Chapter 236: The Unfilial Son Is Playing Tricks Again!

With a soft click, a chess piece landed lightly on the board. A game was at its most tangled, hardest-fought stage. Yet the two players seemed to be a pair of terrible chess players. For they placed all their stones in the center, great swaths of black and white pieces locked in a grinding melee, while the surrounding areas were sparsely occupied — the corners and edges seemed entirely ignored.

The two players were father and son: the Chongzhen Emperor and the Army-Supervising Crown Prince Zhu Cilang. Relations between father and son had improved somewhat of late. Zhu Cilang, flush with money, sent gifts to the Chongzhen Emperor every few days — all fine treasures obtained from the households of the four Huai-Yang salt magnates, some produced in China, some imported from the West.

And what the Chongzhen Emperor liked most were Western clocks and watches! In the late Ming, these things were practically black technology! The finest pieces, made by master Western clockmakers, were terribly expensive — how could the miserly Chongzhen Emperor bear to buy them? Besides, he feared people would say he was frittering away his ambition on playthings. He did not even dare handle the Western clocks and watches collected in the palace during the Wanli and Tianqi reigns.

But how could the clocks and watches of the Wanli and Tianqi eras compare with the things in the homes of the Yangzhou salt merchants? There was simply no comparison.

And now Chongzhen had let himself go. He no longer feared people saying he had lost his ambition and virtue — the more degenerate he seemed, the safer he was!

So he cast aside all restraint and played with whatever he liked!

Yet even as he slowly "degenerated," the Chongzhen Emperor had not given up his desire to regain power. So that one day he might lead the Ming restoration, the Chongzhen Emperor, besides using feigned degeneracy to protect himself, was also quietly studying his son's methods of governing the realm.

Zhu Cilang might be treacherous and ruthless, but his methods were extremely formidable! Not only did he keep military power and financial power firmly in his grasp, he could also bring a whole host of treacherous ministers, corrupt officials, rebels, unscrupulous merchants, and scheming warlords to heel!

Although the court he controlled contained almost no good men apart from the figurehead sovereign — that is, Chongzhen himself — one had to admit that under the governance of this pack of villains, the Ming truly had begun to show signs of revival.

Could the way to govern a realm really be to use bad men?

Just as the Chongzhen Emperor was playing chess with his son while pondering the way of governance, another bad man named Li Yan walked in, led by Feng Sizhong. Before he could even offer his greetings, Zhu Cilang spotted him.

"The military adviser has arrived? No need for formalities — come over and talk. Companion Pang, bring a chair for the military adviser."

Zhu Cilang did not stand on ceremony. Not treating himself as heir apparent in the slightest, he directly made decisions on the Chongzhen Emperor's behalf, and even ordered Pang Tianshou, the senior eunuch attending the Chongzhen Emperor, to do the work.

This Pang Tianshou had originally been a senior eunuch of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses. Before the fall of Beijing, he had been in Nanjing on business, so he was not one of Zhu Cilang's men. When Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang arrived in Yangzhou, he had come over from Nanjing to offer his service.

Zhu Cilang was broad-minded enough not to suspect him, and simply let him replace the endlessly complaining Cao Huachun in attending Chongzhen — Cao Huachun had grown too accustomed to comfort and could no longer serve anyone! Besides, he was now a hero of the Overcoming-Hardship cause, enfeoffed as the Overcoming-Hardship Earl of Jinghai. Why should he still be a eunuch?

Li Yan did not stand on ceremony either. He plopped himself down squarely in the chair that Eunuch Pang had brought, filling it completely — a sight that made the Chongzhen Emperor frown deeply.

Such a bandit-scholar, with no sense of decorum at all — how had he become a military adviser? Should not a military adviser be like Zhuge Liang? How could a bandit be allowed to fill the role?

"Military Adviser, how are things in Runing?"

It turned out that on his way south from Yanzhou, Zhu Cilang had sent Hongniangzi, Feng San, and Chen Yingyuan to Runing Prefecture together, along with 2,000 men of the Overcoming-Hardship New Army, 300,000 taels of silver, and an edict offering amnesty to the remnants of the roving bandits in the Runing area and the bandits of the Dabie Mountains.

Runing Prefecture had once been occupied by Li Zicheng's men, but Li Zicheng was now pulling in his forces to prepare for a decisive battle with the Qing army, so Runing Prefecture, which to the Shun was little more than a scrap, was gradually abandoned.

"Thousand Years," Li Yan said with a smile, "the roving bandits south of the Huai River have mostly cleared out. Gushi, Guangzhou, Shangcheng, Guangshan, Luoshan, and Xinyang are all in our hands now! If the Prince of Tang can take up his fief promptly, Runing Prefecture will soon be secure!"

Zhu Cilang nodded, then suddenly turned his gaze to the Chongzhen Emperor, who was bent over studying the board. "Imperial Father, what do you think?"

"What?" Chongzhen started, looking up at his son.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "Imperial Father, do you think we should have the Prince of Tang take up his fief in Runing?"

Chongzhen was stunned again and again: Have We not been sidelined by this unfilial son? How can We still decide matters of the Prince of Tang's enfeoffment? Is the unfilial son testing Us?

"There is no need to ask Us about this," Chongzhen said. "You decide, my boy."

Chongzhen had now learned a bit of cunning himself — he could put on an air of indifference to politics.

Zhu Cilang of course understood that this muddle-headed father of his was pretending. He smiled and said, "The enfeoffment of a prince is no small matter. It still requires an imperial edict from Imperial Father. Moreover, Runing, where the Tang fief is to go this time, is of the utmost importance to half of the Ming realm — nearly on par with Dengzhou and Laizhou. As long as Runing does not fall and Dengzhou and Laizhou are not lost, the defense of the Yangtze-Huai region will be as solid as a golden fortress!"

"Is that so?" the Chongzhen Emperor said noncommittally.

Zhu Cilang picked up a chess piece and tapped it lightly against the board before him. "This defense of the Yangtze-Huai region is just like the game before us. Fengyang, Huai'an, Xuzhou, and Yangzhou are the middle section — they look supremely important, but the places that truly decide victory or defeat are at the corners and edges! That is, Dengzhou-Laizhou, Xiangyang, and Runing. Dengzhou-Laizhou is now firmly secure, and with the Prince of Lu holding the Taiyi Mountains, it should be free of worry. But Xiangyang is in the hands of the roving bandits, and for the moment we lack the strength to recover it. So Runing and Wuchang have become the barriers guarding the flanks of the Yangtze-Huai region. If they are lost, the northern army will sweep down along the river and reach Jinling directly!"

"Is it truly so critical?" The Chongzhen Emperor's brow furrowed.

His muddle-headedness was an act — he could not stand by and watch the protective screen of the Jiangnan half of the realm be lost!

"Your Majesty," Li Yan, standing nearby, took up the Chongzhen Emperor's question and explained, "Runing leans on the Dabie Mountains and borders the Huai River. The terrain is strategically vital, and the local people have always been fierce. A considerable portion of the so-called fierce troops of Huaixi come from the Runing area. If Runing is in the court's hands, with a prince stationed there to guard it, then the fierce troops of Huaixi can serve the state, and the Dabie Mountains can become the nation's rampart. Even if the bandits and barbarians were to float down the Han River from Xiangyang along the Yangtze, they would be checked by the troops of Runing and unable to move freely.

Moreover, the troops of Runing can not only defend but also attack! Runing Prefecture belongs to Henan. To the north lies the border of Kaifeng Prefecture, and to the west the border of Nanyang Prefecture. If twenty thousand fierce troops were to crouch like tigers in Runing, then the enemies in Kaifeng and Nanyang would find it hard to sleep in peace!"

"Imperial Father, as long as the Prince of Tang can hold Runing, the western line of the Yangtze-Huai region will be free of all worry!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "And as long as Dengzhou-Laizhou and the Taiyi Mountains are not lost, the eastern line of the Yangtze-Huai region will be secure as well. With both the eastern and western lines secure, we can enjoy peace and prosperity in Nanjing!"

What? You are already thinking of enjoying yourself in Nanjing? Chongzhen was a little disappointed, but he still nodded. "In that case, We shall issue the edict."

He spoke very slowly, stealing glances at Zhu Cilang.

Truth be told, he very much wanted to issue the edict to assert his existence!

The Chongzhen Emperor had already seen that Zhu Cilang was no ordinary unfilial son, but an unfilial son of the same order as Li Shimin! If he were allowed to hold court power for long, with no voice given to himself, the wise sovereign, then before long the scholars and commoners of the realm would forget that he existed.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "For the Prince of Tang to take up his fief, it would be more solemn if a meritorious noble escorted him!"

"Oh," Chongzhen nodded. "Whom do you have in mind, my boy?"

"Your son wishes to have the Marquis of Huaiyuan, Chang Yanling, and the Earl of Chengyi, Liu Kongzhao, jointly escort the Prince of Tang to his fief." Zhu Cilang smiled. "Chang Yanling is already in Yangzhou, but Liu Kongzhao is still in Nanjing. Imperial Father, why not issue an edict summoning him to Yangzhou for an audience?"

What? Alarm bells rang in the Chongzhen Emperor's mind at once! So the unfilial son wanted to use the Prince of Tang's enfeoffment to break up the loyal ministers in Nanjing!

Zhu Cilang looked at his cheaply won father and said with a smile, "Imperial Father... do you truly wish to see the traveling court and the Nanjing nobles come to blows?

Our Ming is now in a season of peril. We can afford no more internal strife! At present the traveling court clearly has the upper hand, and the nobles and meritorious officials of Nanjing are at a disadvantage. But your son has always been magnanimous. As long as they are willing to bow their heads a little, your son will let bygones be bygones."

So that is it, the Chongzhen Emperor thought. This unfilial son wants to subdue the enemy without fighting! No — this unfilial son is far too cunning. He must be deceiving Us again. Those loyal ministers in Nanjing are in grave danger!

(End of Chapter)