Chapter 1439: Just Look How Angry You've Made Our Father!

"The Heilongjiang Protectorate and the Andong Protectorate cover an enormous area. The two protectorates combined are almost exactly the territory of the old Nurgan Regional Military Commission. We have looked through the documents left from those early years — at its height, the Nurgan Regional Military Commission had three hundred and eighty-four guards and battalions, and its territory was roughly the size of the Central Plains. It truly was a land of great promise! It is a pity our forebears were too honest. When they were strong, all they thought of was placating distant peoples; they never thought of properly developing that territory. That is how the disaster of the Jianzhou rising came about. Fortunately, your eldest brother is not like our forebears — he schemes day and night about how to turn other people's property into his own. So now, from among you, twelve are to be chosen to go with the Crown Prince to the territory of the Heilongjiang and Andong Protectorates and establish a foundation there! You are only the first batch. In the future, more of our family's descendants will go to Heilongjiang and Andong."

The one rambling on like this was, of course, the Chongzhen Retired Emperor. By now he understood Zhu Cilang's plan. His twelve sons were to go to the territory of the Heilongjiang Protectorate and the Andong Protectorate, and they would have to put down roots for a lifetime — no, their sons and grandsons would all have to put down roots there forever!

And after the Chongzhen Retired Emperor had leafed through the materials on the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, he rather approved of Zhu Cilang's approach, while also feeling somewhat resentful toward their forebears. How could such a vast stretch of land not be properly governed? And the old Zhu family was hardly short of dragon sons and phoenix grandsons! How many princesses could the Nurgan Regional Military Commission possibly have had?

Handing each of them a Prince or Commandery Prince was impossible — and no one would have felt at ease doing so! But what difficulty was there in handing each of them a State-Supporting General or State-Founding General title?

Wouldn't that have made Nurhaci's mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, and great-great-great-grandmother all wives of Great Ming State-Supporting Generals and State-Founding Generals? Could a Nurhaci ever have been born then?

If, from the time of our Yongle grandfather, State-Supporting Generals and State-Founding Generals had been sent out to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, then by the Wanli years, what Tartars would have been left in the territory of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission? They would all have been descendants of the old Zhu family. Once the masters all bore the surname Zhu, could the people below still have borne the surnames Tunggiya, Gūwalgiya, Magiya, Socoro, or Heseri?

Moreover, once large numbers of the Zhu family's State-Supporting Generals and State-Founding Generals were dispatched to the territory of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission to spread their branches and scatter their leaves, within a few decades at most they would form an enormous network, drawing in most of the more powerful tribes in the Nurgan Regional Military Commission's territory.

And the warriors of those tribes would then be able to climb upward along this network, becoming soldiers of the Great Ming army, charging into battle for the Great Ming dynasty.

If the warriors of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission became the claws and fangs of the old Zhu family, could the Mongols next door still swagger?

So Chongzhen also knew that Zhu Cilang's strategy for governing Liaodong could truly bring lasting peace and stability. But the problem was, the ones now going to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission to spread their branches and scatter their leaves were all Chongzhen's own sons! And they were to go empty-handed. At that thought, the Chongzhen Retired Emperor could not help but shed tears.

Seeing their father weep, the Retired Emperor's sons below could not bear it either, and one after another they began to speak up in consolation.

"Imperial Father, your son does not fear the remoteness and hardship of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission. So long as I can serve the Great Ming, serve Imperial Father, and serve my Imperial Elder Brother to the best of my ability, no distance and no toil will make me shrink from the labor. It is only that your son holds no more than the title of Commandery Prince, with a mere three thousand mu of poor fields for rent — that is hardly enough even to cover expenses in the capital."

"Imperial Father, your son does not fear the bitter cold and remoteness of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission either. If Imperial Father gives the word, your son will go no matter how far. But a poor home still needs money for the road! At home in the capital, your son can make do with coarse tea and plain rice; if there is truly no money for food, skipping a meal is no great matter. But to travel ten thousand li, one cannot do without travel funds."

"Imperial Father, your son is also willing to make the journey to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission on Imperial Father's behalf! But what use is it to go there empty-handed? To actually accomplish anything, one cannot do without recruiting household retainers and servants!"

"Imperial Father, your son is like his elder brothers — not afraid of hardship, not afraid of distance, only afraid of having no capital."

What filial sons they all were!

Hearing their heartfelt words, the Chongzhen Retired Emperor was truly moved beyond measure. Yet even as he was moved, he noticed something slightly amiss. How was it that these filial sons, no matter what they said, always managed to steer the topic around to silver in the end? Could it be that if We had no silver, you would all stop being filial sons?

Chongzhen shook his head and said with some displeasure, "We would also like to raise some travel funds for you, but We are short of money at the moment. We have none!"

No money?

How was that possible?

These filial sons might not have studied their books very well, but their minds were not dull. How could they possibly believe that Chongzhen had no money?

Hadn't he just "sold" twelve sons to their eldest brother? Surely that brought in at least two million? How could he have no money? Had he thrown it all into that bottomless pit of the Luzon Kingdom again?

So the moment Chongzhen said he had no money, the sons below immediately grew displeased.

"Imperial Father, please don't joke with us brothers."

"Indeed, how could you possibly have no money?"

"We've all heard — you bundled all twelve of us brothers together and sold us to eldest brother in one lot!"

"Right — last time when you sold Old Nine, one alone went for three hundred fifty thousand taels. This time with twelve brothers, it has to be at least two million taels, doesn't it?"

"Imperial Father, we've all heard Old Nine's tearful complaints. You took the three hundred fifty thousand all for yourself and didn't give Old Nine a single copper! You threw it all into that deep pit of the Luzon Kingdom!"

The filial sons exploded into an uproar, while Chongzhen had grievances he could voice nowhere. Last time, after fleecing Zhu Cilang of three hundred fifty thousand, he had not even thought to share thirty or fifty thousand with Zhu Cixuan — he had thrown it all into the Luzon Kingdom. The situation in the Luzon Kingdom was dire! The war with the natives dragged on endlessly, and on top of that there had been a typhoon last year. Old Eleven, Zhu Ciyi, had nearly thrown up his hands and quit, wanting to "resign" to Zhu Cilang!

Chongzhen could not let him resign! Over the years he had poured millions into Luzon Island, opening up vast tracts of land, towns, and harbors, and wiping out more than a dozen native tribes. If Zhu Ciyi resigned as King of Luzon, Zhu Cilang could immediately send one of his own sons to take over — and then the Chongzhen Retired Emperor would lose everything he had invested!

"You — you —" Chongzhen gasped for breath as he pointed at his sons below. "You are all unfilial sons! We have no such unfilial sons! All of you, get out of Our sight!"

In an instant they had all become unfilial sons! Hearing the Chongzhen Retired Emperor say that, the unfilial sons were all displeased. Not letting oneself be used for free made one an unfilial son? Was there any father in the world who behaved like this?

The unfilial sons summoned by Chongzhen today had all been born after Chongzhen lost power. They did not know the authority the Chongzhen Retired Emperor had once wielded, and no one took him seriously. This pack of unfilial sons only knew there was an eldest brother, not that there was a father. Moreover, they had all received the new-style education, which contained little related to Confucian filial piety — Zhu Cilang, that twenty-fifth of filial sons, would not have dared teach his younger brothers to be pure filial sons of the "when a father demands his son's death, the son must die" sort!

So when Chongzhen berated them, these sons of the Retired Emperor did not even know to beg forgiveness. Instead, each one grumbled and cursed as they headed for the great hall's exit.

"Hmph! I'm not going to be Old Nine!"

"Right, not Old Nine. Old Nine at least got the garden at Xipu. What do we have?"

"Right — one shabby princely mansion and three thousand mu of poor fields."

"Why should we be shipped off to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission?"

"Not going!"

"Just not going."

Chongzhen was so angry he was nearly trembling. Fortunately, he no longer held the power of life and death (if he had, the lot below would all be good children now); otherwise, lives would surely have been lost!

But it was also impossible for this pack of unfilial sons to simply run off so easily!

Before they could get out the door of the great hall, they heard the imperial guards announcing names.

"His Majesty the Emperor arrives! His Highness the Crown Prince arrives!"

It was Zhu Cilang and Zhu Hexing. In fact, they had arrived long ago, but Zhu Cilang had not let anyone disturb Chongzhen and his pack of fine younger brothers. Instead, he had stood outside the gate of the Longevity Hall listening to what was going on inside.

When inside it was all fatherly love and filial devotion, he did not enter. Only when the pack of unfilial sons inside showed their fox tails did he go in to strike!

No one was afraid of the Retired Emperor, their father, but the Emperor, their eldest brother, was feared by all who saw him. The Emperor held the power of life and death — he could kill his own brothers!

"Your younger brothers humbly wish the Imperial Elder Brother boundless longevity, and His Highness the Crown Prince ten thousand fortunes and peace."

They all bowed together, and all they got in return was a cold snort from Zhu Cilang: "Still not kneeling! You pack of unfilial sons, daring to defy the Retired Emperor — look at you all! Just look how angry you've made our father!"

(End of Chapter)