Chapter 1454: Limited-Edition Commandery Princes Personally Begotten by the Chongzhen Emperor

"The princes of our Great Ming are all precious, and the ones heading north this time are all princes personally begotten by the Retired Emperor himself — every one of them a full younger brother of the reigning Son of Heaven. Their number is naturally limited: only twenty-four in all! Of those, a mere twelve Commandery Princes have been allotted to our Heilongjiang, and this Prince of Wuyang here is one of them. Just look at him — a man of fine bearing, accomplished in both letters and arms."

The man currently hawking these limited-edition Commandery Princes personally begotten by the Chongzhen Retired Emperor to a roomful of backwoods manor lords from Heilongjiang in the northeast was Ma Wanchun of Shizhu, Sichuan. His Ma family had been local chieftains for centuries — snakes entrenched in their own turf — and they were exactly the same breed as the backwoods manor lords filling this hall, so he understood their minds perfectly.

Though many of them had grown rich on furs, eastern pearls, and ginseng, and each had several hundred or even a thousand able-bodied men at his command, they were all hollow inside. They were scattered sand, their manors fighting one another every few days, just like the scattered-sand chieftains of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. They could not even think of defying the Great Ming dynasty — even against the local officials of the Heilongjiang and Andong protectorates they had to tread with a hundred and twenty parts of caution. One careless slip, and some charge would be pinned on you; ruin of house and family, death and extermination of the clan, would follow in the space of a single dawn.

Think back to how mighty the Yang clan of Bozhou once was — seven hundred years of entrenched local dominance, with tens of thousands of able-bodied men under their command. And what happened? They offended the civil officials of Sichuan and Guizhou, were driven into rebellion, and then the imperial host marched against them. In the early spring of the twenty-eighth year of Wanli, eight columns closed in; on the sixth day of the sixth month, Yang Yinglong, the twenty-ninth head of the Bozhou Yang clan, was found hanging from a roof beam!

And that was only the military might of the court in the Wanli era. If the imperial host of today were sent up, never mind Yang Yinglong — even if Nurhaci came back, his head would be off his shoulders within three or four months. And these backwoods stockade lords of Heilongjiang and Andong are who knows how many grades below Yang Yinglong and Nurhaci!

If they rebelled, the imperial host would not even be needed. One decree from the Crown Prince stationed at Huining, and the backwoods neighbors next door would fall on them to kill, burn, and plunder. So what these backwoods lords need most right now is a thigh they can cling to firmly.

Only by clinging to a thigh can a man sleep soundly!

And these twenty-four Commandery Princes, in limited supply, are thighs thick enough to reach the heavens!

Even Ma Wanchun and his elder brother Ma Wannian felt a touch of envy looking at them — not just these manor lords. Of course, they themselves had already latched onto the Crown Prince's thick thigh, so they could no longer send their own daughters to seduce the Crown Prince's uncles.

But the manor lords of this northeastern backwater who had no way to attach themselves to the Crown Prince — how could they possibly resist the temptation of a limited-edition Commandery Prince personally begotten by the Chongzhen Emperor?

Never mind these men — even Nurhaci, back before he had grown great, would have been overjoyed if the Wanli Emperor had married one of his clan's daughters to that fat Prince of Fu as his consort. Even if the fat Prince of Fu had demanded two or three niru from him to garrison his princely establishment in Luoyang, that would have been a trifling matter!

With the Prince of Fu as his backer, he would no longer have to fear Li Chengliang biting him to death on a day when his mood was bad.

Of course, with three Eight Banners niru protecting him, the fat Prince of Fu might well have been able to fight his way out of the roving bandits' encirclement and save his fat life, might he not?

Ma Wanchun was selling these limited-edition Chongzhen-begotten Commandery Princes with animated enthusiasm, while the crowd of manor lords and young manor heirs of the Heilongjiang backwater listened with rapt attention, occasionally raising questions. And Zhu Ciling, standing there as the "sample" on display, suddenly had a very familiar feeling. Why did this feel a bit like the ceremony at the pleasure houses along the Qinhuai River when a girl was formally initiated? They weren't going to start haggling over the price, were they?

Just as he thought this, someone actually began asking about the price!

"Excellency, may I ask about the dowry? How much silver would it take to marry a daughter into a princely establishment as a consort? Would five hundred taels be enough?"

What? Only five hundred taels! When Zhu Ciling heard that figure, he felt an urge to turn and walk out. He was a Commandery Prince personally begotten by the Retired Emperor, and so handsome besides — though not exactly an untouched princely flower — but five hundred taels was far too little, surely?

"Money is a small matter. Would the imperial nobility ever lack money?" Ma Wanchun, utterly disregarding Zhu Ciling's feelings, simply dropped the subject of money. "The twelve Commandery Princes who have come to Heilongjiang this time are all to put down roots along the Heilongjiang River. They are to be enfeoffed with land, command troops, and govern the people! Henceforth they will be the local lords of Heilongjiang!

The Son of Heaven intends to distribute the manors and households under Oboi among these twelve Commandery Princes. But these twelve princes, having grown up in Yingtian Prefecture, are unfamiliar with the local customs and conditions of Heilongjiang, and may not manage the manors and households well. That is why the Son of Heaven wishes them to take consorts locally in Heilongjiang. Each Commandery Prince may take one principal consort and two secondary consorts — three consorts in all. The consort's natal family must provide a certain number of households as dowry — not too many. For a principal consort, one hundred and fifty households suffice; for a secondary consort, half that. In addition, they must provide a number of attendant officials to help the prince govern his territory."

Three hundred households may be nothing in the southeast, but here in Heilongjiang that is a full niru!

Twelve princes in Heilongjiang, twelve in Andong — together they take twenty-four niru. Add to that the population distributed to the princes from the households belonging to Oboi and Yolo, and each prince will have roughly two niru; twenty-four princes make forty-eight niru. In the Later Jin days, that would have been two whole banners!

Moreover, these twenty-four princes will have seventy-two fathers-in-law. Reckoning each father-in-law at an average strength of three niru, that is two hundred and sixteen niru; add the forty-eight niru of the twenty-four princes, plus the niru belonging to Jin Dong'e and Ajige, and at least three hundred and some tens of niru will have been drawn into a feudal system centered on the Great Ming's Princes and Commandery Princes.

Everyone will be kin of the imperial house, relatives of the Zhu Emperor. Henceforth in Heilongjiang and Andong, anyone whose veins do not carry the bloodline passed down from Zhu Yuanzhang will be ashamed to call himself noble.

And the more backward a place is economically and culturally, the more stock it tends to put in bloodlines! Look at the Mongols — one Golden Lineage has been esteemed for centuries. Without that bloodline, a man who has carved out a realm by his own sword is too ashamed to call himself Great Khan. That is why Sengge of the Dzungars does not dare style himself Khan, only Wang.

If this northeastern backwater comes to be filled with manor lords of the Zhu Ming dynasty, then manor lords not born of the Zhu Ming will have little appeal in the future. If the historical Nurhaci had had to compete against a host of Zhu-family Commandery Princes, generals, and commandants, could he ever have grown great? Why would the Jurchen warriors have sold their lives for him? Before the Battle of Sarhu, who knew you were so formidable?

A hundred and some households is no small number in Heilongjiang, and twelve outside Commandery Princes of the Great Ming might seem a bit dangerous to the local powers here — those are not twelve sons-in-law, they are twelve lords and masters! From now on they would have to live under the watchful eyes of these Zhu-family lords, and no one would like that.

But living under the watchful eyes of son-in-law lords is far better than being slaughtered by the Great Ming's imperial host and having no life left at all. Besides, someone will surely be willing to become father-in-law to a Great Ming Commandery Prince!

Those who become fathers-in-law to a Commandery Prince become kin of the Great Ming. Those who do not — heh, may they look out for themselves!

Ma Wanchun swept his gaze across the hall, taking in every anxious face.

Ma Wanchun said with a smile, "Gentlemen, a hundred and some tens of households is of course no small number, but the benefits of becoming a Commandery Prince's father-in-law, elder brother-in-law, or younger brother-in-law are plain to see. To say nothing else, take the trade in furs, ginseng, eastern pearls, cattle, sheep, and mules — henceforth you can carry it directly to Yingtian Prefecture! Each prince's establishment in Yingtian will serve as your shop for selling furs, ginseng, eastern pearls, cattle, sheep, and mules.

And a princely establishment reaches straight to the heavens! If someone bullies you now and you want to petition the Emperor to redress a grievance, where would you even submit the memorial? In the future, with a Commandery Prince's establishment backing you, your memorial can be delivered directly before the imperial presence! This is a chance that reaches the heavens — limited supply! Heilongjiang has only twelve Commandery Princes!"

Well now, a Commandery Prince's establishment had just become a Heilongjiang manor's liaison office in the capital. But the benefits Ma Wanchun described were quite real. Right now these Heilongjiang manor lords were too far removed from the Great Ming — they simply could not reach it! So business was hard to do, and grievances hard to voice. From Heilongjiang to Yingtian, the layers of middlemen were enough to kill you!

Now, with Commandery Princes stationed in the region and manor lords marrying off their daughters, the top and bottom would collude directly, and all the middlemen at every level would have to step aside.

(End of Chapter)