Chapter 1714: A Frontier-Defending Prince Must Act Like a Frontier-Defending Prince!

"What? Spreading rumors to delude the masses? And cursing Us, the Son of Heaven? Prince of Dai, are the charges in the memorial submitted against you by the Duke of Ying, the Duke of Cheng, and the Marquis of Funing all true?"

In the Chengyun Hall of Datong, the crafty young Son of Heaven, Zhu Youjian, was himself greatly startled as he read the memorial in which several nobles jointly impeached the Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei.

This Prince of Dai really had grown old and muddled. How could he have taken it for granted that the Son of Heaven had rashly underestimated the enemy, advanced recklessly, and been trapped by the barbarians?

Of course, Zhu Youjian's performance in the Battle of Datong had indeed been less than prudent; he had indeed underestimated the enemy, and he had indeed advanced recklessly. But Zhu Youjian was His Majesty, whose valor surpassed the whole army and whose black gun was matchless! Even if he advanced a bit recklessly, he could still thrash that useless barbarian chieftain, the Khutugtu Khan.

How could this Prince of Dai have imagined that the Son of Heaven was trapped by the barbarians? And he had even roped in several other princes to jointly submit a memorial to Beijing. Once that memorial reached Beijing, what a great stir it would cause!

"Wuwuwu... this subject is old and decrepit, this subject is muddled, this subject is confused, this subject is guilty..."

The old Prince of Dai's attitude in confessing was quite good. The moment the young Son of Heaven questioned him, he burst into a flood of tears.

Zhu Youjian sighed. "Prince of Dai, your crimes are truly too great. Although We are a benevolent sovereign, We cannot let crimes go unpunished!"

"Wuwu..." Hearing that punishment was coming, the Prince of Dai naturally sobbed uncontrollably. On his way back to Datong under escort, he had already consulted the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander, Luo Yangxing. His crimes really were somewhat serious: first, abandoning his fief and fleeing; second, cursing the Son of Heaven; third, spreading rumors to delude the masses. There was no need to add anything more. These three great crimes alone were enough to strip his fief and confine him under house arrest. The wealth and honor passed down through his family for over two hundred years would end with his generation. Losing wealth and honor was a small matter; what he feared was that his head might have to move house as well. Even if he kept his head, he would have to spend his days behind the high walls of Fengyang.

"Stop crying, stop crying. At your age, all you know is crying. Is crying any use?" Zhu Youjian glared at him and said angrily, "Prince of Dai, you had better confess honestly: do you have accomplices? If you hand over your accomplices, you can reduce your guilt somewhat. Speak—who are your accomplices?"

Accomplices?

Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen, Zhu Guobi, Luo Sigong, and Luo Yangxing all felt their hearts seize up when they heard the word "accomplices." Although they had not signed their names on that ironclad memorial, the Prince of Dai had spoken his wild nonsense right in front of them. Why had they not immediately stopped the crimes of the Prince of Dai and the others? Not only had they failed to stop them, they had even dispatched relay riders to carry the rumor—the memorial—swiftly into Beijing. To call them accomplices did not seem excessive, did it?

As soon as the Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, heard that handing over his accomplices could reduce his punishment, he began confessing as fast as beans pouring out of a sack: "Your Majesty, this subject has accomplices. This subject does have accomplices. The Prince of Guangling, the Prince of Shanyin, the Prince of Hechuan, the Prince of Zaoqiang, the Prince of Lechang, the Prince of Jiyang, the Prince of Fuchuan, and the Prince of Yongqing—they are all this subject's accomplices."

The eight Commandery Princes of the Prince of Dai's line were also kneeling in the Chengyun Hall. When they heard Zhu Dingwei identify them as accomplices, they all began wailing loudly. They wept, but they did not dare deny it, for all eight of them had signed their names on the memorial that spread rumors to delude the masses and cursed the Son of Heaven. How could they deny that?

One signature had signed away their ancestral princedoms, and now they would have to eat prison food behind the high walls of Fengyang. The bitterness in their hearts!

"Only eight accomplices?" As Zhu Youjian spoke, he cast a very ill-intentioned glance at the several nobles—these fellows looked very much like accomplices!

"Only eight." The Prince of Dai, Zhu Dingwei, truly had no thought of biting people at random. At this point, he did not have the mind for it.

Zhu Youjian was rather disappointed. Reluctantly, he withdrew his gaze from the several nobles who were on tenterhooks.

"Luo Yangxing!" Zhu Youjian then called out the name of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander, Luo Yangxing.

"This subject is present!" Luo Yangxing hurriedly stepped out of line and bowed.

"You are the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who specializes in handling treason cases and imperial cases," Zhu Youjian asked. "How should the crimes of a prince abandoning his fief and fleeing, cursing the Son of Heaven, and spreading rumors to delude the masses be dealt with?"

"He should be stripped of his state and confined under house arrest." Luo Yangxing did not dare to plead for the Prince of Dai and the Commandery Princes, nor was there any way to plead for them. The evidence was irrefutable—what was there to plead?

Zhu Youjian fell silent. His cold, gloomy gaze slowly swept over the nine trembling princes. After a long while, he finally spoke: "The crimes committed this time by the Dai princely line and its eight subordinate Commandery Princes ultimately come down to virtue not matching position! Why were the nine of them, along with the crowd of generals and commandants below them, in Datong at all? Prince of Dai, tell Us: how did your ancestor, Prince Jian, come to Datong?"

Zhu Dingwei was somewhat baffled by Zhu Youjian's question. Only after a good while did he recall the answer and say: "Your Majesty, this guilty subject's ancestor was, it seems, enfeoffed in Datong by the Founding Emperor as a frontier-defending prince to repel the barbarians."

Zhu Youjian nodded. "In those days, the Founding Emperor enfeoffed nine great frontier-defending princes: the Prince of Liao, the Prince of Ning, the Prince of Yan, the Prince of Gu, the Prince of Dai, the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Qing, and the Prince of Su. What was meant by a frontier-defending prince? None failed to spread across strategic passes, control key fortresses, be assisted by veteran commanders, hold authority over commands, match the power of a regional governor, sweep the deserts clear, and set up camps and tents in sight of one another. While the Founding Emperor lived, he often dispatched the frontier-defending princes beyond the border on inspection tours, to clear out remnants of the Northern Yuan and oversee the military farms and troop preparations of the garrisons south of the desert. However, after the Jingnan Campaign, the frontier-defending princes were either moved inland or kept in captivity. The restrictions on princes grew stricter by the day, and the duty of repelling the barbarians was reduced to nothing more than sitting in command of a strong city. Yet even the duty of sitting in command of a strong city requires diligent training in martial arts and thorough familiarity with battle formations!

"When We were Prince of Xin, did We not train bitterly in martial arts and study military strategy diligently? You princes and Commandery Princes, and the generals and commandants beneath you, are all descendants of frontier-defending princes and have long resided on the border, bearing the duty of sitting in command of strong cities. How is it that you do not practice martial arts, do not read military strategy, so that when facing the enemy you dare not take the field, and know only to avoid battle and cling to life? The moment you heard you were to follow Us into battle, you fled your fiefs in panic. Useless as you are, how can you face the Founding Emperor? How can you face Prince Jian of Dai?"

Hearing Zhu Youjian's long reprimand, not only were the Prince of Dai and the Commandery Princes utterly baffled, but even the nobles Zhang Weixian, Zhu Chunchen, Zhu Guobi, Luo Sigong, and Luo Yangxing were confused.

What was this young Son of Heaven trying to do? Why had he picked up the notion of frontier-defending princes again? That was a matter from how many years ago? Where were there frontier-defending princes now?

Moreover, even if the nine princes in Datong were each so valiant as to surpass the whole army, and the crowd of generals and commandants each possessed the might of ten thousand men, the court's restrictions on princes would still prevent them from taking the field to kill the enemy!

Zhu Youjian continued: "The world today has again entered a season of troubles. Not only are the northern barbarians rampant, but in the east there has also arisen the Jianzhou slaves, who have seized more than half of Liaodong! Although We, the Emperor, are capable of taking the field to fight, the Founding Emperor in his day needed the aid of nine great frontier-defending princes even to resist the barbarians. No matter how capable We are in battle, We cannot compare to the Founding Emperor. You frontier princes and Commandery Princes have all turned into pampered sons of wealth who fear the enemy and dread death. How can We alone defend a frontier of nine passes stretching thousands of li? If We cannot even defend it, how can We recover the lost territory of Liaodong?"

What did he mean?

Did the Emperor really intend to restore the system of frontier-defending princes guarding the border?

The nobles present were even more confused. Where were there any princes now capable of serving as frontier-defending princes?

Zhu Youjian glanced at them and thought to himself: A prince capable of being a frontier-defending prince will soon be born. And even if there is no frontier-defending prince for the time being, the five useless princes—the Prince of Dai, the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Qing, and the Prince of Su—along with a great crowd of Commandery Princes who merely eat and wait to die, must be moved out of the border regions one by one.

Because moving out one line of princes and Commandery Princes would allow the recovery of vast amounts of land!

Take Datong as an example. The total grain levy in kind and commuted to silver is now only a little over 126,000 shi, the plow-oxen silver is a little over 8,300 taels, the household salt-certificate silver is a little over 1,000 taels, and the fodder is over 400,000 bundles. Yet the land held by one princely establishment plus eight Commandery Prince establishments is surely no less than one million mu! If this land were distributed to "household retainers and warriors," it could support at least 2,000 households. If used to collect garrison grain, it could yield over 200,000 shi.

"Your Majesty," the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Luo Yangxing said, having noticed that Zhu Youjian had drifted off topic as he spoke—and the direction of the drift was not quite right! So he hurriedly pulled the topic back: "How should the cases of the Prince of Dai, the Prince of Guangling, the Prince of Shanyin, the Prince of Hechuan, the Prince of Zaoqiang, the Prince of Lechang, the Prince of Jiyang, the Prince of Fuchuan, and the Prince of Yongqing be handled?"

Zhu Youjian glanced at him and thought: You corrupt official, you're thinking of squeezing money, aren't you? Nine princely establishments—if you squeeze a hundred thousand from each, that's nearly a million!

Thinking this, Zhu Youjian sighed and said: "How their cases are handled, and by whom, ultimately depends on their own conduct. If they conduct themselves well, there will be no need to pursue any treason case. Of course, punishment is still required! If they conduct themselves poorly, then they will be handed over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard for severe handling!"

(End of Chapter)