Chapter 253: Something Is Off About This Crown Prince!

On the sixth day of the ninth month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the "Loyalty Uprising" that had erupted in Nanjing had now become the "Eunuch Faction Rebellion."

The chief culprits who had launched this uprising were all remnants of the eunuch faction! And their purpose in rising up was not to rally to the throne at all, but to avenge the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian, who had been executed in the early years of Chongzhen! And furthermore, they meant to slaughter all the righteous men of the Donglin Faction, led by the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang, Grand Secretaries Wei Zaode, Hou Xun, and Qian Qianyi!

These eunuch-faction traitors were truly detestable!

"Brothers on the wall, don't shoot your arrows, don't fire your guns — we're men of the Nanjing Capital Camps too!"

"We were deceived — all of us were tricked by those eunuch-faction remnants Zhao Zhilong, Zhu Guobi, and Xu Hongji!"

"The Crown Prince is a good man, a Donglin Crown Prince — benevolent, righteous, wise and brilliant. He knows we were all deceived, so he has not harmed us, and even gave each man one tael of silver!"

"Don't keep following those eunuch-faction remnants either — open the gates quickly and welcome the Crown Prince's royal army! The Crown Prince will richly reward you!"

"Open the gates at once! His Highness the Crown Prince will give a heavy reward!"

"Stop throwing in your lot with the eunuch-faction Xu family — there's no way out for you!"

"Governor Ma and Commander Huang on Bell Mountain have already gone over to the Crown Prince!"

"Zhao Zhilong, Zhu Guobi, and Han Zanzhou — all three eunuch-faction traitors — have been captured alive by the Crown Prince's royal army!"

The inner city of Nanjing had thirteen gates and two water passes. Apart from Chaoyang Gate and the two water passes, by the afternoon of the sixth day of the ninth month, every one of them was as bustling as a market fair. In places that by rights should have been battlefields, the two groups of men above and below the walls did not fight, but simply stood there shouting back and forth at one another.

The men below the walls were all Nanjing Capital Camps soldiers whom the peerlessly benevolent Donglin Crown Prince Zhu Cilang had released. Following the instructions of the New Army officers and Embroidered Uniform Guard men who "escorted" them, they proclaimed the Crown Prince's benevolence to the Nanjing Capital Camps soldiers still kept in the dark atop the walls, while at the same time exposing the true faces of Xu Hongji and his ilk!

And the Nanjing Capital Camps soldiers on the walls were now in utter panic. How little time had passed, and already the outer city of Nanjing was under the Crown Prince's control! Many of their Capital Camps brothers who had defended the outer city had been captured, and now they had been released and sent back to urge surrender — what in the world were they to do?

Besides, exactly how heavy was that reward for opening the gates?

The garrisons on all twelve gates of Nanjing's inner city began to waver. Following the eunuch-faction traitors meant certain death! To stay alive, to win the heavy reward, they had to go over to the righteous Donglin Crown Prince Zhu Cilang!

At the same time, atop the barbican of Chaoyang Gate, Xu Hongji and his son Xu Yunjue, along with Liu Zuochang, Tang Guozuo, Guo Zuoyong, Fang Yiyuan, Li Zushu, and the rest of the noble grandees who called the shots in Nanjing, were all struck dumb with shock.

His Highness the Crown Prince had moved far too fast and far too ruthlessly! In so little time, the outer city was nearly all lost, and only from the direction of the Xiaoling Guard Fortress could the roar of cannon still be heard — a thunderous sound that only Hongyi cannon could produce! The garrison of the Xiaoling Guard Fortress was not equipped with Hongyi cannon, so this must be the Crown Prince's troops bombarding the fortress with Hongyi cannon!

Who knew how long the men inside the fortress could hold out?

And besides, why were Ma Shiying's and Huang Degong's forces on Bell Mountain making no move at all? Could it really be, as the reports coming from the twelve gates of Nanjing's inner city said, that Ma and Huang had already gone over to the Crown Prince?!

But the defection of Ma and Huang was not the most shocking news. What most astonished these nobles, who were about to face utter disaster, was that they had actually become the eunuch faction!

They were clearly rallying to the throne — how had they become eunuch-faction rebels? Was there no justice left in the world?

"Duke of Wei, give us a decision! What are we to do? We — we are proper nobles, how have we become the eunuch faction?"

One noble, who looked like a pale-faced scholar, was still fussing over this business of the eunuch faction and the Donglin Faction even at a time like this.

His words drew a glare from Xu Hongji. "What time do you think this is? Still worrying about that? Don't you know that if they want to accuse you, they'll always find a pretext?"

"But they still can't call us the eunuch faction!" The noble appeared to be a gentleman on good terms with the Donglin Faction, and was extremely sensitive to the label of eunuch faction. He only shook his head. "A scholar may be killed, but not humiliated! Our family's wealth and rank have come down from the time of the Exalted Emperor Taizu — more than two hundred years — how have we become the eunuch faction?"

"What 'killed but not humiliated'? Better think about how to get away!" Someone immediately raised the question of escape. "We've hardly any troops left in our hands. If we don't get out now, once the inner city falls, we'll all be captured by the Crown Prince's men. And by then, whatever faction they say you belong to, that's exactly what the hell you are!"

The moment he said this, a collective gasp sounded throughout the gate tower of Chaoyang Gate's barbican.

"This—"

"What are we to do?"

"Ah, we people should never have started this rally-to-the-throne business!"

"How can we flee? The Yangtze River Fleet has been taken away by the Earl of Chengyi!"

At last someone remembered the Yangtze River Fleet. Although this fleet had few sailors and warships, it could at least have loaded up this crowd of noble lords in Nanjing and carried them away. But before Zhu Cilang arrived in Nanjing, he had transferred the fleet, together with the Earl of Chengyi, Liu Kongzhao, to Jiangxi. This was clearly premeditated — he meant to catch every noble and meritorious official in Nanjing in one net!

And pinning the label of eunuch faction on these nobles and meritorious officials was clearly also part of the Crown Prince Zhu's scheme!

This was probably meant to curry favor with the Donglin Faction, confining the blow to Nanjing's nobles and meritorious officials, so that the Donglin Faction would not jump out to interfere while the Crown Prince Zhu wiped out and absorbed the Nanjing nobles and meritorious officials.

Xu Hongji, having guessed a little of the Crown Prince Zhu's intent, shuddered, and then broke into violent coughing.

And just then, cheers even more violent than his coughing suddenly erupted from the direction of the Xiaoling Guard Fortress to the east!

"The Exalted Emperor Taizu reborn! Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories!"

The nobles and meritorious officials in the gate tower of Chaoyang Gate's barbican all wore expressions of terror.

Did those cheers mean the Xiaoling Guard Fortress had already fallen?

When the New Army soldiers around the Xiaoling Guard Fortress raised their cheers, Xu Hongji's cousin Xu Yongji had already been trussed up and led before Zhu Cilang!

He had been captured alive by the Xu family retainers under his own command, after Hao Yaoqi's musketeers charged through the breach made by the Hongyi cannon. Hao Yaoqi's musketeers had lost considerable time preparing ladders, and it was not until noon that they launched a round of hand-to-hand assaults and fought their way into the Xiaoling Guard Fortress.

Xu Yongji, unwilling to accept defeat, had tried to lead the Xu family retainers to plug the breach, and as a result those retainers had bound him with ropes and delivered him before Zhu Cilang.

"Thousand Years, another eunuch-faction ringleader has been captured!"

Zhu Cilang nodded, raised his riding crop, and pointed at Xu Yongji. "Keep this eunuch-faction ringleader under close guard. Do not let him commit suicide to escape punishment!"

Hearing Zhu Cilang call him a member of the eunuch faction, Xu Yongji was rather bewildered, and actually shouted in protest: "I am no eunuch-faction man!"

"Xu Yongji! You are eunuch faction! You are a great eunuch-faction man, and still you won't admit it!"

Hearing someone testify against him, Xu Yongji followed the voice and saw that it was actually Zhu Guobi, who was also being held, kneeling to one side, with one shin wrapped in wooden splints and cloth strips, as if wounded.

"Marquis of Funing, what nonsense are you spouting?" Xu Yongji roared.

Zhu Guobi glared. "I am not spouting nonsense! I am eunuch faction, I am one of Wei Zhongxian's men. You colluded with me, so you are also eunuch faction, also a running dog of the traitor Wei!"

Now Xu Yongji did not know what to say. Zhu Guobi had actually admitted to being eunuch faction! Since his own family had colluded with Zhu Guobi, then naturally he was eunuch faction too!

Zhu Cilang laughed heartily. "Xu Yongji, you eunuch-faction man had better confess your crimes and submit to justice. We are merciful, and may perhaps leave you a single descendant. If your conduct is especially good, then like Zhu Guobi, it is even possible your life may be spared!"

Especially good conduct could spare his life? Xu Yongji looked at Zhu Guobi, who had admitted to being eunuch faction, and thought: What counts as especially good conduct? Admitting to being eunuch faction like Zhu Guobi, and then going around biting people at random?

A clatter of hoofbeats rang out, cutting off Xu Yongji's thoughts. He turned his head and saw two night-patrol scouts galloping up on horseback. They reined in ten paces before Zhu Cilang's horse, then saluted with clasped hands from the saddle. One of the riders reported in a loud voice: "Thousand Years, the rebel troops on Zhengyang Gate have turned their coats!"