Chapter 1163: My Prince, Would You Rather Lose Your Virtue or Your Life?

Honpuku-ji had actually already been broken into once by the Shimazu clan!

Just this afternoon, as dusk was approaching, the Shimazu men finally finished filling in a section of the moat on the north side of Honpuku-ji, then launched an all-out assault, using volley fire to inflict heavy casualties on the defenders, and in the end broke straight into the temple courtyard.

The situation at that moment was extremely dire — Shimazu warriors and Zhu Cihuan's samurai guards were locked in chaotic hand-to-hand combat right outside the main hall where Zhu Cihuan was sheltering, and they very nearly burst into the hall to cut him down. Hoshina Masateru, guarding at Zhu Cihuan's side, had already begged him with tears streaming down his face to perform seppuku. Just as this prince was in utter despair and about to draw his sword to cut his own throat, the Shimazu army, which clearly held the upper hand and seemed on the verge of victory, was miraculously beaten back.

Although Honpuku-ji had barely been held, Zhu Cihuan now understood that his life was most likely forfeit.

Of the 2,000 samurai under his command, nearly half were dead or wounded, and fewer than 1,000 could still fight. Worse still, his own matchlocks were completely suppressed by the enemy's flintlocks — the Shimazu troops using flintlocks could form much denser ranks, and the flintlock's rate of fire was clearly higher than the matchlock's. So every exchange of gunfire at the gaps in the wall was always a one-sided slaughter! After several rounds of gunfire, Zhu Cihuan's matchlock men had already lost over half their number, with only a little over three hundred still able to fight. On the enemy side, the Shimazu army alone still had more than 1,000 flintlocks that could fire!

If one added in the Spanish soldiers and the Japanese troops attached to the Spanish contingent, the disparity in strength became even more overwhelming.

So tomorrow at dawn would be the day of death for Zhu Cihuan, Commandery Prince of Chongqing of the Great Ming.

Knowing he was going to die, Zhu Cihuan could only ask Hoshina Masateru for paper and brush, and began writing his death poem in the main hall by the dim light of a candle.

Zhu Cihuan had studied poetry; he was not particularly good, but he could manage a few lines. Yet now, facing death, he could not for the life of him squeeze out a single immortal verse. This must be what they meant by "the hardest thing since ancient times is death alone." But no matter how bitter and hard it was, Zhu Cihuan finally squeezed out four lines of doggerel that would later become widely circulated.

He had just finished the doggerel and was still weeping when the door of the main hall suddenly burst open with a bang. Startled, Zhu Cihuan looked up hurriedly and saw Hoshina Masateru rushing in, all haste and fury.

Zhu Cihuan was now somewhat afraid of seeing Hoshina, because this fellow had lately been bringing him nothing but heart-stopping bad news. So he did not dare ask, and only stared at Hoshina's face, blackened by gunpowder smoke.

"Great Prince, Your Highness — have you finished your death poem?" Hoshina, however, had noticed the paper and brush laid out on the floor.

"It's done," Zhu Cihuan sighed.

"Let me have a look first." Hoshina Masateru knelt down in front of Zhu Cihuan, picked up the white paper with four lines of brush writing, and read aloud: "Stocks carry risk, be cautious when entering the market; one moment of carelessness, and both eyes stream with tears. This... this is a death poem?"

"Yes!" said Zhu Cihuan. "Consider it a warning to posterity!" Then he asked, "Hoshina, has the Shimazu army begun attacking again?"

Hoshina Masateru shook his head. "Not yet. They have only sent an envoy."

"An envoy?" Zhu Cihuan asked in a low voice. "To demand surrender?"

"No," said Hoshina.

Zhu Cihuan sighed. "I knew it wouldn't be. Then what have they come for?"

"They," Hoshina paused, "the Shimazu clan wishes to give Your Highness two choices!"

"Which two?" Zhu Cihuan asked quickly.

"The first is that Your Highness takes his own life and dies for his country!" said Hoshina.

Zhu Cihuan sighed and said, "There's no need to choose. This prince was just preparing to take his own life. It's just... just... I'm a little afraid of death!"

As he spoke, tears streamed down Zhu Cihuan's face. This time he had truly lost everything — he had thrown his very life into the bargain!

Hoshina Masateru shook his head rapidly and said, "Your Highness need not fear death, need not fear death — because, because Your Highness still has a way to live!"

"A way to live?" Zhu Cihuan raised his eyes to Hoshina, his face full of bitterness. "You still want this prince to surrender? Masateru, this prince has been a prisoner before; I know what that tastes like, and I do not wish to be one again — and moreover, I cannot be one..."

He still understood something of the larger situation. This was no longer the time when Li Zicheng was sweeping across the realm; this was the time when the Great Ming was at the height of its power. If he surrendered to the Shimazu clan, sooner or later he would fall into Ming hands again, and then he would still die!

"No, no, no — it is not that they want Your Highness to surrender; they could not bear such a thing either!" Hoshina Masateru shook his head. "The way to live that the Shimazu clan offers Your Highness is marriage!"

"Marriage?" Zhu Cihuan stared blankly at Hoshina. "What does that mean?"

Hoshina Masateru said, "Marriage means Your Highness takes a bride!"

"That, this prince knows. This prince has been married before."

Hoshina Masateru smiled. "Then marry once more! In this way Your Highness can keep his life!"

"Marry whom?" Zhu Cihuan asked again.

"Marry Shimazu Nogi," said Hoshina Masateru. "You have seen her — she is the daughter of Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the one who commanded the Shimazu army and beat us to a pulp!"

"Her?" Zhu Cihuan was stunned again, truly unable to make sense of it. "She wants to marry this prince? And yet she beat this prince into this state — I nearly died!"

Hoshina Masateru nodded repeatedly, seemingly in full agreement. "Your Highness is quite right. Shimazu Nogi is indeed not good — she struck so ruthlessly that she very nearly did you in!

So all the more reason you must marry her. Once she is yours, you can give her a thorough dressing-down!"

"This..." Zhu Cihuan still seemed somewhat hesitant. "Let this prince think it over carefully!"

"Think it over?" Hoshina Masateru looked at Zhu Cihuan. "Your Highness, is there any need to think about this?"

Indeed! On one side, suicide! On the other, the bridal chamber with candles lit — and Shimazu Nogi was a little beauty besides! What was there to think about?

"This prince is thinking about how to deal with her!" Zhu Cihuan said through gritted teeth. "And what this prince does not understand is why the Shimazu clan wants to marry their daughter to me?"

Indeed! What was so good about Zhu Cihuan? No diploma to speak of, no job either, it seemed; he had even botched stock trading, lost all his father's retirement money, lost his own house, and fled to America with a mountain of debt — only to run straight into a great battle and be inexplicably besieged.

He was, at bottom, a complete loser! Apart from being a little handsome, he had not a single virtue from head to toe. If one had to find some bright spot, it was only that his father was a former emperor and his elder brother the current emperor...

"Because the Ming relief army has arrived, and is now locked in battle with the great army of the Kingdom of Spain in the Flood Valley!"

The speaker was a woman's voice, and then a rather petite woman dressed in kendo attire was seen stepping in from outside the main hall. She came before Zhu Cihuan and made a graceful bow: "This humble woman Nogi asks after His Highness's golden well-being."

Zhu Cihuan was completely dumbfounded. What was going on?

"No— Nogi, there's a battle going on right now!" Zhu Cihuan stammered. "How— how did you just walk in? The people outside—"

"Your Highness," Shimazu Nogi straightened up on her own and said with a smile, "your guards all followed you in order to win merit and build their careers. Is this not precisely the opportunity to win merit and build careers?

Your Highness, this is also a fine opportunity for you to win merit and build a career!"

"Win merit and build a career?" Zhu Cihuan seemed to understand a little. "Nogi, you mean... the Shimazu clan is going to turn their coats and go over to the Celestial Court?"

Shimazu Nogi nodded gently. "It is because the Shimazu clan admires Your Highness's benevolence and righteousness that we have resolutely turned our coats and gone over to the Ming. Your Highness will not reject this humble woman and the Shimazu clan, will you?"

"Of course he will not reject you!" Hoshina Masateru had already spoken up on Zhu Cihuan's behalf. "His Highness is going to give you a thorough dressing-down!"

"Is that so?" Shimazu Nogi blinked a pair of somewhat bewitching large eyes and cast a coquettish glance at Zhu Cihuan. "So then, His Highness has already agreed to take this humble woman as his bride?"

"This, this..." Zhu Cihuan looked Shimazu Nogi over carefully once more, and finally nodded. "This prince agrees! But you must explain clearly to this prince — how should this prince go about winning merit and building a career?"

Zhu Cihuan still had ambition! He still had a mountain of debt! If he could not win merit and build a career, how was he supposed to wriggle out of those debts?

(End of Chapter)