Chapter 614: These Are Loyal Subjects and Filial Sons!

Outside Liaocheng, at the Jiangdi encampment where the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang had halted his progress, the camp now received Kong Youde, Prince Dingnan of the Great Qing and commander of one of the three Plain Green Banners!

Kong Youde lay on a door plank, carried in motionless by bearers, seemingly already dead, his breath gone.

"This man is Kong Youde? Is he thoroughly dead? How did he die?"

The one asking was the Great Emperor Zhu himself, who was now also a "double-king slayer," catching up to Li Dingguo. But last time he had only gotten the name, not the corpse. This time he did get to see a dead man, though this prince's attire was a bit strange—a full suit of green cotton armor, even his hat was green!

Zhu Cilang thought to himself: Does Wu Sangui wear a hat like this too? It doesn't look good on him!

"Reporting to Your Imperial Majesty, according to the confessions of Sun Zhixie and Kong Sixi, this man is indeed Kong Youde, and he has already expired! As for the cause of death, it should be a heavy blow to the back of the head from a blunt object combined with arsenic poisoning. There is a strong smell of alcohol at his mouth and nose; presumably he was first knocked unconscious by a blunt object, then force-fed arsenic-laced wine."

The one answering Zhu Cilang's question was his newly appointed chief of the guard, named Lu Renjia, originally a mounted guard of the Northern Provost Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He had not forgotten his old trade, so a brief examination was enough to determine Kong Youde's cause of death. Clearly, Kong Youde had been murdered!

As for the murderer—Lu Renjia turned his head, his gaze coldly fixed on Sun Zhixie and Kong Sixi. These two were highly suspect! The one who struck the sneak blow was probably Sun Zhixie, because Kong Sixi was powerfully built; if he had struck the blow, he would have killed the man outright!

Sun Zhixie and Kong Sixi felt their hair stand on end under his stare—what was this man's business? Had the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent him to solve the case?

Zhu Cilang was also caught between laughter and tears—this man surnamed Lu had originally been one of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's notable "famous detectives," and later, after following the dragon (that is, Zhu Cilang himself) and rendering meritorious service, he had risen step by step. Because his mind was especially meticulous, and he was skilled at identifying poisons and villains, he had become chief of the guard.

"Sun Zhixie, Kong Sixi, you two tell me—how did Kong Youde die?" Although Zhu Cilang already knew the truth, he still had to ask.

"In reply to Your Imperial Majesty, Kong Youde committed suicide!" Sun Zhixie glanced at the great detective Lu, then continued, "After the fall of Liaocheng's southern gate, he knew there was no way out, so he killed himself out of fear of punishment—first smashing the back of his own head with a brush washer, then drinking poisoned wine."

That must have been a difficult death! Taking a brush washer and smashing the back of one's own head—could he even reach it?

"Oh." Zhu Cilang nodded. "I never expected this traitor, who was disloyal and unrighteous in our Great Ming, would now die a martyr's death for the eastern barbarians!"

Beside him, Kong Sixi breathed a huge sigh of relief—it didn't matter much that Sun Zhixie had participated in murdering Kong Youde, but he himself could not be implicated. He was Kong Youde's adopted son; if he had taken part in killing Kong Youde, it would be patricide!

A crime among the Ten Abominations, utterly unpardonable!

And who didn't know that the present Son of Heaven of the Great Ming was a sovereign of supreme filial piety, the Emperor of Twenty-Five Filial Exemplars—could he tolerate a subject who had murdered his own father?

Now Zhu Cilang seemed to accept Sun Zhixie's account—this was wonderful! Kong Sixi thought to himself: Now I can become a thrice-serving official.

Zhu Cilang shifted his gaze to Sun Zhixie. "Sun Zhixie, do you wish to be a loyal subject, or a twice-serving subject?"

Sun Zhixie was taken aback. "Your Imperial Majesty, this subject—this subject is already a twice-serving subject."

"Already a twice-serving subject?" Zhu Cilang thought for a moment. "You are not. Were you not stripped of your rank and reduced to commoner status by Our Imperial Father? Since you were a commoner, going over to the eastern barbarians does not count as being a twice-serving subject!"

According to Zhu Cilang's reckoning, Sun Zhixie was at most a traitor to the Han, not a twice-serving subject.

Sun Zhixie thought it over carefully and still felt he was a twice-serving subject, so he said: "Your Imperial Majesty, this subject—when this subject was sent as an envoy to Jiangnan last time, he had already secretly pledged allegiance to the Great Ming. This subject is an inside agent of the Great Ming!"

What? You're an inside agent? Kong Sixi stared wide-eyed at Sun Zhixie.

"Right, right, We remember now," Zhu Cilang nodded. "You are indeed a twice-serving subject, and a good twice-serving subject—but the eastern barbarians don't know that yet! Sun Zhixie, how about you continue being a loyal subject of the eastern barbarians?"

How could it be continuing as a loyal subject of the eastern barbarians? Sun Zhixie thought: I have always been a loyal subject of the Great Ming.

At that thought, Sun Zhixie dropped to his knees with a thud before Zhu Cilang. "Your Imperial Majesty, this subject will not return to the eastern barbarians. This subject wishes to serve the Great Ming wholeheartedly!"

Zhu Cilang asked: "Ah? When you were lying low among the eastern barbarians, were you not wholeheartedly loyal to the Great Ming?"

"No, no, no, this subject—" Sun Zhixie waved his hands repeatedly.

Zhu Cilang smiled: "Sun Qing, you need not be nervous. We make this proposal because the present course of the war is hard to predict; perhaps Heaven does not intend to destroy the eastern barbarians after all! If that happens, we will need you to toil once more and return to continue as an inside agent!"

Sun Zhixie was now a grand inside agent—at Governor level! And he had also been enrolled in a banner, a man of the Plain Green Banner now, with great prospects ahead!

For such an inside agent to return without having accomplished anything would truly be a waste.

Zhu Cilang said to Sun Zhixie in an encouraging tone: "If the eastern barbarians do not fall this time, do your duty well as an inside agent, and in the future you will be a meritorious subject of the Great Ming!"

"This subject—this subject obeys the imperial decree!" Sun Zhixie responded, then with a mournful face added, "But—but this subject is already in the Ming camp."

"That is easily handled." Zhu Cilang smiled. "Rest well for now; there is a way to send you back."

Having made arrangements for Sun Zhixie, that loyal subject of the Great Qing, Zhu Cilang turned with a smile to Kong Sixi. "Kong Sixi, you are a filial son, are you not?"

"This subject—this subject is a filial son."

He had fed his own father poison, and still called himself a filial son.

Zhu Cilang smiled: "Good! We are also a filial son, and We value filial sons most of all. You shall rest together with Sun Zhixie, and when the opportunity comes, go together to serve as inside agents. How does that sound?"

A man of Zhu Cilang's station naturally could not plan only for victory and not for defeat. Although the northern campaign was going well at present, the Qing dynasty's vitality had not been damaged; Dorgon might well still have some trick to turn the tables.

So Zhu Cilang still had to keep planting mines within the Great Qing!

And Kong Youde had most likely been killed by the two of them together. With that bond between them, the two were now truly on the same side—each holding the other's leverage, going together as inside agents, together undermining the Great Qing's foundations. What a fine arrangement!

"Kong Youde is dead? Truly?"

Dorgon learned of Kong Youde's martyrdom and the fall of Liaocheng while leading his troops eastward on the march.

The one who reported these two pieces of news to him was the Bayara Banner Commander of the Plain White Banner, named Suksaha. After Duolong's death, he was the foremost warrior of the Plain White Banner.

After the battle of Liaocheng began, Dorgon had dispatched Suksaha with a squad of Plain White Banner Bayara soldiers to operate on the outskirts of Liaocheng and gather intelligence on the battle.

He had not expected Suksaha to return so quickly, and with such shocking news.

Liaocheng, which had seemed impregnable, had fallen on the very day the Ming army launched its assault!

Although the Plain Green Banner troops defending the city were not particularly strong in combat, and had endured days of bombardment that must have sapped their morale, such a rapid fall still far exceeded Dorgon's expectations.

So he began to harbor doubts about Kong Youde's death—perhaps Kong Youde, fearing death, had surrendered the city?

But Kong Youde was one of the most notorious great criminals in the eyes of the Southern Ming! Would he dare surrender to them? Was he truly unafraid of death by a thousand cuts?

"Imperial Ama," Suksaha said, "there is no mistake. This slave questioned the families of several Plain Green Banner soldiers who fled Liaocheng, and they all said the same. Kong Youde is indeed gone—he killed himself. His adopted son Kong Sixi carried his body out of the princely residence and begged the Southern Ming emperor for a coffin to bury his adopted father."

"In addition, the Governor of Shandong, Sun Zhixie, was also captured. He, Kong Youde, and Kong Sixi held out together in the princely residence until the very end."

Dorgon nodded. "Kong Sixi is a filial son after all, and Sun Zhixie has done right by the Great Qing. Their families need not be mistreated; send them to Shengjing to be settled."

Men like Sun Zhixie and Kong Sixi naturally could not keep their families by their side; all had to remain in Beijing. If the two of them surrendered to the Southern Ming, then their families would be sent to Ningguta. If they died as martyrs, their families would remain in Beijing and be generously provided for by the Qing court.

In the present circumstances, the families would first be sent to Shengjing, and then they would see how Sun Zhixie and Kong Sixi conducted themselves.

(End of Chapter)