Chapter 1643: Loyal and Righteous Men

After leaving Kunning Palace, where his sister-in-law Empress Zhang resided, Zhu Youjian did not go to Qianqing Palace to rest; instead he went to the Hall of Literary Splendor in the southeast corner of the Forbidden City.

According to Ming dynasty custom, Qianqing Palace was not only the emperor's bedchamber but also the place where a deceased emperor's body lay in state — the late emperor's coffin had to remain in Qianqing Palace for twenty-seven days before it could be moved to the imperial tomb for burial.

So during these days, Zhu Youjian could not stay in Qianqing Palace. And even if a great coffin were not occupying the space in Qianqing Palace, he still could not move in immediately, because he still had to formally decline the throne three more times. This afternoon's refusal in Qianqing Palace had been as heir-apparent; next he would have to decline the formal imperial throne!

And he also had to let the civil and military officials and the elders and common folk of the capital come together to urge him to ascend and pledge their support. Zhu Youjian would decline again and again, at least three times, and only then could he reluctantly accept the role of emperor. It was all false courtesy, but Zhu Youjian still had to follow the rules.

The location for the performance of urging and declining that was to begin early the next morning had already been chosen at today's noon small court session — it would be the Hall of Literary Splendor.

And before his formal enthronement, Zhu Youjian would also reside in the Hall of Literary Splendor.

When Zhu Youjian returned from Kunning Palace to the Hall of Literary Splendor, Shang Fuming, who had only that afternoon become the supervising eunuch of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, was already waiting in the main hall with several loyal and righteous men he had just selected from the Directorate's barracks.

Seeing Zhu Youjian return surrounded by a crowd of eunuchs, Shang Fuming hurriedly led the three loyal and righteous men forward to pay their respects.

The three men were just about to kneel and kowtow when Zhu Youjian waved a hand to stop them. "Don't kneel yet — We know you!"

Know them?

The three loyal and righteous men were all baffled. They knew the man before them was His Highness the Prince of Xin, who was about to become emperor — a figure far beyond their reach. Even if these stout warriors of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses had been fortunate enough to have seen the Prince of Xin's face, it would have been no more than a passing encounter. How could he say he knew them?

But Zhu Youjian strode forward and suddenly grasped the arm of the foremost man — a strapping fellow of about thirty wearing a military officer's uniform, with leopard-like eyes, a lion's nose, and a face full of thick, tangled whiskers. "You are Sun Yingyuan."

The brawny man was stunned again and again; it took him a long while to react. "How does Your Highness know my name is Sun Yingyuan?"

Zhu Youjian chuckled. "The Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, told Us in a dream that your name is Sun Yingyuan!"

Such a thing was possible? Sun Yingyuan was dumbfounded.

Gazing at the beloved general of his former years, he could scarcely contain his joy — in this life, he would not let loyal and righteous men die with their grievances unavenged!

Then he walked over to another dark-faced, tall fellow in a blue robe with a goatee, and laughed. "You are Zhou Yuji!"

Another loyal and righteous man!

The dark-faced man's reaction was the same as Sun Yingyuan's. He opened his mouth and asked, "How does Your Highness know me? Did the Great Ancestor tell you in a dream too?"

Zhu Youjian only smiled and did not answer. He moved on to the third loyal and righteous man, who had a sallow face and was likewise tall and powerfully built. Laughing, he said, "Ha ha, Huang Degong."

The yellow-faced giant grinned. "Your Highness has it right — I am Huang Degong! Could it be that the Great Ancestor knows of me too?"

Zhu Youjian was delighted just looking at these three loyal and righteous men!

Back in those days, the only troops truly under his direct command had been these three. With the Valiant Guard Camp, which at its largest numbered no more than twelve thousand men, they had campaigned east and west, barely holding the situation together. In the end, only Huang Degong had met a good end; Sun Yingyuan and Zhou Yuji had both died for the Great Ming.

They were all loyal ministers!

Zhu Youjian knew that all three had already been recruited by the Directorate of the Imperial Horses into the Loyal and Valiant Camp, the Four Guards Camp, and the Warriors Camp, where they served as officers of Mobile Corps Commander or Mobile Corps Commander rank. The Directorate of the Imperial Horses oversaw the Ming army's supervising eunuchs, and through these supervising eunuchs it could draw a portion of the loyal, courageous, and battle-worthy men from the frontier garrisons into its three camps — the Loyal and Valiant, the Warriors, and the Four Guards.

And these three camps of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses were the true elite troops in Beijing.

The fifty thousand taels of gold that Zhu Youjian had swindled from Wei Zhongxian were prepared for the officers and men of the Directorate's three camps — back then, hadn't that traitorous son recruited men in Beijing simply by handing out money?

And the reason he had made his trusted eunuch Shang Fuming the supervising eunuch of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses was precisely to find Sun Yingyuan, Zhou Yuji, and Huang Degong! It turned out Zhu Youjian meant to take them with him to seize military control of the Directorate's three camps. With the Directorate's military power in hand, Zhu Youjian could use a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken!

After studying under that traitorous son for more than fifty years, Zhu Youjian understood all too well the principle that political power grows out of the barrel of a blade. Scheming and playing power games to destroy Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke, versus leading troops to cut the two of them down — the effects were not the same.

Why had all those treacherous ministers suddenly turned good once they fell into that traitorous son's hands? Because his realm had been won by fighting! It had not been obtained through trickery and political maneuvering. Who would dare defy the master of such a realm?

Zhu Youjian looked at his three beloved generals and said with a smile, "You all know who We are, do you not? We are the Ming heir to the throne. And you — are you loyal and righteous subjects of the Great Ming?"

"We are!" Sun Yingyuan immediately knelt before Zhu Youjian. "I, Sun Yingyuan, am the most loyal of all! For the Great Ming's realm, I would be crushed to powder and never flinch!"

Zhu Youjian knew these were true words. He stepped forward and pressed down on his beloved general's shoulder. "Yingyuan, We do not want you crushed to powder. We want you to become a meritorious servant of the nation — to pacify the eastern barbarians, exterminate the bandit rebels, be enfeoffed as a marquis or appointed a general, and leave your name in the annals of history!"

Zhou Yuji and Huang Degong had also caught on by now, and both knelt before Zhu Youjian.

"Your Highness, I am a loyal minister too!"

"Your Highness, I am the most loyal of all..."

All loyal ministers!

Zhu Youjian looked at them and nodded with satisfaction. "Good, good. From now on, you will follow Us. First serve as Our bodyguards, and later you will be given important posts!"

As he spoke, Zhu Youjian turned to Shang Fuming. "Quickly, bring gold for these three brave men — one hundred taels each!"

Gold! One hundred taels just for meeting him!

Sun Yingyuan, Zhou Yuji, and Huang Degong immediately felt they had encountered an enlightened lord — only an enlightened lord would give loyal and righteous men so much gold!

Now, the loyal and righteous men were in place!

But the time to eliminate Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke had not yet ripened.

Because Zhu Youjian was not yet formally the emperor!

So he had to wait patiently for two more days. On the twenty-third day of the eighth month, the urging ceremony would be held, and the late emperor's testamentary edict would be issued to proclaim to the world that the Ming emperor had changed, and that the enlightened ruler Zhu Youjian would take over. In addition, on the twenty-third of the eighth month, the reign title had to be settled. The era name would not be changed this year, but from the first day of the first month of the coming year, the new reign title would come into use.

Zhu Youjian's reign title, of course, would still be Chongzhen! He had used it for so many years that he had grown attached to it!

And the twenty-fourth of the eighth month would be the day Zhu Youjian formally ascended the throne and became the Son of Heaven ruling over all under heaven.

The enthronement ceremony would be held at the three great halls within the Forbidden City — the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, the Hall of Central Supremacy, and the Hall of Established Supremacy. The scale would not be very grand, and could not compare with the great ceremonies held in the prosperous years of the Ming in earlier times.

But for Zhu Youjian, a smaller ceremony was fine — it would spare him from dragging things out over many days, and the longer the night, the more dreams!

He needed to become emperor as soon as possible, so that he could make an example of Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke and establish his authority.

And these two, whom he had chosen as the chicken to warn the monkeys, had sensed no danger at all. At least, judging from Zhu Youjian's behavior from before the Tianqi Emperor's death through his enthronement, he truly showed no great aversion to Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke.

Wei Zhongxian was still treated as a meritorious official. On the evening before Zhu Youjian's enthronement ceremony, he even specially sent Xu Yingyuan to inform Wei Zhongxian that he could wear the headdress of a duke or marquis — the so-called "sable-and-cicada cap" — to attend the great ceremony. This was an acknowledgment of Wei Zhongxian's ducal status!

As for Madam Ke, the Lady of Fengsheng, Zhu Youjian was also extremely courteous. He even issued a special verbal decree instructing Wei Zhongxian to spend more time accompanying Madam Ke at Xian'an Palace — and he also permitted Madam Ke to leave Xian'an Palace to pay her respects to the late Tianqi Emperor at Qianqing Palace.

Furthermore, Zhu Youjian seemed to have little interest in government affairs, nor any intention of reaching for military power. Although he had let Shang Fuming select three brave men from the Directorate of the Imperial Horses to serve as his personal guards, that was as far as it went. For one so exalted as an emperor, finding a few bodyguards for himself hardly seemed amiss, did it?

(End of Chapter)