Chapter 38: Would You Please Not Be Emperor? (Please Collect, Please Recommend)

On the afternoon of the seventeenth, Li Zicheng arrived at Diaoyutai in the western suburbs of the capital. According to the plan drawn up by Song Xiance, he was supposed to rest one night at the Diaoyutai traveling palace and begin the assault on the city the next morning.

But at this moment Li Zicheng was in a state of extreme excitement. The final victory seemed almost within reach! Yet on closer thought, that final prize of victory lay under the protection of the strongest fortress under heaven...

And so Li Zicheng, both elated and uneasy, changed the plan and launched his "battle for hearts and minds" against Beijing ahead of schedule.

On his way to Diaoyutai, he ordered Liu Zongmin, who had come to meet him, to go first to the western side of the capital's outer walls, find a suitable spot to array the troops, and at the same time set up an enormous yellow felt tent.

After receiving the order and hurrying back to the west side of Beijing, Liu Zongmin first made a survey, then chose the open ground outside Fucheng Gate to set up the formation.

He chose Fucheng Gate because he spotted six dragon banners and a Commander's Standard of the Three Armies atop the gate tower. The six dragon banners belonged to Zhu Cilang's crown-prince retinue, while the Commander's Standard of the Three Armies was a Regional Commander's banner, marking the location of the central army's command tent.

Zhu Cilang had originally intended to place his central command at Xizhi Gate, but after discovering that Li Zicheng would make Diaoyutai his temporary residence, he moved the central command to Fucheng Gate, directly facing Diaoyutai.

And when Liu Zongmin saw the dragon banners and the Commander's Standard of the Three Armies, he assumed the Chongzhen Emperor had come up onto Fucheng Gate, so he answered "king against king" by placing Li Zicheng's central army outside Diaoyutai, on the open ground directly facing Fucheng Gate.

Shortly after the hour of wei on the seventeenth, the Shun Emperor Li Zicheng, having finished his midday meal, arrived at the great yellow felt tent amid the thunderous cries of "Long live the Emperor" from thirty or forty thousand Shun soldiers, escorted by the imperial guard under his adopted son Li Shuangxi.

Arriving with him were not only the Shun civil and military commanders Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Chengen, but also Tang Tong, Wang Chengyun, Du Xun, Du Zhizhi, and other surrendered generals and officials who had previously gone over to the Shun, as well as the Ming Prince of Qin, Zhu Cunji, and the Ming Prince of Jin, Zhu Shenxuan, who had been captured and then surrendered.

Li Zicheng seated himself squarely in front of the felt tent, had his civil and military officials and the surrendered officials line up to left and right, and made the two princes of Qin and Jin sit on the ground to his left front and right front — he was thoroughly pleased with himself!

Just as Li Zicheng was savoring his triumph, Du Xun and Du Zhizhi, the two eunuch army supervisors who had surrendered to him earlier at Xuanhua and Juyong Pass, came trotting up one after the other. Each eunuch carried a single-tube telescope, for observing the situation atop the Fucheng Gate tower.

One look, and both eunuchs thought something had gone wrong with their eyes!

For what they saw was the Crown Prince's dragon banners set together with the Commander's Standard of the Three Armies! What did this mean? The Crown Prince had left the palace to command the army? Impossible! The Great Ming had had princes who supervised armies, but never a crown prince who commanded one. And the current Crown Prince was only sixteen — a mere child. How could he command an army? Even if the Chongzhen Emperor had some wild idea of letting his son lead troops to defend the city, the entire court would never agree! Earlier, when someone proposed sending the Crown Prince to Nanjing as Regent, there had been universal opposition. Now, to have the Crown Prince command the army — would that not set off an uproar?

But the problem was that the two eunuchs looked again and again, and it was plainly the Crown Prince's six dragon banners together with the Commander's Standard of the Three Armies!

Was this not the Crown Prince commanding the army? And not only had the Crown Prince left the palace to command the army, he had even gone up onto the tower of Fucheng Gate!

This Crown Prince's courage was far too great, was it not?

"Your Majesty, this subject has observed with a telescope and discovered... discovered that atop the Fucheng Gate tower are the Ming Crown Prince's six dragon banners and a Commander's Standard of the Three Armies."

Du Xun was the first to report to Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng looked at this eunuch of imposing appearance who, together with the Regional Commander of Xuanfu, Wang Chengyun, had ridden thirty li out of the city to welcome the surrender, and his thick brows furrowed slightly: "Could it be that the Ming Crown Prince has gone up onto the gate tower?"

Du Zhizhi, who had surrendered together with Tang Tong at Juyong Pass, interjected: "Your Majesty, the Zhu Ming Crown Prince is only sixteen this year. He surely would not dare ascend the tower to face our great Shun army directly. Displaying the Crown Prince's banners on the tower is probably just a bluff."

Li Zicheng narrowed his right eye and gave a cold laugh: "At sixteen one can kill people too. My adopted son Li Shuangxi was killing people with me when he was fifteen!"

Du Zhizhi said: "The adopted prince is brave and martial in his youth — how could the Zhu family's Crown Prince compare?"

Du Xun added: "Indeed. The Zhu family's Crown Prince was raised deep in the palace and knows only eating, drinking, and amusement. He is utterly useless."

Gu Junen now stepped forward from the ranks and memorialized: "Since the Zhu family's Crown Prince is a useless person, Your Majesty may well use the strategy of attacking his heart against him... On one hand, proclaim to the soldiers and civilians defending the city that they should quickly open the gates and surrender; on the other, send an envoy into the city to negotiate peace."

After a night of thought, Gu Junen's "heart-attack strategy" had become considerably more elaborate. It was aimed not only at the Ming officials inside the capital, but also at the officers and soldiers defending the walls.

Therefore, while the envoy entered the city to negotiate with Chongzhen, men were to be sent to the foot of the walls to shout appeals for surrender.

"What terms should we use for the peace talks?" Li Zicheng asked.

Gu Junen swept a glance over the two eunuchs kneeling before Li Zicheng and said with a smile: "Any terms are a lie. What matters is getting the envoy in, then out again safe and sound, and dragging things out for several hours. That gives our men ample time to shout at the walls!"

Li Zicheng nodded. The army was already at the city gates — what was there to talk about? It was nothing but a heart-attack stratagem.

But to use peace talks as a heart-attack, one could not propose terms the other side was certain to refuse. Otherwise the envoy would be killed the moment he went up, and how then could the stratagem work?

"Then..." Li Zicheng thought for a moment and laughed. "Then tell the Zhu family's Son of Heaven this: I have no intention of seizing the Zhu family's realm. I ask only to divide the land and be enfeoffed as a king. If I may hold Qin and Jin in hereditary succession, I will not enter Beijing, and I will even lead a great army to subdue Liaodong. If the Zhu family's Son of Heaven finds this agreeable, let him send several high officials out of the city to discuss it in detail. Once terms are settled, we will swear an oath before Heaven, and the Zhu family's Son of Heaven will issue a Ming edict proclaiming it to the four seas, so all under heaven may hear."

Having said this, he swept his single eye over the two eunuchs kneeling below. "Which of you two will make the trip?"

"This subject Du Xun is willing to win this merit!" Du Xun spoke up first.

"This subject Du Zhizhi is also willing to enter the city and work Your Majesty's stratagem!" Du Zhizhi was a beat slower, but his eagerness to win merit for the Shun was not one bit less than Du Xun's.

Li Zicheng burst out laughing. "Both of you want to go, but I need only one. Junen, who do you say should go?"

Gu Junen said: "Allow this subject to ask them one question."

"Good." Li Zicheng nodded. "Ask."

Gu Junen asked: "How do the two of you guarantee you can get up onto the wall? Do not let the defenders on the wall shoot you dead with one arrow."

This question stumped Du Zhizhi, but Du Xun had the quicker mind and immediately produced a plan.

He pointed at the two princes of Qin and Jin sitting on the ground. "We can use these two men as hostages! The Zhu family's Son of Heaven loves to fish for fame and reputation, and therefore has always placed great weight on the imperial princes — losing a prince is an unpardonable crime. As long as these two princes are held as hostages, the defenders on the wall will surely not dare kill this subject."

"A fine plan!" Li Zicheng nodded with satisfaction and said to Du Xun: "You ball-less gelding are quite clever... Once we enter Beijing, I will make you the... Director-General of the Directorate of Ceremonial! But I will say the ugly part up front: here with me, eunuchs meddling in politics is not the custom. Understood?"

Du Xun was overjoyed at these words and kowtowed repeatedly: "This slave obeys the imperial decree. This slave will henceforth serve Your Majesty honestly and diligently!"

"Go on, go on." Li Zicheng waved his hand, then ordered his adopted son Li Shuangxi to take two hundred personal guards and escort the two princes of Qin and Jin — so terrified they were like mud — together with the swaggering Du Xun, toward Fucheng Gate.

......

"All you gunners, listen well to Us. This foreigner standing beside Us is an artillery instructor the court has invited from the Western country of Rome. You will all obey his commands without error! If any of you dares to play tricks or slack off, and We learn of it, you will be executed on the spot without mercy!"

Zhu Cilang had by now come to the front line in person, standing beneath the arrow tower of Fucheng Gate — that is, on the tower above the outer side of the barbican — addressing a group of Capital Camps gunners. Beside him stood an old foreigner with golden hair and blue eyes, dressed in Ming official robes and wearing a black gauze cap: none other than Johann Adam Schall von Bell, Director of the Directorate of Astronomy.

Schall was no ordinary missionary, but a highly learned scholar-missionary. He was versed in mathematics, physics, and astronomy, and was devoted to introducing Western science and technology into China. He had written or translated the "Treatise on the Telescope" (introducing Galileo's telescope), the "Investigations of the Earth" (translated from the German mining scholar Agricola's "De Re Metallica"), and had also participated in compiling the "Chongzhen Calendar."

In addition, he knew a good deal about casting and operating cannon and firearms, and had helped the firearms expert Jiao Xu compile the "Zeke Lu," also known as the "Essentials of Fire Attack," a work devoted to artillery, firearms, and gunpowder. This book was later neglected for a time after the fall of the Ming, but two hundred years later, because of the Opium War, it was once again given attention, and an "Expanded Zeke Lu" was even published. After the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion, it drew the high regard of the Xianfeng Emperor, who had this book published at the end of the Ming printed and distributed to the Eight Banners' heavenly soldiers for study...

This number-one international friend and foreign expert in Beijing, who could still shine two hundred years later, had now been pressed into service by Zhu Cilang to help command the red-coated cannons beneath the arrow tower of Fucheng Gate.

(End of Chapter)