Chapter 1711: The Prince of Dai Is Guilty! We Are a Benevolent Sovereign!

The imperial city of Datong, the Hall of Bearing Fortune.

The Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, returning in triumph, had now entered the city of Datong, entered the Prince of Dai's residence, and seated himself high upon the Hall of Bearing Fortune, the main hall of the Prince of Dai's palace.

The Hall of Bearing Fortune was the great hall of a princely residence, extremely magnificent and imposing, seven bays wide, roofed with blue-green glazed tiles, its walls and pillars painted red. The hall's foundation was built of white marble, six chi nine cun high, in two tiers.

Within the palace it was even more stately and splendid: coffered ceilings gathered to a dome, painted with coiling dragons and adorned with gold powder, with eight auspicious flowers painted around the edges.

Apart from this Hall of Bearing Fortune, which was built with exceptional grandeur, the other buildings within the Prince of Dai's residence in Datong were also quite well constructed. Though not as luxurious and solemn as the imperial palace, they were not far behind, and in some places even surpassed it... for example, the outer walls of the Prince of Dai's residence!

Unlike the walls of the imperial city and the Forbidden City in Beijing, which had little defensive function, the walls of the Prince of Dai's residence were true city walls, tall and thick, not much inferior to the walls of Datong's garrison city.

Moreover, the imperial city of Datong covered only a small area, about the same as the three pass-forts outside Datong, which made it very advantageous for defense.

Guarding such a stronghold, with the impregnable Datong garrison city outside, and the three pass-forts to the northeast and south, it truly was layer upon layer of protection, absolutely secure!

In addition, there were not many residents in Datong city who needed feeding, which meant that not much grain was required for the Datong stronghold to hold out under enemy siege.

Yet in possession of such a stronghold, the Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, had actually fled without a fight... and his son was not much stronger. When Li Zicheng attacked back then, had he not also failed to hold out?

Seated upon the Hall of Bearing Fortune, Zhu Youjian grew angrier the more he thought about it! You people are utterly unworthy of being Prince of Dai! The Prince of Dai of the Great Ming is a title that only Our third son, Zhu Cijiong, not yet born, can hold!

"Hmph!" Zhu Youjian gave a cold snort, and the crowd of civil and military officials standing in the great hall all trembled.

This young emperor was fierce indeed! Not only had he slain Wei Zhongxian with his own hand, he had also cut down the foremost warrior of the Mongols in battle, and had nearly captured the Great Khan of the Mongols alive... He was truly a mounted Son of Heaven who charged into the fray, a man who killed without blinking!

The Prince of Dai's family was evidently in for misfortune!

"The Prince of Dai is guilty! His crimes are monstrous!" Zhu Youjian roared. "We fought bitterly at the front against the Tartar caitiffs, guarding his ancestral tombs for him, and he, for his part, greased his heels and slipped away first! Is he fit to be a frontier prince? All of you, speak — is he fit to be a frontier prince of the Great Ming?"

This question... the assembled ministers did not know what to say.

Because the conduct of the Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, was simply the normal conduct of a Ming princely vassal, was it not?

What was truly abnormal was not the Prince of Dai, but Your Majesty himself!

A proper Son of Heaven in peacetime you would not be; instead you personally drilled troops and led armies, and even brought ten thousand or so men to the Datong front to fight the Tartars. However one put it, that was not the behavior of a normal Son of Heaven of the Great Ming!

And this abnormal Son of Heaven of yours did not even direct operations from the rear, but made himself the vanguard, taking a thousand or so men into battle to clash with the Tartars... This was simply too reckless!

Even more abnormal was that an emperor so reckless as you had actually defeated the Great Khan of the Mongols!

And not just defeated — with a mere twenty thousand troops he had utterly routed the hundred-thousand-strong army of the Mongol Chahar tribe!

Even more outrageous was that in this battle you personally drew up the formations, personally fought single combat at the front, led the charges yourself, and could even use cannon — and used them quite well!

From whom did you learn such skills? Could your lecturer Kong Yunzhen have taught these things?

But if you yourself being abnormal is one thing, why must you drag the crowd of princely lords and their sons in Datong garrison city onto the battlefield with you? This was not mounting the walls to oversee the fighting — it was going out of the city to do battle with the Tartars!

As a result, the Prince of Dai and several other princes were all frightened into fleeing... and fleeing was the right thing to do! If they had not fled, they would have had to follow you onto the battlefield to kill Tartars. If they had that kind of courage, they would not be Ming princely lords, but Beile of the Jianzhou Jurchen next door!

As the saying goes, justice lives in the hearts of men. Although most of the ministers in the hall were treacherous, their consciences had not entirely perished, and none dared help Zhu Youjian frame the imperial clansmen... Framing a princely vassal was a grave crime! Even if a mounted Son of Heaven like you lived a hundred years and could always shield everyone, having a pack of censors and remonstrance officials impeach and denounce one every day was no pleasant life!

Seeing the ministers in the hall all playing mute, Zhu Youjian understood — you spineless treacherous ministers are all afraid to frame a princely vassal, all afraid of being impeached by the censors and remonstrance officials, is that it?

Of the ministers now in the hall, apart from Man Gui and Zhang Yiming, who were local officials of Datong garrison, everyone else had followed Zhu Youjian from the Nanhaizi camp.

That none of them dared speak showed that while the Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, was certainly at fault for running away, everyone believed there were extenuating circumstances and that he should not be severely punished, lest it be hard to win public acceptance. But no matter — Zhu Dingwei could continue committing crimes. Once he had piled up a few more offenses, it would be perfectly legitimate to strip his princedom and confiscate his estate!

At this thought, Zhu Youjian said in a somber tone: "The Prince of Dai abandoned his fief and fled, a crime that cannot be forgiven. But We are, after all, a benevolent sovereign, and can still extend a measure of grace beyond the law."

"Your Majesty is sagely and wise!"

The ministers all breathed a sigh of relief. None of them wanted to be involved in framing a princely vassal!

Zhu Youjian said to the Governor of Datong, Zhang Yiming: "Governor Zhang, do you know where the Prince of Dai has gone?"

"Your Majesty," Zhang Yiming hurriedly stepped out of the ranks and said, "this subject surmises that the Prince of Dai has likely gone toward Hunyuan Prefecture. Because east of the Yu River outside Datong city, there were previously quite a few Tartar cavalry raiding for forage, and the Prince of Dai had few guards, so he certainly had to avoid them. Unable to go east, he most likely went south. Within Hunyuan Prefecture south of Datong lies the Northern Sacred Mount Heng, where the terrain is steep and perilous, and there are several Yellow Temples where one can take refuge. The Prince of Dai's household has for years given generous incense money to the Yellow Temples, so now in trouble they could naturally seek shelter there. Moreover, Hunyuan Prefecture is still within Datong's jurisdiction, so although the Prince of Dai left the city, it cannot be considered too far out of line."

The Yellow Temples were lamaseries, ancient monasteries left over from the Yuan dynasty. Because the Mongols of the steppe all believed in lamas, they would never kill or burn within a lama temple.

Furthermore, the Ming dynasty's restrictions on princely vassals had by now relaxed somewhat. It was common for princes to leave the city under the pretext of sweeping tombs or burning incense, and even to reside outside the city for long periods.

Zhu Youjian nodded. This Zhang Yiming had analyzed well; he would have made good material for the Embroidered Uniform Guard. A pity he had passed the jinshi examination and chosen the wrong career.

Zhu Youjian continued: "Governor Zhang, then make a trip and bring back the Prince of Dai's household and those Commandery Princes. We will not pursue his crimes to the utmost, and will even allow him to atone for his offenses through service."

"Your Majesty, what does 'atone for his offenses through service' mean?" Zhang Yiming asked.

Zhu Youjian nodded and smiled: "The Hutudun Khan has now fled to the Tumed plain. But We cannot let him go just like that — one must eradicate evil thoroughly!

Therefore We intend to personally campaign against the Tumed plain! This time, he should at least bring the sons and younger kin of the Prince of Dai's line to serve at the front, should he not?"

Serving at the front did not necessarily mean leading the charge in person. Raising military grain and recruiting laborers also counted as serving at the front. Besides, the Prince of Dai's house had been princely lords for over two hundred years; they might be a little short on backbone, but they had silver in abundance. At worst, they could spend their way out of disaster!

Zhang Yiming breathed a sigh of relief, received Zhu Youjian's imperial edict, and immediately left the princely residence. Then, taking his own governor's headquarters battalion, he exited Datong city and set off in pursuit toward Mount Heng.

But this Governor Zhang, intent on smoothing things over, could never have imagined that this Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, had a talent for wrongdoing far greater than he had supposed.

Just as Zhang Yiming was pondering how to exonerate the Prince of Dai's household, this lord had committed a new and grave crime — he had committed the great crime of "spreading rumors to delude the masses and cursing the Son of Heaven," and he had even found himself several witnesses sufficient to convince the public!

It turned out that this Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, had fled quickly. After leaving Datong city he followed the Yu River, then crossed the Sanggan River at the confluence of the Yu and Sanggan, and thereafter made for Hunyuan Prefecture, intending to take temporary refuge on Mount Heng (Zhang Yiming had guessed exactly right). But just as he reached the vicinity of the prefectural seat of Hunyuan, by sheer coincidence he ran into the Capital Camps relief force led by the capital's ennobled dignitaries Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen, Zhu Guobi, Luo Sigong, and Luo Yangxing.

A crowd of Capital Camps ennobled dignitaries encountering the fleeing party of Datong princely lords naturally had to ask what had happened!

And with that one question, Zhu Dingwei's crimes became enormous indeed!

(End of Chapter)