Chapter 56: Rebellion Means Losing Your Head (Hurry Up with Those Recommendation Tickets)

"Eat his mother, wear his mother, if eating and wearing aren't enough there's the Roving King…"

Amid a chorus of songs welcoming the Roving King, a crowd of Ming officials who had craned their necks awaiting a new master finally laid eyes on the Shun heavenly troops they had yearned for day and night.

This band of Shun heavenly troops was not large in number, only about a thousand men or so. Marching in front were some fifty or sixty riders, all mounted on tall horses and clad in armor. Behind them followed infantry, protected only by cloth-faced armor; of these, some three hundred or more carried firelocks on their shoulders, while the rest bore swords and spears.

The Shun heavenly troops' formation was not particularly orderly, looking a shade worse than the ordinary Capital Camps soldiers. But in the professional judgment of Zhang Jinyan, the former Minister of War, this force, which at first glance seemed no different from Capital Camps troops, nevertheless carried a soaring killing aura!

"Truly crack troops!" Zhang Jinyan stroked his beard, narrowed his eyes, and nodded gently, as if he really understood such things.

He turned his head and said to Junior Supervisor Xiang Yu: "With such elite troops, how can the Zhu clan's rabble possibly compare? Even ten times their number would be hard-pressed to defeat them!"

Xiang Yu was a Sichuan man, and in a full Sichuan accent he chimed in: "Right! Compared with the Shun heavenly troops, even the Guanning troops fall short by a hundred thousand li! That Zhu crown prince keeps hopping about, still trying to stop a chariot with a mantis's arm — it truly makes one laugh one's teeth out!"

"Well said! That Zhu Cilang will be captured by the Shun heavenly troops within a few days…"

Xiang Yu shook his head and laughed: "Not necessarily. Most likely he'll kill himself for the dynasty, won't he?"

Just as the two were talking, the "Shun heavenly troops" had already arrived before them. The leader was a burly man with a pockmarked face and a great tangled beard, clad in long iron armor and wearing a pointed helmet on his head — he looked ferocious indeed!

Zhang Jinyan and Xiang Yu no longer dared to speak. What was coming was not the worthless Capital Camps troops, but the Shun's heavenly soldiers!

So Zhang Jinyan, Xiang Yu, and several other civil officials of lower rank immediately arranged themselves according to rank, and each produced the surrender memorials and congratulatory addresses they had long prepared, holding them in both hands and raising them above their heads.

Zhang Jinyan was the lead signatory, so it fell to him to announce their names: "We, the guilty subjects of the Zhu Ming — Zhang Jinyan, Xiang Yu, Liang Zhaoyang, Zhou Zhong, Wei Xuelian, Qian Weikun, and the rest — respectfully welcome the Shun heavenly troops outside Zhengyang Gate, and reverently wish His Majesty the Roving King boundless longevity, and the Shun realm ten thousand years of eternal stability!"

When he had finished, the surrendering officials and their household retainers together shouted in unison: "We reverently wish His Majesty the Roving King boundless longevity, and the Shun realm ten thousand years of eternal stability!"

"Hahaha…" The Shun heavenly troops' general on horseback burst into loud laughter, then pointed at the crowd with his riding whip. "Do you people wish to submit to the Roving King?"

Zhang Jinyan, his face wreathed in smiles, said: "General, we are all court officials of the Zhu Ming. Because we cannot abide a fatuous ruler harming the people and treacherous ministers ruining the state, we have longed for the Shun heavenly troops day and night, as infants long for a loving mother… Today our wish is at last fulfilled!"

"Oh, oh," the general asked, "is that what all of you mean?"

"We all wish to submit to the Roving King…"

"And those men behind you?" He pointed at a group of household retainers gripping sharp blades and asked again.

"We too are willing to serve as the Roving King's vanguard!"

"Good, good, good…"

Zhang Jinyan raised the memorial in his hands high. "General, we have already prepared our surrender memorials and congratulatory addresses, and wish to present them to the Roving King in person."

"Good, good, you've even prepared surrender memorials and congratulatory addresses," the general nodded repeatedly. "You people are truly something, truly something… Bring them all over for me to look at."

Look at them? This general can even read! Zhang Jinyan thought to himself: no wonder the Roving King has been able to achieve such a great enterprise — he truly has talent under his command! This rough-looking general turns out to be accomplished in both letters and war!

Thinking this, he took the lead and handed the surrender memorial and congratulatory address he had written in his own hand to this "pockmarked general," and the other officials followed suit. The general accepted them with a smile, and with great solemnity opened them one by one… He really could read. Each one he opened, he would read out the office and name, confirm it, and only then hand it to one of his attendants to put away.

After he had confirmed all the surrender memorials and congratulatory addresses, the general pointed at the household retainers with swords behind the officials, and his face darkened as he asked: "Why do you still carry swords? One cannot carry swords when meeting the Roving King!"

Zhang Jinyan, hearing this, quickly turned his head and said to the household retainers behind him: "Quick, quickly hand over your weapons, give them all to the Shun heavenly troops!"

The pockmarked general beckoned, summoning a squad of infantry, and ordered them to go up and disarm Zhang Jinyan's household retainers. When he saw the disarmament was complete, he ordered another squad of soldiers to spread out and surround Zhang Jinyan, Xiang Yu, and the others.

"General, what is the meaning of this?" Zhang Jinyan, sensing something was wrong, quickly cupped his hands and said, "I am sincerely throwing in my lot with the Shun…"

The pockmarked general ignored him, and instead turned his head and shouted: "Thousand Years! There are forty or fifty rebels here!"

Thousand Years? Rebels… Zhang Jinyan, Xiang Yu, and the others were all baffled at once.

Who was Thousand Years? Could it be that Li Zicheng's son had come? And who were the rebels? Could it be that the Shun side also called the Zhu Ming side rebels?

Just as they were bewildered, a rather astonished voice rang out: "Aiya, Master Xiang, are you out here welcoming the Roving Bandit in rebellion against the Great Ming?"

Xiang Yu recognized the voice at once — it was familiar! It was the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang's voice… He hurriedly looked in the direction of the sound, and at a single glance his soul nearly fled his body in fright.

Zhu Cilang, clad in full iron armor and surrounded by several guards, was swaggering over on horseback. Only when he reached the pockmarked general's side did he gently rein in his horse, then looked with a beaming smile at the crowd of rebels caught red-handed.

Xiang Yu was a lecturer in the Eastern Palace, so of course he recognized Zhu Cilang at a glance, and now he could barely speak: "Y-you, you are the Crown Prince… How can you be here?"

"Indeed, indeed, We are the heir apparent of the Great Ming!" Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile. "Master Xiang, you have been far too careless. Why did you not look more carefully before rushing out to become a rebel… The Roving Bandit's soldiers are still climbing the walls! You came out to welcome them too early!"

"Aiya!" Zhang Jinyan beside him cried out, "How foolish! The city gates are blocked — how could the Shun heavenly troops possibly ride into the city?"

"Hahaha!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "Minister Zhang, Master Xiang, and the rest of you — do you know that throwing in your lot with the Roving Bandit is rebellion? Rebellion… is punishable by beheading!"

When he said "beheading," Zhu Cilang's tone had already turned ice-cold, and then came a great shout: "Seize them all for Us!"

"Aye!"

The Eastern Palace guards accompanying Zhu Cilang had long been ready to make arrests. On hearing the order, they surged forward and seized the surrendering officials and the household retainers they had brought with them, every last one.

Xiang Yu was already terrified out of his wits. Held up by two Eastern Palace guards, he pleaded repeatedly: "Thousand Years, spare me, spare me… This subject was momentarily confused and will never dare do it again."

Zhang Jinyan still had some backbone. Knowing he could expect no good outcome, he simply burst out cursing: "Zhu Cilang, you brat, death is at hand and you still dare to be so arrogant. Just wait until the Roving King's great army breaks through the city…"

"Gag him! Bind them!" Zhu Cilang slashed his hand down. "Escort them all to the Meridian Gate and behead them!"

At the mention of beheading, the seized civil officials and their household retainers all began to wail. Cries for mercy and sounds of loud weeping rose wave after wave. The onlookers lining both sides of the street were also terrified, and scattered in a rush. No one dared sing the songs welcoming the Roving King anymore… Fleeing for their lives came first!

…

The Meridian Gate was very close to the street outside Zhengyang Gate where the rebels Zhang Jinyan, Xiang Yu, and the others had been arrested. Entering Zhengyang Gate and walking a short distance brought one to the Great Ming Gate. From the Great Ming Gate a long avenue led to Chengtian Gate. On both sides of the long avenue were government offices. On the east side were the Six Ministries, the Imperial Clan Court, the Hanlin Academy, and the like. On the right side were the Five Chief Military Commissions, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Office of Transmission, and so on. Most of the Great Ming's capital officials served in these offices, and the Tiananmen Square of later ages was also in this area. Chengtian Gate was the later Tiananmen!

Passing through Tiananmen, there was another broad walkway, flanked by the Altar of Earth and Grain and the Imperial Ancestral Temple. At the end of the walkway was the legendary Meridian Gate.

The so-called "escorted out through the Meridian Gate to be beheaded" was roughly in this area — beheading at the gate of the Imperial Ancestral Temple? In real history, no such thing existed. Beijing had designated places for executions: in the Ming dynasty it was at the Dongsi Archways, and in the Qing dynasty it was moved to Caishikou.

At the Meridian Gate, people were ordinarily not killed, but today was an exception!

(End of Chapter)