Chapter 87: Chapter 87

We have finally escaped that unfilial son's clutches!

As the carriage passed through the west gate of Tianjin Garrison, the Chongzhen Emperor truly breathed a great sigh of relief. From the incident at the Gate of Imperial Supremacy until just now, his old life had been held in the palm of his son's hand! At any moment he might have died of food poisoning!

So these past few days, he truly could not eat and could not sleep soundly. The food that Wu Xiang and Huang Dabao had sent in, he did not dare touch at all. But man is iron and rice is steel; skipping one meal will not starve a man, but going several days without eating is unbearable. So the Chongzhen Emperor had no choice but to ask Empress Zhou for something to eat.

When the food was brought, he always put on the look of a man so burdened by concern for the state and the people that he had lost his appetite, and let Empress Zhou eat alone. Once Empress Zhou had eaten her fill and showed no sign of food poisoning, he would eat the leftovers... An emperor, for fear of being poisoned, eating his empress's leftovers, and even dressing it up with fine words: in this time of national crisis, he personally practiced frugality. It truly was not easy!

But now all was well. The men protecting him on the road into Tianjin Garrison were no longer the seven battalions of troops controlled by the Crown Prince, but the forces of the loyal subject Cao Youyi and the good eunuch Cao Huachun. Though they numbered only three thousand, that was enough for Chongzhen to protect himself.

Moreover, the Tianjin garrison army and the Tianjin governor's escort battalion had another four thousand crack troops! Cao Huachun also had fifteen hundred local braves outside the city escorting the commoners and family dependents who had followed all the way from Wangqingtuo.

In other words, the Chongzhen Emperor reckoned he could command as many as eighty-five hundred troops, more than the seven thousand under the Crown Prince. He had the numerical advantage! But how was he to seize back power? With the Great Ming in its present state, it would hardly do to have a great battle between father and son, would it? Would there even be a Great Ming left after such a fight?

And if they did not go to war... Zhu Cilang's skill at beguiling people was too formidable, and he had plenty of money besides, plus the support of a court full of treacherous ministers. Winning back power would not be easy!

Just as he was pondering how to strike and force his son to hand over military power and silver, the Chongzhen Emperor suddenly heard a heart-rending shout: "Drop the thousand-jin gate! Quickly, drop the thousand-jin gate..."

Right! Drop the thousand-jin gate and trap that bastard Cilang outside the city! That was a fine idea! Chongzhen clapped his hands, and just as he was about to cheer the plan, a cry that nearly scared the soul out of the Chongzhen Emperor suddenly rang out.

"Welcome the Roving King! The Roving King's army has arrived! Welcome the Roving King..."

The Roving King's army has arrived? How could that be possible?

The Chongzhen Emperor hastily lifted the carriage curtain before him and looked out. What met his eyes was a red banner swaying in the wind, and on the banner was embroidered a single enormous character "Rove" — it was none other than the battle flag of the Roving King, Li Zicheng!

The man waving the flag was a burly fellow with a full beard, his voice like a great bell, roaring: "Seize the fatuous ruler, welcome the Roving King..."

All around the burly man were stalwart men in white caps and blue coats, spears, swords, and shields in hand, forming up a battle array.

Cao Huachun, who had long served as eunuch superintendent of the Capital Camps, recognized at a glance that this band of rebels who had appeared from nowhere were the Roving King's veteran camp troops!

The old eunuch cried out in alarm: "Imperial Master, these are the Roving rebels' veteran camp troops..."

Cao Youyi, after all, was a battle-hardened veteran general, far calmer than Cao Huachun, who had barely seen a battlefield. Faced with this sudden catastrophe, he immediately bellowed: "Protect His Majesty! Protect His Majesty!"

And there really were men who answered his call!

The Cao household retainers guarding the Chongzhen Emperor's carriage were quite dependable. In an instant they snatched up their weapons and surrounded the carriage shared by the Chongzhen Emperor and Empress Zhou. Cao Youyi himself drew a waist saber with a ringing clang. The blade gleamed like snow, dazzling the eye. Once the blade was out, he immediately strode forward to shield the Chongzhen Emperor: "With Cao here, who dares lay a finger on His Majesty?"

His words had barely fallen when someone roared: "This old man dares!"

The shout came from a second-floor window of a wine shop to Cao Youyi's right. Cao Youyi turned his head and saw the Tianjin Circuit Intendant Yuan Yuzong standing there. The fellow had originally been outside the city to welcome the imperial carriage, but at some point he had slipped into the city to lay an ambush. Large numbers of archers had also appeared on both sides of the street, every man with bow drawn and arrow nocked.

"Strike!"

At Yuan Yuzong's great shout, arrows fell like rain upon the west gate street of Tianjin Garrison!

Cao Youyi's reactions were quick. Before Yuan Yuzong had even finished shouting the word "Strike," he had yanked the Chongzhen Emperor out of the carriage. The Cao household retainers around them had already raised their shields, shielding Chongzhen tightly. Then Cao Youyi, heedless of the propriety between men and women, hauled out Empress Zhou, who was shrieking in terror, and tossed her to the two palace maids Wei Qinghui and Wu Wanrong. The two old-maid palace maids were loyal enough; heedless of danger, they shielded Empress Zhou with their own bodies. Cao Huachun too had recovered his wits, and hastily snatched up a shield and rushed before the three women, covering them with it. Only thus did Empress Zhou keep her life and avoid being shot full of arrows like a hedgehog.

But the imperial relatives, attendants, and palace servants following behind the carriages of Chongzhen and Empress Zhou, as well as Cao Huachun's unarmored retainers and the headquarters soldiers under Cao Youyi, were not so fortunate. A whole swath of them was instantly cut down by the falling arrows!

After the arrow storm, more ambushers burst out of the alleys on both sides of West Gate Street, all wearing the Ming army's mandarin-duck battle jackets, with white cloths wrapped around their heads to tell friend from foe. Some of the soldiers under Cao Youyi and Cao Huachun reacted in time and charged forward, brandishing their weapons. The two sides were instantly locked together; blades clashed, and screams and curses mingled in a single din!

Many men lunged straight for Cao Youyi, but the great Regional Commander cut them down with sweeping strokes of his blade. Yang Weihan also drew the long saber at his waist and came charging out of an alley with a band of household retainers, heading straight for the Chongzhen Emperor's position. The ambush laid inside Tianjin Garrison today was his escort battalion of a thousand men plus Hao Yaoqi's three or four hundred. The numbers were not large — only half of the combined forces of Cao Youyi and Cao Huachun. But they had prepared against the unprepared, and with the cry of "the Roving King's army has arrived" on their lips, their morale was far higher than that of the two Caos' men. They caught the two Caos' soldiers completely off guard; screams rang out one after another, and who knows how many trusted soldiers of the two Caos fell bathed in blood!

Meanwhile Cao Youyi and Cao Huachun had already begun escorting Chongzhen and Empress Zhou back toward the city gate. But at the east gate passage of Tianjin Garrison, the sounds of battle rose up as well. It was Jin Bin and Lou Guangxian, leading a hundred or so household retainers, locked in combat with the two Caos' soldiers.

That earlier shout of "Drop the thousand-jin gate!" had been Jin Bin's voice. Fortunately, the few dozen escort-battalion soldiers guarding the gate tower obeyed him and dropped the thousand-jin gate in time. Otherwise Zhu Cilang would long since have sent Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu charging in with armored soldiers!

But a thousand-jin gate made of thick planks alone would not hold Zhu Cilang back for long. If they could not seize Chongzhen before the gate was breached, the situation would take a sharp turn for the worse.

The two traitors Jin Bin and Lou Guangxian had staked everything, personally leading the charge and fighting at the very front. But their assault was soon blocked — it was the Tianjin Governor Feng Yuanyang who had flown into a rage. The old man gripped a three-foot blade and planted himself in the middle of the street, shouting: "Brothers who have taken the Thousand Years' reward silver, hold the line for this old man! There are still fifty mu of paddy fields in Jiangnan... fight the rebels to the death!"

At his roar, the previously panicked soldiers of the Tianjin headquarters force rallied their spirits. Waving swords and spears, they surged toward Jin Bin and Lou Guangxian. Though these were ordinary soldiers, their martial skill and strength no match for the household retainers of Jin and Lou, they were many, and they managed to block the two commanders Jin and Lou!

At the eastern end of West Gate Street, Hao Yaoqi had already come charging over with several hundred veteran camp troops of the Shun army. The Shun veteran camp troops could not match Wu Sangui's household retainers in fighting strength, but they could hold their own against the household retainers of ordinary Ming generals. Moreover, the Shun had just taken Beijing, and the fatuous ruler Chongzhen looked about to be killed by their hands. So every man among them carried the air of one who could sweep away ten thousand troops and trample the world flat. In the charge, the men under Cao Youyi and Cao Huachun could not withstand them.

Furthermore, Hao Yaoqi's skill in command was superior to Cao Youyi's. Though he had only three or four hundred men, he still formed them into a wedge-shaped assault formation. Hao Yaoqi himself, gripping a tri-point double-edged blade, charged at the very tip of the wedge. That blade swept left and hacked right, unstoppable. Any Ming soldier in his path who retreated a step too slowly was cut down on the spot, blood splattering the long street!

(End of Chapter)