Chapter 1777: Welcoming the Prince of Fu

Welcoming the Prince of Fu.

More than half of the officials gathered in the courtyard of the Bai family's old residence were already regretting their decision!

Why had they come to join the excitement? Why pretend to be loyal subjects? Now look — they were about to be taken by the young emperor to welcome the Prince of Fu!

The few who had opposed the Prince of Fu's succession during the "struggle over the foundation of the state" in June naturally had nothing to fear from welcoming him, but there were many who had supported him! The very words "Prince of Fu" now set their hearts trembling, yet the young emperor was about to take them to welcome the Prince of Fu. And after the welcoming — would they be expected to accompany the Prince of Fu straight into the Imperial Prison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

Though these treacherous ministers who had backed the Prince of Fu were all unwilling to go and welcome him, now that the moment had come there was nothing they could do — they could hardly defy an imperial decree. So they could only set out with furrowed brows and gloomy faces.

Of course, they were not leaving the city right away. The hour was late and it was time for the midday meal, so Zhu Youjian instructed Widow Xu to entertain everyone with a fine spread at the Bai family's old residence. Moreover, from this moment on, Widow Xu belonged to Zhu Youjian, and she would have to leave the Bai family's great house. Arrangements had to be made, and she would need a retinue of serving maids and old matrons. These people were not only to wait on Widow Xu — they were also responsible for attending to Zhu Youjian!

Zhu Youjian was plainly about to take the knife to the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, so of course he could no longer entrust his personal safety to the palace eunuchs and maids. The last time he had distributed imperial estate land to the knights of his personal guard, he had in fact already infringed upon the interests of the eunuch faction.

At that time, however, he had been purging Wei Zhongxian's remaining followers and had collected a large sum in redemption silver and redemption fields. Apart from the fields distributed to the knights, the remainder had been handed over to the Directorate of the Imperial Horses to manage, which could be counted as making up part of the eunuchs' "losses."

Moreover, at that time Zhu Youjian had shown no intention of casting aside the eunuchs to establish a separate agency for managing the imperial estates, so he had not yet become a thorn in the side of the eunuch faction.

But now the situation was different!

Zhu Youjian was about to strike at the very root of the eunuch faction's interests! That was why he wanted Widow Xu's people to attend him — although Widow Xu had connections with Madame Ke and Xu Yingyuan, the servants of her household could never have aspired to such lofty patrons. Now, transformed overnight into the personal attendants of the Son of Heaven, they had risen to the heavens in a single bound and were most unlikely to be bought off by the eunuchs.

Furthermore, Widow Xu and Zhu Youjian were already "one body," and she would soon become a person the eunuchs wished to devour alive. So she had no room whatsoever to betray Zhu Youjian. If Zhu Youjian died, she would become a second Lady Fengsheng!

But if Zhu Youjian lived to a hundred, then her son, her husband's family, and her own family would all share in the glory — and she herself would be more comfortable than ever! Zhu Youjian was a vigorous man, young and handsome. With such a man at her side, was that not a hundred times better than living as a widow?

So as far as Zhu Youjian was concerned, Widow Xu was completely trustworthy.

After the midday meal, Zhu Youjian set out with a crowd of civil and military officials and Widow Xu, escorted by a thousand elite soldiers of his personal guard. They left the Shanxi encampment, then passed out of Beijing through Yongding Gate and headed straight for Nanhaizi.

Nanhaizi had originally been a royal hunting ground, but by the time Chongzhen ascended the throne it had fallen into disuse, with only the Nanhaizi Great Camp still occupied, serving as the garrison of the Purified Army. After Chongzhen took power, most of Nanhaizi had been parcelled out and granted to the knights of his personal guard as office fields. Most of these fields had been leased out, and over the past year more than half had been brought under cultivation. Because the land at Nanhaizi had not been tilled for at least several hundred years, it was extremely fertile — even though the area around Beijing had suffered drought the previous year, these fields still produced a good harvest.

At the center of Nanhaizi, now farmland in every direction, there remained some tens of thousands of mu of uncultivated land, used instead for the construction of a fortress, a large parade ground, and a horse pasture. The fortress was a bastion built of brick and stone — the plans for the bastion had been drawn by Zhu Youjian himself — and Folangji cannon were mounted on its walls, making it an extremely strong stronghold.

Zhu Youjian had originally planned to meet Hong Taiji's invading army here, but plans had failed to keep pace with events: Hong Taiji's invasion had come earlier than expected, and he had lacked the resolve for a decisive battle, withdrawing after a minor setback.

Nevertheless, this Nanhaizi fortress still had great use: it would become the headquarters of the new personal-guard army (the Boy Soldiers), and Zhu Youjian himself would reside in the Nanhaizi fortress for a long time. Thus the expansion of the Nanhaizi fortress would soon begin, and eventually a detached palace would appear here, capable of housing the entire Ming court, a great number of officials, and their families.

On the afternoon of the fifteenth day of the twelfth month of the first year of Chongzhen, as Zhu Youjian and his party approached the Nanhaizi fortress, there were already several great nobles of the old Zhu family within its walls.

The Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun; his heir, Zhu Yousong; the Prince of Yingchong, Zhu Youqu; and the Prince of Dehuai, Zhu Youhua — father and three sons — had arrived at the Nanhaizi fortress the previous night under the escort of Zhang Weixian, Luo Sigong, Luo Yangxing, Liu Chao, and others.

"Your subject, the Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun, respectfully inquires after His Majesty the Emperor's sacred well-being."

"Your subject, the heir of the Prince of Fu, Zhu Yousong, respectfully inquires after Your Majesty's sacred well-being."

"Your subject, the Prince of Yingchong, Zhu Youqu—"

By the time Zhu Youjian arrived, it was already dark, but Zhu Changxun still led his three sons out to kowtow and pay their respects to the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming. Yet as Zhu Youjian peered for a long while by the light of the lanterns raised by his personal-guard knights, he still could not make out which one was his own uncle, the Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun.

"Where is the Prince of Fu? Where is the Prince of Fu?" Zhu Youjian asked.

"Your subject — your subject is the Prince of Fu," replied a burly-looking middle-aged man.

"What? You are the Prince of Fu? Stand up and let Us have a look at you."

"Your subject obeys." The man rose to his feet, hands hanging at his sides, shoulders lowered, and stood very respectfully before Zhu Youjian's horse.

Zhu Youjian studied him very carefully again, his brow furrowing deeply. Pointing at the man, he asked, "Is this really the Prince of Fu? Why is he so thin? Is he an impostor?"

"Your Majesty," Luo Yangxing, who was standing beside the Prince of Fu, hurried forward to attest, "this is indeed the Prince of Fu. Upon hearing in recent days that the caitiff invaders had entered the Northern Metropolitan Region, His Highness the Prince of Fu has been anxious and indignant day and night, and has devoted himself to martial training — which is why he has grown so thin."

You damned Luo Yangxing — when Zhu Changxun heard Luo Yangxing say this, he was so furious he nearly exploded!

"Anxious and indignant day and night" — was he anxious and indignant because Hong Taiji had invaded, or because he had failed to become emperor?

And "devoted himself to martial training" — that was preparation for rebellion!

Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction — Luo Yangxing was quick-witted, a promising treacherous minister in the making!

"Prince of Fu, have you been training an army to rally to the throne in Luoyang?" Zhu Youjian added another stab at the Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun.

Zhu Changxun dropped to his knees with a thud before Zhu Youjian. "Your Majesty, your subject — your subject is utterly loyal to Your Majesty!"

"So you have been training an army to rally to the throne!" Zhu Youjian nodded. "Very good!"

"No, no — your subject... has absolutely not trained a single soldier, and your subject has not practiced martial arts himself—"

Zhu Youjian's face darkened. "Did you not just say you were utterly loyal? If you have not a single soldier and do not practice martial arts, how can you serve loyally? Do you simply wait for the slave rebels and the traitors to come and kill you?"

"That..." Zhu Changxun shook his head instinctively. "No, that is not—"

"Oh," Zhu Youjian's tone grew even more somber, "so what you mean is, you are waiting for the slave rebels and the traitors to kill Us, and then ascend the throne as emperor?"

Zhu Changxun was frightened to tears. What could he possibly say to save his own life?

"Your Majesty," an old eunuch who had accompanied Zhu Changxun suddenly spoke up, "your valor surpasses the three armies, and you slew the foremost warrior of the Mongols in battle. How could you possibly be harmed by bandit rebels? With Your Majesty present, any drilling or martial training by His Highness the Prince of Fu would be superfluous. The reason he has grown so thin is that for the past several months he has been economizing on food and clothing, saving his silver to donate to the court as military funds."

Military funds? Zhu Youjian thought to himself: who do you think you're fooling, you old eunuch? In the previous life, this Prince of Fu was nearly captured by Li Zicheng and still didn't think to bring out his family silver as rewards — he's going to donate military funds to Us?

"Yes, yes," Zhu Changxun said hastily, "your subject has saved one hundred thousand taels of silver from his food expenses and offers it all to the court."

Only one hundred thousand taels? And from food expenses — how many bowls of rice do you eat per meal?

Zhu Youjian gave a cold snort. "Li Zicheng!"

"Your subject is here!" Li Zicheng was right beside Zhu Youjian and answered loudly at once.

"The Prince of Fu's entire family is handed over to you!" Zhu Youjian said. "Take good care of them!"

(End of Chapter)