Chapter 1730: How Truly Loyal and Righteous!

Duke Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, was the most zealous of all the nobles at the Daigen Tala traveling palace, because he wanted to take over as Commander after Zhang Weixian retired.

The post of Commander of the Capital Camps was a plum position everyone coveted!

Over a hundred thousand troops on the books meant several million taels in pay each year — a sum no less than that of the Liao garrison. But the Liao garrison at least had tens of thousands of real fighting men who could actually kill, so they weren't merely drawing pay for doing nothing; moreover, a considerable portion of the Liao garrison's phantom rolls had been "converted" into household retainers who supervised the line and charged into battle.

The Capital Camps, by contrast, had it easy. Although the Capital Camps' officers also had household retainers, those were retainers for guarding homes and courtyards, utterly unfit for the battlefield. So the Capital Camps' phantom rolls were truly, solidly pocketed! And weren't the Capital Camps in Beijing? At the feet of the Son of Heaven, with a huge population, it was easy to hire temporary soldiers. Not like beyond Shanhai Pass, where there were hardly any people at all — if a superior officer really came to count troops, there simply weren't enough men to make up the numbers!

But Beijing was different. One or two hundred cash a day plus two full meals — how many men could you not get? So the phantom rolls in the Capital Camps were eaten ruthlessly, not by thirty, forty, or fifty percent, but as much as eighty or ninety percent!

Basically, apart from the officers, the guards and honor escorts of the officials, the parade soldiers standing sentry and watching the gates, and a very small number of troops who could respond to emergencies inside and outside the capital, nearly everyone was a paper soldier or a part-time soldier — that is, men who busied themselves with their own affairs in normal times and merely showed their faces at muster.

Of course, with such enormous profits in the Capital Camps, it was impossible for the Commander to eat it all himself. Everyone above and below, inside and outside, in every quarter, had to share in the spoils. But the portion that went to the Commander was still very considerable.

To obtain this benefit, Zhu Chunchen had never in his life worked as hard as he did now. Regardless of his corpulent body and clumsy movements, he attended the little emperor at every turn, front and rear, playing at horseback archery — and sometimes he even had to don armor!

And that little emperor was a young muddlehead who paid no attention to affairs of state, knowing only how to play with the horsemen before his tent — playing all day long. And he kept changing the games: mounted archery in the morning, column riding in the afternoon, and sometimes dismounting, putting on armor, and running about on foot.

Although Zhu Youjian never required Zhu Chunchen to join in the play, Zhu Chunchen, to curry favor with the little emperor, could only grit his teeth and play along. The full session was impossible; at most he managed half or a little more. After playing like this for over a month, he was sore in the back and aching in the legs all day, and he had grown dark and thin from exhaustion. If this went on, who knew whether it would shorten his life?

Early this morning, Zhu Chunchen, still in his own tent hugging a young Mongol girl and snoring away, was woken by his young cousin, a boy of only twelve or thirteen serving as a guard (a hereditary Embroidered Uniform Guard Chiliarch and imperial bodyguard), Zhu Chunjie. Needless to say, the emperor wanted to play again!

Helpless, Zhu Chunchen had the Mongol girl help him into a suit of long armor that was a bit too large, picked up a deathly heavy iron helmet, took a big chunk of rock-hard flatbread, and went out of the tent, swung onto his horse, and headed for the Daigen Tala traveling palace.

When he reached the palace, he discovered that a great crowd of civil and military officials had already arrived before him, every one in python robe and black gauze cap, all staring at him wide-eyed.

Why had he come wearing armor and carrying his helmet? Today the emperor had summoned everyone to discuss matters — to discuss Hong Taiji's incursion. Could it be that this Duke Cheng intended to volunteer for battle against Hong Taiji?

Ah! So this Zhu Chunchen was no sycophant after all, but truly loyal and righteous!

The moment everyone thought of the words "loyal and righteous," the expressions on their faces changed, all becoming solemn and grave, brimming with admiration.

"His Majesty the Emperor arrives — all officials pay their respects!"

Just then, a eunuch had already begun calling out — it was Zhu Youjian arriving!

At this, everyone stopped looking at Duke Cheng, fell into ranks, and then kowtowed to the emperor. Zhu Chunchen also swaggered over to his place — right beside Zhang Weixian — and then dropped to one knee. He now had several dozen catties of armor on his body, so performing the full prostration was inconvenient; he could only make do with a single knee. Fortunately, the traveling palace was not too particular about ceremony, otherwise he could never have worn armor to court!

Amid a chorus of "Ten thousand years!" Zhu Youjian had already arrived in the great courtyard of the traveling palace and seated himself on a chair placed beneath the eaves, and then he caught sight of Zhu Chunchen in his heavy armor.

Zhu Youjian had long known of Zhu Chunchen's "loyalty and righteousness." In his previous life, the man had been a capable officer under the rebel son, and had crossed blades with both the roving bandits and the Tartars!

Now, having surely heard of Hong Taiji's incursion, he had donned his battle armor and come of his own accord to volunteer — to go stake his life against Hong Taiji!

How truly loyal and righteous!

"Rise, rise," Zhu Youjian said with a smile, waving for the assembled ministers to stand. Once everyone was on their feet, he said to Zhu Chunchen: "Duke Cheng, you have come to court today in armor. Is it your wish to be a loyal subject and fierce warrior of our Great Ming, to go slay the barbarians for the realm?"

"Yes! This subject wishes to be a loyal subject and fierce warrior of Great Ming, to slay the barbarians for the realm!"

Zhu Chunchen's words were utterly unhesitating, but in his heart the drums were beating wildly.

The little emperor's words sounded somewhat off! Why say "slay the barbarians for the realm"?

Wasn't it said that the Southern Emperor and the Northern Khan had become sworn brothers? Why all this talk of killing and striking?

It turned out Zhu Chunchen did not know about Hong Taiji's incursion... The news had reached the traveling palace only yesterday evening.

And because Zhu Chunchen had spent most of yesterday playing horse-war with Zhu Youjian, he had been utterly exhausted, so upon returning to his tent he ate a little, washed, and went straight to sleep. This morning he had overslept, and had come without even wiping his face or brushing his teeth — so of course he did not know that the barbarians the little emperor wanted to kill had now become Hong Taiji.

"Good! A loyal subject indeed!" Zhu Youjian nodded heavily. "Then We appoint you Commander of the Capital Camps!"

What? Just like that, he was Commander?

Zhu Chunchen felt a surge of excitement, and stole a glance at Zhang Weixian. He found the old man wearing an easy smile, nodding at him!

At this, Zhu Chunchen hurried out of the ranks to perform the rites, again on one knee, and declared loudly: "This subject thanks Your Majesty for his boundless grace! This subject will surely manage the Capital Camps' brave warriors well on Your Majesty's behalf. Should any bandit or barbarian cause trouble, this subject will surely lead from the front and, with the Capital Camps' elite, wipe them out completely!"

"Good!" Zhu Youjian clapped his hands. "Those are exactly the words We wanted. Yesterday the Grand Secretariat forwarded a joint memorial from Supreme Commander of Ji-Liao Wang Zhichen and Governor of Liaodong Yuan Chonghuan, stating that the Jianzhou bandit chieftain Hong Taiji has personally led tens of thousands of troops and broken through the Yiyuan Pass wall, and is now locked in a standoff with the great armies of the Liao and Ji garrisons. We intend to lead a campaign in person, to fight Hong Taiji to the death!

Duke Cheng, since you are so loyal and righteous, We shall give you a chance to lead from the front — you shall command the Capital Camps' elite as vanguard of the great army!"

What?

Hong Taiji's tens of thousands of troops had broken through Yiyuan Pass! And he was to be the vanguard and fight a decisive battle with Hong Taiji! Zhu Chunchen was dumbstruck. Was this to be Commander, or to be a martyr?

Seeing Zhu Chunchen kneeling there turned into a "wooden statue," utterly motionless, Zhu Youjian also found it strange. Why did this loyal and righteous minister look so terrified? Could he be afraid of death?

"Duke Cheng," Zhu Youjian's tone sank, "why do you not accept the decree? Do you mean to defy an imperial order?"

Defying an imperial order meant beheading!

"No — no, this subject dares not defy the decree," Zhu Chunchen said hastily — how could he dare defy it? "This subject merely has no — no confidence that he can kill Hong Taiji."

Kill Hong Taiji, indeed. Zhu Youjian thought to himself: Where would you even go to kill him? If the one at Yiyuan Pass really were Hong Taiji, that would be a prodigy! In his previous life, the eastern barbarians had made five incursions, mostly avoiding strength and striking weakness, and had fought the Ming army only a few times outside the walls of Beijing. But that was beneath the walls of Beijing! Before that, Yuan Chonghuan had led twenty thousand troops in an attempt to force a decisive battle at Jizhou by holding the city, and had failed. This time Yuan Chonghuan had concentrated fifty thousand troops at his own doorstep, and had deployed them at leisure, already seizing the advantageous ground — he had achieved an undefeatable posture.

How could Hong Taiji possibly choose to fight a decisive battle on the battlefield Yuan Chonghuan had selected inside Shanhai Pass?

Thinking this far, Zhu Youjian smiled and said to Zhu Chunchen: "The fifty thousand troops of Wang Zhichen, Yuan Chonghuan, and Zhao Shuaijiao have already laid an inescapable net inside Shanhai Pass and achieved an undefeatable posture, so this battle is one we are confident of! Zhu Chunchen, your role as vanguard is merely to steady the line behind the elite troops of Ji and Liao. The good fortune of killing Hong Taiji will not fall to you!"

(End of Chapter)