Chapter 1346: Déjà Vu! (Please Subscribe)

Chongqing Prefecture, Chaotian Palace.

Li Laiheng, Emperor of the Shun, sat fuming on the dragon throne in the Council Hall, and the sight of the loyal ministers and brave generals of the Shun standing below only made him angrier.

It was these very men who had coaxed him, their Emperor, out of the comfortable city of Kunming Prefecture and all the way to Chongqing Prefecture. Only after he arrived in Chongqing did he discover he had fallen into an enormous pit.

Because Zhu Cilang had followed right on his heels and also come to Chongqing Prefecture!

Li Laiheng was in Chaotian Palace City in Chongqing Prefecture, while Zhu Cilang was in Fengdu City in the same prefecture. The two places were only a little over two hundred li apart!

How was Li Laiheng supposed to run away now? This was king against king — whoever took one step back would face unthinkable consequences!

So now he could not leave Chongqing Prefecture at all!

Because the moment he left, the morale of the Shun army in Sichuan would surely collapse! There would be no need to fight then — everyone would just flee to Yunnan together! And if even retreating to Yunnan could not hold, they would keep running all the way to Burma.

Of course, fleeing to Burma was no great matter. The Shun had long since conquered Burma and Arakan, and there was plenty of territory to settle the fleeing military households. Even if there really were six hundred thousand households, there would be places for them. Nor was there any worry about feeding two or three million people — Burma had vast amounts of land that could be opened for cultivation, and nearby Siam and India both had grain; getting some over would be no problem.

Besides, Burma was a land of miasma and pestilence. If two or three million people migrated there, it would be doing well if one and a half million survived in the end.

But moving two or three million people was not a matter of just flapping one's lips — it was an unprecedented, colossal migration project! There was simply no way to let two or three million people stampede into Burma in one rush. With that many people going together, there was no way to supply food and drink along the route!

Southern Yunnan and northern Burma had limited output, and with two or three million people crowding southward along the roads, the journey could not be completed in less than two or three months. By then, at least two-thirds would surely die! If malaria then broke out once they reached Burma, in the end perhaps only two or three hundred thousand would remain.

With too few people, there would be no way to hold the situation down!

So in order to cover the orderly retreat of two or three million military households, he, the Emperor of the Shun, could only hold the line at Chongqing and go nowhere else.

But could Chongqing be held? Would it be surrounded?

Chaotian Palace City was indeed extraordinarily strong, and its terrain was extremely strategic. The problem was that the terrain around Chongqing was not an impassable natural barrier — going around it was not difficult.

Once Chaotian Palace City was surrounded on all sides, Li Laiheng would meet a bad end!

He should never have come to Chongqing!

Li Laiheng sighed. Just as he was wondering what encouraging words to say, Niu Jinxing, who had accompanied Li Laiheng to Chongqing, suddenly stepped out of the ranks and reported: "Your Majesty, according to reports from the garrisons at Changshou, Dianjiang, Liangshan, and other places, the remnant Ming court is holding civil examinations and redistributing land in Shizhu, Zhongzhou, Wanzhou, Fengdu, Fuzhou, Yunyang, Qutang, Wushan, Kaixian, Daning, and other areas."

"What? Left Assistant Niu, what did you say?" Li Laiheng had not quite understood.

"Your Majesty," Niu Jinxing said, "the remnant Ming court is holding civil examinations and redistributing land in the various prefectures and counties of eastern Sichuan!"

Li Laiheng was dumbfounded!

What was Zhu Cilang trying to do? Holding civil examinations was one thing, but what did redistributing land mean? You are the Emperor of the Great Ming! Not the Roving King of a rebel army, not a White Lotus sorcerer — what land are you redistributing? Right, you did this once before in Xiangyang and Nanyang! Now you are at it again — truly hateful!

Li Laiheng's brows knitted tightly. At a loss, he said in a low voice: "The Zhu bandit is deceiving the people of Sichuan, buying hearts with fraud. How should we respond?"

How to respond? There was no way, of course.

The ministers below were all silent, and even Song Xiance, always full of stratagems, was at his wit's end.

"Scholar Song!" Li Laiheng did not stand on ceremony and called Song Xiance out directly. "You are the Grand Strategist — you must have a way!"

"Ah, this subject has a matter to report!" Song Xiance did indeed have something to say.

"Speak quickly, speak quickly!" Li Laiheng seemed to have found hope and urged Song Xiance to offer his counsel at once.

"Your Majesty," Song Xiance said, "should not the tomb of the old Emperor, our dynastic founder, be moved?"

"You mean the imperial tomb at Bishan?"

Song Xiance nodded: "My Emperor, the old Emperor once burned the Tianshou Mountains. If the remnant Ming reach Bishan, they will surely open the coffin and desecrate the corpse to vent their hatred. Therefore this subject suggests that the old Emperor's coffin be taken from Bishan and sent to Yunnan for burial."

Li Laiheng knew that Song Xiance simply wanted to slip away under the pretext of escorting the coffin! But he could not very well refuse to let Li Zicheng "move house"!

"Will it be safe once it goes to Yunnan?" Li Laiheng asked in a low voice.

"My Emperor," Song Xiance said, "in recent years this old subject has traveled through the great mountains on the border between southern Yunnan and Burma, searching for an auspicious site, and I did indeed find a dragon's lair. I named it Dragon Valley. It lies among the mountains, unknown to men. Both former Emperors could be buried there, and it should be absolutely secure."

"Dragon Valley in Yunnan?" Li Laiheng asked. "Is it safe? It won't be dug up by anyone?"

"It will not, absolutely not!" Song Xiance said. "The place is extremely hidden; it is not even on any map. Only this old subject knows of it. This old subject can personally escort the old Emperor's coffin south, and once the reburial is complete, I will return north to advise Your Majesty!"

As expected, he wants to run!

Li Laiheng was furious inside! But he could not have someone hack the Grand Strategist Song Xiance to death with one blow — the Shun was governed by the council of eight kings, not by one man's arbitrary will. And now that things were going badly, Li Laiheng could not seize sole power — that would not be seizing power, but seizing blame!

Besides, Song Xiance was, after all, from the Shun old-camp faction (all the Shun forces from before the Shun-Xi merger were called the old-camp faction, and the Xi forces were called the west-camp faction). Li Laiheng could not tear down his own pillar of support!

"King of Sui, King of Tang, what do you two think?" Li Laiheng suppressed his anger and asked the two council kings present in Chongqing — Tian Jianxiu, King of Sui, and Liu Wenxiu, King of Tang.

Tian Jianxiu said: "My Emperor, the burial place of the old Emperor, our dynastic founder, is the very dragon vein of our Shun dynasty. Not the slightest carelessness can be allowed. The Grand Strategist understands the workings of heaven; entrusting this matter to him guarantees absolute security."

Liu Wenxiu also said: "My Emperor, this matter is of the utmost urgency. The Grand Strategist should be sent to the Bishan imperial tomb as soon as possible to move the old Emperor. In addition, the old Emperor of our west camp must also be reburied. I suggest moving the coffin of the west camp's old Emperor to U-Tsang and burying him in the Kunlun Mountains."

"King of Tang," Li Laiheng asked in a deep voice, "are you also going to U-Tsang to find an auspicious site for the west camp's old Emperor?"

"I do not know how to read geomancy," Liu Wenxiu shook his head, "and moreover, I must remain in Chongqing Prefecture to fight the remnant Ming. I cannot go to U-Tsang."

Li Laiheng's anger eased a little, and he forced out a smile: "Does the King of Tang have a good plan to defeat the enemy?"

"I would not dare call it a good plan to defeat the enemy," Liu Wenxiu said, "but it should let us hold out in Chongqing Prefecture for a while longer."

"If the King of Tang has a clever scheme, tell me quickly!" Li Laiheng said hurriedly.

Liu Wenxiu said: "An isolated city can never be defended. So if we wish to hold Chongqing for long, we must divide our forces and garrison Hezhou and Luzhou, forming a mutually supporting triangle with the city of Chongqing Prefecture, each aiding the others. Only then can we hold out."

Li Laiheng asked: "Who can hold Hezhou? Who can hold Luzhou?"

Liu Wenxiu cupped his hands and said: "My Emperor, I can lead troops out to garrison Hezhou. As for Luzhou, we may ask the King of Sui to take command there."

Tian Jianxiu, King of Sui, immediately took up the thread: "My Emperor, with me holding Luzhou, the rear route of Chongqing Prefecture will be secure. Rest assured!"

Rest assured? Rest assured and wait to die? Li Laiheng understood perfectly well — the two of you have worked this out together, haven't you! Running off together! And you call yourselves council kings!

"Good, good," Li Laiheng nodded repeatedly, and said through gritted teeth, "With the King of Tang holding Hezhou and the King of Sui holding Luzhou, I am assured! The matter of moving the tomb at Bishan is entrusted to the Strategist. Left Assistant, do you have anywhere to go? Would you like to take a force somewhere and hold it?"

"My Emperor," Niu Jinxing said with a frown, "this subject is a civil official and does not know how to command troops. This subject will remain in Chongqing Prefecture to help Your Majesty manage government affairs."

Li Laiheng let out a breath and thought: At least there is still one with a conscience. He nodded and said: "Good. We two, sovereign and subject, will hold Chongqing Prefecture and fight the remnant Ming to the death with one heart!"

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(End of Chapter)