Chapter 771: Dong'e Is Dead, and We Shall Marry Another

Emperor Zhu's solution was ready-made: have Princess Dong'e fake her death ahead of time!

Because Princess Dong'e was nominally the Shunzhi Emperor's elder sister and the daughter of the Empress Dowager Bumbutai. Once she died, Emperor Zhu would have to send someone to report the death to Shunzhi and Bumbutai — the Great Ming was a land of rites and propriety, and basic courtesies had to be observed. Never mind that the two countries had not yet gone to war; even if fighting had broken out, the death still had to be reported.

And this matter had nothing to do with Ajige — it wasn't his daughter who had died. So Emperor Zhu's people could legitimately bypass Ajige, the Prince Regent, and hold secret talks with Shunzhi.

Moreover, Emperor Zhu's marriage to Princess Dong'e was a union between two states. Once Dong'e died, the marriage tie was severed, and to maintain the friendship between the two countries, it was only natural to take another princess as consort.

With that pretext, Emperor Zhu could slowly negotiate with the Shunzhi Emperor. Only by keeping contact between the two sides could schemes be worked!

After attending the joint council of the two governments, Zhu Cilang went straight to the small courtyard where Princess Dong'e lived. The little girl was still there, tears pattering down! Her Joseon birth mother had long since passed away, and now her father was gone too. She was a lonely orphan, and it was truly pitiful to see.

Zhu Cilang had his younger sister, Princess Zhaoren, come into the palace to keep her company. Princess Zhaoren was the same age as Princess Dong'e, and they had been classmates at the Jinling Girls' School. Both were top students of excellent character and scholarship, and the two girls had been very close at school. So when Zhu Cilang arrived, Princess Zhaoren was there crying along with Princess Dong'e.

And Emperor Zhu, of course, had to put away his smile and make an effort to put on a suitably grave expression.

"This humble consort greets His Majesty."

"Greetings, Imperial Brother."

When the two young girls saw Emperor Zhu arrive, they hurriedly rose and performed the blessing curtsey.

"Sit, both of you." Zhu Cilang waved his hand, letting the two girls take their seats, and found a chair for himself as well.

"Dong'e," Zhu Cilang weighed his words, "do you know why your father married you to Us?"

"I know a little." Dong'e nodded. "My Ama had no sons, and I have no brothers to rely on. Ama's health was also poor, and if he passed away, I feared I would be bullied."

"Indeed," Zhu Cilang nodded. "While the Prince Regent lived, he held the Son of Heaven hostage, slept with the Empress Dowager, and styled himself Imperial Father. Among treacherous heroes since ancient times, none surpassed him. Had he a son to inherit his authority, it would have been no great matter for him to do as Emperor Wen of Wei or Emperor Wu of Jin did. But as it happened, he had only you, a daughter. Once he kicked up his heels, he naturally had no fear of his enemies pursuing him to the Nine Springs below. But you remained in the world of the living, and if you ever fell into the hands of his political enemies, no good end awaited you. That is why the Prince Regent entrusted you to Us. We and the Prince Regent were enemies, but you are Our wife and consort, and We will of course protect your safety, wealth, and honor.

But you must also obey Us, is that not so?"

Dong'e nodded repeatedly. "This slave will obey Your Majesty in all things."

Dong'e was clever and sensible, and understood her situation perfectly. Her only support now was Zhu Cilang!

Zhu Cilang paused. "What if We asked you to fake your death?"

"Fake my death?" Dong'e was startled.

Zhu Cilang said, "If you do not fake your death and withdraw from the world, you will have to return home for the mourning. Shunzhi hates the Prince Regent to the marrow of his bones, and Ajige and Dodo are at each other's throats — a slaughter is imminent. Our Great Ming will naturally not let slip the chance to march north, and when that happens, I fear you and I will never see each other again. Moreover, the Prince Regent once dug up the Kong family cemetery, and the scholars of our Great Ming all hate him to the bone. We have thought it over, and the only way is to have you fake your death to escape disaster. From now on, how about you stay with Us under the name Dongzhu?"

Princess Dong'e understood Emperor Zhu's meaning and nodded obediently: "This slave obeys Your Majesty. From now on there will be no more Princess Dong'e in the world, only the commoner woman Jin Dongzhu."

How obedient she was!

Zhu Cilang looked at Jin Dongzhu with tender pity. "Dongzhu, do not grieve too much. Take good care of yourself. The days ahead are long! Once your three years of mourning are complete, We will select you for entry into the palace, first as a Lady of Selected Service, and later gradually promote you to Imperial Noble Consort. But all your treatment will follow the standard of Imperial Noble Consort."

Jin Dongzhu quickly knelt before Emperor Zhu and voiced her thanks for the imperial grace.

Zhu Cilang then said to Zhaoren, "Little sister, keep Dongzhu good company these days. Treat her as your own sister. Do you understand?"

Princess Zhaoren nodded firmly. "Rest assured, Imperial Brother. Your sister understands."

After arranging Dong'e's fake death, Emperor Zhu returned to the bedchamber he shared with Wu Sanmei — Zheng Chagu had stayed in Nanjing awaiting childbirth and had not come to Wuhan.

In addition, another of Zhu Cilang's beloved consorts, Fei Zhen'e, was also pregnant and could not easily travel.

So Emperor Zhu had left Ning Xiangyu in Nanjing, charged with looking after Zheng Chagu and Fei Zhen'e. He had therefore brought only Wu Sanmei with him on the westward journey, and had kept her by his side all these days. In the end, perseverance paid off, and Sanmei had become pregnant again.

When Zhu Cilang returned, Wu Sanmei was sitting before a statue of the Child-Giving Guanyin. The statue had been sent into the palace by her brother Wu Sangui, and was said to have been consecrated by the senior monks of Famen Temple in Fengxiang Prefecture, making it especially efficacious.

Hearing Zhu Cilang's footsteps, Wu Sanmei quickly turned around and smiled at her husband. "Your Majesty, during my afternoon nap I dreamed that Guanyin brought me a son. It seems this child is certain to be a boy."

"That would be wonderful," Zhu Cilang said, walking over to Sanmei's side. He sat down cross-legged and reached out to stroke her gradually swelling belly. "Our Crown Prince is in there. The realm of Great Ming will be handed to him in the future!"

Wu Sanmei smiled so wide at these words that she could hardly close her mouth.

Zhu Cilang then said to her, "We have just come from Dong'e's place. We spoke with her about faking her death, so Princess Dong'e has now died of excessive grief. You are the Empress — see to the arrangements."

Wu Sanmei patted her chest. "Oh, leave it all to me."

Zhu Cilang nodded and raised his voice: "Dabao!"

Dabao was Huang Dabao, the seal-holding chief eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

The Directorate of Ceremonial had now become an errand-running institution. There was plenty of work, but no real power — Zhu Cilang simply did not rely on eunuchs to check the civil officials. There was no need for it, and it missed the point.

His methods were two: first, the northern military nobles kept watch over the southern gentry; second, he put an end to getting rich before holding office.

Promotion and wealth were not, in his view, the great problem. The real problem of the Ming was getting rich before holding office — that is, granting too many privileges to the scholars and the hereditary military officers of the guard stations, allowing them to seize too much economic benefit. Thus a single Ming juren was already rich beyond all reason — this was, in truth, gentry power overwhelming imperial power.

Therefore, after Zhu Cilang withdrew to the southeast with a great host of northern military nobles, he had step by step abolished all tax exemptions — not only could gentry fields not be exempted, but even imperial estates and merit-granted fields had to pay taxes in full. After paying, one could apply for a refund (the refund had to be applied for through the Ministry of Revenue, so it was all under Zhu Cilang's control). Under this institutional arrangement, the privileges of the Southern Ming gentry were completely lost. Although official corruption still existed (greedy officials could never all be caught), corrupt officials who could not get things done no longer had any room to exist.

Once the civil officials could get things done, the Emperor naturally had no need to elevate the eunuchs too highly.

But today, Zhu Cilang summoned Chief Steward Huang for something unprecedented — a great matter to be entrusted to him.

"Dabao, Princess Dong'e is dead!" Zhu Cilang said to the fat eunuch who came running over, panting. "It is fake, of course, but nominally she is dead! So we must send an envoy to the northern court to report the death. We intend for you to make the trip."

"Your Majesty, should this matter not fall to the Ministry of Rites?" Huang Dabao said in a low voice.

"Ordinarily it would fall to the Ministry of Rites," Zhu Cilang said, "but We have a secret mission for you to carry out. Reporting the death is only the cover."

"What secret?" Huang Dabao asked.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "Naturally, to deceive the Shunzhi Emperor and the Holy Mother Empress Dowager of the northern court."

"Your Majesty, this matter..." Huang Dabao looked nervous.

This sounded very dangerous! What if the eastern barbarians saw through it?

"Do not be afraid. With Us behind you, what have you to fear?" Zhu Cilang laughed. "This mission will not be dangerous. As long as you do exactly as We instruct, you are certain to return safely."

(End of Chapter)