Chapter 252: Now We Must Put Down Roots in the Southeast

Around noon on the sixth day of the ninth month of the Chongzhen era, the boom of cannon, the crack of muskets, and the shouts of battle on the battlefield east of Nanjing suddenly fell silent.

Less than half a quarter-hour earlier, the eastern wall of the Xiaoling Garrison had finally been breached by the New Army's artillery battery using six Hongyi cannons, opening a gap thirty or forty paces wide. At that breach, half the wall was simply gone — the bricks and the rammed-earth core had collapsed into a slope of rubble.

The matchlock troops commanded by Feng San charged right up to the foot of that slope and poured fire from matchlock muskets and turtledove-foot muskets into the Xu family retainers and the Nanjing soldiers hired with lavish rewards who were trying to plug the gap, leaving them piled dead and wounded.

But Feng San did not order his troops to storm the breach, because the collapsed section was too high, and the slope of fallen brick and earth was too steep to climb without equipment. So Feng San could only halt the attack for the moment and send men to fetch ladders.

Zhu Ci, however, was not willing to just sit and wait. A great, strong city like Nanjing could not truly be taken by frontal assault! And Nanjing was the future foundation of Crown Prince Zhu's power — it could not be left ravaged by war. So the city had to be won by attacking the mind! And attacking the mind — wasn't that just persuasion? That was Zhu Ci's greatest skill.

"Spare us, Thousand Years! Spare us, Thousand Years!"

"We were all coerced! We were forced into this!"

"Spare us, Thousand Years! We would never dare rebel again!"

The ones crying out and begging for mercy were all rebels captured on the Dasai battlefield — several thousand of them, herded before Zhu Ci by Hao Yaoqi's matchlock troops, kneeling in a vast black mass. That wretch Zhu Guobi had also been captured, and wounded besides — he had broken one leg while fleeing and was now being carried before Zhu Ci by two prisoners. The man was utterly deflated, his face ashen, his whole body trembling; when he saw Crown Prince Zhu, he even forgot to beg for his life.

With crimes that great, could he possibly be spared? Death was certain.

"Zhu Guobi, I didn't expect you to be such a tough man!" Zhu Ci said, looking at him with a smile. "So many people are begging for mercy, and you won't — are you preparing to die by a thousand cuts?"

Death by slow slicing!

At those words, Zhu Guobi's body shuddered, tears streamed down his face, and he broke into loud, wailing sobs.

"What are you crying for? A real man dies when he must!"

"Marquis of Funing, we are all loyal subjects. Even in death, our names will live on in history!"

Seeing the Marquis of Funing weeping, Zhang Shenyan and Han Zanzhou, who stood under guard beside Zhu Ci, both spoke up to console him — though their words clearly brought Zhu Guobi no comfort.

Zhu Ci glanced at the two of them and laughed. "What are you two blathering about? At this point, you still hope to leave a good name in history? History will not speak well of you, because history is written by Our people. Governor-General Ma, what do you say?"

Ma Shiying looked at Zhang Shenyan with utter contempt. "Zhang Miaoshan, you are of the eunuch faction, plotting rebellion, treasonous beyond measure, guilty of every unpardonable crime!"

"You — you—" Zhang Shenyan glared viciously at Ma Shiying. "How is this old man of the eunuch faction?"

Ma Shiying pointed at Han Zanzhou. "You are in league with this eunuch traitor — how are you not of the eunuch faction?"

"Fine, fine, fine," Zhang Shenyan said, furious. "This old man is of the eunuch faction — then what about you and Huang Degong?"

Ma Shiying put on a solemn face. "The two of us are, of course, successors of the Donglin!"

Zhu Ci nodded. "We too are a Donglin Crown Prince! Our teachers Master Qian, Master Hou, Master Gong, and Master Wu are all Donglin gentlemen, so We too are a successor of the Donglin!"

"You — you—" Zhang Shenyan was nearly speechless. He had never seen anyone so shameless!

An unfilial and disloyal crown prince actually calling himself a successor of the Donglin, while branding him — a Donglin partisan of such seniority — as a member of the eunuch faction. Was there no justice left in the world?

Zhu Ci snorted. "Do you two eunuch-faction traitors still dare to quibble?" He turned to the vast black mass of prisoners before him and demanded in a loud voice, "Were you all deceived and deluded by the eunuch-faction Zhang Shenyan and Han Zanzhou into opposing Us and the Sage?"

Many of the Capital Camps soldiers and low-ranking officers of Nanjing came from the streets and markets — quick-witted men all. Hearing Zhu Ci's question, they knew at once how to answer.

"Thousand Years is right! We were deceived by the eunuch-faction Zhang Shenyan and Han Zanzhou!"

"Those two eunuch-faction scoundrels are the worst! They lied to us, saying it was to rally to the throne, when in truth it was rebellion!"

"They even wanted to rehabilitate the traitor Wei and exterminate the gentlemen of the Donglin Faction!"

In later ages the Donglin gentlemen would be thoroughly discredited, but in the Jiangnan of the late Ming, they were the very embodiment of justice and truth!

The eunuch faction, by contrast, stank to high heaven in Jiangnan. Anyone branded a member of the eunuch faction became the public enemy of the Jiangnan literati — and even the common folk who knew nothing of the facts would join in the hatred.

Zhu Ci, of course, knew exactly what the Donglin partisans were, but he was not about to go against public sentiment in Jiangnan. Arriving in Jiangnan and hoisting the banner of exterminating the Donglin Faction would not do — these Donglin men were useless at accomplishing anything, but more than capable of ruining everything!

So Zhu Ci's strategy had always been to fly the Donglin flag while doing anti-Donglin deeds. After all, he was the Donglin Crown Prince — whoever opposed him was of the eunuch faction!

Now the Donglin leaders Qian Qianyi and Hou Xun were both Zhu Ci's men, and Shi Kefa had been packed off to Qufu to guard Confucius. The authority to certify Donglin gentlemen was effectively in his own hands! Under these circumstances, he naturally had to certify himself as a Donglin gentleman — and moreover as the new-generation leadership core of the Donglin Faction.

Zhu Ci nodded, and the guards behind him immediately shouted, "Silence! Silence!"

The crowd quickly quieted. Several thousand people all stared eagerly at Crown Prince Zhu, waiting for him to speak.

Zhu Ci said, "Since you were all deceived by the eunuch faction, We shall spare your lives. Each of you will also be given one tael of silver and released back into the city. Go and tell the soldiers defending the walls that We are the Donglin Crown Prince, brought to Jiangnan by the Donglin gentlemen, come to save the people of Jiangnan from fire and water. The rebel ringleaders now opposing Us are every one of them remnants of the eunuch faction! They mean to poison and ravage the people of Jiangnan!

Any officer or soldier defending the walls who repents and turns his weapons around will be richly rewarded by Us!"

As Zhu Ci spoke, he paused after each passage, and the loud-voiced guards present repeated his words so that everyone there heard them clearly.

After hearing Zhu Ci's words, the faces of Zhang Shenyan and Han Zanzhou turned ashen as death.

For they knew that this seemingly crude psychological tactic of Zhu Ci's would be absolutely effective against the panicked inner city of Nanjing.

Chest after chest of silver was carried out. The Nanjing soldiers, who had just made a round trip to the gates of hell, were organized by the New Army officers guarding them into more than ten squads. They lined up to receive their money, then were marched in formation to every gate of Nanjing's inner city except Chaoyang Gate to "call the gates."

This method was exactly the same as the one Li Zicheng had used against Beijing!

Having dismissed these common soldiers, Zhu Ci turned to look at Zhu Guobi, who sat slumped on the ground, looking dazed and half-witted. Smiling, he asked, "Zhu Guobi, are you of the eunuch faction or the Donglin?"

Zhu Guobi answered without a moment's thought: "This guilty subject is of the Donglin."

"Nonsense!" Ma Shiying roared from the side. "Facing death, you still dare to pass yourself off as a Donglin gentleman! Your crime should be increased by one degree — no, by three degrees!"

Zhu Ci nodded and asked again, "Zhu Guobi, think carefully. Are you Donglin, or eunuch faction?"

"This guilty subject... this guilty subject is of the eunuch faction." Zhu Guobi no longer had any will of his own. He was already facing death by slow slicing — how much worse would it be with three more degrees added?

"Good that you admit it!" Zhu Ci said with a smile. "We are most merciful. Even if you have committed unpardonable crimes, as long as you repent and turn from your past, your punishment can still be reduced. Your life is not beyond sparing — the key is your performance. Do you understand?"

"This guilty subject understands." The moment Zhu Guobi heard he might live, he forgot even the searing pain in his leg and struggled to kowtow to Zhu Ci.

Zhu Ci waved a hand. "Take him away. Guard him well — do not let him die."

A rebel ringleader who was willing to admit he was of the eunuch faction and wanted to exterminate the Donglin Faction certainly could not be allowed to die — he was still needed to go bite people!

Saving the Great Ming