Chapter 201: Duke for Perpetuating the Sage, the Tartars Are Coming to Dig Up Your Ancestral Graves!

"Prince of Lu," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, looking at Zhu Yihai, "have you heard about the Prince of Tang being reassigned to a new garrison?"

Zhu Yihai replied, "In answer to Your Highness, when this subject was returning to Shandong from Haizhou, I saw the Prince of Tang in Dengzhou."

"The Prince of Tang now commands troops in the saddle and governs the people out of it!" Zhu Cilang said. "Now that is a true vassal prince!"

He swept his gaze over the Princes of Jin, Qin, and De seated nearby, sighed, and said: "In the old days, the purpose of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, in enfeoffing vassal princes was for the princes to guard against the barbarians and shield the court. It is a pity that this ancestral institution gradually decayed and turned into the 'prince ban' — princes forbidden to command troops. Without troops, how can one hold a region? Why enfeoff princes at all? When the caitiffs and bandits come, a prince with no soldiers at hand has no choice but to flee, surrender, or beg for his life. What else can he do? Kill himself for the dynasty? Gallant, perhaps, but of what use? From now on, this rule is changed.

Any vassal prince who does not wish to command troops in the saddle and govern the people out of it — or who lacks the ability — need not remain out here. He may all come with Us to Nanjing and be a Prince. Commandery Princes, Generals, Commandants, and the like — whoever can be found will also come to Nanjing. Nanjing will always have a bowl of rice for them!

The titles of Prince, Commandery Prince, General, and Commandant will no longer be hereditary in perpetuity, but this generation's titles remain. Henceforth, descendants will inherit at one rank lower. A Prince's heir-apparent becomes a Commandery Prince, his sons by concubines become State-Suppressing Generals; a Commandery Prince's heir-apparent becomes a Duke, his sons by concubines become State-Assisting Generals; a Duke's heir-apparent becomes a Marquis, his sons by concubines become State-Upholding Generals; a Marquis's heir-apparent becomes a Count, his sons by concubines become State-Suppressing Commandants; a Count's heir-apparent becomes a State-Suppressing General, and his sons by concubines become commoners. After State-Suppressing General, they are ordinary people and no longer entered in the Jade Register. What do you gentlemen think?"

What did they think? They thought it was excellent, of course!

The Princes of Lu, Jin, Qin, and De were all princes who had lost their fiefs. Among them, the Princes of Jin, Qin, and De all had the stain of surrendering to Li Zicheng, so Zhu Cilang could have ordered them to take their own lives and still been within the ancestral statutes. To let them remain Princes now was imperial grace beyond measure!

The Princes of Jin, Qin, and De all rose and walked to the center of the great hall to kowtow and thank Zhu Cilang for his grace. Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile and raised a hand, motioning them to rise and be seated.

These three useless princes were actually useful; otherwise Zhu Cilang would not have granted them princely titles.

Their uses were threefold. First, they would help Zhu Cilang solve the problem of the Ming imperial clan being far too large — although the clan's numbers had already been greatly reduced in this great calamity, because the base had been so enormous, the current scale was still immense. If the vast majority were not cleared out, Zhu Cilang's court would lack the financial resources to build an army and stabilize its rule.

And as for the matter of purging the imperial clan, it was not convenient for Zhu Cilang to raise it himself, and it was best that he not personally play the villain. The Princes of Jin, Qin, and De, along with the Prince of Heng — these useless princes — were the most suitable to play the villain.

They could either be wicked princes or be dead men whose crimes admitted no pardon.

The Prince of Lu, however, had not joined the other three princes in kowtowing to Zhu Cilang. Clearly he was a man who could not resist the lure of power and wanted to become a second Prince of Tang!

"Prince of Lu," Zhu Cilang said, looking at Zhu Yihai, "do you wish to be a vassal prince who commands troops in the saddle and governs the people out of it?"

Of course he did! He dreamed of it!

The Prince of Lu, Zhu Yihai, immediately rose and bowed to Zhu Cilang. "This subject is willing to resist the caitiff bandits for His Highness the Crown Prince. But this subject succeeded to the title in haste amid flight and chaos, and more than two hundred years of the Lu principality's accumulated wealth has been utterly lost. I had no means to pay troops or hold the city, and so had no choice but to abandon it and flee, to preserve a body that might still be of use."

"That is very good!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "The descendants of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, are no fools — how could they throw their lives away for nothing? When We enfeoffed the Prince of Tang, We told him not to leave Henan and not to die lightly for the dynasty. He must hold out to the end; even if he loses his cities, he must withdraw to the Dabie Mountains and keep resisting!

Prince of Lu, if We grant you the Prince of Heng's estate and all the silver stored within it, can you do the same — not leave Shandong, not die lightly for the dynasty, and even if you must take to the mountains as a mountain king, resist to the very end?"

Yidu County, where the Prince of Heng's estate was located, lay right beside Mount Taihe, Mount Yunmen, Mount Yangtian, and other peaks — all spurs of the Tai Mountains, stretching far and wide. Though not precipitous, they had many valleys and basins, easy ground for holding out.

Once the Prince of Lu took to the mountains as a mountain king, the Qing army would face several more layers of difficulty in pacifying Shandong! The Tai Mountains were nothing like the city of Yidu. The latter covered only so much ground; ten or twenty thousand men could dig trenches and besiege it.

But how vast was the area of the Tai Mountains? Without eighty or a hundred thousand troops, they could not even mount a multi-pronged encirclement campaign!

Zhu Yihai was overjoyed. He hastily kowtowed to Zhu Cilang and declared in a loud voice: "This subject, Zhu Yihai, is willing to defend Qingzhou for His Highness the Crown Prince. Even if it means going up the mountains or into the sea, I will not refuse!"

Zhu Cilang rose, walked forward, and helped Zhu Yihai to his feet, praising him loudly: "Good! The Ming needs vassal princes like you! We will issue an edict tomorrow reassigning the Lu principality to Qingzhou. After We and His Majesty depart, all military and civil affairs of Qingzhou Prefecture will be jointly administered by you, Prince of Lu, and the Qingzhou Garrison Regional Commander!"

"This subject thanks His Highness the Crown Prince for his great grace!"

As Zhu Yihai kowtowed in gratitude, Bi Jiucheng, the chief clerk of Zhu Cilang's field headquarters, hurried in from outside, came to Zhu Cilang's side, and reported in a low voice: "Thousand Years, Kong Yinzhi has been brought in!"

Zhu Cilang nodded and said to Zhu Yihai: "Prince of Lu, please rise. Princes of Jin, Qin, and De, all of you accompany Us to meet Kong Yinzhi, the eastern barbarians' Duke for Perpetuating the Sage!"

Kong Yinzhi could no longer walk. He was carried into the Silver Peace Hall, where Zhu Cilang was, by two Embroidered Uniform Guard agents. Before he could even kowtow and beg forgiveness, Zhu Chunchen's booming voice rang out.

"This subject, Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo and Commander of the Imperial Field Headquarters, impeaches Kong Yinzhi, Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent and Duke for Perpetuating the Sage, for the crime of sowing discord among the imperial kin!"

"This subject, Zhu Youju, Prince of Heng, also impeaches Kong Yinzhi, Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent and Duke for Perpetuating the Sage, for falsely accusing the Crown Prince, sowing discord among the imperial kin, and shaking the foundations of the state! Kong Yinzhi first surrendered to the roving bandits, then went over to the eastern barbarians, and now has falsely accused the Crown Prince and sown discord among the imperial kin. His crimes are monstrous, deserving of death ten thousand times over. I beg Thousand Years to prosecute his crimes to the fullest!"

"Ah!" Zhu Cilang looked astonished. "Is Kong Yinzhi not the Duke for Perpetuating the Sage? How could he have surrendered to the roving bandits and the eastern barbarians? Surely he has been wronged?"

The Prince of Lu, Zhu Yihai, submitted: "Thousand Years, this prince knows of Kong Yinzhi's surrender to the bandits and the caitiffs, and can bear witness!"

The Prince of De, Zhu Youli, also said: "This prince can also testify that Kong Yinzhi went over to the enemy!"

Zhu Cilang gave a cold snort and looked down at Kong Yinzhi, who had collapsed into a puddle of mud below. "Kong Yinzhi! Three princes and one duke all impeach you. It seems your crimes are truly monstrous! Let Us tally them for you: surrendering to the roving bandits is rebellion; surrendering to the eastern barbarians is treason; falsely accusing this Crown Prince is plotting against the throne. Of the unpardonable crimes, you have committed three in one stroke! Beheading would be too light — at the very least it should be death by a thousand cuts! But in consideration of your being a descendant of Confucius — Duke of Chengguo, give him a knife and let him cut his belly open."

A knife clattered to the floor in front of Kong Yinzhi. It was not a full-sized saber but a short dagger, just right for cutting open one's belly. But Kong Yinzhi was hardly willing to cut. Forget the dignity of the Duke for Perpetuating the Sage — he simply wept and kowtowed.

Zhu Cilang was not about to spare him. In a deep voice he said: "Duke of Chengguo, give him a hand."

Zhu Chunchen did not hesitate. He answered, bent down, picked up the knife from the floor, and made to plunge it into Kong Yinzhi's belly — and at that moment Kong Yinzhi was so terrified he wet himself. Just as the knife was about to strike, someone else came rushing into the Silver Peace Hall, and a loud report was heard.

"Report to Thousand Years! Secret intelligence has arrived from the capital: the Tartars are massing troops and preparing to invade Shandong!"

"What?" Zhu Cilang was taken aback, then said to Zhu Chunchen, "Duke of Chengguo, have you killed Kong Yinzhi yet?"

"Not yet. This subject will kill him right now." So saying, Zhu Chunchen raised the knife to strike.

"Wait a moment before killing him," Zhu Cilang said.

"As commanded." Zhu Chunchen immediately withdrew the knife and stepped aside.

Kong Yinzhi, snatched from the jaws of death, was already frightened out of his wits. Beneath him was a pool of liquid — presumably his urine, and quite a lot of it. The Duke for Perpetuating the Sage lay sprawled in his own piss, his voice trembling as he begged for mercy.

Zhu Cilang walked over to him holding the letter, looked down at him coldly, and asked: "So you are the eastern barbarians' Duke for Perpetuating the Sage! Now the eastern barbarians are coming. Tell Us, what should be done?"

Kong Yinzhi said in a quavering voice: "This subject... this subject... this subject will fight them."

"Is that so?" Zhu Cilang glared at Kong Yinzhi, his eyes wide, awe-inspiring without anger.

"Truly, truly! So long as Thousand Years spares this subject, this subject is willing to die in service to Thousand Years and to the Ming!"

"Oh? Die in service?" Zhu Cilang said coldly. "And how do you plan to die in service?"

"That..." Kong Yinzhi gritted his teeth. "This subject's family has money. I will give it all to raise troops!"

Zhu Cilang smiled. "It is good that you have such an idea, but it is not enough! If you die, your household will certainly be confiscated. Every tael of silver will belong to the court, and the court will use it to raise troops."

"This... this... this..." Kong Yinzhi was so desperate he began to cry. "Thousand Years, spare my life!"

Zhu Cilang shook his head and said with a smile: "We are kindhearted and cannot bear to see an old man like you weeping and pleading. Very well, We will give you a hint. These Tartars are utterly vicious — the mortal enemies of all scholars under heaven! Their coming to Shandong is precisely to destroy the holy land of the Confucian teaching! Do you know where the holy land of the teaching is? It is your family's ancestral tombs!

The Tartars are coming to Shandong precisely to destroy the Confucian Grove, tear down the Confucian Temple, and sweep away in one stroke China's millennia of rites, propriety, human relations, the classics, and all canonical standards. This is not merely a catastrophe for our Ming — it is the greatest catastrophe to befall the Confucian teaching since the dawn of time. Our Confucius and Mencius would weep bitterly in their graves. How can any man who can read and write sit idly by with folded arms and not think of doing something!"

The Ming Crown Prince looked at the mud-like Kong Yinzhi and said with a smile: "Duke for Perpetuating the Sage, do you understand Our meaning? Are you a man who can read and write? Can you stand by and watch our Confucius and Mencius weep bitterly in their graves?"

"This subject understands. This subject understands everything!" Of course Kong Yinzhi understood. If he dared not understand, he would be disemboweled. "This subject will immediately submit a memorial and issue a call to arms, summoning all scholars under heaven to rise up, defend the Confucian teaching, fight the Tartars, and protect the Confucian Grove!"

(End of Chapter)