Chapter 1765: Tremble, Fat Prince of Fu!

The twenty-first day of the tenth month of the first year of Chongzhen of the Great Ming.

The Teaching Loyalty Ward of Beijing's inner city, Fuxue Hutong, the Duke of England's garden.

In the study of the Duke of England, Zhang Weixian, two men faced each other in silence. Because of the burning of the imperial tombs at Changping, Zhang Weixian had already resigned from office and was living at home on his pension. But however much he lived on his pension, he was still the Duke of England who had commanded the Capital Camps for many years! Staying out of worldly affairs was impossible; even if he wanted to stay out of them, other people would still come looking for him.

The man who had come to his door today was Cui Chengxiu, the Jaisang Steward of the Uriankhai Myriarchy Ordo!

Yes, that very Cui Chengxiu, one of the Five Tigers of the eunuch party, who had once served as Minister of War!

After Wei Zhongxian's downfall, this fellow and several dozen other chief running dogs of Wei Zhongxian had all been arrested and locked up on the two islands in the Taiye Pond in the Western Garden, and after that there had been no further word. No one outside knew where this Cui Chengxiu had gone, and no one knew whether he was dead or alive.

The upright gentlemen at court had of course all submitted impeachments against him, this already dismissed Minister of War, pinning on him the label of a diehard partisan of the Wei traitors, intent on rebellion. But after these impeachments were delivered to Zhu Youjian, there was no further word. Cui Chengxiu remained in a state of having been stripped of office but not struck from the rolls.

What was called being struck from the rolls meant having one's name removed from the official registers, and from then on no longer being a father and mother to the people of the Great Ming! Without official registration, the family fortune one had so painstakingly embezzled while in office would be very hard to preserve, unless one still had fellow partisans holding high office. And the Wei party to which this fellow Cui Chengxiu belonged had already utterly collapsed. If he were struck from the rolls, he would be a member of a treasonous party, and his family fortune would not belong to him for long!

But not being struck from the rolls meant that he still did not count as a member of a treasonous party, but merely of the eunuch party. Those who were sharpening their knives, wanting to carve up his estate, would have to think twice.

Members of a treasonous party had no chance of being restored to office, but a member of the eunuch party might turn over and rise again any day! Given Cui Chengxiu's temperament, if any of you divided up his family property while he was down, once he rose again would he not bite you to death?

Moreover, dismissed officials had always enjoyed protection; this was an unwritten rule of officialdom, and whoever broke it became the public enemy of officialdom!

So everyone could only wait and see, and waiting and waiting, they forgot about him. When he reappeared, he had actually become some sort of Jaisang Steward of the Uriankhai Myriarchy Ordo. What kind of office was that? Did it even count as an office of the Great Ming?

But whether the Jaisang Steward of the Uriankhai Myriarchy Ordo counted as an office of the Great Ming was not important. What was important was that the Uriankhai Myriarchy Ordo was the property of Zhu Youjian! So whom this Cui Chengxiu represented went without saying.

And the moment this Cui Chengxiu entered Beijing, he had gone straight to the Duke of England's garden, found Zhang Weixian, who had already resigned and returned home, and handed him a copy of a memorial to read.

The room was utterly quiet; the only sound was the faint rustling of the paper trembling along with the trembling of Zhang Weixian's palm.

Only at the end did the old man Zhang Weixian let out a sigh: "I knew this matter would not be so easily put aside. I just did not expect Sun Zhisheng to submit this memorial. Although it is his duty as Left Chief Censor, this matter involves His Highness the Prince of Fu. His Highness the Prince of Fu is, after all, His Majesty's own uncle."

It turned out that what Cui Chengxiu had brought to the Duke of England's garden was Sun Chengzong's impeachment of the Prince of Fu for colluding with eunuch-party traitors and scheming for the throne!

This matter had, several months earlier, frightened quite a few of the officials involved for a while, but later, when the young Emperor did not pursue it, everyone gradually relaxed. In truth, the matter was excusable. At the time, had not the Prince of Dai and the eight Commandery Princes of Datong jointly submitted a memorial saying that His Majesty had met with danger? For everyone to discuss the choice of a new His Majesty was not really a crime, was it? Besides, making the Prince of Fu emperor was simply following seniority! If His Majesty were gone, then he was the one who should take the throne! Letting the son of the Prince of Gui take it was simply absurd!

And besides, even if the son of the Prince of Gui should have taken the throne, the ministers who had recommended the Prince of Fu could not be considered guilty, could they?

So everyone had set their minds at ease.

But no one had expected that Sun Chengzong would actually bring this matter up in an impeachment, and moreover make the Prince of Fu out to be the chief plotter of the "affair of enthronement." And in the impeachment, he had also linked the many doubtful points surrounding the deaths of the two late emperors, the Guangmiao and Ximiao Emperors, to the enthronement of the Prince of Fu. This matter had now blown up; it might well give rise to a great judicial purge that would sweep the court clean!

Zhang Weixian raised his head and looked at Cui Chengxiu. "Steward Cui, this is Chief Censor Sun's impeachment of the Prince of Fu and the eunuch party. You too are—"

He stopped halfway through his words and did not continue.

Cui Chengxiu merely gave a cold laugh. "Your Grace wishes to say that this humble official is also of the eunuch party, does he not? Quite right, this humble official was once of the eunuch party, and moreover followed Wei Zhongxian in committing crimes! But this humble official's crimes have been fully redeemed!"

At the words "fully redeemed," this Cui Chengxiu was practically grinding his teeth; it seemed that buying indulgences had nearly bankrupted him.

But his official status had been preserved. Keep the official status, and one need not fear lacking firewood! And the young Emperor was still willing to give this villain the chance to go on doing villainy, sending him to deal with the Prince of Fu. The Prince of Fu was famously rich! Skim off a little, and one would have everything.

Zhang Weixian also sighed, thinking: My crimes seem rather large too. How many indulgences will I have to buy? Is there a discount?

"Duke of England," Cui Chengxiu suddenly spoke up, "you cannot wash your hands of this matter either. The memorial of the Prince of Dai and the others was sent to Beijing by your people! The crimes of spreading wicked rumors to delude the masses and of cursing the Son of Heaven cannot be denied, can they?"

"I-I-I will buy indulgences too!" the Duke of England said with a wrinkled face. "But I have been an incorruptible official and have no money!"

Cui Chengxiu said with a mirthless smile: "His Majesty knows you have been an incorruptible official. The Capital Camps also have no phantom vacancies; it is just that they cannot fight. One battle and eighty thousand men were wiped out!"

The Duke of England, Zhang Weixian, turned deathly pale and sighed softly: "These are abuses of many years' standing. I have merely followed the old rules in handling affairs. The old rules are not so easily broken!"

Cui Chengxiu said: "Say no more. His Majesty does not intend for you to buy indulgences. You, after all, are not the same sort of person as this humble official! You are the Duke of England, enduring with the state; the realm of the Great Ming has a share that belongs to you as well!"

The moment the Duke of England, Zhang Weixian, heard this, he knew it boded ill, and said hastily: "Steward Cui, perhaps I had better buy indulgences after all."

"Not for sale!" Cui Chengxiu said with a smile. "His Majesty gives you two paths. The first is to send your son, the heir, to serve at the front. The second is for you to make a trip to Luoyang!"

Serving at the front meant being dragged off to become a martyr!

Quite a few nobles had already become martyrs. But Zhang Weixian could not bear to part with his son! That was his own son, and a universally acknowledged filial son. Not only did Zhang Weixian think so; all of Zhang Weixian's concubines thought so too!

"G-going to Luoyang is—" Zhang Weixian had no choice but to do the Prince of Fu an injustice and choose the trip to Luoyang.

"Naturally, it is to invite the Prince of Fu's family to make a trip to Beijing!" Cui Chengxiu said with a smile. "Duke of England, as long as you help His Majesty with this matter, His Majesty will not pursue how many phantom vacancies the Duke of England's household has consumed over the years, and will moreover bestow upon your family a great fortune!"

A great fortune? Zhang Weixian thought: Is it really not a calamity? Why does it sound so unreliable?

"Then," Zhang Weixian said, frowning, "when should I set out?"

"Naturally, the sooner the better, and do not alert anyone; just go directly!" Cui Chengxiu said with a smile. "His Majesty has already dispatched the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Vice Director of the Eastern Depot to wait at the Nanhaizi camp. You, sir, need only bring some household retainers and family guards, and we shall set out together for Luoyang to invite His Highness the Prince of Fu."

Good heavens—the Eastern Depot's Vice Director, the confiscation expert Liu the King of Hell, Liu Chao, leading the Embroidered Uniform Guard, plus a Duke of England, suddenly descending on Luoyang to "invite" the Prince of Fu north. If His Highness the Prince of Fu were the least bit timid, would he not faint from fright?

Zhang Weixian then asked: "Steward Cui, is there an imperial edict for taking—for inviting the man?"

"There is!" Cui Chengxiu said with a smile. "It is a palace edict! This matter involves quite a few Grand Secretaries at court, so it is inconvenient to issue a great edict. Besides, His Majesty may not necessarily punish the Prince of Fu. He merely wishes to ask His Highness the Prince of Fu in person whether he did or did not plot the deaths of the two late emperors."

(End of Chapter)