Chapter 1220: Prince of Dai, It's Your Turn to Jump into the Fire Pit! (Please Subscribe)

In fact, Zhu Cilang had long since decided who should receive the throne of this mountain kingdom — it would go to the son of the Commandery Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong.

The Commandery Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong, had rendered great service — in those years he had tied down large numbers of Qing troops in the mountain ravines of Datong Prefecture and the Lüliang Mountains, preventing Dorgon from throwing his full strength southward and helping Zhu Cilang survive the most dangerous years!

Later Zhu Cijiong had recovered Yulin Garrison and Ningxia Garrison, had even beaten back the Shunzhi Emperor when he personally led a campaign, and afterward had retaken Datong Prefecture, marched north beyond the Gobi to fight the various Khalkha tribes, and in the end won a complete victory.

So during this period, when the Zhu Emperor proposed that the assembled ministers evaluate the Twenty Meritorious Officials of the Overcoming-Hardship era, after all the back-and-forth the number-one meritorious official they settled on was the Commandery Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong!

Wu Sanfu, Shi Kefa, Li Yan, Wu Xiang, Zhu Chunchen, Zhu Chunjie, Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Li Ruolian, Yan Yingyuan, Li Yuanyin, Qi Yuanbi, Wu Guoyong, Qin Mingtao, Wang Qi, Hao Yongzhong, Feng Sizhong, Cao Youyi, Shen Tingyang, Yang Zhan, Zeng Ying, and the rest could only rank behind Zhu Cijiong — to say nothing of Wu Sangui, that thrice-serving turncoat, and Jiang Xiang, that twice-serving traitor; those two brought up the very bottom of the Twenty-Four Meritorious Officials.

This number-one meritorious official of the Overcoming-Hardship era was now in Yingtian Prefecture, having returned from Datong Prefecture for the matter of establishing the Kingdom of Luzon.

Although this Kingdom of Luzon was a "private property" that his own mother, the Retired Empress Zhou, had fought to secure for him, to be honest, he did not much care about the matter.

Because he had long ago made inquiries with Zhu Cizhao and learned that Luzon Island, like the other scorching lands of the far south, was a miasmic, pestilential place rife with disease. Although the rainfall was plentiful and there was much flat land, people from the Central Plains could not adapt to the humid climate there and easily contracted epidemics. The mortality rate among migrants was very high, quite possibly exceeding fifty percent!

Moreover, Zhu Cizhao had also told Zhu Cijiong that Luzon Island had a great many typhoons — sometimes a dozen or even twenty in a single year! And the winds were extremely fierce; the great gales sweeping through together with torrential rain did tremendous damage to crops.

So although Luzon Island's territory was not small and the land looked fairly level, its development was very slow. Before the Spanish occupied it, Luzon Island had not even possessed a single state worthy of the name.

Zhu Cijiong, who had long been the top man in the localities, knew well how hard it was to build an enterprise and how difficult to open up wasteland, so he was not much inclined to jump into the Luzon pit — that pit was a bottomless hole, and if he really jumped in, he might well end up bankrupting his entire estate.

His purpose in coming south this time was to "give away" the Kingdom of Luzon. Whoever had the ability to be King of Luzon could go be it; he certainly did not covet it. If his sons had no place to be kings, that was fine too — he was already the "richest man" among the Ming imperial princes, and his family fortune was enough to divide among his sons.

Besides, his several sons were also rather promising; the grown ones had all gained admission to such "famous schools" as the Military Academy, the Nanjing Grand Academy, and the Tianjin Imperial Academy, so they need not worry about finding a path in life.

Today, while Zhu Cilang was holding court in the Hall of Imperial Supremacy to discuss sending troops to aid the Dzungars, he was in the Palace of Benevolent Longevity playing the filial son and fleecing his father, the Retired Emperor Chongzhen!

"Imperial Father, your son is already content with the Pacify-the-North fiefdom and does not want any Kingdom of Luzon. Moreover, your son has long been a prince in the north, is familiar with the Mongols, and is accustomed to the northern climate. If I truly wanted a vassal kingdom, I would simply go north and seize territory from the Russians — why would I need to go south to that damp, sweltering place?

Besides, your son still has so many younger brothers, most of whom now have no path in life. Imperial Father, why not simply choose one of them to go be King of Luzon!"

Now this was a true filial son!

The Retired Emperor Chongzhen listened with satisfaction, his face nearly breaking into a full smile.

During this period the Luzon kingdom business had already opened for trade; eighteen princely households had already invested, claiming 250 li (square li) of count's land, and had begun organizing manpower to go develop Luzon. Chongzhen watched with envy, and his beloved Consort Hu watched with red eyes, wishing she could carve off half the Kingdom of Luzon to play with herself. But the Retired Empress Zhou blocked the way, not allowing Chongzhen and Consort Hu to meddle, which left the Retired Emperor Chongzhen rather disgruntled.

He had not expected that today Cijiong, this child, would yield it of his own accord — now this was a filial son! How much better than that unfilial wretch!

The Retired Emperor Chongzhen asked, "Cijiong, have you spoken of this matter with that unfilial — with your elder brother?"

"I have spoken of it," Zhu Cijiong said, and as he spoke, a sigh suddenly reached his ears.

It was the Retired Empress Zhou sighing — this child Cijiong was simply too honest, far too different from his elder brother Cilang.

"What did Chun-ge say?" the Retired Empress Zhou asked hurriedly.

"My elder brother said nothing," Zhu Cijiong replied.

"Said nothing..." The Retired Emperor Chongzhen grew a little nervous.

Zhu Cijiong smiled and said, "Imperial Father, if you can recommend a Commandery Prince to take over the throne of Luzon, then eldest brother will certainly agree."

Well, of course — if someone was jumping into the pit, what reason would Zhu Cilang have to stop his younger brother from getting out?

"Is that true?" The Retired Emperor Chongzhen thought for a moment. "Among Our sons, apart from the few of you born before the jiashen year, it is Cixuan and Ciyi who are the more capable..."

Zhu Cixuan was that very fortunate Prince of Fu, still studying at the Yingtian Imperial Academy. And Zhu Ciyi was Consort Hu's son, the eleventh in line, born in the first year of Hongxing, now eighteen years old. After graduating from middle school he had failed to pass any examinations, so he was living at home off his parents, waiting to be enfeoffed as a Commandery Prince at the age of twenty.

This child — to be honest — was not even as good as Zhu Cihuan. Zhu Cihuan had been a boy no one doted on or loved since childhood, and of course no one managed him either; he had to rely entirely on himself.

Zhu Ciyi, by contrast, had been spoiled rotten by Chongzhen and Consort Hu. From childhood he had disliked studying, and he spent money without any sense of measure. After graduating from middle school he had been unwilling to go on living in the suffocatingly dull Laoshan and Pukou, so he asked Chongzhen for the West Garden Villa inside Nanjing city, and went there to carouse by the Qinhuai River every day.

Chongzhen of course hoped that Zhu Ciyi could go be King of Luzon, but he felt that doing so would be somewhat unfair to Zhu Cixuan — now that Zhu Cijiong, Zhu Cizhao, and Zhu Cihuan all had fiefdoms or vassal kingdoms, and Zhu Cixuan ranked right behind Zhu Cihuan, it ought to be his turn to be King of Luzon!

So Chongzhen was too embarrassed to speak up. Just as he was fretting over how to put Zhu Ciyi forward, someone had already called out, "His Majesty has arrived!"

It turned out that after Zhu Cilang had finished the joint meeting of the two courts, he learned that Zhu Cijiong had come to the Palace of Benevolent Longevity, and so had come over to meet with his brother.

Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cilang shared the same father and mother, were close in age, and looked very much alike — only Zhu Cilang was slightly taller, and Zhu Cijiong slightly shorter.

Moreover, the elder Zhu Cilang looked young, while the younger Zhu Cijiong looked old — the days of being a deadbeat up in the Lüliang Mountains with a mountain of debt had not been easy!

"Third Brother, no need to stand on ceremony."

Seeing that Zhu Cijiong was about to bow, Zhu Cilang hastily waved him off, then performed a bow with clasped hands to Chongzhen and Empress Zhou, and only afterward took a seat together with Zhu Cijiong.

"Third Brother," Zhu Cilang said with a genial smile once seated, "have you come to resign the kingship of Luzon to Imperial Father and Imperial Mother?"

"That's right!" Zhu Cijiong laughed. "Your subject-brother already has a fiefdom, so I ought to give the opportunity to my younger brothers."

"Oh." Zhu Cilang nodded, thinking to himself: Zhu Cixuan is doing perfectly well as a rent-collecting landlord, and he's far too clever to jump into a fire pit... If he won't jump into the fire pit, then it will have to be that scoundrel Zhu Ciyi.

With that thought, he smiled and asked Chongzhen, "Imperial Father, do you have a candidate in mind?"

"I do, I do. We are thinking of choosing between Cixuan and Ciyi." Chongzhen said, "Only We do not know which one to send to Luzon."

"Then let Eleventh Brother go." Zhu Cilang smiled. "Old Six is too fat; he has feared heat since he was small and does not like to move about. He cannot go to Luzon."

"We also feel that Ciyi is more suitable."

Chongzhen was satisfied, but Empress Zhou was unhappy again. She snorted and said, "What about Cijiong's sons? Only one can inherit the princedom; the rest will all be commoners."

Zhu Cilang laughed, then cast a measuring glance at his brother, which made Zhu Cijiong shiver — and in his heart he could not have complained more about his own mother.

"Imperial Mother, do not worry," Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Your son has already found a suitable piece of territory for Second Brother to found a state on!"

"Where is it?" Empress Zhou asked at once.

"In the northwest!" Zhu Cilang said. "Carve a piece of land off the Dzungar Kingdom."

Zhu Cijiong knew this was bad news and quickly frowned. "Imperial Brother, Sengge surely won't agree to that, will he?"

(End of Chapter)