Chapter 471: Rift

The final imperial edict at the morning court session concerned Sun Chengzong and Ma Shilong.

Although Cao Zong had already handled the military action in this timeline, the achievements of Sun and Ma in previously leading troops to defend Beijing and ultimately dispatching forces to "recover" lost territory were indelible — the newly-minted Loyal and Brave Count had no intention of stealing such credit — so the Emperor issued rewards to these two men as usual.

For Sun Chengzong, he was first granted the additional title of Grand Tutor, then his descendants were made hereditary Court of the Imperial Stud, along with the bestowal of court attire with python design and coin. Finally, old Sun retained his concurrent post as Minister of War.

This Minister of War post, like Cao Zong's Vice Minister of War, was an empty title carrying no authority to interfere in ministry affairs — though it remained useful: it allowed him to act as a critic.

Although the Ming military system was crude and inefficient, basic military administration and military command were still kept separate: the Five Chief Military Commissions controlled military orders, while the Ministry of War was responsible for military administration.

Normally, the Regional Commanders and Vice Generals subordinate to the Chief Military Commissions had no authority to meddle in military matters outside their own defense zones. Even someone like Mao Wenlong, despite having risen to Left Regional Commander, could not possibly criticize the defense arrangements of Shanxi — he could only manage his own domain at Dongjiang Garrison.

Now, however, with the title of Vice Minister of War, Cao Zong was akin to a Ministry of Defense researcher — though an empty post, it henceforth allowed him to comment on military affairs nationwide. Most importantly, as the Emperor's statutory military advisor, a Vice Minister of War could meet the Emperor at any time and provide professional counsel.

This authority was specifically granted by Chongzhen: the Jisi Incident had left Chongzhen utterly disillusioned with the Great Ming's existing military mobilization and advisory apparatus. Now that a Tartar-killing expert had emerged, the Emperor was certain to exploit this to obtain more information.

After Sun Chengzong received his decree and expressed his gratitude, Ma Shilong also stepped forward to receive his reward: he was granted the title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and his descendants were enfeoffed as hereditary Thousand-Household Commanders of Ningxia Guard.

As they received their rewards, the temporary posts of Relief Troops Grand Overseer held by Sun and Ma were simultaneously revoked. From that moment on, they lost their command authority over the more than two hundred thousand relief troops.

After this, the fates of the two men diverged. Historically, Ma Shilong returned to Ningxia within a few months and died of illness a few years later. Sun Chengzong, however, remained at court to direct military operations — the Ming Court would subsequently launch a strategic counteroffensive in Liaobei.

Ultimately, because of the defeat at Daling River, old Sun finally went home for good and retired.

With the reading of four consecutive edicts rewarding the highest-ranking officials, the substantive business of this special grand court session was concluded. As for other, lesser pending matters, the Emperor would address them in due course.

Next came the entertainment: the Emperor held a great feast for all officials and distributed rewards to his ministers — given Chongzhen's temperament and impoverished state, for him to host a banquet and hand out red envelopes when it wasn't even New Year's was truly no small effort.

The four thousand heads taken this time not only dealt a heavy blow to the Later Jin's hard power — from a certain perspective, the crucial point was that they boosted the confidence of the entire Ming realm, from court to countryside, in resisting the Later Jin.

In all the years since the old chieftain had raised his troops, the Ming state's military strength had been shattered step by step. After Salhu, they had shifted from strategic offense to strategic defense, and it could be said that until today, the Ming military had never achieved victory in a single large-scale campaign.

Even the Battle of Ningyuan, which the Donglin Party hyped to the skies, was in the end nothing more than successfully holding a city once. Setting aside for the moment the subsequent massacre of every soldier and civilian on Juehua Island by the Tartars — even under the walls of Ningyuan, not a single trophy was taken... Yes, it is said the Tartars carried off and burned even the corpses beneath the city walls, so there were no heads.

Without heads, the battle achievements could not be verified, there was no way to conduct propaganda, and the court itself would not take it seriously — phrases like "wherever the cannon struck, countless northern horsemen were slain" were the sort of language border army generals routinely wrote in memorials to the Ministry of War to swindle credit. If enemy kills were counted solely by memorials, never mind the Later Jin — even adding in the Mongols they couldn't have withstood it and would have been exterminated long ago.

This was why Cao Zong received a state-level ceremonial reception upon entering the capital: four thousand heads were laid out in solid reality for the Household Staff to verify the results of battle — no exaggeration needed, no controversy required. The two pyramid-shaped corpse mounds carried their own power to shock; they were indisputable, rock-solid merit.

What these two corpse mounds brought was not merely shock — most importantly, they bolstered the confidence of soldiers and civilians alike, telling the entire realm plainly: the Tartars could be defeated, and the so-called "ten thousand Manchus are invincible" was a joke. As long as the right methods were found, a future that had seemed utterly dark could certainly be transformed.

This confidence might seem intangible, but for a court and populace that had just endured a siege and sunk completely into despair, it was nothing short of a massive shot of adrenaline.

In the end, people all know how to do the math.

Of the four thousand heads, a full three thousand were elite Manchu Eight Banners troops.

The Later Jin's ability to suppress the Mongols and its multitude of bondservants rested entirely on its twenty-thousand-odd elite Manchu warriors. To lose three thousand of those elites in a single battle now was an unbearable, catastrophic loss.

A bandit coalition cannot afford defeat. Once it fails, once its reputation for invincibility is lost, the bandits are left with nothing at all.

Given the current situation, there is no need to say much — just one or two more losses of the same magnitude, and the Later Jin bandit coalition would disintegrate on the spot. Once the core strength drops below a critical threshold, the subordinate forces will turn and devour it.

This point was clear not only to the bandits themselves, but to the Great Ming's sovereign and ministers as well.

Therefore, this round of rewards for the officers and men was accompanied by a national banquet, with an enhanced celebratory function — it was not merely a celebration of the past, but also carried the flavor of looking toward the future and rallying the troops for war.

Thus the great banquet for all officials, held in Huangji Hall, commenced.

In truth, the banquet was no different from usual, except that the scale was somewhat larger and the toasting spectacle a bit more grand.

What was slightly awkward, however, was that after the Emperor later departed, the newly-minted Loyal and Brave Count was surrounded by people pressing drinks on him, ended up utterly drunk, and had to be carried back to his bestowed residence.

After the clamor faded.

That evening, inside Zhengyang Gate, west of the Imperial City, at Renshou Ward — the imperially bestowed Loyal and Brave Count Residence.

Zhang Dongdong was woken by the sound of chatter and laughter from the outer room.

After climbing out of a Ming-style canopy bed and enduring his post-drinking headache, Zhang Dongdong went out to look and found several Transmigrators sitting in the main hall, engaged in animated discussion.

He grabbed a pot of cold tea from the table and gulped it down furiously, wiped his mouth, and the Loyal and Brave Count began to grumble: "Didn't even assign a maid to attend me — look how parched your old man got. Ai-yo, mama, this tribute wine the Ming people brew is absolutely undrinkable. Seems low-proof, but it really goes to your head."

"Well, we didn't see you sending a few barrels of good liquor to the Emperor, did we?"

Xue Haiyuan, chatting nearby, laughed heartily: "Besides, the Emperor did send over a few servants — the question is, do you dare use them? Better to wait a couple of days and hire some household staff ourselves. When the time comes, I'll still need to run background checks on these people — quite a bit of procedure involved."

"Mm." Zhang Dongdong nodded, then turned his gaze beyond the old-style window pasted with white paper: "So this is the residence the Emperor bestowed? What's it like?"

"Rather dilapidated — needs renovation," replied Zhang Zhongqi, dressed in the uniform of a low-ranking military officer. "But it's inside the Second Ring Road, and the area's as big as several dozen siheyuan combined — that puts its value over a hundred billion!"

"Oh, not bad then. Seems the Emperor did put some real investment into winning over this official."

Zhang Zhongqi nodded in agreement: "Yes. Even though Ming-era house prices were low, a grand mansion beside the Imperial City wasn't so easy to come by. If not for the Emperor's decree, would a stingy unit like Shuntian Prefecture have allocated you a residence this big?"

"Let's renovate first — get glass and cement over here first thing." Zhang Dongdong rubbed his throbbing temples with his middle finger: "What's the next step?"

"We'll each be busy with our own tasks. As for you, just sit tight. Once the Emperor finishes up these next few days, he'll definitely summon you privately. When the time comes, just give the responses we've discussed and rehearsed."

"OK!"

And so, the first day after the army's arrival in the capital to present captives passed.

For the sovereign and ministers of the Ming state, and indeed for countless common people, this day held immense significance. The Regional Commander from the south and his formidable subordinates had made their public debut, and the profound repercussions this brought would gradually reveal themselves in the years to come.

At the same moment Cao Zong was drinking cold tea to quench his thirst, in another residence in the capital, a civil official returning home after court was also drinking tea to sober up.

This man was around fifty years of age, exuding an air of refined elegance, with a rank-three rank badge on his chest — he was Cao Jiangjun's nominal colleague, the Ministry of War Right Vice Minister, Hou Xun.

Hou Xun was a native of Henan Guide, from a distinguished gentry lineage, the eldest son of the Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Hou Prefect. The man himself was not widely known, but Hou Xun's son was rather famous in later generations: one of the Four Great Young Masters of the Late Ming, Hou Fangyu.

Three generations of the Hou family were all stalwarts of the Donglin Party. During the Tianqi era, because of their opposition to the Nine Thousand Years, father and sons were all driven back to their old home. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, Hou Xun was restored to office as Censor of Henan Circuit, and only very recently had this man been appointed Vice Minister of War.

Hou Xun had attended today's grand court session in its entirety, including the subsequent banquet, and so upon returning to his residence, Master Hou had drunk a few extra cups of tea — although the Donglin Party members were not particularly fond of Cao Zong, this great victory was, after all, a morale boost, so most people had drunk a few extra cups today.

Just then, a household staff member came to report: visitors had arrived — Master Wei Xu, the Gongke Jishizhong, and Master Hou's old friend, Elder Brother Songming.

Hearing this, Master Hou was momentarily stunned. That these two should come together at this hour was something he found very difficult to fathom, so Hou Xun hurriedly changed his clothes and went out to receive his guests.

Unexpectedly, the moment he met his guests, his old friend Songming sprang up from his chair, bowed deeply to the ground before Master Hou, and at the same time wailed from his mouth: "Brother Dazhen, a great calamity is upon us — the Great Ming is in peril, our Ming Cult is in peril!"

Hearing such a sweeping apocalyptic prophecy, Hou Xun was utterly shocked on the spot.

The trick of "making startling pronouncements for effect" was indeed a stock skill of civil officials, but that was for bamboozling uncultured roughnecks of other classes — since when did the gentry play this game among themselves?

And so Master Hou became furious beyond measure. His face darkened, and he opened his mouth to demand: "Bo Daxing, have you lost your mind?"

Bo Daxing, courtesy name Songming, was the former Military Defense Commissioner of the Xingquan Circuit in Fujian. This gentleman had devoted himself single-mindedly to opposing the Transmigrators, and after discovering that Xiong Wencan in Fujian was already aiding the tyrants in their evil, Master Bo had subsequently gone to Jiangnan to continue his cause. Yet somehow, today he had appeared once more at the Hou residence in the capital.