Chapter 27: Eunuch Cao, We Trust You Most of All (Seeking Recommendations)

Whether Cao Huachun was in the capital in the third month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen is a matter of later historical dispute. During the Shunzhi reign of the Qing, a group of turncoat officials accused him of having opened the gates to welcome the enemy. He himself submitted a memorial to clear his name, claiming he had not been in the capital.

Yet Zhu Cilang saw Cao Huachun's name on the "list of palace attendants escorting the imperial carriage" that Wang Cheng'en had provided him!

He was indeed in the capital! But he held no important post, nor had he come on official business, for he had retired and returned to his native place six years earlier. His purpose in coming to the capital was to sell off his family's properties.

Cao Huachun's family was extremely wealthy! For he was not the only one in his family to rise to prominence by diligently becoming a eunuch — before retiring he had been a brush-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Intendant of the Eastern Depot, and Superintendent of the Capital Camps. His second elder brother, Cao Huayu, had also been a high official, serving as Left Commissioner-in-Chief before his death. In forty years of office, he had raked in a great deal of money!

Thus the Cao family was a renowned and prominent clan in the Wuqing County area of the Tianjin garrison, the foremost great landowning family of Tianjin, and they also owned considerable property within Beijing.

Sensing, presumably, that the capital was about to change hands and that the Great Ming was tottering, Cao Huachun, after completing the funeral arrangements for his second elder brother Cao Huayu, had hurried into Beijing, intending to sell off the Cao family's many properties in the city.

But the Cao family holdings were too numerous, and the Beijing property market was depressed. After several months of struggle, he still had not finished selling, and in the end the poverty-crazed Chongzhen Emperor found out and sent people to call on Eunuch Cao, forcing him to donate fifty thousand taels of silver. It nearly broke Eunuch Cao's heart...

When he learned that Zhu Cilang, the Grand Crown Prince, had actually arrived bearing an imperial rescript appointing him "Army Supervisor, Governor-General of Zhili Military Affairs," along with the Imperial Sword, Eunuch Cao's first instinctive thought was of gleaming silver!

And so the Eunuch Cao whom Zhu Cilang met outside the Cao residence, which bore a sign reading "This Property For Sale," was a white-haired old beggar in patched cloth clothes, his face full of wrinkles...

"You are Cao Huachun?" Zhu Cilang looked at the old beggar kowtowing before him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

It's only money, isn't it? Was there any need for this?

"This old slave is indeed Cao Huachun. Young master, this old slave suffers, this old slave is poor..." Cao Huachun knelt there and wailed loudly, truly pitiable! But after a few sobs, he heard someone laughing beside him!

Who was it?

The old eunuch raised his head to look and immediately froze, for the one laughing was none other than the Crown Prince, Zhu Cilang!

What was going on? The old eunuch thought to himself: I am so pitiable, a poor old man without children, wailing in grief, yet the Crown Prince shows no sympathy and instead laughs so merrily — this is no conduct for a benevolent sovereign! Was it not said that His Highness the Crown Prince was kind-hearted? How could this be?

When Zhu Cilang saw the old man raise his head to look at him, he stopped laughing and patted him on the shoulder. "Stop playing pitiful in front of Us. We have not come to ask for money!"

Not asking for money? Cao Huachun still felt something was off.

Zhu Cilang pulled him up. "Come, let us go inside to talk."

Cao Huachun was quite old, but because he had long lived a very disciplined life and had not been drained by women, he was still sturdy. Once pulled up, he immediately stood and quickly led the way, ushering Zhu Cilang into a hall furnished with only a few pieces of broken firewood-quality furniture. With an apologetic look, he said, "This old slave's place is truly humble..."

"Stop, stop, stop..." Zhu Cilang waved a hand, cutting off Eunuch Cao. "Time is pressing, and there is no leisure for such talk. Have your people prepare carriages and horses at once, gather up the gold, silver, and valuables, and leave through Chaoyang Gate for Wuqing County before dark. We have a commission for you!"

What did he mean?

Cao Huachun was stunned.

Zhu Cilang looked at the dumbstruck Cao Huachun and said with a perfectly serious face, "Eunuch Cao, the commission We are entrusting to you is a matter of vital importance to the rise or fall of the Great Ming... The reason We give it to you is that We trust you most of all."

Trust me most of all? Cao Huachun did not believe that for a moment! He and Zhu Cilang were hardly acquainted; when he had retired and returned home, Zhu Cilang had been only twelve.

"Your Highness, what would you have this old slave do?" Cao Huachun asked hesitantly.

"Go to Wuqing and muster the clan's sons and household retainers. Prepare mules, horses, and large carts, and ready dry provisions sufficient to feed ten thousand men for ten days... The more sons, retainers, mules, horses, and carts the better. Prepare as many swords, spears, bows, and crossbows as possible. As for the women and children of the clan, they may go first to Dagukou and wait."

"Young master, do you intend to..."

Zhu Cilang looked at Cao Huachun and said in a low voice, "Imperial Father, Imperial Mother, and We are about to journey south, traveling by sea from Tianjin... We command you, Eunuch, to bring your clan's sons and retainers to Wuqing to receive us and escort us the whole way. Once we reach Nanjing, you, Eunuch, and the entire Cao family will be meritorious subjects who endured hardship for the Great Ming! Moreover, your Cao family will have escorted the imperial carriage south as an entire clan. Once in Jiangnan, you will surely be given important posts — beyond doubt a first-rank great clan and renowned house!"

Cao Huachun's native Wuqing lay exactly between Beijing and Dagu, one hundred fifty li from Beijing, making it a perfect way station for the flight.

A distance of one hundred fifty li, if traveled day and night without rest, could be covered in a single day at the fastest. But with men and horses exhausted, having no safe place to rest and regroup was extremely dangerous. If they were unlucky enough to be ambushed by a small enemy force, the camp would explode in panic!

Thus Eunuch Cao, the foremost figure of Wuqing County, became extremely important!

If only the Wuqing Cao family could be mobilized, the fleeing party would have a secure place to rest.

Moreover, the brothers Cao Huachun and Cao Huayu had both long been involved in military affairs, so the clan's sons must include many trained in martial arts and military service, and there would certainly be a body of household retainers and servants to command. Raising one or two thousand men was entirely possible.

And this migration of the entire clan southward was also a rare opportunity for the Wuqing Cao family!

Not only could the Cao family leave the increasingly perilous Northern Zhili region, they could also become the foremost family to escort the imperial carriage south! Once in Jiangnan, was there any fear of not being given important posts?

Cao Huachun certainly wanted to leave, but the capital's city gates had been shut since the twelfth, and without an imperial decree no one could get out. Yet he still had some doubts about the news of the Son of Heaven journeying south.

"Young master, is His Majesty truly leaving? Has the Grand Secretariat agreed? Have escort troops been arranged?"

Zhu Cilang said, "We are about to take Wu Xiang's youngest daughter as Our consort! Wu Xiang has already written a personal letter to Wu Sangui, and the Guanning army is hurrying to the capital day and night. As for the Grand Secretariat, the draft rescripts will be forthcoming in due course."

"Wu Sangui is coming? Heaven be thanked..."

"Eunuch Cao, there is no time to lose!" Seeing Cao Huachun still dawdling, Zhu Cilang urged him, "The roving bandits are nearly here. If we delay, it will be too late to pack! Better to have your family start gathering things now. We will explain the detailed plan to you afterward."

Cao Huachun knew this matter was of immense gravity. Since it had fallen to him, there was no room to decline — otherwise he would be showing disloyalty to the Great Ming... And the big-bodied guard beside the Crown Prince seemed to be holding an Imperial Sword!

So he hesitated no longer and immediately accepted the commission. He was also sensible enough not to insist on the silver buried in his family cellars. After receiving Zhu Cilang's order, he at once set out with his sons, nephews, and household retainers, accompanied by Zhu Cilang's lecturer Li Shichun, riding hard out of Chaoyang Gate toward Wuqing in Tianjin. He left the city half a shichen earlier than Wang Zhixin.

And Zhu Cilang obtained fifty thousand taels of silver from Cao Huachun's residence! A truly bountiful harvest!

It seemed the historical record accusing Cao Huachun of opening the gates to welcome the enemy was indeed a slander. Eunuch Cao, like Wang Zhixin, was a good eunuch worthy of trust!

Just as he was preparing to go to the home of Wang Yongzuo, the third-ranked brush-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, to demand money, Zhu Chunjie, whom he had earlier sent to find Zhu Chunchen, came galloping back with news that made Zhu Cilang want to curse his father.

Duke Chengguo, Zhu Chunchen, had been summoned into the palace by Chongzhen!

How could this father of his, Chongzhen, be so unreliable? Zhu Chunchen's family was enormously wealthy — thirty thousand taels could be dug out of them... And now this moneybags had been summoned into the palace, probably to plot some underhanded scheme against him! Truly, it was hard to be a filial son!

"Let's go, back to the Inner Parade Ground!" Zhu Cilang said to his attendants. "Also send men to every city gate with orders: tell them that We have come out of the palace by imperial decree to supervise the army and govern Zhili military affairs. Have the gate commanders of each gate report to the Inner Parade Ground and receive their military pay... Give five thousand taels of silver to each city gate!"

"Give that much?" Zhu Chunjie was startled at the figure. Wasn't this Crown Prince's style a bit too grand?

Zhu Cilang let out a breath. "It must be given! Tomorrow will most likely be the first battle, and the first battle must be a victory! If we do not prop it up with heavy rewards, what else can we use?

Also, send men to check on the progress of sealing the six gates of the inner city. Report back at once."

"Yes!"

(End of Chapter)