Chapter 51: This Is Deceiving the Sovereign! (Please Add to Favorites, Please Recommend)

"What? Li Ruolian, what did you say?"

The Chongzhen Emperor had already risen from the throne, staring blankly at Li Ruolian kneeling below.

"Your Majesty, this morning Thousand Years said that at sixteen he still had no son, and since he must lead the troops himself to defend the altars of state, he feared that if anything befell him he would have failed his ancestors and shaken the foundation of the realm. So he took two hundred soldiers to the residence where the family of the Earl of Pingxi is temporarily lodged, seized the Earl's younger sister Wu Sanmei, and brought her back to the palace to bear him a son... The rice is already cooked!"

Such a thing had actually happened?

Chongzhen seemed turned to stone, standing there without moving a muscle.

Zhu Cilang had actually resorted to such a shameless trick — directly "seizing" Wu Sanmei and cooking the rice.

And he had even found himself a perfectly righteous-sounding excuse!

He wanted Wu Sanmei to bear him a son to carry on the family line...

What was there to be in such a hurry about? You, the Crown Prince, still have three younger brothers! Even if Li Zicheng's army kills you, your brothers can still succeed as Crown Prince. The Great Ming will never lack a Crown Prince!

"Your Majesty, although the Crown Prince's conduct was improper, he was still thinking of the Great Ming's realm, and his fundamental integrity is not lacking. The Crown Prince is already sixteen this year. When Your Majesty was sixteen, you already had many consorts, yet the Crown Prince remains alone. That is indeed inappropriate!"

The one defending Zhu Cilang's forcible seizure of Wu Sanmei was the Chief Censor of the Left, Li Banghua — an old man with a silver-white beard flowing down his chest, every inch the venerable elder statesman who had served four reigns.

The crowd of civil and military officials outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy all nodded in agreement, seemingly approving of Zhu Cilang's seizure of Wu Sanmei for the sake of the Great Ming's dynastic foundation... Of the three unfilial acts, having no heir is the gravest! How could they not approve?

"But — but he seized someone!" Chongzhen was furious!

He was not angry that his son had seized a woman, but that his son had so brazenly deceived his sovereign!

This was deceiving the Emperor!

Wu Xiang had already been offering his daughter to curry favor — did his daughter need to be seized? She would have thrown herself into the Crown Prince's arms before he could even try. Did she need to be seized?

This was a colluded performance, cooking the rice to force the Chongzhen Emperor to accept the fait accompli. If this was not deceiving the sovereign, what was? This was deceiving the sovereign!

Li Banghua pointed out with a grave expression: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince seized the woman precisely to continue the ancestral line of our dynastic forebears! Which matters more — the seizing of a person, or continuing the line of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor?"

Continuing the line mattered more, of course... On this point, not a single civil or military official in the court would disagree!

The earlier impeachment of Wu Xiang for offering his daughter to curry favor had now evaporated. Now it was the Crown Prince who, in order to continue the line of the Great Ming's dynastic forebears, had seized Wu Xiang's daughter — and this was an act of filial piety!

Who would dare submit a memorial impeaching the Crown Prince for being eager to continue the family line? Did they want the Great Ming's realm to end without heirs? And at this juncture, what benefit was there in impeaching the Crown Prince? The Crown Prince had money and troops — he was the hope of the Great Ming. Anyone who wanted to keep serving as an official of the Great Ming had to follow the Crown Prince!

Li Banghua continued: "This can be compared to the story of Shenzong and Empress Dowager Xiaojing! Now that the Crown Prince has favored Lady Wu, there is a certain probability that Lady Wu will bear issue! If a child is born, though not of the primary wife, it will still be the Crown Prince's eldest son, Your Majesty's eldest grandson... Then the Great Ming's realm will have an heir!"

Empress Dowager Xiaojing was the birth mother of the Guangzong Emperor, and also the Chongzhen Emperor's own grandmother. She had been a palace maid in the palace of Empress Dowager Li, mother of the Wanli Emperor, when the Wanli Emperor happened upon her and secretly took her. Afterward he refused to acknowledge it, and only when Empress Dowager Xiaojing's belly grew large did Empress Dowager Li get to the bottom of the matter. And the child in Empress Dowager Xiaojing's belly was the Chongzhen Emperor's own father, the Guangzong Emperor, Zhu Changluo.

Hearing Li Banghua mention Guangzong, the Chongzhen Emperor's face turned livid with rage.

Guangzong, apart from his less-than-glorious origins, was also a central figure in the succession struggle of the Wanli reign... By mentioning Guangzong, Li Banghua was reminding the Chongzhen Emperor not to entertain any thought of deposing the Crown Prince. The whole court was full of upright gentlemen who defended the Great Ming's dynastic foundation — if he wanted to change the Crown Prince, there was no way!

Not only could the Crown Prince not be replaced for seizing a woman to continue the line, but the son Wu Sanmei bore the Crown Prince — so long as no son of the primary wife existed — would be the future heir to the throne.

If the Crown Prince were to fall in battle defending the Great Ming's realm, and left no son by his primary wife, then the son Wu Sanmei bore him would be the Imperial Grandson-heir!

This is called "establishing the eldest"! It is stipulated in the ancestral ordinances of the August Ming!

"Wei Zaode, what do you say?" Chongzhen asked through gritted teeth, addressing the Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode.

How would Wei Zaode dare voice any opinion? He merely equivocated: "Though this matter is somewhat improper, for the sake of the Great Ming's realm, perhaps it would be better to, better to..."

"Better to take her as a consort?" Chongzhen demanded sharply.

Wei Zaode, hearing the harshness in Chongzhen's tone, had no choice but to change his words: "Better to appoint her as a Lady Clerk of the Eastern Palace, and have her attend upon His Highness the Crown Prince..."

A Lady Clerk was a female official, of somewhat higher status than a palace maid, but still not a high-ranking female official.

"She may only be used as a palace maid!" The Chongzhen Emperor seemed to be speaking out of spite.

Li Banghua shook his head: "Why make it so bitter? Lady Wu's father and brother are both important ministers of state, and her brother Wu Sangui is the very relief force the capital is counting on... Why humiliate Lady Wu by making her a mere palace servant?"

"She can only be a palace maid!" Chongzhen said with finality.

"Wang Cheng'en!" He then summoned the already out-of-favor brush-holding eunuch Wang Cheng'en before him. "Go tell the Crown Prince that Lady Wu may not be made a consort, and may only serve as a palace servant."

"This old slave receives the decree." Wang Cheng'en understood perfectly well what the Chongzhen Emperor meant.

This was to use Wu Sanmei's formal status as a bargaining chip and continue the contest. But by permitting Wu Sanmei to attend upon Zhu Cilang, Chongzhen had already lost a round. Not only had the impeachment of Wu Xiang fallen through, but Zhu Cilang and Wu Xiang had now completed a de facto marriage alliance.

As for formal status and such... once Wu Sangui's army arrived, could Chongzhen really refuse to grant it? Let alone a secondary consort — even the position of primary consort would have to be given!

Otherwise, the troops outside Beijing belonged to Wu Sangui, and the troops inside the city belonged to Zhu Cilang. If the two of them joined forces, Chongzhen would become the Retired Emperor...

And even if Chongzhen stubbornly refused to acknowledge Wu Sanmei as his daughter-in-law, that would not stop Zhu Cilang from doting on Wu Sanmei to the heavens. The vital organ was attached to Zhu Cilang himself, and Wu Sanmei was a palace maid attending upon Zhu Cilang — sharing his bed was only natural. When the time came, if Zhu Cilang chose to dote on Wu Sanmei, what could Chongzhen do about it?

So in this round of the contest, the Chongzhen Emperor had been soundly slapped in the face by his own son!

And it stung terribly!

What was even more infuriating was that the Chongzhen Emperor found he had absolutely no way to deal with this unfilial son!

The Chongzhen Emperor was the sort of emperor who would rather save face and suffer. If he could be as shameless as Zhu Cilang, and employ every kind of swindling trick, would he have come to this pass? So he could not — and dared not — stage some Feast at Swan Goose Gate to do away with Zhu Cilang. The defense of Beijing now rested entirely on Zhu Cilang's arrangements, and the lifesaving straw Wu Sangui was Zhu Cilang's second brother-in-law. If he did away with him, who would defend Beijing? Who would come to the rescue? If the dynasty ultimately fell, would not the history books paint Chongzhen as a muddle-headed tyrant of the worst order? Would he still have the face to claim he was not a sovereign who lost his kingdom?

And Zhu Cilang was so cunning that he might not even fall for a Feast at Swan Goose Gate scheme... He no longer lived in the Duanben Palace, but had moved to the Jiale Hall by the edge of the Grand Liquid Pool. Jiale Hall was right next to the Inner Parade Ground, and the Inner Parade Ground was now the encampment of the Hard-Striving Battalion, with nearly 3,000 Hard-Striving Battalion troops stationed there.

Chongzhen's Pure Army certainly could not defeat them. Those desperadoes of the Hard-Striving Battalion were paid one tael of silver a day — how much did the Pure Army eunuchs get? Even if they could win, they would not risk their lives for that! So sending the Pure Army to arrest Zhu Cilang was also impossible.

All Chongzhen could do now was send Wang Cheng'en to negotiate with Zhu Cilang and at least get some money out of him.

Wang Cheng'en's position was now somewhat special. Zhu Cilang's ability to "emerge" was owed in no small part to him. At the same time, he remained utterly loyal to the Chongzhen Emperor. So he was now a bridge between Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang.

...

By the time Wang Cheng'en reached Jiale Hall, neither Zhu Cilang nor Wu Sanmei was there. The two of them were at the Inner Parade Ground, sharing a meal with the Hard-Striving Army officers and men.

Today was the happy day Zhu Cilang seized himself a wife, so of course the troops had to share in the joy. Thus, after leaving Wu Xiang's house, Zhu Cilang had not been in a hurry to cook the rice... Wu Sanmei, that big, white, plump grain of rice, was still raw! Because after seizing her, Zhu Cilang had been busy winning over the hearts of the troops.

First he arranged a fine meal — white steamed buns stuffed with meat, plus a bowl of yellow wine. Then he handed out "red envelopes" to everyone — not much, just one tael of silver per man. Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanmei personally distributed them... Palace maid or female official, that was just the Chongzhen Emperor being spiteful toward his son. To Zhu Cilang and the Hard-Striving Battalion troops, Wu Sanmei was now the Crown Princess — without even the word "secondary" attached.

Now that Zhu Cilang wanted to win over the Wu family, why add "secondary"? Benefits should be given in full, should they not? Besides, Zhu Cilang genuinely liked this "big girl" Wu Sanmei — a fair, tender young lass, a daughter of a military family who had practiced martial arts and riding since childhood. When it came time to flee, she would certainly not be a burden. How wonderful!

(End of Chapter)