Chapter 1254: We All Want to Go to India!

Li Guo's reasoning was of course correct. The reason the Shun had been able to hold out against the Great Ming for so many years from the remote corner of Sichuan and Yunnan was, in the end, that things were comparatively equal!

Although the Shun's "equality" had slowly begun to change as the dynasty aged — the upper stratum, represented by the Eight Deliberative Princes, grew richer and richer, while the rank-and-file fubing grew poorer and poorer under year after year of military service. Still, the gap between rich and poor within the Shun could not compare to that under the Zhu Ming, and moreover the Shun's shifts between rich and poor still roughly followed the principle of "all profit from a single source" — that is, military merit determined wealth and poverty.

Of course, the Shun's equality and single-source principle applied only to fubing households. Peasants had no right to be equal with fubing, and they had very little chance of winning land grants and becoming fubing through merit.

But the plundering trade Li Jicheng had carried out in India had completely shattered the equality and single-source principle of the Shun's fubing class.

Those fubing who had followed Li Jicheng to India had each come away with at least several hundred taels of silver — a fubing with a forty-dan holding would not earn that much in ten years, and what a fubing earned still had to cover the costs of military service. No matter how carefully he budgeted, he might not have a few taels left over in a year. A fubing household that could produce several hundred taels at once was almost certainly one whose head held a fairly high office.

Their offices had either been won through hard fighting, or earned by the skill of being born into the right family!

Now a batch of fubing had followed Li Jicheng on a jaunt to the Land of India, and truth be told they had not fought many hard battles, yet they had all come back rich. Everyone had gained wealth out of all proportion to his merits and rank. What were the fubing who had not gone to India to get rich supposed to think? How could they still be expected to go and fight desperately against the powerful Ming army?

Now everyone knew that in India the soldiers were weak and the money plentiful, and there were exotic Brahmin and Kshatriya beauties and lovable lop-eared horses. There was also deadly malaria, to be sure, but it was far better than Burma — going to Burma meant opening up wasteland and farming, so of course you easily fell ill; going to India meant being a "Kshatriya lord," with food brought to your mouth and clothes slipped onto your arms. How could you so easily catch a disease there?

And most crucially, in India there were no endless Ming soldiers to die against!

The long grinding war on the Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan fronts had already bred considerable war-weariness among the Shun's fubing households. Fubing households were self-financing business entities! The costs of war fell on them. If the produce of their land and the subsidies from the Shun court were not enough to cover the costs, a fubing household would go bankrupt!

On the Ming side, the soldiers were all state mercenaries, selling their lives for pay. Once battle was joined there was thick pay and heavy reward, and as long as the court did not go bankrupt and casualties stayed within a tolerable range, they only fought with more and more spirit!

And when the Shun's fubing households, poorer with every battle, ran into them, how could it end well?

So the long war between Ming and Shun had already left the Shun dynasty's 600,000 fubing households thoroughly weary. Were it not for the "single source of profit," the fubing households would probably already have begun deserting in large numbers. But even so, the Shun had inevitably fallen to the disadvantage.

Mortally ill but still perfectly clear-headed, Li Guo knew he could not stop his subordinates' hunger for wealth and change — the human heart is never satisfied! And so, as he spoke, he began to weep.

The old man wept as he spoke: "When E and E's Ama first raised troops, how could we have imagined the glory and splendor of today? E only thought that if we prospered one day, having a mouthful of roujiamo would be enough. The brothers below only wanted a way to stay alive! Now E has been emperor for seventeen years, and those men are either princes or marquises, and the lesser ones have earldoms and viscountcies. They are sick of eating roujiamo. Why are they still not satisfied? Why do they still dream of mountains of gold, mountains of silver, Hu horses, Hu beauties?

If the brave warriors all go to India to seize mountains of gold, mountains of silver, Hu horses, and Hu beauties, who will defend Sichuan and defend Yunnan? Laiheng, my son, E does not have long to live. In the end E will get a grand funeral! But what about you? The Shun is going to perish in your hands."

While Li Guo wept and lectured his son, the Shun's Grandson-Heir Li Jicheng was being stopped at the foot of Wuhua Mountain by a crowd of princes, marquises, ministers, and generals.

Although Li Jicheng was the Grandson-Heir, because his Ama Li Laiheng had married the daughter of the Prince of Qin, Sun Kewang, and had fathered several sons by her, his position had never been secure, and he was not favored by Li Guo. Therefore most of the Shun dynasty's princes, marquises, ministers, and generals were not close to him.

But this time everyone's attitude had changed. The moment they heard he had entered Kunming, they all rushed to the foot of Wuhua Mountain to welcome him — this was not welcoming the Grandson-Heir at all; it was welcoming the God of Wealth!

Before Li Jicheng's party had even reached the mountain gate of Wuhua Mountain (the palace gate of Wuhua Palace), the sharp-eyed princes, marquises, ministers, and generals had already spotted His Highness the Grandson-Heir, and one after another they raised their thumbs in admiration.

"What fine horses! They are the same as the Zhu family's cuirassier horses, I hear. On the Zhu family's territory, such lop-eared horses can sell for 1,000 taels of silver!"

"And those Hu beauties are fine too. That figure — tsk tsk. I hear they can sing and dance!"

"Our Great Shun grows more and more fortunate, producing enlightened sovereigns generation after generation! The Great Ancestor, His Late Majesty, and His Sacred Majesty the present Emperor, and the Crown Prince who oversees the army — all are enlightened sovereigns rarely seen in history. Even His Highness the Grandson-Heir is so wise. How could the nation's fortune not flourish!"

"Right, right, the Grandson-Heir is the wisest of all. He will surely be an enlightened sovereign in the future."

"The Grandson-Heir is here! Quickly, quickly, welcome the Grandson-Heir!"

"Your subjects respectfully wish His Highness the Grandson-Heir ten thousand blessings and golden peace."

Li Jicheng was still far off, yet already a great crowd had knelt. Except for a few Deliberative Princes who did not have to kneel even before Li Guo, everyone had dropped to their knees and kowtowed.

A Grandson-Heir was not a Crown Prince, after all!

In the Shun there had been years when the emperor feigned life while the Crown Prince governed, so the Crown Prince's status was especially high. But the Grandson-Heir had no such standing, and moreover Li Jicheng's generation-rank was especially low — he was Li Zicheng's great-grandson, while many of the marquises and earls at court were old brothers of Li Zicheng. Therefore in the past, only descendants of Shun meritorious officials of his own generation or one generation below had to kowtow to Li Jicheng.

When Li Jicheng saw so many people kneeling to him — among them many old men of Li Zicheng's generation, who in the past had merely gone through the motions when they saw him, but now performed the full ceremony — his heart was naturally overjoyed. This meant his position was secure!

"All rise, all rise. What are you kneeling for? We are all family. E's generation-rank is low; E cannot bear such honor!"

Li Jicheng called for everyone to rise with a smile as he swung down from horseback.

Of course, there were those present who did not kneel. The Prince of Han, Liu Zongmin, did not kneel. He clasped his fists in salute, then came forward beaming, took Li Jicheng by the hand, and asked directly: "Grandson-Heir, I hear you got quite a lot of good things in India?"

Li Jicheng said with a smile: "Grandfather Prince of Han, thanks to your good fortune, Jicheng profited handsomely in India this time. As the saying goes, when you drink the water, think of the source. Our family's enterprise was built up by you, sir, and His Late Majesty together, so this junior's gains in India will certainly include a share for you, sir!"

"Hehehe." Liu Zongmin's mind was a little muddled, but his body was still in fine shape — he could still make use of Hu beauties. He had already spotted Aishwarya, and his eyes had gone wide. "This old man wants nothing else, just a few Hu beauties."

"There are some, there are some, all prepared for you!" Li Jicheng glanced at Aishwarya beside him and laughed. "The goods prepared for you are even better than E's own. E's is a bit dark-skinned. The ones for you, sir, have fair, tender skin!"

"Good, good, good." The old man was so delighted he could not close his mouth. "There is one more thing. You must promise this old man."

"What is it? Speak, sir!"

"Those grandsons of E's all want to go south and try their luck," Liu Zongmin said. "These past few years business in the north has been poor. There is nothing left to seize. They get a bit of land scrip, but it cannot be redeemed for land in Sichuan or Yunnan, so they are not willing to go to Shaanxi or Huguang. You must take them to India!"

"Very well, very well. We will go right after the New Year!" Li Jicheng nodded repeatedly.

When the people nearby saw that Liu Zongmin's grandsons were going to become Indians, they all began clamoring too.

"Grandson-Heir, E's son also wants to go to India!"

"Your Highness the Grandson-Heir, E's grandson just wants to go to India!"

"Your Highness the Grandson-Heir, E is not too old yet. E also wants to go to India — cough cough cough — E can still fight!"

Li Jicheng laughed heartily. "Good, good, let us all go together, all go to India to seize money and women!"

(End of Chapter)