun Kewang for the sake of his own wealth and rank.

He said to Pang Tianshou, the eunuch Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial: "The great momentum of the day has already gone to the Prince of Qin. We must make our alliance with him early, to secure our footing for the days to come."

Pang Tianshou thought this quite right.

The two of them then swore brotherhood with Zhang Yingke and others, the relay officials Sun Kewang had stationed in Anlong, and spoke to Zhang Yingke with utter frankness: "The Prince of Qin's merits and virtue are grand and flourishing, and all under heaven revere him.

Today the Mandate of Heaven rests with Qin. What Heaven decrees, no man may defy.

We wish to persuade the Lord of Yue to abdicate in favor of the Prince of Qin, and beg you two gentlemen to convey this intention on our behalf first."

In addition, Ma Jixiang sent someone to have Gu Qipin, a Director of the Yongli court, paint a picture of "Yao and Shun Abdicating and Receiving the Throne," intending to present it to Sun Kewang. Unexpectedly, this Gu Qipin was loyal to the Yongli Emperor and refused to paint it.

Ma Jixiang bore a grudge and privately reported the matter to Sun Kewang. When Sun Kewang heard of it, he flew into a rage and actually had Gu Qipin clapped in chains and sent to Guiyang, where he was beaten to death with staves.

Under the close surveillance of the relay officials Sun Kewang had dispatched, the Prefect of Anlong, and the disloyal Ma Jixiang and Pang Tianshou, the Yongli sovereign and his ministers had virtually no freedom at all and had become complete puppets.

Sun Kewang's arrogance greatly shocked the Yongli courtiers, and many felt indignant.

Xu Ji, a Supervising Secretary in the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel; Lin Qingyang, a Vice Director in the Bureau of Military Appointments of the Ministry of War; and Hu Shirui, a Secretary, submitted memorials impeaching Ma Jixiang and Pang Tianshou for "harboring treasonous hearts and declaring themselves subjects of Qin."

Yet these men only dared impeach the two traitors Ma and Pang, and did not dare point directly at the Prince of Qin—clearly only trying to preserve a scrap of the court's dignity.

In the eighth year of Yongli, Sun Kewang held the provincial examinations in Kunming, and in Guiyang he set up his own Grand Secretariat, Six Ministries, and Offices of Scrutiny.

Local civil and military officials were likewise all appointed by him alone, and official seals were changed from the Ming's nine-fold seal script to eight-fold.

These measures admittedly had the positive effect of sweeping away the Southern Ming court's practice of selling offices for bribes and of rectifying official discipline, but in substance they were nothing less than setting himself up as emperor.

Worse still, with Fang Yuxuan and others participating in the planning, Sun Kewang had already fixed the rites and established an ancestral temple, in which three ancestors were enshrined: the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, in the center; Zhang Xianzhong on the left; and on the right, the tablet of Sun Kewang's own grandfather.

He planned to change the dynastic name to "Later Ming," and plotted day and night for the abdication and transfer of the throne.