Chapter 1483: A Sacred Moment

In the inner hall of Zhu Cijiong's Northern Court Protectorate, several cups of Turkish coffee were sending up an intensely rich, scorched aroma. Zhu Cijiong had changed into a loose Daoist robe and gone without a hat, sitting at ease in the seat of honor. He repeatedly urged the travelers from afar, Zhu Ci'en and Li Yue'e, to make themselves comfortable. With the Third Crown Prince putting on such an amiable air, the Ninth Prince and Li Yue'e naturally would not slight him, so each took a seat, lifted their coffee cups, took a few affected sips, and then fell into pleasant small talk with the Third Crown Prince. Wang Fuchen, Yu Chenglong, Fu Shan, Zhang Xixian, and Li Yue'e's four elder brothers seated themselves separately as well, each cradling a cup of Turkish coffee with an expression of rapt concentration.

These people had no idea how "sacred" the matter now underway truly was. The Third Crown Prince and the Eight-Faced Vajra Soft-Rice King were both of imperial blood, and moreover great heroes who had "risen in arms more boldly than Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, carved out domains more mightily than Cao Cao and Liu Bei, and with three-foot swords in hand opened up ten thousand li of territory." Yet now they were about to "refuse usurped titles, pass nothing to sons or grandsons, and instead create a method of election, approaching a world held in common." Such a plane of conduct was absolutely the stuff of legendary heroes whose portraits deserve to be carved into the Tianshan Mountains.

In the history books of later ages, and in the historical films and television dramas, the scene taking place today in the yamen of the Northern Court Protectorate at Yining would be a most glorious scene indeed!

This was the founding constitutional convention of the democratic, free, and progressive Western Chu Republic!

In the hearts of the future people of the Western Chu Republic, the Third Crown Prince and the Eight-Faced Vajra Soft-Rice King would be great men of the order of sages and founding fathers.

It was to spread Chinese civilization and the Way of Confucius and Mencius, and to put into practice the political faith of a world held in common, that they had given up lives of luxurious kingship and led seventy thousand households of Chinese subjects who shared their faith, leaving their homes and traveling ten thousand li. In the vast and uninhabited lands of the Western Regions and Central Asia, they had founded the Western Chu Republic, where all under heaven was held in common!

What the later historians of the Western Chu Republic would regret was that when this constitutional founding convention was convened, everything was still in its earliest, rudimentary stages, and so the meeting minutes were neglected. Thus later historians could only rely on their imaginations to reconstruct what topics their republican great men had discussed at this historic meeting in the spring of the twenty-sixth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming.

"Ninth Brother, to be honest, this Western Regions state, or the Dai state, whatever you call it, is not at all what your Third Brother wanted. It was all Eldest Brother's doing, tricking me into taking the fall. A losing deal! I was a king in Datong, and how comfortable that was! Inside Datong city, I was the sovereign of a whole state! My money was more than I could ever spend, my Dai Prince's mansion was built hardly inferior to the imperial palace, and in the rear palace, heh heh, what sort of beauties did I not have? Such a fine life, and then Eldest Brother screwed me into this mess. This position of state ruler — if you can take it, I'll hand it over with both hands. I'll go back to Datong and enjoy myself, and you can be the boss. Western Regions Overlord, Grand Commander of the Dai State, whatever you want, it's all yours!"

"Third Brother, I didn't want to come either. I was also screwed over by Eldest Brother. How good I had it in Nanjing! The old man had given me the Xipu Prince's mansion, and just the shops attached to the mansion brought in tens of thousands of taels in rent every year. Though I didn't have as many rear-palace beauties as you, with all those pleasure houses and singing halls along the Qinhuai River, what kind of beauty couldn't you find there? Back then I was an honored guest at every brothel, and the beauties of the Qinhuai all took pride in spending a spring night with me. Now, of course — now is fine too. With Yue'e alone, I am fully content. The Nine Beauties of Qinhuai, the Twelve Hairpins — I've forgotten them all!

"So, uh, Third Brother, Grand Commander or whatever, I really can't do it. You do it, you take it. Just get Eldest Brother to give me back Xipu, that's all I ask."

"No, no. At my age? What would I do it for? Going back to Datong to enjoy life is what matters. Old Ninth, you're young — you take it!"

"Third Brother, don't ruin me. How would I have the ability? You do it. I'll go back and be a rich old gentleman, and that's enough."

The two republican great men of Western Chu, tears and sobs streaming, were denouncing the feudal autocracy of the Great Ming Emperor while simultaneously yielding to each other the throne of Grand Chief of the Republic. These two were truly sages rivaling Yao and Shun in virtue — Grand Commander, Western Chu Overlord, none of it was worthy of a glance in their eyes.

Though, truth be told, in their hearts there didn't seem to be any thought of the three or four hundred thousand gun-bearing people of Western Chu either — they were only thinking of quickly tossing aside the burden of Western Chu and going back to Datong and Nanjing to enjoy themselves. Honestly, a barbarous wasteland in the Western Regions plus three or four hundred thousand gun-toting rioters — whether king or Grand Commander, there really wasn't much worth being. If Zhu Cilang were willing to give the Third Crown Prince a few million to take the whole mess off his hands, he really would go back to Datong and live the comfortable life.

As for Zhu Ci'en, his demands were even lower. As long as he could go back to Nanjing, he didn't even need Xipu — a shabby Commandery Prince's mansion and three thousand mu of poor farmland would fully satisfy him. After all, strolling the Qinhuai didn't cost him any money. Those so-called Nine Beauties of Qinhuai and Twelve Hairpins all had to pass his certification! If a woman hadn't been slept with by the Prince of Luoshan, how dare she call herself a famous courtesan?

Any young lady whose coming-of-age ceremony could be hosted by the Prince of Luoshan could absolutely boast about it for the rest of her life, and her price would rise considerably thereafter!

While the two "republican great men" were yielding to each other, the group of "republican founding elders" below were all starting to feel uneasy — are you two for real or not? This was such an enormous mess in the northwest. Just settling the forty thousand households that Zhu Ci'en and Li Yue'e had brought would open up a deficit of several million. And besides, the great armies of Russia, the Kazakh Khanate, and the Khanate of Khiva to the west were about to arrive. On top of that, the neighboring Dzungar Kingdom was tottering because of Galdan's recent defeat. If you two don't take on this mess, who else possibly could?

Thinking of dropping the burden and going home to enjoy yourselves — dream on!

Of course, Zhu Ci'en's wife Li Yue'e had no desire to return to Nanjing either. Here in the Western Regions, the Eight-Faced Vajra King belonged to her alone. Once they got to Nanjing, most of the Eight-Faced Vajra King's time would belong to the Qinhuai River.

So Li Yue'e quickly shot a meaningful glance at her sworn elder brother Li Yuan. Li Yuan immediately rose to his feet, cupped his hands in salute, and then shouted loudly: "I beg the two great kings, for the sake of the seventy thousand households of soldiers and civilians who have followed you here, to settle this great matter soon!"

Wang Fuchen also roared out: "This subject likewise begs the two great kings to make a decision quickly, so as to settle the hearts of the seventy thousand households of the Western Regions."

Zhu Cijiong shook his head repeatedly: "I won't be king. Old Ninth, since you've come to the Western Regions, take over from me!"

Zhu Ci'en was hardly willing to take on the mess, and shook his head repeatedly: "I won't do it either. Absolutely not..."

Hearing her husband's words, Li Yue'e grew somewhat anxious.

You've come all this great distance — if you're not going to be king, then what are you going to be? Other people fight to be kings, but you two, of all people, treat the throne like a hot potato.

At this thought, Li Yue'e grew a little angry and said loudly: "You two are both men and great husbands, scions of the imperial Ming, looked up to by the multitudes. How can you disregard hundreds of thousands of soldiers? Even if you are unwilling to be lords or kings, you may still take a step back and call yourselves Grand Generals or Commissioners-in-Chief!"

Zhu Cijiong frowned, seemingly reluctant. "Taking the title of General still smacks of delaying before calling oneself king. I am already old and do not wish to remain long in the Western Regions."

Fu Shan picked up the thread: "Since Your Highness is unwilling to be a king in the Western Regions, why not establish a republic? This subject has heard that some republics have no monarch, and their ruling officials serve for fixed terms. When the term ends, they may retire to the mountains and forests, free and at ease."

"That's good, that's a good idea. Ninth Brother, what do you think?"

Zhu Ci'en thought it sounded good too, but he did not nod right away, because he had already noticed that his wife Li Yue'e was somewhat angry. So he asked Li Yue'e: "Yue'e, what do you think of this?"

"That works too!" Li Yue'e mulled it over and felt the idea was not bad. First set up a republic, don't be a king, be a consul who can advance or retreat. If things went wrong, one could still resign and step down.

She thought it over: "Then let's establish a republic."

"Good, good," Zhu Ci'en breathed a sigh of relief. "Then we'll establish a republic! Third Brother, what should this republic be called? What should the ruling official be called? How long a term is appropriate? You decide all of it!"

Zhu Cijiong laughed: "This republic is formed by merging my Dai state with the forty thousand households Old Ninth brought, so it can no longer be called the Dai state. Better to name it after the Chu River of the Western Regions — call it the Western Chu Republic! How about a ten-year term for the ruler? After ten years, return to court and retire!"

"Good, good, good!" Zhu Ci'en nodded repeatedly. "Western Chu is good, a ten-year term is good too. As for this Western Chu ruler — shall we call him the Western Chu Overlord?"

Fu Shan shook his head: "That's inauspicious, and an Overlord is still a king. Our Western Chu is a republic; we cannot call him king."

Li Yue'e was rather dissatisfied that the two brothers Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Ci'en had no ambition to be kings, so she interjected peevishly: "The head of the English Republic is called the Lord Protector — not called king, but called lord. Then let's call him the Western Chu Lord Protector!" She looked at the two Zhu brothers. "Which of you will be the first Western Chu Lord Protector?"

Zhu Cijiong laughed: "I'll do it. I'm getting on in years; I'll finish one term and go back to Datong. If I had to wait until Old Ninth finished his term and then do mine, I'd die of old age in the Western Regions!"

(End of Chapter)