Chapter 539: The Shun's Good Crown Prince

"Right!" Liu Zongmin nodded. "One-Tiger does look a bit like a true Son of Heaven, but right now he's at Tiger Tooth Mountain!"

Tian Jianxiu and Gu Junen both breathed a sigh of relief. If Li Zicheng were merely the Roving King and not the Shun Emperor, then Liu Zongmin would indeed have a stronger claim than Li Guo to succeed him.

But now that Li Zicheng had become the late emperor, the matter of succession naturally had to follow bloodlines — otherwise how could they command obedience?

Now that Liu Zongmin was willing to step back, it seemed the late emperor's enterprise still had hope of carrying on.

Late Emperor, you may close your eyes in peace — though you cannot yet be laid to rest, because you still have to pretend to be alive!

"So we cannot publicly announce the Emperor's death!" Gu Junen said. "Otherwise the army's morale will collapse, and none of us will live to reach Tiger Tooth Mountain!"

"Right, right! We must make the late emperor pretend to be alive!" Liu Zongmin calculated. "From here to Tiger Tooth Mountain is still over two hundred li. We're exhausted, men and horses alike, so we can't move fast — it'll take at least three or four days!"

He looked at Li Zicheng lying motionless there and wiped his tears. "Late Emperor, you'll have to endure a bit more and keep pretending to be alive for a few days. Fortunately, hardly anyone knows the Emperor has become the late emperor, and Yufeng has them all under control."

Li Zicheng truly had it hard — even in death he had to pretend to be alive.

"A few days won't be enough!" Gu Junen shook his head. "At the very least, he must pretend to be alive until we take Chongqing Prefecture!"

"That means pretending for a long time!" Liu Zongmin glanced again at Li Zicheng. "With the weather this hot, won't he start to stink?"

Even if he stinks, he still has to pretend!

Gu Junen, being the learned one, thought for a moment. "In ancient times, when the First Emperor died at Sand Dune, Zhao Gao and Li Si kept the death secret, placed the coffin in a cooled carriage, and covered the stench of the corpse with salted fish."

"Understood!" Liu Zongmin said. "We'll just say the late emperor — I mean, the Emperor — has a craving for salted fish in steamed buns. I'll send men to seize some salted fish right away!"

Tian Jianxiu, standing to the side, let out a breath and said, "The Zhu rebel also suffered heavy losses in this battle. If he knew the Emperor was still alive, he would not dare pursue us relentlessly, and we could withdraw at our leisure. Once we reach Yidu County, we can form a pincer with Tiger Tooth Mountain and seal off the Zhu rebel's route westward. Then the Marquis of Bo and the Marquis of Ru can lead everyone into Sichuan to carve out a new world!"

"Me and the Marquis of Bo?" Liu Zongmin stared at Tian Jianxiu. "Yufeng, you're not coming with us?"

Tian Jianxiu shook his head. "Someone has to stay behind to hold Yidu and Tiger Tooth Mountain. The Emperor, before his death, wanted to entrust Jingzhou to me. Let me take up that duty now!"

Gu Junen glanced at Tian Jianxiu, inwardly admiring his choice. Holding Yidu, Tiger Tooth Mountain, Yiling Prefecture, Guizhou, Changyang, and Badong — these prefectures and counties belonging to Jingzhou Prefecture — seemed risky, but in truth, as long as Zhu Cilang could not spare the strength to invade Sichuan in force, there would be no real problem.

On the contrary, it would let him avoid the strife of the Shun court, avoid fighting Zhang Xianzhong's forces in Sichuan to the death, and even allow him to dominate a region and watch events unfold from the sidelines. It was a fine choice!

Gu Junen nodded and added, "Indeed, we need a great general to hold the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture. Only then can the Marquis of Bo and the Marquis of Ru enter Sichuan at their leisure!"

"Furthermore, Hanyang, De'an, and Chengtian — these three prefectures can no longer be held! Most of Nanyang Prefecture will also be hard to hold, and it seems Xi'an and Fengxiang Prefectures in Guanzhong will have to be abandoned as well. But we cannot simply keep abandoning territory — what must be held must still be held!"

"The western part of Jingzhou Prefecture, Xiangjing, Yunyang, and Hanzhong — these are all places that must be defended!"

The western part of Jingzhou Prefecture was the base for entering Sichuan from the east, while Hanzhong was the base for entering Sichuan from the north.

As for Xiangjing and Yunyang, they were where a considerable number of the old-camp soldiers' estates lay, and they were also the Shun army's major stronghold for maintaining a presence in the Central Plains after abandoning the Guanzhong territory.

As long as the great banner with the character "Roving" still flew above the walls of Xiangjing, the Shun dynasty would not be a rump regime huddled in the southwest!

Moreover, the territory of Xiangjing and Yunyang could also be used to settle a certain founding hero of the Shun who posed a threat to Li Guo.

"Jiexuan," Tian Jianxiu said — his mind was meticulous, and he understood perfectly the meaning behind Gu Junen's words, and knew even better the awkward position he and Liu Zongmin were in. He looked at Liu Zongmin. "Xiangjing and Yunyang are extremely critical and must be garrisoned by a great general. Why don't you go and hold Xiangjing Prefecture? I'll be at Tiger Tooth Mountain, you'll be in Xiangjing, and we can support each other like pincers!"

"That works too!" Liu Zongmin also thought it was a good idea — holding a region on his own, not taking grief from anyone. Besides, Xiangjing was the Shun's first base, with formidable terrain, easy to defend and hard to attack, and quite prosperous as well. As for Yunyang, though it was mountainous, it was an excellent place for setting oneself up as an independent power.

As far back as the Chenghua era of the Ming dynasty, the Yunyang mountains had seen two great uprisings of displaced refugees. That place was a fine spot — high mountains, dangerous terrain, and far from the emperor's reach!

The second day of the fifth month, third year of Shun Yongchang. Yidu County seat.

This county seat had fallen four days earlier — on the very day Li Zicheng died — into the hands of Li Laiheng, son of Li Guo.

Because the new-model army under Wu Guoyong, which had been preparing to attack Tiger Tooth Mountain, had fled in a panic, Li Guo, who had been holed up at Tiger Tooth Mountain and Yiling Prefecture preparing for a last stand, was emboldened again. He sent his son Li Laiheng with ten thousand men across the river to seize Changyang County and Yidu County, which had been controlled by Ming local forces. This not only completely sealed off the water route from the Jing River into the Chuan River, but also blocked the Yi River leading to Shizhou Guard.

At least on the map, the Shun dynasty's rule over the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture had become more secure thanks to the capture of the two county seats of Yidu and Changyang.

But consolidating the Shun dynasty's hold on the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture was not the main purpose of Li Laiheng's expedition. His real purpose in marching on Yidu was to receive the great army led by Li Zicheng coming from the direction of Songzi and Zhijiang.

Li Zicheng had agreed with Li Guo before setting out that once the main Ming force encamped beneath Jiangling's walls had been drawn away, Li Guo was to sally from Tiger Tooth Mountain south of the Yangtze and receive Li Zicheng on his return.

And that objective now appeared to have been achieved!

A Shun army numbering close to thirty thousand was at this moment marching into Yidu County seat in grand formation.

Li Laiheng, fresh from victory, rode over cheerfully with his personal guards to Shilipu, where Li Zicheng's imperial encampment was stationed.

At Shilipu there was an abandoned post station, now surrounded by the imperial guard, with extremely tight security. Moreover, the imperial guards watching the station all wore grim expressions, as if they had just suffered a crushing defeat.

Li Laiheng thought to himself: The Emperor must have been defeated around Gong'an and Shishou.

With that thought, he dismounted and strode quickly into the post station. The moment he entered, he caught a whiff of stinking salted fish. He frowned. "What's that smell?"

"General of the Guard, that is the smell of salted fish." The reply came from Gu Junen, who had personally come out to receive Li Laiheng just now, and with unusual deference.

"Salted fish?"

"Yes. The Emperor has recently taken a liking to salted fish in steamed buns, so he had people buy a great deal of it to eat on the road."

"But it stinks terribly — couldn't he buy better ones?" Li Laiheng shook his head. "He's the Emperor now; he doesn't need to live so frugally."

Gu Junen sighed but said nothing, and led Li Laiheng into a heavily guarded room. The room was piled high with salted fish, the stench overwhelming! In such a foul-smelling room, two marquises were sitting there, dejected and downcast. When they saw Li Laiheng enter, they both rose and saluted.

"Liu Zongmin greets the Heir!"

"Tian Jianxiu greets the Heir!"

Li Laiheng was dumbfounded. What did this mean? I'm just the heir of a marquis, and you two are both marquises! And among the Shun's Nine Marquises, you two rank first and second — my father only ranks fourth.

At that thought, he hurriedly moved to bow to Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu, but Gu Junen grabbed him and held him back. "From this moment on, the Heir must no longer exchange equal courtesies with his subjects!"

Li Laiheng stared at Gu Junen. "What? What did you say? Who is a subject?"

"The Emperor has passed away. His dying command was to keep the death secret and have the Marquis of Bo ascend the throne as Emperor!"