Chapter 569: Chongzhen Was Willing

After more than two years of intense construction, by the time the nineteenth year of Chongzhen drew near its end, the imperial palace in Nanjing was at last completely renewed, restored to the celestial dignity of former days. And beyond the grandeur and splendor befitting a house of emperors, this dwelling of the Son of Heaven — covering more than fifteen hundred mu and rightly called the largest palace in all the world — had also gained a measure of elegance and comfort "moved" there from the many famous gardens of Jinling along the Qinhuai River.

The rebuilt Nanjing imperial palace was divided by the Qianqing Gate into two parts: the "Front Halls" and the "Rear Palace." The Front Halls included the three great halls of Fengtian, Huagai, and Jinshen, as well as the Wenhua, Wuying, and Fengxian halls. To save cost and time on the repairs — and also because the southwestern regions were still in a state of war and chaos while the palace was being restored, making it difficult to procure great timbers — efforts were concentrated solely on repairing the Fengtian Gate and the Fengtian Hall.

This one gate and one hall were the face of the Front Halls, and the place where the Emperor held court and conducted affairs of state. To make the Fengtian Gate and Fengtian Hall imposing and magnificent, Zhu Cilang even ordered men to use the fine timber obtained from demolishing the Huagai and Jinshen halls (both of these great halls were half-ruined and had to be torn down and rebuilt).

As for the Huagai, Jinshen, Wuying, Wenhua, and Fengxian halls, these were repaired rather carelessly — it was enough that they looked passable on the outside.

And to the north of the Jinshen Hall and the Fengxian Hall (these two great halls stood roughly parallel to each other), there stood a Qianqing Gate and a high wall that split the Forbidden City of the imperial palace in two.

North of the Qianqing Gate and the high wall lay the Rear Palace, where Zhu Cilang would reside after ascending the throne and proclaiming himself Emperor. Compared with the carelessness of the "Front Halls," Zhu Cilang had put considerable thought into the construction of the Rear Palace of the Forbidden City. After all, once he was enthroned, the Rear Palace would be his true "little home" — how could he not make it comfortable?

But putting considerable thought into it did not mean spending a great deal of silver!

Zhu Cilang did not hand the restoration and rebuilding of the Forbidden City over to the Ministry of Works or to the palace eunuchs. Instead, he contracted it directly to merchants who specialized in building gardens for eminent and wealthy households, instructing them to build his Rear Palace according to the standards of the West Garden and the Dagong Workshop.

According to Zhu Cilang's instructions, the Rear Palace of the Forbidden City was divided into four parts: Qianqing Palace, Kunning Palace, Rouyi Palace, and Chunhe Palace.

Of these, Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace belonged respectively to the Emperor and Empress, and were relatively solemn. The Rouyi and Chunhe palaces, however, were the residences of the consorts and concubines, built entirely in the manner of the great mansion gardens of Nanjing — pavilions and terraces and towers, little bridges over pond waters, artificial mountains and curious rocks, flowers, grasses, trees — everything one could wish for, made as elegant and comfortable as possible.

Although the work was rushed and many details remained unfinished, on the whole it was satisfactory, and the cost was within the range His Highness the Crown Prince could accept — the palace restoration was a project Zhu Cilang personally oversaw, so swindling silver out of him was no easy matter!

On the fifteenth day of the first month of the twentieth year of Chongzhen, the renewed Forbidden City of Nanjing welcomed a grand court assembly of extraordinary significance.

Three cracks of the ceremonial whip; incense smoke coiled and drifted.

The resplendent Fengtian Hall — who knew how many days it had been since it had hosted so solemn a court assembly!

According to the rules Zhu Cilang had set, ordinary court sessions were simply joint meetings of the two offices before the throne, and need not be held in Fengtian Hall — holding them in Wenhua Hall or Wuying Hall was sufficient, since not many ministers attended anyway. Nor were they held at the crack of dawn; usually a meeting was held in the morning and ended before lunch, after which some officials went off to find their own food, while others stayed to eat lunch with the Crown Prince.

As for the grand court assemblies, they were supposed to be held on the first and fifteenth of each month, but Zhu Cilang had not been in Nanjing much during this period — if he was not out fighting a war, he was out begging for provisions. And the Chongzhen Emperor was a "sickly fellow": when his son was present he would "tag along to court," but when his son was away, he could only nurse his health while drawing bows, tossing stone locks, rowing boats, and living the dissolute life of an emperor.

So the great court assembly at Fengtian Hall (Fengtian Gate) had scarcely been held at all throughout the nineteenth year of Chongzhen — yet today, of all days, a great assembly with all the officials gathered was to be held. Before dawn, outside the Meridian Gate, sedan chairs and carriages stretched in strings, white lanterns dotted here and there, leading the neatly dressed ministers in file after file on foot through the Meridian Gate and on toward Fengtian Hall.

The weather in Nanjing during the first month was still very cold — the kind of bone-piercing, clammy chill. So the court assembly was not held outside the Fengtian Gate, but moved into the comparatively warmer interior of Fengtian Hall.

Inside the vast Fengtian Hall, a great many candles as thick as a man's arm had been lit, and many braziers had been set out, all burning. Yet because the hall was so enormous and drafty in every direction, it was still dim and cold. Fortunately, most of the officials Zhu Cilang employed were robust and hardy — dressed warmly, they could withstand even the cold!

And everyone's hearts were warm.

Today's grand assembly might well be the Chongzhen Emperor's last grand assembly — any occasion more solemn than this would be Zhu Cilang's enthronement ceremony!

At the very thought that His Highness the Crown Prince could finally ascend the throne, and that the Chongzhen Emperor could finally begin his retirement as he had long wished, the ministers in the hall felt their hearts blaze with fervor!

Whether they were meritorious officials who had followed Zhu Cilang through hardship, or regional lords who had come to court to pay homage, all had now united in one opinion: they firmly demanded that Zhu Cilang become Emperor!

This was, of course, something everyone firmly demanded — since ancient times, those who accepted abdication of the throne were always forced into it. Had others not wept and pleaded and begged, who would wish to become Emperor in such a fashion? In any case, Zhu Cilang was unwilling, and so upon learning that everyone intended to "force the palace" today, he had hidden himself away in Wenhua Hall (he had not yet moved into the Rear Palace) and refused to come out.

At the same time, the other protagonist of today's grand assembly, the Chongzhen Emperor, had also failed to appear for a long while!

So the scene had become somewhat awkward!

Within the vast Fengtian Hall, the assembled ministers had all prepared their memorials urging accession. Yet upon the throne, there was nothing but emptiness.

The Emperor who firmly demanded to abdicate had not come!

The Crown Prince who firmly refused to take over had not come either!

The ministers in the hall looked at one another, none knowing what to say. Could it be that they would all have to go to Wuying Hall to "force the palace"?

That would not do. The throne still had to be yielded by Chongzhen himself!

If they all went to force it, that would be "usurpation" — and it would be best not to set such a precedent if it could be avoided. Otherwise, once His Highness the Crown Prince had sons of his own and grew old, would he not have to guard day and night against his sons seizing power?

They were all great and loyal subjects — how could they fail to understand this principle?

The Great Ming of today truly abounded in loyal subjects! So many that the whole of Fengtian Hall could not contain them, and quite a few loyal subjects had to stand outside in the cold.

"Your Majesty, it is now the twentieth year of Chongzhen. You ascended the throne in the eighth month of the seventh year of Tianqi — by this year it has been nearly twenty years. Have you not yet had your fill of being Emperor?"

"My Lord, this consort entered the Prince of Xin's household in the Tianqi years and has followed you for more than twenty years. To tell the truth, it is only in these past few years, with the Crown Prince overseeing the army, that you have been able to spend silver freely and live like a true lord!"

"Indeed, the Crown Prince is filial. He built you the Xuanhu and Wenquan palaces, gave you the West Garden as a detached palace, and every year grants you one million taels of gold-flower silver."

Inside Wuying Hall, Empress Zhou, Noble Consort Wei (Wei Qinghui), and Noble Consort Wu (Wu Wanrong) were together urging the Chongzhen Emperor.

Chongzhen sat on the edge of the bed, not dressed in court robes but only in his sleeping clothes, hair loose, eyes red, saying not a word.

He was only thirty-six years old! And now he was about to become the Retired Emperor.

Just thinking about it made him unhappy!

But there was no choice but to yield. The Crown Prince had already done everything humanly possible: he had prepared three palaces for his father's retirement, selected a hundred beauties at a single go, given him a million taels of gold-flower silver every year to squander, and even rounded Chongzhen's reign off to a nice whole number — twenty years of Chongzhen!

These were all toasts of respect. To refuse a toast of respect was to invite the penalty cup!

Had there ever been few emperors in the history of the Great Ming who died under unclear circumstances? To refuse the position of Retired Emperor and end up as a "deceased emperor" instead would be a terrible loss.

At the thought of "deceased emperors," the Chongzhen Emperor let out a long sigh: "In ancient times there were those who became Retired Emperor at twenty (Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei, Tuoba Hong). We are already thirty-six, and have been Son of Heaven for twenty years — what is there left to be dissatisfied about? It is time to let the Crown Prince take over. We shall see whether he can restore a bright and clear world to the Great Ming!"

(End of Chapter)