Chapter 6: Battlefield Flight Professionals (I Beg for Favorites and Recommendations, Professional)

Wang Cheng'en was a good man. Not only did he possess an unyielding will despite his physical impairment, striving all the way up to a position among the nation's leaders, he was also utterly loyal to his superior, the Chongzhen Emperor. Though great power rested in his hands, he remained incorruptible and was basically an honest official — truth be told, he might as well have skimmed a bit more on the side. If his family had a few million tucked away, it could have been used to save lives right now!

But Wang Cheng'en was certainly no qualified grand eunuch! He was no Wei Zhongxian.

In Feng Menglong's *Yandu Diary*, it is recorded that in the third month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Chongzhen Emperor secretly ordered Cao Huachun to collect and bury Wei Zhongxian's remains. This matter did not exist in Zhu Cilang's memory, nor did he believe the Chongzhen Emperor would miss Wei Zhongxian — if he had such thoughts, he would not have hanged himself at Coal Hill. It was rather Zhu Cilang himself who somewhat missed Wei Zhongxian... To be a grand eunuch, one still needed a bit of cunning!

Someone as honest as Wang Cheng'en truly should not have had his balls cut off with one stroke!

Watching Wang Cheng'en's loyal, honest, simple appearance, Zhu Cilang grew anxious... Please, just be crafty for once!

"Companion Wang! The situation is urgent! The Exalted Founder Emperor himself sent a dream — what are you still hesitating for? The Roving Bandit will arrive tomorrow. If we do not have a reliable force in our hands by then, what will we rely on to escort His Majesty and break through? You are the eunuch Imperial Father trusts most — a loyal subject! We are the Crown Prince — a filial son... Is preparing to escort His Majesty and break out not precisely the duty of loyal subjects and filial sons like us?"

As Zhu Cilang spoke, he walked behind the writing desk, picked up paper and brush, and began writing a Crown Prince decree. Once the brush moved, Zhu Cilang discovered that his calligraphy had greatly improved! A quite decent hand of Dong-style regular script, clearly the result of hard practice. His literary talent, however, had not improved much — he could not compose parallel prose, so he went straight into plain vernacular. He merely added the eight characters "By Heaven's Mandate, the Crown Prince Decrees" at the beginning. After finishing, he affixed the Crown Prince's treasure seal.

"Companion Wang, receive the decree!"

Wang Cheng'en hurriedly performed a bow and received the decree Zhu Cilang had written with both hands. He read it over once and thought: The Crown Prince truly has a sense of responsibility! To dare issue such a decree... This is privately mobilizing troops! If His Majesty had such decisiveness and responsibility, how could state affairs have come to this?

At that thought, Wang Cheng'en crumpled the decree into a ball, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it.

"Companion Wang, what are you..." Zhu Cilang watched, his heart leaping into his throat.

"Thousand Years, rest assured, this old slave will certainly do as you command!" Wang Cheng'en hastily explained. "But this responsibility, this old slave will bear! This old slave commands the inner and outer military camps and superintends the Nine Gates as eunuch, and thus has the authority to transfer troops into the inner drill ground for training. Thousand Years is, after all, the Crown Prince — though it is out of filial devotion, it is ultimately improper."

Thank goodness...

Zhu Cilang let out a long breath.

In truth, he was not at all worried about being deposed by the Chongzhen Emperor for privately mobilizing troops!

Setting aside that Chongzhen's days as emperor were numbered, even if he could continue, he would have no chance to depose him... As long as he could escape, Chongzhen would never again have the opportunity to change the Crown Prince.

Seeing Wang Cheng'en about to turn and leave, Zhu Cilang suddenly thought of something and quickly called out: "Companion Wang, wait a moment."

"Thousand Years, what other instructions do you have?"

"Is Wu Xiang under your command?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"One could say so. He also holds the title of Superintendent of the Capital Camps." Wang Cheng'en said, "This old slave is ordered to command the inner and outer military camps and superintend the Nine Gates, so I can indeed manage him."

"Transfer him to the inner drill ground as well!" Zhu Cilang ordered at once.

"Transfer Wu Xiang to the inner drill ground? Does Thousand Years wish him to protect you and His Majesty?"

Zhu Cilang said: "Companion Wang, apart from Wu Xiang, who else in the capital do you think can organize over a thousand hastily assembled rabble into ranks and use them to escort Imperial Father, Imperial Mother, and Us to Tianjin Garrison?

Wu Xiang entered the capital in the second month, and he came with his entire household. With the roads in chaos from war, would he not have had several dozen household retainers for protection? The Wu family's household retainers have all fought hard battles against the eastern barbarians in Liaodong!"

"So that is how it is!" Wang Cheng'en suddenly understood. The men he could assemble were all rabble. If they could perhaps escort the emperor in flight before the Roving Bandit's great army surrounded the city, then fine. But once the great army laid siege, these men would very likely scatter in a panic, so they had to be disciplined and held in check by Wu Xiang's household retainers.

Wu Xiang had, after all, seen great battles! He had some military command ability. Having him lead the troops was surely better than Wang Cheng'en leading them himself, was it not?

Moreover, when Wu Xiang and his son Wu Sangui fought the Qing troops in Liaodong, they had done no small amount of fleeing! To escape with their lives from the ferocious Qing troops and still preserve some strength showed they were quite experienced at running away. They were veteran professionals of battlefield flight!

Zhu Cilang added: "And once we are out of the city, we must find ways to win over Wu Sangui! If we can summon his forty thousand elite troops to Tianjin and have them march south with us, the southern half of Jiangnan will be secure."

He spoke only half his mind. The other half was that if Wu Sangui refused to follow and instead went over to the Manchus, holding his father would at least serve as some restraint.

Wang Cheng'en understood Zhu Cilang's meaning, and inwardly his admiration for this Thousand Years grew a few degrees.

Though Thousand Years was young, his mind was meticulous, he was courageous in taking responsibility, and he was a son of utmost filial piety... The burden of the Ming's restoration would likely fall upon his shoulders!

"Thousand Years, this old slave understands. This old slave will go now to gather men. Tomorrow morning, this old slave will personally go to Wu Xiang's residence and drag him to the inner drill ground."

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Good. Tomorrow We shall go to the inner drill ground and wait for him."

Wang Cheng'en again felt this was improper and was about to remonstrate, but Zhu Cilang spoke first: "Companion Wang, these are extraordinary times. We can no longer cling to old rules."

"This old slave understands."

Only then did Wang Cheng'en bow and turn to leave.

Watching Wang Cheng'en depart, Zhu Cilang felt not the slightest trace of drowsiness. Instead, he paced back and forth in the great hall, calculating his future.

The situation was too critical. Today was already the fifteenth day of the third month in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen... If he remembered correctly, on the sixteenth Li Zicheng's great army would reach Changping, and on the seventeenth they would be beneath the city walls!

So he had no time even to shed tears over his tragic circumstances (soul transmigration) — he had to throw himself wholeheartedly into crisis response.

That said, Zhu Cilang's body was not bad at all. At only sixteen, he was already very tall, with fair skin. Judging from the bronze mirror, his features were handsome and spirited, his eyebrows thick, carrying a certain authority.

Furthermore, Zhu Cilang felt his energy was vigorous! Staying up late at night, he felt not a trace of fatigue — a feeling he had not had in many years!

And Zhu Cilang's brain seemed highly developed as well, with excellent memory and very agile thinking.

Then he should put this fine brain to good use and think over what urgent matters needed to be handled immediately.

After pacing for a while, Zhu Cilang suddenly stopped and shouted: "Huang Dabao, Qiu Zhizhong, which of you is there?"

"Thousand Years, this slave is Huang Dabao." The chubby companion-study eunuch Huang Dabao came in, yawning.

"Go fetch blank decree books."

"Yes."

Huang Dabao answered and turned to leave. Zhu Cilang added: "Bring a thousand first!"

"A thousand?" Huang Dabao was startled.

"Are there that many?" Zhu Cilang asked. "If not, memorial books, memorial forms, and posted notices will do. Just make up a thousand first."

"Thousand Years, what do you need so many books for?" Huang Dabao was somewhat puzzled.

"Writing IOUs," Zhu Cilang answered offhandedly.

"IOUs?" Huang Dabao was utterly baffled, staring blankly at Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang could not be bothered to explain. "Never mind that. Also summon Physician Zeng and the attendant scribe Bi Jiucheng to Us."

"Thousand Years, are you feeling unwell somewhere?" Huang Dabao asked hastily upon hearing the Crown Prince wanted to see the imperial physician.

"Mm," Zhu Cilang said. "My body is somewhat indisposed, so I will not attend lessons tomorrow or the day after."

Huang Dabao looked at Zhu Cilang's vigorous, energetic appearance — where was the slightest sign of illness? This was clearly skipping class!

The fat eunuch thought to himself: What has gotten into Thousand Years? Has he gained enlightenment after that long sleep? He can even fake illness to skip lessons now? And just now he talked with Eunuch-Director Wang for half the night, and when the Director left, he was brimming with energy... Could Thousand Years truly have seen the Exalted Founder Emperor in his dream? Had the Exalted Founder Emperor pointed out a path of survival for the Great Ming?

(End of Chapter)