Chapter 61: You Are All Loyal Subjects, Every One of You!

Zhu Cilang had neither taken the throne nor assumed the regency; he had merely had the four Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat append their draft endorsements to the palace directive the Chongzhen Emperor had issued a few days earlier... but everyone outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy understood one fact clearly: a palace coup had already occurred!

The most powerful man in the Great Ming was no longer the Chongzhen Emperor, but the Army-Pacifying Crown Prince, Zhu Cilang!

In truth, the title of Army-Pacifying Prince differed little from that of Regent, and it sounded less jarring, so Zhu Cilang could not be bothered to change it.

Even as the four Grand Secretaries were drafting the edict, Zhu Cilang casually issued several more princely decrees.

The first decree ordered Wang Cheng'en to move the "unconscious" Chongzhen Emperor to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, where Empress Zhou would attend to him.

The second decree ordered the Eastern Palace Guard Battalion to take over the defense of the Gate of Imperial Supremacy, the Meridian Gate, the Gate of Heavenly Succession, and the Great Ming Gate.

The third decree ordered Zhu Chunjie to lead troops to seize control of the Ministry of Revenue's New Imperial Granary, then open the granaries and distribute all the stored grain to the common people of the capital's inner city.

The fourth decree commanded the Eastern Palace study companion eunuch Qiu Zhizhong to assume the post of Superintendent Eunuch of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses and take command of the Purified Army at the Southern Park — not empty-handed, of course, but with fifty thousand taels of silver to bestow rewards on every man of the Purified Army, high and low. At the same time, Wu Sanfu was dispatched with cavalry to protect Qiu Zhizhong as he took up his post!

The fifth decree promoted the Eastern Palace study companion eunuch Huang Dabao into the Directorate of Ceremonial as a brush-holder and Superintendent of the Eastern Depot!

The sixth decree promoted Luo Yangxing's younger brother Luo Xiushen to command the Northern Provost Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, while Ren Yizhou, who had earlier defected outside the Meridian Gate, was concurrently appointed, in his capacity as an Eastern Palace guard, as Supervising Chiliarch of the Northern Provost Office.

The seventh decree ordered Luo Xiushen, commander of the Northern Provost Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, together with his own attendant secretary Bi Jiucheng, to go at once and release all the convicted officials held in the Imperial Prison — how could there be so many convicted officials? They were all wronged loyal subjects! Now the Crown Prince would see justice done for them; all were to be fully rehabilitated, and from now on they could follow the Crown Prince!

With these seven decrees issued, Zhu Cilang had stripped the Chongzhen Emperor of what little power he still held in the capital, reducing Chongzhen, for the time being, to an emperor without a single soldier.

"Your Highness, the draft edict is complete; please review it." Wei Zaode had by now transformed the palace directive the Chongzhen Emperor had issued to Zhu Cilang into a fully processed imperial edict.

"Good!" Zhu Cilang looked over the draft edict, nodded, and said with a smile, "We are now the Army-Pacifying Prince in name as well as in fact... Since We are Army-Pacifying Prince and also command the military affairs of both the Northern and Southern Metropolitan Regions, should there not be a dedicated government office?"

The "Metropolitan Region" in the Chongzhen Emperor's commission of "Governor-General of Metropolitan Military Affairs" in fact referred only to the Northern Metropolitan Region, not the Southern Metropolitan Region.

But the final authority to interpret this edict now rested with Zhu Cilang! So this "Metropolitan Region" came to include both the Northern and Southern Metropolitan Regions.

Moreover, the Ming dynasty had no such institution as an Army-Pacifying Office or Army-Pacifying Bureau, so Zhu Cilang's commission as Army-Pacifying Prince was somewhat nominal.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang now needed to establish an Army-Pacifying institution, and through this institution direct the armies.

Of course, at present he had no real army in hand, but in the future there would surely be many armies. Hence it was necessary to begin building an efficient and professional command and staff organization; letting a pack of civil officials blunder about in command would not do.

"May I ask what sort of office Your Highness desires?" Wei Zaode asked.

"Establish a Grand Marshal's Office of the Army-Pacifying Prince?" Zhu Cilang said thoughtfully. "The Exalted Emperor, founder of the dynasty, once established the Grand Marshal's Office of the Commanding Army to control all military affairs within and without, later changed to the Privy Council, then to the Chief Military Commission, and finally to the Five Chief Military Commissions. Now that We go forth as Army-Pacifying Prince, We ought to command the Five Chief Military Commissions. Since the five commissions all come under Us, they should naturally be unified. Why not merge the Five Chief Military Commissions into the Grand Marshal's Office of the Army-Pacifying Prince!"

"Then what of the Ministry of War..." Wei Zaode asked in a low voice.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "The Ministry of War must of course remain, but the authority to command troops, deploy troops, train troops, and select generals should be concentrated in the Grand Marshal's Office of the Army-Pacifying Prince."

In other words, the Grand Marshal's Office of the Army-Pacifying Prince would not only replace the Five Chief Military Commissions, which had long since lost any real power, but would also seize the substantive authority of the Ministry of War, leaving the Ministry of War thoroughly hollowed out.

Wei Zaode asked again, "Then how should the edict establishing the Grand Marshal's Office of the Army-Pacifying Prince be promulgated?"

"The Grand Secretariat shall draft it, and We shall approve it in red in Our capacity as Army-Pacifying Prince!" Zhu Cilang thought for a moment, then added, "Until the Imperial Father awakens and the imperial procession reaches Dagu, all affairs within and without shall for the time being be decided by Us!"

He sighed. "After We reach the auxiliary capital, We shall go before the Imperial Father and before the Exalted Emperor buried in the Filial Mausoleum to beg forgiveness... The crime of losing Beijing and half the realm, We shall bear alone, and shall never shift the blame onto you loyal subjects of the Great Ming! And the merit of escorting His Majesty south and preserving half the Great Ming realm belongs to all of you. Thus all of you shall be the meritorious officials who overcame adversity for our Great Ming!"

Hearing this declaration from Zhu Cilang, the officials present all sighed inwardly.

The Crown Prince really knew how to handle things! He would not let everyone else take the blame, and he heaped praise on them all, calling this one a meritorious official and that one a meritorious official, until they were almost embarrassed.

At that moment, the Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode very tactfully stepped forward, knelt to the ground, and declared in a loud voice, "This subject is willing to share the burden with Your Highness, and to advance or retreat together!"

"Good, good!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "Grand Secretary Wei is indeed a loyal subject and a pillar of the state!"

"This subject too is willing to share the burden with Your Highness!"

"This subject is willing to share the responsibility with Your Highness..."

"We subjects are willing..."

Once Wei Zaode took the lead, the court officials outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy naturally followed one after another, all willing to share the blame with Zhu Cilang — and this blame was a fine blame indeed. If everyone shared it together, it marked them as the Crown Prince's men. If anyone dared not share it, heh heh...

In truth, sharing blame was nothing to fear; what was to be feared was having one's head cut off! Dismissal from office and investigation was one thing — after a couple of years one could be restored to office. But who could endure execution?

Although Zhu Cilang could be ruthless when it came to taking heads, he was even more resolute when it came to protecting his own. The matter of "seizing Wu Sanmei" had already made the court officials see clearly... this young master was not like his father; he would not use the heads of his subordinates to absolve himself of responsibility.

In truth, the Chongzhen Emperor was also muddled. As emperor, what did he have to fear from blame? So long as he held supreme power, who could punish him? And if his power was gone, whether he was blamed or not made no difference. If he feared that the history books would speak ill of him, he could simply write them himself... So long as he could defeat the roving bandits and the caitiff wretches, the history books could be written however he pleased.

"Good, good, good!" Zhu Cilang again praised them repeatedly. "The Imperial Father said you court officials all deserved execution, but in Our view you are all loyal subjects! Every one of you is a pillar of our Great Ming!"

Words of praise cost nothing, so Zhu Cilang had no reason to be stingy with them.

And indeed, his demands on his officials were not high. A pack of feudal scholar-officials who had risen through the Four Books and Five Classics — what more could you expect of them? It was enough if they could serve as rubber stamps.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang would not dismiss any of the four Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat; all of them would be packed up and taken along. There was also a Supreme Commander out in the field, Li Jiantai, who, if he could be found, would continue as a rubber-stamp Grand Secretary. And there was also a former Chief Grand Secretary, Chen Yan, already dismissed and under investigation, who must also be brought along. If Li Jiantai was lost, Chen Yan could return to serve as a rubber-stamp Grand Secretary again.

Only with these rubber-stamp Grand Secretaries in tow would the exile court controlled by Zhu Cilang look the part!

Moreover, these court officials who had followed Zhu Cilang out of Beijing were all participants in today's palace coup, and had all been branded with the label of the Crown Prince's faction!

Yet even within the Crown Prince's faction, there were degrees of closeness and distance. Here at the Gate of Imperial Supremacy, there were three fellows who could not be fully relied upon.

Zhu Cilang, now holding supreme power, took a deep breath and swept his gaze over the officials outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy. "Today's morning audience shall end here. Except for Luo Yangxing and Guang Shiheng, the rest of you may return and pack up. Gather as many carts and horses as possible, hire as many laborers as you can, and tonight bring your families and baggage to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Altar of Land and Grain to assemble."

With these words, the morning audience of the nineteenth day of the third month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen was adjourned. The great majority of the Great Ming's loyal subjects trotted off to pack their belongings and prepare to flee. Of course, quite a few would also stay behind in hiding to await Li Zicheng's arrival...

And the two loyal subjects singled out by Zhu Cilang, Luo Yangxing and Guang Shiheng, stood before the Gate of Imperial Supremacy with grim expressions.

(End of Chapter)