Chapter 876: What? The Qing Is Gone! — 17

"Sister Sizhen, why have they locked you in a cage too?" The moment Ajige saw her dear "big sister" locked up as well, she immediately protested, "Who's in charge here? Come out at once!"

The guard watching Fan Wencheng and Kong Sizhen was Chen Yonghua, deputy company commander of the 11th Division of the New Army — the same Chen Yonghua who had accompanied Zheng Chagu to Nanjing. Back then he'd been a raw lad of ten or so, but now he was a dashing young man of twenty. He'd graduated from the Military Academy the year before and been assigned to the 11th Division as a platoon leader; now he'd been promoted a rank and made deputy company commander.

At that moment he was holding Fan Wencheng, Kong Sizhen, and a whole crowd of assorted prisoners by the city gate, awaiting orders on which prison to send them to, when he saw a rather pretty, willful girl run out and start talking to Kong Sizhen — and he couldn't understand a single word she said (Ajige was speaking Manchu), so he strode over.

"Where did you pop out from, you little 'atao' (girl)? Get moving, go on."

Ajige looked at this tall, thin, somewhat dark young officer, planted both hands on her hips, thrust out her small chest, and gave a snort. "Do you know who I am?"

Chen Yonghua looked at her, then at the eunuch following her, and understood — this girl had to be someone from the palace.

But he wasn't afraid of anything. He was someone who called Zheng Chagu "Sister Chagu"!

Chen Yonghua, who had backing, cupped his fists. "This humble officer Chen Yonghua is on official duty, ordered to escort prisoners to Xuzhou."

"You're lying!" Ajige pointed at Kong Sizhen indignantly. "Sister Sizhen is no criminal!"

Chen Yonghua actually nodded. "Kong Sizhen is indeed no criminal. She insisted on riding along herself — there's nothing I can do about it!"

That was the truth! Kong Sizhen had originally been the "meritorious subject" who betrayed Fan Wencheng, and she wasn't on the list for prosecution at all. There was no need for her to ride in the prisoner cart with Fan Wencheng, yet she insisted on following, tending to Fan Wencheng the whole way and looking after her daughter. It was enough to make anyone feel sorry for her — truly a virtuous wife and loving mother!

Riding along?

Ajige was stunned. Of all the carts to ride, why insist on a prisoner cart?

Kong Sizhen spoke up then to explain: "Princess, it is this slave's wish to ride the prisoner cart with my husband. A day of marriage, a hundred days of grace — this slave must accompany my husband on his final journey. Isn't that right, husband?"

Fan Wencheng rolled his eyes. What an actress this fine wife of his was! She was the one who'd sold him out to the Great Ming, yet here she was playing the virtuous wife and loving mother, keeping him company the whole way. This woman was not only vicious but deep and scheming — truly formidable!

Ajige had no idea of Kong Sizhen's scheming. Seeing her sharing Fan Wencheng's suffering, she said to the eunuch beside her, "Xiao Guizi, you stay and watch over Sister Sizhen. I'll go plead with the Emperor!"

Her orders given, Ajige took her palace maids and guards, mounted two short, chubby horses, and galloped off toward Yunlong Mountain.

Just as Ajige was heading for Yunlong Mountain, Emperor Zhu was also in discussion with others about how to deal with the problem of a great traitor like Fan Wencheng.

A great traitor must of course be severely punished!

But exactly how to punish him severely was a question requiring careful thought.

"Your Majesty, this subject believes that in these chaotic times, many people have gone over to the eastern barbarians or the roving bandits for various reasons. The court must have a clear standard for who should be prosecuted and who should not."

The one speaking was Luo Yangxing, a loyal subject of three reigns. He had gone over to Li Zicheng with his loyal-subject certificate in hand; later, after seeing Hong Chengchou's corpse, he had offered up Beijing and become a subject of a third master. Now he had returned ahead of Bumbutai (Bumbutai hadn't arrived yet; he was the advance party), making him a subject of four.

Though he was now a subject of four, no one could deny he was a loyal subject — a loyal subject of three reigns, a great and true loyalist!

He would surely have a place in the biographies of loyal subjects in the future.

The reason he hadn't dawdled along with Bumbutai but had come straight to Yunlong Mountain in Xuzhou was also to serve the Great Ming — he had to remonstrate with Emperor Zhu, urging him to deal properly with the traitors and the eastern barbarians, especially the traitors.

"Naturally!" Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile, appearing to agree with Luo Yangxing's words — as if being a traitor could ever be justified!

This Luo Yangxing's skin was truly as thick as a city wall!

Luo Yangxing, unaware of Emperor Zhu's thoughts, went on: "This subject believes that guilt or innocence, great crime or small, pardon or no pardon — the most important standard is one thing: whether one was loyal to the Great Ming, and whether one's actions benefited or harmed the Great Ming!"

This —

Emperor Zhu had to admit that Subject-of-Four Luo's thinking was clear!

Zhu Cilang could not view the matter from the standpoint of the nation; he had to view it from the standpoint of the Great Ming dynasty.

Because he had to regard the Great Ming as the legitimate authority representing the fundamental interests of the Chinese people!

Otherwise, he himself could not stand firm.

Luo Yangxing stroked his graying beard and said slowly: "The great calamity of the barbarians invading the Central Plains came down, in the end, to someone opening Shanhai Pass! And the Great Ming's restoration came about precisely because of borrowing troops to aid in suppression! Moreover, when Your Majesty issued the edict to Wu Sangui ordering him to abandon Shanhai Pass and move south, was there not also an intent to let the barbarians through the pass to fight the roving bandits?"

What a man, this Luo Yangxing!

Zhu Cilang remained silent.

Luo Yangxing continued: "Had keeping the barbarians out been the priority that day, the commanders at Shanhai Pass would have had to submit to the roving bandits. For with Beijing fallen, supply lines cut, and the troops' courage shattered, only by pledging to a new master could morale be restored.

And had the Shanhai Pass forces submitted to the roving bandits, would the realm today bear the surname Li or Zhu?"

Zhu Cilang remained silent still.

He knew Luo Yangxing had hit on the crux of the matter. By abandoning Beijing and withdrawing from Shanhai Pass, the Great Ming had effectively abandoned the north to cut its losses, and at the same time temporarily relinquished its legitimacy. And Li Zicheng, in a short span, had taken up the Mandate of Heaven for the Chinese people.

And Shanhai Pass was a time bomb the Great Ming had left for Li Zicheng — one that blew Li Zicheng's Mandate of Heaven to pieces.

The Great Ming's present revival was also due to Li Zicheng losing the Mandate of Heaven. Otherwise, Zhu Cilang would have died many years ago.

Luo Yangxing snorted again. "This old subject lived through the collapse of the Jiashen year firsthand, and in these ten years I have served both the Shun and Qing thieves in turn. I know best what sort of goods they are, and I have also seen clearly the hearts of the people of Northern Zhili. Before the roving bandits came, they longed for Li Zicheng day and night; once the roving bandits arrived, they began to miss the Great Ming; and when the eastern barbarians came charging in — heh — they decided Li Zicheng wasn't so bad after all.

When the Retired Emperor was on the throne, how much silver did he ever ask of the officials and commoners of Northern Zhili? In seventeen years on the throne, I doubt he took even twenty million from them — and they still thought it too much! They even sang songs welcoming the Roving King. Then Li Zicheng came, and in just over a month he tortured and plundered out thirty or forty million. He took all that money, yet Beijing was not defended for even a single day!

Then along came Dorgon. Just the seizing of houses and the enclosure of land alone took property worth several hundred million, and who knows how many families were ruined and lives destroyed! Though this suffering was, for the most part, self-inflicted."

At the time, most of the north was singing songs welcoming the Roving King, everyone overjoyed beyond measure. What could Zhu Cilang do then but cut his losses? Stake everything to hold Shanhai Pass for Li Zicheng? Even if he could have agreed to it, the men at Shanhai Pass would have tied him up and sold him to Dorgon. Once Li Zicheng entered Beijing and began torturing and plundering, he could hardly have sent grain and silver to the forty or fifty thousand men at Shanhai Pass. Those men needed to eat and survive — going over to the eastern barbarians was all but certain!

"Heh," Zhu Cilang laughed. "We understand that borrowing troops to aid in suppression, though not ordered by Us, did indeed save the Great Ming. Therefore it is no crime, but a merit!"

"Your Majesty is supremely wise!"

Zhu Cilang asked: "Then what are the crimes of the traitors, and the crimes of the eastern barbarians?"

Luo Yangxing said: "The crime of betraying the state and aiding the barbarians against the court, the crime of breaking treaties and seizing territory, the crime of massacring cities and wanton killing, the crime of desecrating and plundering the Kong family cemetery. Commit any one of these, and it is an unpardonable evil!"

Zhu Cilang nodded, deeply convinced. "Then it is settled. That Fan Wencheng — he should qualify for unpardonable evil, shouldn't he?"

Luo Yangxing laughed. "That man deserves death by a thousand cuts! This old subject suggests we execute him right before Bumbutai's eyes. If his son Jin Fulin dares commit unpardonable crimes, he too will not escape the executioner's blade in the future!"

(End of Chapter)