Chapter 1585: The Exalted Emperor of Abundance and Prosperity

"Rest easy, Big Brother. Your younger brother will arrange everything properly. Actually, the Grand Secretariat and the Grand Marshal's Office drew up several contingency plans long ago!"

Zhu Cixuan was very capable at handling affairs. This Chief Grand Secretary of his was an entrepreneur, educator, and diplomat by background — back when he was studying at the Imperial Academy, he was already managing his family's properties. Rent had to be collected on more than a dozen streets of houses! What a vast estate that must have been! Later he threw himself into diplomacy and education, brought Princess Nisha back from India and presented her to his eldest brother, and founded Jinling Women's University, becoming a pioneer of women's education in the Great Ming! This was an educator worthy of having a bronze statue erected on a university campus!

A man like that naturally considered problems with great thoroughness. He had long foreseen that during the Great Ming's period of national mourning, the three states of the Roman Empire, the Indian Shun Empire, and Russia would certainly seize the chance to make trouble, and that the Great Soviet Khanate of the Indians might also stir up some kind of trouble.

Therefore, after Zhu Cixuan became Chief Grand Secretary, he began working with the Grand Marshal's Office to formulate contingency plans. There was more than one plan — among them was one for a grand state funeral for the Chongzhen Retired Emperor, and also one for handling the funeral of Zhu Cilang himself!

"Has the budget been arranged?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

"It has," Zhu Cixuan said. "It was arranged long ago! When our father turned seventy, the Grand Secretariat drew up a budget and put it into the national mourning reserve fund. At first they prepared two million taels of silver, and now it has reached four million taels!"

"Four million?" Zhu Cilang was taken aback. "Why so much? Has the price of goods gone up?"

"No," Zhu Cixuan said. "It's just that a man reaching seventy is a rarity since ancient times! This national mourning reserve fund was prepared for those who have passed the age of seventy... this..."

That didn't sound right! Prepared for what sort of people past seventy? Zhu Cilang's brow furrowed. He thought for a moment and understood.

Four million in funeral expenses — the Retired Emperor, the Retired Empress, the Emperor, the Empress... one million each! And one million of that was for burying Zhu Cilang himself!

He was only just past seventy, and the Grand Secretariat was already preparing his funeral expenses. Whose rotten idea was this? It had to be that Lucky Crown Prince!

How could the thoughts of the Zhu Emperor be hidden from Zhu Cixuan? This imperial-clan Chief Grand Secretary immediately explained: "Big Brother, the proposal to prepare funeral funds for the Retired Emperor, Retired Empress, Emperor, and Empress once they passed seventy was put forward by you at a joint meeting of the two offices. At the time you said the Retired Emperor was old and fond of women, and that the Grand Secretariat should make early preparations, set a standard for funerals, draw up a budget, and also said to be as frugal as possible. Later you also said..."

"Enough, enough. We remember!" Zhu Cilang waved his hand, cutting off Zhu Cixuan. The matter had indeed been proposed by him, and the spending standard of one million had also been proposed by him. But when he proposed it he had only been in his early fifties; he had not expected that he himself would so quickly pass seventy as well... How could the life of an emperor be so short and bitter?

"Big Brother," Zhu Cixuan continued, "Third Brother's family will arrive at Old Mountain tomorrow. Would you like to go and receive him?"

The Third Crown Prince Zhu had long since ceased being the overlord of Western Chu. He lived in Beijing, held no office, and simply enjoyed a life of leisure, managing his family's mule and horse business on the side.

Of course, his years of struggle had not been in vain — the current overlord of Western Chu was his son. For many years to come, that position was held in rotation by his descendants and those of Zhu Cixuan.

In addition, the Third Crown Prince Zhu's other two sons each held a mobile garrison command — a mobile garrison command referred to a military-governor's office group that rotated continuously among the various garrisons. This "mobile garrison system" somewhat resembled the method by which Japan's Tokugawa shogunate tormented its subordinate domain lords, turning the domain lords into potted plants, transferring them among the domains so they could not put down roots in one place.

However, the Great Ming's "mobile garrison system" was more rational than the Tokugawa shogunate's "transfer system," and more like a system that could be maintained over the long term. Broadly speaking, it split each garrison command into a movable lord group and immovable local Chiliarchs. The lord group — that is, each garrison's military-governor's office — was somewhat like a "garrison contractor" that would move collectively among the various garrisons, with their term of office in each garrison normally lasting five to ten years.

During that time they needed to placate the entrenched local Chiliarchs below them who would not budge, cope with the court's various assessments, and sometimes even march to war!

Of course, they also had to dismiss a batch of unqualified Chiliarchs and Centurions and find suitable successors — the Chiliarchs and Centurions under a garrison command were divided into hereditary and non-hereditary types. The former were feudal lords ruling over their own territories! Under the ten garrisons of Heilongjiang, Andong, Anxi, Beiting, Wusizang, Chuanbian, Yunnan, Jin'ou, Xiyang, and Dongning, where the court's reach fell short, there were now large numbers of hereditary Chiliarchs and Centurions!

Meanwhile, in the seven garrisons of Anbei, Beiping, Shuofang, Daning, Hexi, Pingman (the Pacify-the-Man General's Office, administering the tusi guard posts in Huguang and Guizhou), and Pingnan (the Pacify-the-South General's Office, administering the tusi guard posts in Guangxi), there were large numbers of non-hereditary Chiliarchs and Centurions — these Chiliarchs and Centurions were also locals serving as local officials. But they were not hereditary, nor did they serve for life; rather, they were selected by the military-governor's office from among the military officers of the territory under its jurisdiction. They could be reappointed, but they could not serve for life, still less pass the post on hereditarily.

In short, whether hereditary or not, the Chiliarchs and Centurions under a garrison command were not easy to deal with, and the Grand Marshal's Office and the Ministry of War above them were equally hard to fool.

Therefore the post of garrison military governor was not an easy one to hold; it was easy to botch, and if you botched it you would be replaced just the same! And once a garrison commander was replaced — once a garrison commander was replaced — all the officials under the garrison office would lose their posts.

But Zhu Cijiong's two sons were both able to handle the post of military governor well. Because they were not only exceptionally capable, they were also great feudal lords themselves — the two brothers both owned quite a few hereditary Chiliarch posts in Beiting and Anbei, so they could obtain reliable household vassals, and their power was therefore relatively great.

Zhu Cijiong did not enter the capital together with his two sons who served as military governors. Upon learning of the death of his father, the Chongzhen Retired Emperor, he immediately changed into hempen mourning clothes, left Beijing, and hurried south day and night to attend the funeral. The only one who traveled south with him was his youngest son, Zhu Hekuang, who was still studying in Beijing.

Father and son, with a dozen or so attendants, each prepared three Zhe'er horses, and rode the whole way, reaching the grief-stricken hot-spring town of Old Mountain in under seven days.

Zhu Cilang, Zhu Cixuan, Zhu Hexing, and the other imperial-clan dignitaries in Yingtian had also changed into mourning clothes and were waiting outside the north gate of the hot-spring town to receive the former Third Zhu.

The north gate of the hot-spring town was a bastion fort, guarding the rear of the ever-expanding hot-spring town — the town now had walls as well, though their defensive value was not high; defense was mainly provided by the four gate-forts of the north, west, east, and south gates.

At the same time, these four gate-forts also served as the garrisons of Zhu Cilang's Imperial Guard and Youth Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard, who normally wore black uniforms, had now all thrown a hempen garment over their uniforms. Around the north gate, security was layered in depth.

"Eldest Brother, how is our mother? She is ninety this year. Having lost Father, will she grieve too much?"

The speaker was the filial son Zhu Cijiong. He was one year younger than Zhu Cilang, but he looked far younger — as if he were only in his sixties!

The two brothers embraced and wept for a few moments, then rode side by side, talking as they went.

"Mother is fine... At ninety, it counts as a joyous funeral. And our father passed peacefully — eating, drinking, with song and dance to cheer him, and then he was gone." Zhu Cilang said, "A blessed man!"

"Truly blessed!" Zhu Cijiong nodded. "Why not make his temple name 'Fuzong' then! Our father seemed to have had that idea while he was alive."

"'Fuzong'... That works!" Zhu Cilang turned and asked Zhu Cixuan, "Old Six, have you settled on our father's posthumous title?"

"It's settled," Zhu Cixuan said. "It will be 'Shaotian Zhiming Fengheng Yuda Hongwen Yuren Gangdun Renmao Xiao Xian Emperor.' 'Shaotian' means he received the Mandate of Heaven; 'Zhiming' means he knew the Mandate lay with Your Imperial Majesty, and so resolutely abdicated; 'Fengheng Yuda' goes without saying; 'Hongwen Yuren' means he was good at begetting sons, and his sons were all capable! 'Gangdun Renmao' is padding to fill out the character count; 'Xian Emperor' does not mean 'manifesting the Way,' but rather 'exalted and noble.' Big Brother, does this posthumous title seem acceptable?"

(End of Chapter)