Chapter 14: Are the Tartar Caitiffs Formidable, or Are the Roving Bandits Formidable

On the afternoon of the fifteenth day of the third month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Wang Cheng'en, who had barely closed his eyes in nearly two days, was hurriedly summoned by one of his adopted grandsons to see the Chongzhen Emperor.

Zhu Cilang knew that it must be the battle report of Juyong Pass's fall reaching the capital! In another day, the report that Li Zicheng's great army had occupied Changping would also arrive in the capital. By the seventeenth day of the third month, Li Zicheng's great army would appear northwest of Beijing!

By then, dreaming of using a bit of silver and a chunk of meat to rope in two or three thousand stout fellows would be pure fantasy.

But even though Zhu Cilang had seized a critical window of time and gathered the strong and brave together, they were still just a disorderly mob lacking organization and cohesion. And to make these men willing to follow when Beijing fell, Zhu Cilang still had to put in some serious effort at persuasion!

Wu Sanfu had by this time already brought his own household retainers to the inner drill ground. They were not many — eighty-three in all. Forty-three of them were older uncles and elders, and the rest were youths of sixteen or seventeen. Household retainers were a lifelong occupation, usually hereditary. Calling them household retainers actually undersold it; calling them household vassals would have been more fitting.

So when Wu Xiang spoke of three thousand household retainers, the unit of count was not "men" but "households." Since the unit was the household, the maximum deployable number was not three thousand — there would be many old retainers past their prime and young retainers not yet fully grown.

At present, all the household retainers in their prime were with Wu Sangui's army. Those who had followed Wu Xiang into the capital were naturally the old and the young.

Though these retainers were not particularly robust, in Zhu Cilang's eyes they were a precious asset. The old retainers were rich in experience, and the young retainers who could be raised and educated at Wu Xiang's side were surely youths worth cultivating. If he could turn these youths into his own companions, it would be easier to build a core armed force of his own in the future...

"We little ones pay our respects to the Crown Prince, Thousand Years!"

The Wu family retainers were indeed far more orderly and sharp than the stout fellows Wang Cheng'en had gathered. Eighty-odd men formed eight rows in the great hall and together bowed in salute to Zhu Cilang.

Among them were Zhu Cilang's chief guard of the Eastern Palace, Zhu Chunjie; his study companion eunuch, Qiu Zhizhong; a mounted guard of the Eastern Depot named Zhang Tao; a banner commander of the Valiant Guard Camp named Wang Zhou; and a company commander of the Purified Army named Pan Shuchen. Zhang Tao, Wang Zhou, and Pan Shuchen had all been selected by Qiu Zhizhong, the study companion eunuch, from the stout fellows Wang Cheng'en had gathered, on Zhu Cilang's orders.

The mounted guard named Zhang Tao had been born with a ferocious face and had something of a wicked reputation in the Eastern Depot, nicknamed Zhang the King of Hell — which told one all one needed to know about the man and his conduct in office.

Wang Zhou, the banner commander of the Valiant Guard Camp, had started as a firearms soldier. He was tall and broad, but his face was a mass of pockmarks, hideous beyond words, all from a musket bursting its barrel. It was precisely that burst barrel that had kept him in the capital recovering from his wounds. Otherwise he would most likely have died a martyr at Ningwu Pass.

Pan Shuchen, the company commander of the Purified Army, was far fairer of face, refined and scholarly, like a man of letters. He was also the oldest of the three, in his forties, and had served more than ten years in the Purified Army at Nanhaizi, rising from an ordinary eunuch soldier to company commander. Like Wang Zhou, he had started as a firearms soldier and was now a company commander of the Purified Army's firearms troops. The Purified Army's firearms troops had been transferred wholesale to Zhu Cilang, and counted as the most combat-effective force in his hands.

The firearms they were equipped with were fine pieces — part of the batch of turtledove-foot muskets that Zheng Zhilong had sent to Dengzhou after the great battle of Songshan and Jinzhou. At the time, the Ming Ministry of War had wanted to transfer Zheng Zhilong to defend Juehua Island. Zheng Zhilong naturally refused, so he sent a batch of high-quality firearms produced in Guangdong and Macao to Dengzhou as support for the anti-Qing war effort. Most of those firearms went to the Guanning Army, but some were shipped to Beijing and distributed to the Valiant Guard Camp and the Nanhaizi Purified Army. Of those, three hundred turtledove-foot muskets ended up in the Purified Army's hands, all issued to the musketeers Pan Shuchen had brought with him.

"Gentlemen, listen carefully!" Zhu Cilang's face had turned grave, and his eyes blazed as he looked upon the men standing in the great hall, speaking each word deliberately. "Juyong Pass has fallen, and the Roving Bandit is about to bring his army to the walls of the capital. As Crown Prince and foundation of the state, in this hour of peril We must step forward and escort the Son of Heaven south to the auxiliary capital. Eunuch Wang and Capital Camps Commandant Wu Xiang have both been ordered to carry out this mission of protecting the imperial carriage and journeying south together with Us.

You gentlemen are either household retainers of Commandant Wu, or men of Ours or of Eunuch Wang. Are you willing now to stand with Us, Eunuch Wang, and Commandant Wu to safeguard the Great Ming and share in the prosperity of Jiangnan?"

When these words were finished, a wave of sharp intakes of breath swept through the hall.

Juyong Pass had fallen, and a million Roving Bandits were about to strike Beijing... Was the Great Ming about to perish?

"We are willing to follow the Crown Prince!"

At that moment someone let out the first shout.

Zhu Cilang cast his gaze over and saw a youth of seventeen or eighteen, one of Wu Xiang's household retainers. Young in years, but built like an ox, his face all hard flesh — one look told you he was a fellow who defied ill fortune.

"This little one is also willing to follow the Crown Prince!"

Another voice roared out. Zhu Cilang looked again and saw a short, stocky youth with thick brows and large eyes. Though not tall, he was clearly solid and powerfully built.

"This little one, Wang Zhou, is also willing to follow Your Highness the Crown Prince and avenge Regional Commander Zhou!"

The third to step forward and declare himself was Wang Zhou of the Valiant Guard Camp. He had originally been a subordinate of Zhou Yuji, and with his former master dead in battle, he was grinding his teeth with hatred.

"This subject is also willing to follow the Crown Prince and escort the imperial carriage south."

The one speaking now was Pan Shuchen. Before Zhu Cilang he called himself "this subject" rather than "this slave" — which showed, first, that he was not so close to Zhu Cilang, and second, that he had a certain pride.

Zhu Cilang smiled and nodded at him, then turned his cold gaze upon his own chief guard, Zhu Chunjie.

Zhu Chunjie was still in a daze. He had followed Zhu Cilang for many years and knew this Crown Prince's character all too well... he was a little Chongzhen! Always proper and well-behaved, a bit rigid about principles — absolutely the good child every parent could rest easy about.

But what had gotten into the good child today? He had been doing outrageous things without end... and he had even coaxed that honest eunuch Wang Cheng'en into doing outrageous things with him.

And what he was doing now — escorting the imperial carriage south, personally organizing an armed escort — was that something a Crown Prince could do? The Son of Heaven could not possibly issue an edict ordering the Crown Prince to do such a thing, so the Crown Prince was now acting on his own authority. Taken to its fullest extent, it could even amount to rebellion!

As Zhu Chunjie was mulling this over in confusion, Zhu Cilang's cold gaze fixed on him, and he broke out in a cold sweat at once. He hastily declared, "This subject also follows Your Highness, even unto ten thousand deaths without flinching!"

"This old slave also swears to follow to the death." Qiu Zhizhong also spoke up. He had been assigned to the Crown Prince's side by Wang Cheng'en — nominally a study companion, but in reality bearing the responsibility of keeping watch.

But now that Wang Cheng'en was in on the scheme with Zhu Cilang... to whom could he report? Go over their heads and report to the Chongzhen Emperor?

The other party was the Crown Prince, Wang Cheng'en, and possibly Empress Zhou as well... Better to let it go!

"We little ones are willing to follow the Crown Prince..."

"We little ones are willing to follow..."

Once someone took the lead, more and more voices declared their support, and soon the several dozen men in the great hall all pledged to "follow to the death."

But Zhu Cilang knew these were empty words, just playing along with him. Fortunately, he was no pushover himself. More than ten years as a finance dog had not been for nothing... his skills at analysis and persuasion might not have counted for much in later ages, but in the present day, they were surely first in all the land, were they not?

With that thought, Zhu Cilang beckoned to the first youth who had answered him. "Stout fellow, step forward and speak."

The youth showed no sign of timidity, strode up boldly, and bowed again.

Zhu Cilang then beckoned to the second youth who had spoken up, calling him forward as well.

"What are the honored names of you two stout fellows?" Zhu Cilang asked with a smile.

"This little one is Sun Fugui," the tall youth answered.

"This little one is Wang Guoyong," the short, stocky youth replied.

"Are you both household retainers of Commandant Wu?" Zhu Cilang asked as he took up two writs of princely command and began filling in the names.

"Exactly so."

The two youths answered together.

"Have you seen the Tartar caitiffs?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

"I have."

"This little one has too."

Zhu Cilang asked again, "Then are the Tartar caitiffs fierce? Are they formidable?"

"Formidable!"

"Formidable, of course!"

Both youths gave affirmative answers.

"Then what of the roving bandits?" Zhu Cilang set down the brush and asked in a loud voice. "Which of you have seen the roving bandits? Who has fought the roving bandits? Who has fought the Tartar caitiffs? Which are more formidable — the roving bandits or the Tartar caitiffs? Tell Us all about it."

(End of Chapter)