Chapter 494: The People's Hearts Turn, an Army of the True King

"My Lord, My Lord!" Song Xiance swung down from horseback and strode toward Li Zicheng as fast as his legs would carry him.

This was a drill ground outside the city of Xiangjing, one set aside for the Shun army's artillery camp to test-fire their guns. A row of newly cast great general cannons and heavy wall-guns were firing, and Li Zicheng's ears were ringing so badly he almost missed Song Xiance's call.

Li Zicheng was making rapid progress! Not only had he mastered the art of enclosing land and equalizing fields, he had also discovered the great general cannon's true value from the intelligence he had gathered on the Battle of Blood Stream — it turned out that with enough great general cannons massed together, even the Tartars could be blasted to the ground!

So Li Zicheng had ordered the Shun regime's Ministry of Works to cast one hundred eight-hundred-catty great general cannons and refine fifty thousand catties of top-grade gunpowder.

In addition, Li Zicheng had ordered the Ministry of Works to cast one thousand single-barrel heavy wall-guns — a firearm invented by the Shun troops defending Xi'an. They had turned the three-eyed gun, whose power and effective range were both inadequate, into a single-barrel heavy gun, which was in fact a large matchlock. Because the casting was crude, the barrel had to be made thick and heavy. The ball weighed only one tael, yet the single-barrel heavy gun was far heavier than a turtledove-foot gun, impossible for one man to use; it required two gunners working together. When firing, one man aimed and touched off the match while the other served as the gun mount, bracing the barrel on his shoulder — hence the name "wall-gun."

When Song Xiance arrived, a row of heavy wall-guns had just finished firing, riddling a shield cart set up as a target thirty paces away.

Li Zicheng narrowed his one good eye and smiled with satisfaction — these heavy wall-guns were more than enough to defeat shield carts, and naturally no armor could withstand them either.

The great general cannons had also performed well in their test firing earlier; their stone balls could still punch through wooden shields beyond a hundred paces... truly excellent!

With these hundred great general cannons and a thousand heavy wall-guns, his confidence for this southward campaign into Huguang had grown considerably.

Li Zicheng turned to look at Song Xiance and said with a smile, "Grand Strategist, what wind blows you out here beyond the walls of Xiangjing?"

"My Lord, wonderful news!" Song Xiance handed Li Zicheng a copy of the Ming Capital Gazette he had obtained from somewhere.

Li Zicheng took the gazette, unfolded it, and stared blankly. "Grand Strategist, you've brought the wrong thing, haven't you?"

"No mistake..."

Li Zicheng said, "This seems to say that the fatuous tyrant Chongzhen wants to abdicate... meaning he'll hand the throne to that bastard Zhu Cilang, right?"

"Yes, yes..." Song Xiance nodded with a smile.

"That's good news?" Li Zicheng looked at his strategist doubtfully — how could this possibly be good news? Even if it were good news, it would be good news for Zhu Cilang's side! What did it have to do with him?

"It is!" Song Xiance nodded. "The fatuous tyrant Chongzhen picked a fine moment... He didn't mention it earlier, didn't mention it later, but brought it up just as Zhu Cilang was about to march to war. In truth, he means no good by it!"

Li Zicheng was confused. "Is that so? How do you mean?"

Song Xiance said, "The fatuous tyrant Chongzhen means to force all the treacherous ministers and rebels on the Ming side to make trouble for Zhu Cilang... Zhu Cilang will be fighting us in Huguang while a pack of people stir up trouble behind him. Is that not good news for us?"

"Oh..." Li Zicheng still did not understand. "Who will make trouble for him?"

"Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maoji... all of them are treacherous ministers and rebels, and all of them will make trouble for Zhu Cilang!"

"They're treacherous ministers and rebels?" Li Zicheng thought to himself: Huang Degong and Gao Jie, fine — but since when have Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maoji learned to be wicked and turned traitor? Who did they learn that from?

"My Lord, they all have troops and territory, each holding sway over a region, just like the military governors of the late Tang or the warlords of the late Han. How are they not treacherous ministers and rebels?" Song Xiance said. "Zhu Cilang is a strong and enlightened ruler; treacherous ministers and rebels will none of them like him."

"So what?" Li Zicheng shook his head. "Zhu Cilang doesn't rely on the likes of them to become emperor... What can they do? Rebel?"

"They won't rebel..." Song Xiance said, "but they will make trouble for Zhu Cilang!"

"How?" Li Zicheng shook his head. "They can't! Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maoji — five treacherous ministers and rebels in all... not one of the damn lot will submit to another! And Zhu Cilang is no Dong Zhuo, no Cao Cao — he is the Ming Crown Prince. To rise against him, they'd need legitimacy!"

Li Zicheng was, after all, a professional rebel; he knew rebellion inside out. Five treacherous ministers and rebels could never come together... and even if they did, they'd fall to infighting first! Besides, they weren't peasant insurgents — they were all Ming subjects. How could they rebel against Zhu Cilang? That would be inferiors rising against their superior!

Song Xiance shook his head and smiled. "My Lord, they do have legitimacy!"

"What legitimacy?"

Song Xiance said, "The Fifth Prince, Zhu Cihuan!"

Li Zicheng thought it over and laughed. "Good, good, good! This time the strategist has finally given me a brilliant move... I'll trouble you to handle this. Be sure to pick the right moment — wait until I'm locked in a stalemate with Zhu Cilang in Huguang, then play the Zhu Cihuan card!"

"Young General, a Nanjing gazette!"

Huang Shu rapped urgently on the cabin door of Zuo Liangyu's flagship, and hearing no sound, knocked several more times in haste.

From within the cabin came Zuo Menggeng's weary voice at last: "Strategist, come in."

By now Zuo Menggeng had carried the deeply comatose Zuo Liangyu aboard the official boat bound for Jingzhou, and the Zuo family army's officers, men, and dependents — nearly two hundred thousand souls — had all boarded as well.

So many vessels that the Yangtze between Wuchang and Hankou was nearly choked with them, all waiting now for Zuo Menggeng's single order to sail west together.

These past days, the Zuo family navy had been frantically busy commandeering every merchant vessel plying the Yangtze and Han Rivers in order to scrape together enough boats to carry so many people and so much materiel.

This year's grain shipments to the southeast would likely fall by seventy or eighty percent...

When Huang Shu entered Zuo Liangyu's cabin, the smell of Chinese medicine hit him at once. Zuo Liangyu was beyond the help of medicine now; the man had wasted away to a skeleton, lying motionless on the bed, only the faintest breath showing he still had a spark of life in him.

The filial son Zuo Menggeng looked dreadful — dark hollows under his eyes, brows drooping — sitting there slowly drinking strong tea, still forcing himself to hold on.

His father's breath could give out at any moment. When it did, could he still command the three armies?

And if he could not... would his head be cut off, put in a fine box, and sent to Nanjing? These days he was plagued by nightmares, to the point that the very sight of a box big enough to hold a head made him shudder!

"Young General, the Crown Prince has forced the throne!"

Huang Shu handed the gazette to Zuo Menggeng.

"Forced the throne..." Zuo Menggeng snatched the gazette and unfolded it, his voice trembling. "He really has forced the throne! He's too impatient — couldn't he have waited until after defeating Li Zicheng?"

Of course the gazette did not say "forced the throne." But to Zuo Menggeng and Huang Shu, Chongzhen's abdication was nothing other than Zhu Cilang forcing the throne.

Otherwise, why would the Chongzhen Emperor, perfectly well, suddenly speak of abdication?

"Young General, the most urgent thing now is to get the Prince of Chu into your hands!" Huang Shu said urgently. "With the Prince of Chu in hand, you can command the heroes of the realm and become first among the warlords!"

Zuo Menggeng frowned. "Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maoji... will they listen to me?"

How could they? Huang Shu thought. They don't even listen to Zhu Cilang — would they listen to you?

"Young General," Huang Shu said, "they will surely stir up trouble, and to stir up trouble they need legitimacy... The Prince of Chu is that legitimacy!"

The Zhu Cihuan in Li Zicheng's hands was the great righteous cause of purging the court; the Prince of Chu, Zhu Cizhao, was likewise a great righteous cause — and an even greater one!

"Right, right, right..." Zuo Menggeng nodded and drew a breath. "The unrighteous will surely bring about their own destruction. Zhu Cilang has made too many enemies this time... At last we have a way out!" He paused. "We leave tomorrow for Jingzhou Prefecture. While we sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, we'll make contact with the other warlords and prepare to raise troops and rally to the throne!"