Chapter 303: Two Jiang Gans! (Bonus Chapter for 5,200 Votes)

"Speak up, all of you — what do you think the Zhu family's Crown Prince is trying to do?"

By the time Dorgon asked this, the four-time turncoat Zu Kefa had already left, gone home to sort out his own funeral affairs — his family had just given him a grand send-off, a magnificent burial, no expense spared! Everyone of any standing in the Eight Banners had contributed condolence money, and many of the Banner nobles in the capital had even gone to pay their respects. And now the man was alive again, and had been promoted from a two-time turncoat to a four-time turncoat — how could he not give them an explanation? At the very least he'd have to return all that condolence money, wouldn't he? Just thinking about it gave him a headache!

But Zu Kefa's headache was nothing compared to Dorgon's. Zhu Cilang had given Dorgon a splitting headache!

What exactly was Zhu Cilang playing at? Fighting a war on one hand, proposing marriage on another, and at the same time opening trading houses to do business — what sort of scheme was this?

"Your Highness, p-please, take a look at this first."

"Your Highness, this is the 'Call to Arms' slandering our Great Qing that we brought back from Jiangnan."

At that moment, the two two-time turncoats who had accompanied the four-time turncoat Zu Kefa north — namely Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun, the envoys the Great Qing had sent to Jiangnan — were both drenched in sweat, pointing at several unopened leather chests and stammering their words to the Prince Regent Dorgon.

"What? There are 'Call to Arms' in there?" Dorgon stared at the chests in astonishment. "How many copies of the 'Call to Arms' did you bring back? Were you planning to distribute them all over Beijing?"

"Y-Your Highness, th-there's only one copy of the 'Call to Arms' inside."

"It's a handwritten copy. This subject and Vice Minister Sun copied it out together."

Dorgon pointed at the chests. "That many? One 'Call to Arms' took several chests to copy? How many characters can it possibly have?"

"Your Highness, the main text isn't very long — but the signatures are numerous!"

"Yes, this is a jointly signed 'Call to Arms Against the Qing (Caitiffs)' by the scholars of the Southern Court. The author is Luo Dagong, a juren of Songjiang and the prized disciple of Qian Qianyi, leader of the Donglin faction. Tens of thousands of people signed it — all juren and xiucai from the prefectures of the southeast. After it was signed, the 'Call to Arms' was posted inside and outside every gate of Nanjing, covering a huge stretch of wall! This subject and Vice Minister Sun felt these people were all mortal enemies of our Great Qing, so we copied down the entire list of names."

"Right, right — along with their native places and examination degrees. When the Great Qing's heavenly troops destroy the Southern Court, we can arrest people according to the list. They won't get away."

Dorgon was stunned listening to the two traitors' report. What on earth was this! They'd copied several chests' worth of a blacklist and were planning to arrest people by it? Had anyone seen them while they were copying?

"Were you — were you seen while copying it?" Dorgon demanded at once.

"We were seen," Sun Zhixie said, his forehead covered in sweat. He stammered, "Many Southern Court scholars saw us copying and even loudly cheered. They said, they said—"

"Said what?"

"They said we must make the Great Qing know the backbone of the Southern Court's scholars!"

"You, you, you—" Dorgon was about to explode with rage. "You two idiots! You two bastards! You two are living Jiang Gans! No — you're even stupider than Jiang Gan!"

"This subject — this subject is dull-witted."

"This subject — this subject is foolish."

"Subject this, subject that — get out! All of you, get out!" Dorgon was beside himself with fury.

Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun exchanged glances. There was nothing they could do — if they were told to get out, they'd get out. Who could blame them? Their brains weren't working well, and they'd foolishly gone off as envoys to Jiangnan, only to be tricked and cheated by that cunning, vicious Crown Prince of the Zhu Ming, made to believe the Great Qing was finished, and left with a pile of incriminating evidence in his hands. So they'd had no choice but to grit their teeth and play Jiang Gan. Now being allowed to get out, rather than being dragged off to be beheaded, was truly a blessing from the Bodhisattva.

Once this business was over, they'd quit officialdom and find some place where no one knew them, to hide away and live out their old age!

"You — you get out too!" Dorgon watched the two traitors leave, still not vented, and pointed at the Han officials in the court. "All Han people, leave!"

Today was not a grand court session, so there weren't many Han officials attending to begin with — not even many booi from the Han Banners. The Han officials naturally got out, while a few Han Bannermen gazed anxiously at Dorgon — did they count as Han people, or as Bannermen?

Dorgon looked at them: Fan Wencheng, Ning Wanwo, Gang Atai (son of Li Yongfang), Li Sizhong, Ma Zhuguo — all good and loyal servants of the Great Qing!

"Those in the Banners may stay!" Dorgon added, and only then did the good servants of the Han Banners let out a long breath.

"Your Highness," Fan Wencheng stepped out from the ranks and addressed him, "the Crown Prince of the Southern Court is indeed cunning and vicious. This time he is using a stratagem to sow discord among us!"

"This Prince knows that!" Dorgon's face was dark. "He wants to drive a wedge between Manchu and Han. Truly detestable!"

"Your Highness is wise." Fan Wencheng let out a breath.

Dorgon's mind was still fairly clear, but the dirty tricks Zhu Cilang was employing were not something one man's clear head alone could defuse.

"Your Highness," said Ning Wanwo, who at over fifty still showed traces of fine, handsome features, stepping out from the ranks, "this Zu Kefa truly deserves death. He became a four-time turncoat, and still dares to come back openly — this could shake the morale of our troops!"

Like Fan Wencheng, this man was a veteran traitor of long standing, and both had served as booi bondservants in the Plain Red Banner. But Fan Wencheng had been transferred to the Bordered White Banner, while Ning Wanwo remained in the Plain Red Banner. Moreover, his career had not gone as smoothly as Fan Wencheng's. Because he loved to gamble, he had inexplicably fallen in the tenth year of Tiancong — a traitor who had served the Great Qing for over ten years, repeatedly winning merit and rising through hereditary ranks to Second-Class Jiala Zhangjing, had actually been stripped of everything by Nurhaci over gambling, and sent to be a booi bondservant in Sahaliyan's household, where he remained for many years. It was only after the Great Qing entered the pass that Dorgon remembered him and brought him back into office.

Dorgon snorted: "Our Great Qing is one family of Manchu and Han. The Han Banners are the same as the Manchu Banners — how could the Zhu Crown Prince's schemes drive a wedge between them?"

Well, of course — were there any shortage of Banner sons who liked to gamble a little money? Had anyone ever seen one of them demoted to booi bondservant for it?

Ning Wanwo sighed: "Your Highness, what is to be done about the Zu family?"

What to do? Cold salad!

"Keep them fed!" Dorgon said coldly. "The Great Qing isn't short of one family's stipend of grain."

Ning Wanwo said: "But what about Liaoxi?"

Now that was the real problem!

The old strongholds of the Zu and Wu families were in Liaoxi — and it wasn't just two families, but a Liaoxi warlord bloc built around the Zu and Wu clans, with roots and branches so tangled they'd formed a single body. From the core to the periphery, there were tens of thousands of households!

Because of Zhu Cilang's series of maneuvers, this bloc was now estranged from the Eight Banners, and both sides' hearts were on edge.

Dorgon fell silent. The atmosphere in the great hall was tense to the extreme, every gaze fixed on the Prince Regent of the Great Qing.

No one knew how long it was before Dorgon let out a long breath: "Let us discuss how to deal with the Southern Court. Do we fight or not? And Dong'e's marriage — do we grant it or not?"

(End of Chapter)