Chapter 55: Unruly Folk, You're All Unruly Folk

The Eastern Palace Guard Battalion led by Wang Qi and the right musket section of the Hardship Battalion led by Wang Zhou were both made up of so-called "Hardship Heroes," and their morale was still extremely high!

Because these Hardship Heroes had all been brainwashed by Zhu Cilang into believing that once they followed the Crown Prince to Jiangnan, they would get land and wives. Moreover, these past few days they had received quite a bit of silver, eaten good meat and good food, and even dined and drunk alongside the Crown Prince himself — they were all the Crown Prince's trusted confidants now.

Besides, the lies Zhu Cilang had spun last night to fool the roving bandits had also taken in this bunch of Hardship Heroes.

His Highness the Crown Prince was so cunning that of course he even deceived his own people — how could he possibly tell his subordinates that the business of borrowing troops from the Manchu and arranging a marriage alliance was fake?

These Hardship Heroes all believed that Dorgon was leading the Eight Banners' heavenly troops, together with Wu Sangui, hurrying toward Beijing at this very moment. With that, they were certain they could escape safely — how could their morale not be high?

And Zhu Cilang had also ordered the Ming troops guarding Yongding Gate to leave all their banners on the gate tower as a bluff, while his own Eastern Palace Guard Battalion and the Hardship Battalion's right musket section carried no banners at all.

So when they marched out of the area around the Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Mountains and Rivers and entered the bustling district outside Zhengyang Gate, crowds of old and young dressed in commoners' clothes surged out from both sides of the street, and some even set off firecrackers — crackle, pop, it was lively indeed!

"Eh? Why is someone setting off firecrackers? And so many people…" Zhu Cilang, riding atop a tall, large horse, looked at the commoners lining both sides of the street — every one of them beaming with joy, and some still setting off firecrackers. This scene felt strangely familiar!

This… how is it just like the documentaries from my childhood showing the Liberation Army entering a city? Do the people of Beijing really support this Crown Prince so much? Have they already realized that I am brilliant and mighty, the lord who will restore the Ming to greatness? It seems the people of the capital do have good judgment after all!

Just as Zhu Cilang was feeling somewhat moved, someone suddenly took the lead in shouting slogans — and in the process dumped a basin of cold water right over the Crown Prince's head.

"Eat his mother, wear his mother, if there's not enough to eat there's the Roving King. No corvée, no grain tax, everyone lives it up for a spell…"

No one knew who started it, but someone took the lead in shouting the slogan welcoming the Roving King. Then the commoners crowding both sides of Zhengyang Gate Street all joined in the shouting, growing more and more enthusiastic, until a wave of "eat his mother, wear his mother" cries drowned out even the renewed roar of the tiger-crouching cannons outside the city walls.

It turned out that last night the intimidating sounds of gunfire and cannon had boomed all night outside the outer city wall of Beijing, and the commoners who didn't know the truth had thought the Roving King's great army was assaulting the city!

By this morning, because the Roving King's troops were busy arranging their battle formations, they had stopped firing guns and cannons. When the people of the outer city heard this, they all assumed that Li the Roving King's side had already won, and so they happily ran out to welcome the Roving King.

Hearing these shouts, the faces of the officers and soldiers following behind Zhu Cilang all changed color.

So these were all unruly folk after all! The whole street full of unruly folk! How utterly hateful… and who knew whether the Crown Prince would fly into a rage and order everyone to kill and burn?

Although these people were unruly, they were still fellow natives of Beijing…

"Hahaha…" Zhu Cilang suddenly burst into loud laughter, as though he were not the Crown Prince of the Great Ming at all, but a genuine rebel!

"Why does His Highness the Thousand Years laugh?" Wang Qi, the lead Eastern Palace guard, was riding beside Zhu Cilang. Seeing the Crown Prince laugh for no apparent reason, he spurred his horse forward to ask.

Zhu Cilang turned his head and glanced at Wang Qi, his face full of mocking smiles. "So these are the capital's commoners that my Imperial Father could not bear to abandon… He even worried that the bandits and barbarians would slaughter the people. How ridiculous. These commoners are clever enough — We'll do the math for them: in another month or so, they'll be welcoming a new master yet again!"

Could there really be that many new masters?

Wang Qi listened in utter confusion, but Zhu Cilang did not explain, merely saying with a smile: "Let's go. We'll head to Zhengyang Gate and take a look… the gate isn't shut, is it?"

"It isn't shut," Wang Qi said. "Provincial Commander Wu is personally guarding it. Until the Crown Prince returns, he won't close the gate."

"Good!" Zhu Cilang merely smiled. "Let's go to Zhengyang Gate and see who else is there."

"Who else could there be?" Wang Qi sighed. "Just some ignorant unruly commoners, no?"

Zhu Cilang sneered: "Heh, it won't be only commoners."

……

Opening the gates to welcome surrender would of course not involve only the commoners of Beijing… If even the commoners knew that the Great Ming was in dire straits, how could the officials not know?

So in the official circles of the capital, there had long been people plotting to abandon the Ming and go over to the Shun. And the former Minister of War Zhang Jinyan was one of the leading figures of the surrender faction. As early as the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, when he took over as Minister of War, he had already secretly made contact with the Roving King Li Zicheng — by the time he took over the Ministry of War, the Chongzhen Emperor was in fact already at a dead end. His Ministry of War was likewise at its wit's end, and he had to spend every day worrying about being made a scapegoat and executed by the Chongzhen Emperor.

The post of Minister of War in the Chongzhen reign was an extremely dangerous assignment! In the seventeen years of the Chongzhen reign, there had been fourteen Ministers of War in all. Of them, four committed suicide out of fear of punishment, one died in prison, one was ordered executed by the Chongzhen Emperor, one died in exile, and one was beaten to death by Li Zicheng's army — eight of the fourteen met violent or miserable ends! Heh, the casualty rate for Ministers of War surely exceeded that of the frontline soldiers.

And among the Ministers of War who did not meet a miserable end, five were dismissed from office and investigated, and only one retired with honor. The one who retired with honor was Zhang Jinyan's predecessor, Feng Yuanbiao, who was old and sickly and truly could no longer perform his duties. As for Zhang Jinyan himself, he had been dismissed from office and placed under investigation not long before.

But because Li Zicheng came too quickly, no one had time to investigate or deal with him — he was simply dismissed and that was that.

After his dismissal, Zhang Jinyan did not leave the endangered city of Beijing. Instead, he moved about everywhere, rallying a group of like-minded disciples and former subordinates, preparing to welcome the new master together and surrender to Li Zicheng.

And the "great talent and bold vision" that Zhu Cilang had suddenly displayed these past few days had truly given Zhang Jinyan a fright. It wasn't that he worried Beijing would be turned into an impregnable fortress by this out-of-line Crown Prince — rather, he worried that his own surrender plans would be discovered by Zhu Cilang…

This Crown Prince did things a bit carelessly. If he really got caught by him, he might just get his head lopped off with a single crack, without even a chance to buy his life back with money.

But this morning, Zhang Jinyan's suspended heart was finally set at ease. Because the servant he had sent to Zhengyang Gate Street to gather news came rushing back in high spirits to report that Li Zicheng's great army had entered the city!

They had finally come!

"Hahaha!" Zhang Jinyan slammed the table and laughed three times. "The great matter is accomplished!" He glanced at the officials gathered in the hall who had been listening to the news and discussing countermeasures with him. "Gentlemen, follow Zhang to Zhengyang Gate to welcome the new master!"

The house he was currently renting was not in the inner city but in the outer city, in Langfang Alley right next to Zhengyang Gate Street. He had rented a large residence, and besides housing his own family, he also kept many household retainers — desperadoes he had recruited from the Capital Camps while serving as Minister of War. Nominally they were there to guard the house, but in reality they were there to facilitate welcoming the surrender.

After the roving bandit army arrived at the walls of Beijing on the seventeenth, many officials who shared Zhang Jinyan's views had also moved to the outer city with their families, to avoid being seized by that reckless young Crown Prince Zhu Cilang. This morning, these people had all gathered in Langfang Alley, each dressed in proper official robes, craning their necks as they waited for the good news of Li Zicheng entering the city.

Now the news had finally come — this was wonderful!

A group of Ming officials, beaming with joy, followed Zhang Jinyan out of the residence gate with twenty or thirty armed household retainers, and soon emerged onto Zhengyang Gate Street.

Once on the street, they quickly spotted Zhu Cilang and his party marching toward them in formation.

Zhu Cilang's men didn't look like Ming troops either — no banners, and they didn't look bedraggled. Moreover, both sides of the street were shouting slogans welcoming the Roving King.

No need to say more — this must be the Roving King's vanguard entering the city.

"Quick, quick, quick," Zhang Jinyan hastily urged the officials with him. "All of you line up according to rank… Zhongzhao, you're a Junior Supervisor, come with me."

The official Zhang Jinyan called to his side was named Xiang Yu, forty-six years old this year, currently serving as Junior Supervisor of the Household of the Heir Apparent, and also a lecturer in the Eastern Palace — a subordinate official of Zhu Cilang, the Crown Prince. Somehow he had followed Zhang Jinyan and joined the ranks of those abandoning the Ming for the Shun.

Besides Xiang Yu, those with Zhang Jinyan today included Hanlin Bachelor Liang Zhaoyang, Hanlin Bachelor Zhou Zhong, Hanlin Bachelor Wei Xuelian, and Imperial Academy Proctor Qian Weikun. Every one of them was a deeply learned scholar of immense talent — presumably they would find ample use for their abilities under Li Zicheng as well…

(End of Chapter)