Chapter 264: There Is an Art to Dividing the Spoils

Wang Yongji was afraid Li Zicheng would grow suspicious, so he used the pretext that he had received an order from Zhu Cilang and only then cooperated with Li Zicheng — though in truth, even if such an order really existed, neither he nor Jiang Xiang and Gao Di would have obeyed it.

And now Zhu Cilang was far away in Nanjing, utterly beyond the reach of the three of them.

But what Wang Yongji had not foreseen was that the pretext he had used to deceive Li Zicheng had actually come true!

At the very moment Luo Yangxing and Zuo Maotai arrived at Datong Prefecture, Li Zicheng's envoys Gu Junen and Wang Cheng'en also arrived at Yingtian Prefecture in Nanjing, which Zhu Cilang now completely controlled.

Because of the great rewards the Crown Prince had handed out, the markets of Nanjing were now more prosperous than ever before — the Crown Prince had not come slinking in alone, but had brought with him more than a hundred thousand soldiers, officials, ennobled nobles, their families, and loyal commoners. After receiving their rewards, they now wanted to settle down around Nanjing, marry, have children, and become the Crown Prince's base of support. And as they spent the gold and silver confiscated from the Nanjing nobility, they also made the city dazzlingly prosperous. People converging from all directions wore neat, respectable clothing and surged shoulder to shoulder through the streets along the Qinhuai River. Quite a few women, dressed even more alluringly, drew the eyes of passing merchants and travelers — a special scenic line along the Qinhuai.

Occasionally troops marched through the streets, all in red robes, shouldering matchlock muskets and long spears, strutting with heads high, every face wearing a smile they could not hide.

Seeing these New Army soldiers, Gu Junen could not help thinking of the Shun's old camp soldiers after they had entered Beijing. Back then the old camp soldiers had all hung their heads in dejection, every man feeling he had been cheated, and morale had fallen again and again. Later Li Zicheng summed up the lesson at Taiyuan, concluding that entering the capital too quickly had been what ruined everything. Gu Junen had also accepted Li Zicheng's view and had privately begged Li Zicheng's forgiveness.

But now, seeing the high-spirited Ming New Army, Gu Junen was somewhat puzzled. Both sides had divided the spoils after taking a great city, yet everyone on the Shun side was full of resentment, while everyone on Zhu Cilang's side was beaming with joy? Was there some remarkable trick to dividing spoils after all?

At that thought, he could not resist sounding out Wu Ruzheng, the Marquis of Gongshun, who had gone to Taiping Prefecture to escort him and Wang Cheng'en to Nanjing.

Wu Ruzheng was the uncle of Wu Weihua, the heir of the Marquis of Gongshun who had surrendered to the Qing in Beijing; the nephew had become a traitor, but the uncle had followed Zhu Cilang every step of the way, had even fought the roving bandits inside the walls of Tianjin, and after reaching Dagukou had joined the Staff Office as Chief Staff Officer (not Chief of Staff — he was merely responsible for transmitting orders and receiving guests). After the "Nanjing Eunuch Party Turmoil," because he had consistently chosen the right side, he was not only appointed Right Vice Minister of Communications but also received his family's hereditary marquisate. It was not, however, a hardship marquisate, nor a frontier marquisate, but a descending marquisate that would be reduced with each generation.

Still, for a cadet branch of a marquis's house to inherit the title after the main line had betrayed the country was already an extraordinary favor, so he had no complaints, and regarded himself as one of Zhu Cilang's trusted confidants, working diligently on the Crown Prince's behalf.

Now, hearing the question Gu Junen had asked in a roundabout way, he burst out laughing: "How could they not be happy? First silver is distributed, then land — and the lower ranks get theirs first, the higher ranks take theirs after. If they still weren't happy, would they have any conscience left?"

"Land? How much land do they get?" Gu Junen asked again.

"At least fifty mu of Jiangnan paddy fields!"

Wu Ruzheng, who had the face of a simple, good-natured uncle, did not hide anything from Gu Junen. "And the lower the rank, the closer to Nanjing the land they receive. The strongmen and lieutenants of the Hardship New Army are mostly allotted land in Yingtian Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, and Guangde Prefecture. Strongmen get fifty mu, warriors get seventy mu, lieutenants get one hundred mu.

His Highness the Thousand Years has also set aside land from the Xiaoling Guard for the New Army soldiers and the Yangtze River Navy as residential plots. Every strongman, warrior, and lieutenant gets three fen of residential land. Those above lieutenant who did not receive a ready-made residence are each given half a mu for a residence, and each man is also issued a sum of settling-in silver.

In addition, His Highness has assigned the women of disgraced officials' families to those strongmen, warriors, and lieutenants who have merit but no wife, and gives an extra dowry besides. Tell me, Master Gu, how could they not be happy?"

Gu Junen asked, somewhat puzzled: "Why is it that the lower the rank, the closer to Nanjing the land is?"

"Heh heh," Wu Ruzheng laughed. "That is His Highness's meticulous thinking. The lower the rank, the less land a man gets. If it were too far away, it would be hard to manage. And it would be easy for someone to swallow it up! A distinguished noble like this marquis can be allotted land no matter how far away and no one would dare encroach on it, but those strongmen, warriors, and lieutenants are different. They need to be kept right under the Crown Prince's nose!"

"Brilliant! Brilliant! Truly brilliant!" Gu Junen could not help crying out in admiration. Then he sighed softly and thought to himself: Why didn't I, the second military strategist, think of that? We must allot land to the old camp soldiers! And the land must be allotted right under the Roving King's nose. Not because we fear others will encroach on it, but because it makes those old camp soldiers easy to control.

Give them land and silver, let them take wives, and these men will all become the Roving King's trusted die-hard followers! And once the old camp soldiers become the Roving King's die-hards, the generals above them will also be easy to manage.

"Haha, our Thousand Years is brilliant, of course!" Wu Ruzheng's admiration for Zhu Cilang was absolute. "Otherwise your Roving King would not be willing to declare himself his subject!"

Gu Junen laughed awkwardly.

His Majesty would never truly declare himself a subject! How could he call himself a subject? His Majesty means to replace the Ming — if he declared himself a subject, wouldn't that be surrender?

As they spoke, Wu Ruzheng had already accompanied Wang Cheng'en and Gu Junen through the Sanshan Gate. The Sanshan Gate was one of the five great gates on the western side of Nanjing's inner city. Because it lay right beside the lower reaches of the Qinhuai River, the area inside and outside the gate was extremely bustling — a stark contrast to the desolation Gu Junen had seen in Beijing!

Gu Junen thought to himself: The wealth of Jiangnan truly cannot be matched by Hebei. If His Majesty cannot hold his ground in Shanxi and Shaanxi, he must still come east and take Jiangnan as his home! When I return, I will ask His Majesty to build ships at Xiangjing and wait for the chance to sail downriver. Throughout history, those who took Jiangnan always first held the middle and upper reaches, then built warships at Xiangyang or in Sichuan and sailed downriver, creating an irresistible momentum.

While the second military strategist Gu was plotting the strategy for taking Jiangnan, the party had already arrived before the main gate of the Grand Merit Quarter, where the Marshal's Office of the Army-Soothing Grand Marshal was located.

The Chongzhen Emperor and Zhu Cilang, father and son, now occupied two famous gardens, the Western Garden and the Grand Merit Quarter respectively. The more luxurious Western Garden had been given to Chongzhen, while Zhu Cilang and his Marshal's Office of the Army-Soothing Grand Marshal had taken up residence together in the Grand Merit Quarter.

In addition, the Yingtian Prefecture School, north of the Western Garden and the Grand Merit Quarter, had become the provisional court.

When Gu Junen and Wang Cheng'en arrived outside the Grand Merit Quarter, they both paused at the same moment, because the broad main gate was actually wide open! Outside the gate stood red-robed guards everywhere, and inside the gate stood three high officials in python robes, waiting to receive them. Wang Cheng'en recognized the three: they were the Duke Who Protects the State, Wu Xiang; the Duke Who Stabilizes the State, Xu Yunzhen; and the Duke Who Pacifies the State, Wu Sanfu. The Great Ming now had only six dukes; besides these three, there were the Duke Who Completes the State, Zhu Chunchen; the Duke of England, Zhang Shize; and the Duke of Qian, Mu Tianbo.

At present the Duke of Qian, Mu Tianbo, was in Kunming; the Duke Who Completes the State, Zhu Chunchen, had gone to Fengyang; and the Duke of England, Zhang Shize, was busy offending people. The remaining three had all come to welcome Gu Junen and Wang Cheng'en — this was no small honor.

Gu Junen and Wang Cheng'en had come to discuss terms of amnesty with Zhu Cilang; they were not envoys sent by a state on equal footing with the Great Ming. Earlier a marquis had been sent out to meet them from afar, and now three dukes had come to usher them in — no matter how one looked at it, something was off!

"Eunuch Wang, it has been a long time!"

Just as Gu Junen and Wang Cheng'en dismounted from their horses, Wu Xiang had already strode forward to greet them, and then cupped his hands toward Gu Junen with a smile: "This must be the Shun state's envoy, Military Strategist Gu? I am Wu Xiang, Guard Commander of the Military and Political Guard of the Great Ming Marshal's Office of the Army-Soothing Grand Marshal, Duke Who Protects the State. At your service."

What? The Shun state? That sounds a bit awkward — the name was not well chosen!

Gu Junen frowned slightly and also bowed to Wu Xiang. "I am Gu Junen, come south under the Roving King's order."

"Wait a moment," Wu Xiang said with a look of surprise. "The Roving King? Why is he still the Roving King? Hasn't he already ascended the throne twice? How is he still a king?"

Now Wang Cheng'en frowned too and interjected: "Duke, what do you mean by that? Does the court now recognize Li — the Roving King — as the sovereign of a state?"

"Is he not the sovereign of a state?" Wu Xiang countered.

"Well..."

Gu Junen's brow furrowed deeply. "Does the Great Ming no longer claim to be the universal lord of all under heaven?"

"Is that something one can merely claim?" Wu Xiang asked with a puzzled look. "Military Strategist Gu, claiming to be the universal lord of all under heaven is self-deception."

Gu Junen truly could not answer that.

Wang Cheng'en, however, asked: "Then how should the Great Ming and the Great Shun deal with one another?"

"Naturally, with the rites between equal states. As for whether we are enemy states or brother states," Wu Xiang said, "that depends on whether we can come to an agreement!"

(End of Chapter)