Chapter 333: The Chongzhen Emperor Has Learned Some Bad Habits Too

*Cough, cough, cough. *

The Chongzhen Emperor was coughing with great effort, and the sound of it was absolutely deafening!

*Waaah, waaah. *

The Crown Prince Zhu Cilang was also there, wailing dryly, and the sight of his weeping was enough to move Heaven itself with filial devotion!

The grand secretaries and guard commanders who had rushed over to the West Garden upon hearing the news, along with the ten Princes present in the capital, were met with just such a scene: an ailing father lying in bed, and a filial son weeping bitterly.

Yet somehow the atmosphere seemed off. The Chongzhen Emperor lay stiffly on the dragon bed, buried under several thick quilts and coughing desperately, looking as though he were about to pass away. But the coughing sounded a bit fake, and full of vigor at that — not at all like a man on the verge of death!

And that filial son standing by the bedside wailing — well, no tears seemed to be flowing either. He was just howling dryly. One had to wonder whether he might ruin his throat from all that howling.

There was also Empress Zhou, her phoenix brows tightly knit, watching this imperial father-and-son pair — one feigning death, the other feigning filial piety — not knowing whether to weep or to laugh.

Zhu Cilang naturally knew at this moment that the Chongzhen Emperor had only pretended to fall into the water! At most, he had gotten his trouser legs wet. He had certainly not choked on any cold water, nor had he caught any chill — His Highness the Crown Prince had spies planted beside the Chongzhen Emperor! Before Zhu Cilang returned to the West Garden, the Chongzhen Emperor had even ordered a meal and eaten and drunk his fill. Where was the slightest sign of a man about to die?

This Chongzhen Emperor had clearly learned some bad habits — he had learned to play dead to win sympathy! And he had done it by falling into the water on New Year's Eve, no less. Who knew whether he had slipped in himself, or whether some Crown Prince too impatient to wait for the throne had sent someone to push him in? What an enormous bucket of filthy water to dump on your most filial son — does your conscience really not ache?

How disappointed Zhu Cilang was in his heart! The Chongzhen Emperor, such an honest emperor, had now learned to be wicked too. Who had he learned it from? Zhu Cilang could not think of anyone particularly crafty around the Chongzhen Emperor.

Now that the senior ministers had all arrived, Zhu Cilang stopped crying, turned, and walked out of the Chongzhen Emperor's bedchamber. Wei Zaode, Wu Xiang, Cao Youyi, and a portly Prince in his forties — none other than the Prince of Fu, Zhu Yousong — seeing this, all quietly slipped out of the bedchamber as well and followed Zhu Cilang into the courtyard.

The four men were about to bow to Zhu Cilang, but he stopped them with a wave of his hand. Then, looking at the Prince of Fu, Zhu Yousong, who seemed somewhat tipsy, he frowned and said, "Imperial Uncle, have you been drinking too much again?"

Zhu Yousong was none other than the Southern Ming Hongguang Emperor whom the Donglin Faction had, in history, slandered until he nearly became the foremost fatuous ruler of all ages. At present, he was the head of the thirty-three Princes serving as a decorative figure in Nanjing — he was the Prince closest in blood to the Chongzhen Emperor and Zhu Cilang, father and son, and apart from a fondness for drink, there was nothing particularly objectionable about him. Since he was not emperor now, he posed no threat to the Donglin gentlemen, and so naturally no misdeeds were attributed to him. He was a mere figurehead — who would bother to fabricate stories about him?

Moreover, he posed no real threat to Zhu Cilang. All three of Zhu Cilang's brothers were still alive, and the Chongzhen Emperor, "wallowing in feminine charms," had already swollen the bellies of several selected attendants and palace maids, and would soon be adding a few more brothers and sisters for Zhu Cilang. It seemed he meant to beget as many children as possible, the better to eat his unfilial son Zhu Cilang out of house and home! So no matter how the succession turned, it would never fall to Zhu Yousong!

Besides, Zhu Yousong himself had no children — his son had died when Luoyang fell! And he was a man in his forties, drinking too much and in poor health; it was unlikely he could produce another son. To make trouble for such a Prince would be beneath Zhu Cilang's dignity.

Therefore, these days Zhu Cilang still treated this Imperial Uncle with great respect. He had granted him a residence in Nanjing, and also bestowed upon him ten thousand mu of land outside the city along with a villa. He had also made him the head of the Imperial Clan Court, and had transferred all imperial clan affairs, previously administered by the Ministry of Rites, wholesale to the Imperial Clan Court.

In other words, Zhu Cilang was holding the Prince of Fu aloft as the venerable elder of the imperial clan!

"Crown Prince, your old uncle here just has a taste for this, and besides, today is New Year's Eve." The Prince of Fu smiled, then lowered his voice and asked, "Crown Prince, what is going on here? Would you like your old uncle to take the lead in urging you to ascend the throne?"

Wu Xiang, standing nearby, also said, "Thousand Years, this old subject has already prepared the yellow robe."

Cao Youyi also thumped his chest and declared, "At present, of all the armies within and without, except for Zuo Liangyu's force, the rest will support Your Highness! Moreover, the New Army now numbers over one hundred fifty thousand troops, with an additional twenty thousand men in the Yangtze River Navy. Zuo Liangyu's handful of men cannot defeat us."

"Thousand Years," Wei Zaode shook his head, "the new policies are not yet accomplished, the Tartars in the north may march south at any time, and Zuo Liangyu harbors ill intentions. I beg you to think thrice before acting!"

This Wei Zaode was now a "great reformer," destined to leave his name in the annals of history, and his biography would be modeled on the *Biography of Zhuge Liang*. Naturally, he had to consider matters comprehensively.

In truth, seizing the throne immediately was not Zhu Cilang's first choice either — not because he feared the "Madman Zuo" upriver, but because he had an even grander reform plan.

In Zhu Cilang's view, the Qing dynasty in the north still needed several months to a year to deal with Li Zicheng and Datong Prefecture before it could march south. The timing of the southern advance would likely be somewhat later than in history.

And these several months to a year were, for Zhu Cilang, a window of opportunity for reform and military reorganization.

During this period, he ought to avoid unnecessary civil war. Civil war was different from foreign war: foreign war could unite people's hearts and sometimes even benefited reform. Civil war was the opposite — once civil war broke out, Zhu Cilang would have to make concessions to the scholar-officials in order to maintain stability in the southeast, thereby missing the optimal moment for reform.

"Your Highness, the Donglin Grand Assembly is about to convene!" Wei Zaode added. "At present, Thousand Years holds the great cause of 'Defending the Confucian Orthodoxy and Guarding the Confucian Grove.' Once the assembly opens, the Donglin Faction will fall under Thousand Years' control. It would be best not to complicate matters."

The Donglin Grand Assembly was scheduled, according to plan, to convene after the special provincial examinations — the Donglin candidates would presumably be more amenable at that time. Speak well, and one became a jinshi; speak poorly, and one's name fell off the list!

Who received that jinshi diploma was, after all, a matter of a single word from Zhu Cilang!

Once the Donglin Faction was usurped by Zhu Cilang, the reforms that followed would be much easier. The landlord-class intellectuals of the southeast needed their organization in order to oppose the court. Without an organization, they were loose sand — their strength was great, but they could not form a united force.

Moreover, the power of the southeast scholar-officials had always been mere talk; their military strength was practically nil. Without the Donglin Faction as an organization, they could not control the direction of public opinion at all, and thus would be unable to carry on any struggle.

"Better to wait a while." Zhu Cilang thought for a long time, and still felt there was no need to take this gamble. "Better to wait a while. In any case, real power is already in hand, and this title is not something we lack. Besides, with the precedent of Emperor Yingzong's palace coup, even becoming Retired Emperor could still cause trouble."

(End of Chapter)