Chapter 241: And There Is Still the Loyal Ma Shiying

Barely a single day later, Liu Kongzhao, Han Zanzhou, and Zhang Shenyan arrived together at Yangzhou City aboard warships of the Yangtze River Navy.

After disembarking, Liu Kongzhao went straight to Daming Temple with Chang Yanling, who had come to greet him, to request an audience with the Army-Governor Crown Prince Zhu Cilang. Han Zanzhou and Zhang Shenyan, meanwhile, went to the traveling palace at Tianning Temple to pay their respects to the Chongzhen Emperor.

"Please sit at ease, both of you. There is no need for formality here." Zhu Cilang's mood seemed excellent, as if he did not care in the least that Han Zanzhou and Zhang Shenyan had gone to see the Chongzhen Emperor.

Upon seeing Chang Yanling and Liu Kongzhao, he greeted them courteously and invited them to be seated; noticing the two men were somewhat ill at ease, he smiled and told them to relax.

"Have the two of you received the decree We just issued?" Zhu Cilang looked at them and asked with a smile. "Are you willing to leave Nanjing and take up posts as Regional Commander of Huguang and Garrison Commander of Jiujiang?"

What did that mean?

Liu Kongzhao was instantly stunned. Had the Crown Prince been fooled after all, or had he seen through his scheme? Why was he offering him a Jiujiang garrison post to win him over?

"I am willing! This subject is willing to garrison Huguang for Thousand Years!"

While Liu Kongzhao was still puzzling it over, Chang Yanling had already knelt before Zhu Cilang. He had thought his family's wealth and rank were finished; he never expected that today Zhu Cilang would inexplicably hand him a Huguang Regional Command. Who cared what schemes lay behind it — having a regional command was far better than having nothing at all! Besides, Huguang was quite far from Nanjing; the Crown Prince's reach could not extend that far!

"This subject is also willing." Liu Kongzhao had no choice but to follow suit.

Zhu Cilang then continued: "Do the two of you know that We have already enfeoffed the Dai, Lu, and Tang princely houses as substantive frontier princes who command troops on horseback and govern the people on foot?"

"This subject has heard of it," Chang Yanling said.

"This subject has heard of it as well," Liu Kongzhao said. "Is Thousand Years emulating the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, in using frontier princes to guard the borders and hold off the barbarians?"

Zhu Cilang nodded. "We do indeed have that intention. However, the princes of our Great Ming today cannot compare with those of the Great Ancestor's time, so relying on frontier princes alone is no longer enough to hold off the barbarians and suppress the bandits. We must also rely on frontier dukes, frontier marquises, and frontier counts — all working together — to reverse the decline of the Great Ming.

The Marquis of Huaiyuan and the Count of Chengyi are both descendants of our Great Ming's founding meritorious officials. Would you be willing to set an example and accept enfeoffment as a frontier marquis and a frontier count, to garrison a region in perpetuity for the court?"

What? Garrison a region in perpetuity!?

That was wealth and rank for generation after generation! Even Liu Kongzhao felt his blood surge at this. A titled noble like him, with no territory and no real army, was nothing but a fat pig in these chaotic times — no one knew when someone would come and slaughter him.

Wealth and rank that could truly be passed down required troops and territory. Take the Yang clan of Bozhou, for example — first enfeoffed in Bozhou at the end of the Tang, they lasted more than seven hundred years; dynasties changed several times over, yet their house stood firm. Had Yang Yinglong not been so careless, they would still be overlords of a region even now.

Zhu Cilang went on: "At present, the Dai, Lu, and Tang princely houses each hold a prefecture. Previously We had also intended to enfeoff Taiyuan to Wu Sangui. That is to say, princes and frontier dukes may all hold a prefecture in perpetuity!

You two hold the ranks of marquis and count, so naturally you cannot hold a prefecture in perpetuity. A marquis may hold a subordinate department, and a count may hold a county in perpetuity. Marquis of Huaiyuan, since you are going to Huguang as Regional Commander, why not choose a subordinate department in Huguang for your Chang family to hold in perpetuity!

Count of Chengyi, you may choose a county in Jiujiang Prefecture as your fief! As for your Liu family's estates in your ancestral home of Chuzhou and elsewhere in the southeast, you will hand those over as well!"

He was really giving it!

Chang Yanling and Liu Kongzhao both began breathing rapidly.

"Thousand Years," Chang Yanling had already knelt before Zhu Cilang, "this subject Chang Yanling, together with the three thousand family soldiers of the Chang clan of Jiangdu, is willing to garrison Daozhou for the Crown Prince and hold this land in perpetuity!"

His old Chang family had lost all their land in the Yangzhou Guard; three thousand family soldiers had become tenant farmers overnight. How were they supposed to live from now on? Now that they could have a territory to hold and defend for generations, nothing could be better!

"Good, good," Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "We shall enfeoff you as Marquis of Daozhou, and further reward you with one hundred thousand taels of silver to serve as travel expenses for the Chang clan of Jiangdu. However, the guard-station lands your family occupied in the southeast — We will reclaim them all."

Chang Yanling was inwardly thrilled. His family had not occupied much guard-station land elsewhere in the southeast; most of it was in Yangzhou. To trade land already lost for Daozhou was an enormous gain! So he immediately kowtowed with a resounding knock. "This subject kowtows in gratitude for Thousand Years' great kindness!"

Zhu Cilang then looked at Liu Kongzhao. "Count of Chengyi, where would you like? Hukou and Pengze cannot be enfeoffed to you. How about We enfeoff De'an County to your family?"

Hukou was historically the site of a Yangtze fortress, called Hukou Fortress. And under Pengze County there was a very famous town called Madang Town! Madang Fortress was located there. Both places had mountainous terrain along the river, suitable for building fortifications, deploying Hongyi cannons, and commanding the heights to seal off the shipping lanes on the river.

Furthermore, one hundred fifty li downstream from Madang Town lay Anqing. Anqing City was built facing the river, and the Yangtze outside the city walls was exceptionally narrow — less than two li across. If artillery were placed on the walls of Anqing City, the Yangtze shipping lane could be completely locked down as well.

Thus, with the three strategic points of Hukou, Madang, and Anqing defended, Zhu Cilang would not need to worry about enemies descending the river from upstream — this was no longer the age of tower ships crisscrossing the river!

Liu Kongzhao gritted his teeth and with a thud knelt before Zhu Cilang. "Thousand Years, this subject has confidential matters to report to Your Highness!"

Oh? Confidential matters, is it? Zhu Cilang smiled and nodded. So you're going to sell out those foolish fat pigs in Nanjing?

"Thousand Years, how did it go?"

Chang Yanling and Liu Kongzhao had just left when Li Yan and Zheng Sen entered Pingshan Hall together. After greeting Zhu Cilang, Li Yan bowed and asked how things had gone.

His talents as a strategist were directed downward — he was extremely skilled at dealing with landlords, rich men, bandits, and local strongmen — but he had little recourse when it came to the Nanjing titled nobility and the civil and military officials at court.

"It worked!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "One enfeoffed as frontier marquis of Daozhou, the other as frontier count of De'an — both holding a region in perpetuity!

Senior Brother, how about we enfeoff your father with something too?"

Zheng Sen had only returned to Yangzhou the day before. Previously he had gone to Zhoushan with Lu Zhenfei to persuade Huang Binqing to submit to Zhu Cilang.

"Junior Brother, Your Highness, where do you intend to enfeoff my father?" Zheng Sen asked.

"How about Tayouan?" Zhu Cilang asked with a smile. "Tayouan Island lies off the coast of Fujian, not far from your family. Shall We enfeoff it to your family? Your family still has a foothold on Tayouan Island, do you not?"

Tayouan was Taiwan — the treasured island of later ages — but at present it was a very troublesome island. The Taiwan Strait had rough seas, and near the Taiwan side there was the so-called "Black Ditch," where the currents ran swift and it was easy to lose one's bearings. A saying of the time described crossing the sea to Taiwan as "ten go, six die, three stay, one turns back" — meaning that of ten who crossed, six drowned, three arrived, and one gave up and returned.

Of course, that saying was somewhat exaggerated. At least for the Eighteen Zhi merchant confederation, crossing to Taiwan was not very difficult.

But the miasma, the headhunting tribes, and the Dutch on Taiwan were not easy to deal with. The miasma was especially deadly. In earlier years, Yan Siqi, who had landed at Bengang and Pingye, fell ill and died within a year of setting foot on the island — and in history, Zheng Chenggong fell ill and died four months after landing on the island.

After Yan Siqi's death, the enterprise of opening Taiwan that he had begun was inherited by Zheng Zhilong. According to Dutch records, in just the two years from 1636 to 1638, more than four hundred ships from Fujian put in at Taiwan, carrying over large numbers of Fujian's poor.

Moreover, from the first year of Chongzhen onward, every time Fujian suffered a disaster, Zheng Zhilong would provide money and ships to transport famine victims to Taiwan to open up wasteland. The cumulative number was likely no less than one hundred thousand people!

In the area that later ages would call Jiayi, large numbers of Han migrants from Fujian had now settled, all under the protection of the Zheng clan.

If Zhu Cilang did not want to lose Taiwan, enfeoffing the Zheng clan as lords of Taiwan was the only choice.

But at present, the Zheng clan was not the only power on Taiwan — in the south of the island there were also strongholds of the Dutch East India Company.

"To be frank, Junior Brother, Your Highness," Zheng Sen said with a frown, "my family does have some foundation on Tayouan Island, but the red-haired foreigners also hold territory there. They have built a city in the south of the island and stationed troops, intending it as a permanent base."

Zhu Cilang smiled and waved his hand. "No matter. The Dutch on the island — We will handle them. We have Our own methods! You need only bring your esteemed father to Nanjing, and We will speak with him Ourselves."

"Nanjing?" Zheng Sen was taken aback. "Junior Brother, Your Highness, you are going to Nanjing?"

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Correct! The time is nearly ripe!"