Chapter 21: We Guarantee No Settling of Accounts Afterward (We Really Want Recommendation Votes)

The seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the sixteenth day of the third month.

The time had already passed noon, and the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, Zhu Youjian, was still holding court inside the gate tower of the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, which was built in the style of a roofed hall. Morning court in the Ming dynasty was not held inside a great hall, but at the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, a practice known as "holding court at the imperial gate." His Majesty the Emperor's throne was placed inside the imposing gate tower of the Hall of Imperial Supremacy. Before and behind the gate tower were three tiers of steps, and on both sides of each tier of steps ran white marble balustrades, presenting a sight of solemn majesty.

Standing in attendance on either side and behind the imperial throne were the inner officials of the Directorate of Ceremonial. The court officials stood directly in front of the imperial throne, and closest to the Emperor were the several Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat. In addition, a fully armored Han General stood beneath a pillar of the portico to the right front of the Emperor. Farther away were the civil and military officials of all ranks, drawn up in two separate columns, a very great number of them.

Because the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, was a workaholic who liked to monopolize power and feared being deceived by his ministers, he wanted to see as many officials as possible and hear as many reports as possible. For this reason, the scale of the Ming dynasty's regular morning court was unprecedented — because there were so many people that they could not all fit inside a great hall, court was held at the Hall of Imperial Supremacy (called the Hall of Worshipping Heaven in the early period), where the Emperor and a small number of important ministers could stay beneath the gate tower. Most of the officials were "outdoor workers." Never mind wind and rain — just the sun alone was enough to be unbearable. If one happened to have an emperor who disliked holding morning court, a lazy emperor, everyone had an easier time. But if one met an emperor like Chongzhen, who wished he could hold morning court twice a day, then every civil and military official at court would be dark-skinned... and if they were not dark, the sun would darken them!

Besides the sun, there was also the fatigue. Morning court began very early; it had to start at the hour of Mao, which was five in the morning. It usually lasted until noon before ending! That was six or seven hours!

Moreover, the officials attending court did not live in the palace. They had to travel from all parts of the inner city of Beijing to the imperial palace, so they had to get up by the hour of Yin at the latest... that meant rising at three in the morning, starting work at five, and working outdoors, under the blazing sun, until noon.

What kind of national leader was this? They were clearly street sweepers, sanitation workers!

Therefore, pale-faced, scholar-like capital officials were a rare sight in Beijing. If there were any, they were certainly newcomers. The vast majority of capital officials had dark, sun-blackened faces like old peasants.

Besides being dark, they were also thin! Rising at three every morning, attending court at five, standing all morning, and after standing, still having to handle official business — and the Emperor was a man of unpredictable moods, so one never knew when the Embroidered Uniform Guard might come to arrest one. They lived in constant fear... doing work like this, it truly was not easy to get fat!

But many people did not mean high efficiency. Although several hundred capital officials had come today, standing outside the Hall of Imperial Supremacy since before dawn, and now the sun was directly overhead, they still had not worked out any strategy for repelling the enemy.

The truth was simply that there was no money! With money, everything was fine; without money, nothing was fine.

Now the Great Ming had no money. The state treasury was empty, and the privy purse was likewise empty.

When Wu Xiang had asked the Chongzhen Emperor for a million taels in the second month, Chongzhen had answered him: "The state treasury has only seventy thousand taels of gold. If we scrape together all gold, silver, and valuables, we can make up two or three hundred thousand at most."

Now almost another month had passed, and a great deal had been spent on arranging the defense. If not for mobilizing the officials and the common people to contribute military funds, they would long since have been unable to hold on.

But the officials were poor too, and could not donate much.

One only had to look at them to know — each one dark and thin, their clothes all faded. Who would believe they had money?

But then again, most of the Ming officials in the capital were not wealthy. Later, when Li Zicheng entered the capital and tortured and plundered, he got several tens of millions of taels, of which the amount squeezed from the officials was no more than one-tenth, that is, a few million. That looked like a lot, but how many officials were there in the capital? With so many people, to squeeze out only a few million — how much was that on average? And corruption and bribery could not be averaged out either. Only lucrative posts could yield graft, but the poor, powerless offices were always the majority.

For example, where could Zhu Cilang's tutors go to embezzle? Charge Zhu Cilang for extra tutoring? Was there such a thing?

Moreover, the "three respects" customary fees had not become established practice in the Ming dynasty. Even if local officials sent tribute, they only gave money to capital officials with whom they had close relations; they would not spread it around so that everyone got a share.

Of course, there were still rich people in Beijing. The ennobled nobility and some of the great eunuchs had money!

Most of the ennobled nobility had not become prominent in a single generation, but had been prominent for generation after generation, so it was normal for them to have accumulated family fortunes over time. In addition, the posts the ennobled nobility held were usually military posts, and they could manage the Regional Military Commissions, guard stations, and the Capital Camps. In the early years they could swallow up land, and in later years they could withhold military pay and pocket the salaries of phantom soldiers. If they served in the southeastern coastal regions, they could also shield smuggling, which made it easy to make money.

And the great eunuchs had the imperial family and the princes to "feed on." The imperial estates and imperial shops were also managed by eunuchs. In the early years there were also mining supervisors and the Imperial Silk Workshops to profit from, and now there were opportunities as army supervisors to skim money from military pay. Therefore, the great eunuchs all had at least some personal wealth.

As for the privy purse... during the Wanli years it had been quite full, but by the Tianqi and Chongzhen years it had begun constantly disbursing money to subsidize military expenses. Now it had long been completely empty. Talk of "thirty million taels" and the like was simply illogical nonsense. How responsible and how skilled at making money would the Ming eunuchs have to be to save up thirty million taels for the Chongzhen Emperor? Did people think they were all Zheng Zhilong, the richest man in the Great Ming?

But even though the Chongzhen Emperor knew that his civil officials had not embezzled much money, he was still seething with hatred in his heart.

Because these civil officials had neither the means to raise money nor the means to repel the enemy, and they were also blocking him, the Emperor, from moving the capital... this was truly fatal!

Li Zicheng had already broken through Juyong Pass and was about to arrive outside Beijing. If they did not move the capital and journey south soon, it would be too late.

By the way, moving the capital and journeying south was not the same as fleeing in panic.

Moving the capital and journeying south was a major state policy. It required the Emperor to issue an edict, the Grand Secretariat to draft a rescript, and the Emperor to approve it in red ink. Only then could the Six Ministries, together with the Governor of Shuntian, the Governor of Tianjin, the Governor of Denglai, and the Governor-General of the Grain Transport, jointly arrange and carry it out.

This was the collective relocation of the central government of the Great Ming. During the relocation, the functions of the central government would not be interrupted, and its authority would not decline excessively.

But fleeing in panic was simple. Leave tonight, take the wife and children, and under the protection of the elite of the Capital Camps, head straight for Tianjin — that was a matter of a single sentence. Wang Cheng'en must have already arranged everything and could escort the Emperor in flight at any moment...

Thinking of the loyal and reliable Wang Cheng'en, the Chongzhen Emperor felt considerably reassured. He would not stand there stupidly waiting to die. Otherwise, why would he have put Wang Cheng'en in command of the inner and outer military camps and made him Superintendent of the Nine Gates? Wang Cheng'en did not know how to fight; besides arranging an escape, what else could he do?

But fleeing in panic would damage his prestige too greatly, and it would also plunge the Great Ming into a period of leaderlessness.

Because fleeing in panic could not possibly take along a huge central government apparatus, nor could it take away too many troops. Then the court would fall into the predicament of having no officials and no soldiers, and might even be seized by ambitious warlords and powerful ministers.

Therefore, now was the last opportunity to move the capital and journey south...

Thinking of this, Chongzhen sighed: "Yesterday we received a field report that Juyong Pass has fallen, and the roving bandits are about to arrive outside the capital. What good strategies do you ministers have? You may all speak freely to Us."

What good strategies could there possibly be?

Either flee or surrender — could either of those two strategies be spoken freely? If you want them spoken, speak them yourself. This time we guarantee we will not object.

The officials outside the Hall of Worshipping Heaven all stood dumbstruck as wooden chickens, not uttering a word...

Chongzhen's heart was filled with disappointment! How could there not be a single minister who would stand up and say the words "move the capital"?

Hurry and stand up. We guarantee there will be no settling of accounts afterward!

Unfortunately, no one could sense the Chongzhen Emperor's inner thoughts, and still no one stood up to speak.

In fact, since the thirteenth day of the third month, no one had said much at morning court. Because the day before, Li Zicheng's great army had reached Huailai Guard, and all the passes of the Great Wall northwest of the capital were under the blade of the Roving Bandit's forces. The Roving Bandit's great army could break through at any moment!

Therefore, since the thirteenth, the court officials had all been waiting for the Chongzhen Emperor to issue an edict to move the capital and journey south.

But the problem was that the Chongzhen Emperor simply would not open his golden mouth!

And none of the officials dared to shoulder such a black mark. So between ruler and ministers, they just stared at each other, enduring the stalemate!

Enduring until today, the Chongzhen Emperor could still keep his composure!

Truly, the ministers could not help but inwardly admire Chongzhen's skill at self-cultivation. This was what it meant to be the Son of Heaven — when Mount Tai collapsed before his face, his expression did not change.

Just as everyone was thinking this, Li Jicheng, the Director of the Eastern Palace Pharmacy, suddenly came running over in a stumbling, staggering manner, shouting: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, a great disaster has occurred..."

(End of Chapter)