Chapter 884: Press the Victory and Besiege the Cornered Foe (Please Subscribe)

Clap, clap, clap.

For the first time, the sound of the ceremonial whip rang out before the Gate of Imperial Supremacy at Laoshan Palace.

The Gate of Imperial Supremacy stood at the foot of Yanshan Palace, where Zhu Cilang ordinarily resided while at Laoshan Palace, and was a palace gate built in imitation of the Fengtian Gate of the Forbidden City in Nanjing. Within the gate lay a modest hall called the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, a three-story building blending Chinese and Western styles, where Emperor Zhu convened the Two Courts and received his ministers while at Laoshan Palace. Outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy stretched a plaza, very spacious and paved with hard bluestone, and at the gate tower there was also a platform decorated with white marble. This was where Emperor Zhu held the ceremony of hearing governance at the gate at Laoshan Palace.

Hearing governance at the gate meant holding morning court, the activity the former Chongzhen Retired Emperor had loved most — others saw him as toiling away in diligent governance, but Chongzhen delighted in it. Those days of rising before dawn for court, listening to all manner of bad news, and gazing upon the hateful faces of treacherous ministers who deceived their sovereign were the happiest days of the Chongzhen Retired Emperor's life.

But now, every day, aside from healthful physical exercise and playing with the young ladies, sleeping until he woke naturally, spending money until his hands cramped, and every kind of will-sapping, virtue-destroying amusement piled mountain-high — yet the Chongzhen Retired Emperor was not the least bit happy!

Now, the moment he closed his eyes, he would often dream of the Tartars and roving bandits at the city walls, the civil and military officials at their wits' end, and the rebels and traitors each harboring their own schemes. How he missed those days!

Seated below the Gate of Imperial Supremacy in a grand tutor's chair placed beside the imperial throne, Chongzhen watched as the civil and military officials of the Great Ming filed in one by one and arranged themselves in crooked ranks outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy, his heart filled only with emotion and longing for the good old days.

And of course, a touch of regret as well — he had not known how to use people!

Shi Kefa had been a jinshi in the first year of Chongzhen!

Clearly a scholarly general of divine military skill — how had he failed to notice? Had he employed Shi Kefa earlier, the roving bandits would have been pacified and the eastern barbarians destroyed.

And that Wu Xiang — he should have been made Minister of War long ago! In governing troops and drilling soldiers, no one could compare to him!

Oh, and that Minister of Revenue Zheng Zhilong — he was practically the God of Wealth reborn! How had he never thought to make him Minister of Revenue?

Had he employed him earlier, he could have buried the eastern barbarians and roving bandits under a mountain of money!

And Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode. No, wait — he had been Chief Grand Secretary when We held power!

Chongzhen watched as the Chief Grand Secretary Wei, in his python robe and black gauze cap, of extraordinary bearing, at a glance a great and loyal minister destined for the annals of history, strode swaggeringly up onto the platform at the Gate of Imperial Supremacy with several ministers of the Grand Secretariat and performed the bow of salutation toward him, and in his heart he heaved a long sigh.

You are plainly a famous minister of the age, the foremost chancellor of my Great Ming — how is it that in Our hands you were utterly useless?

Just as the Chongzhen Retired Emperor was thoroughly baffled, he heard a eunuch cry out: "His Majesty the Emperor arrives!"

Zhu Cilang had come. He had only returned to Laoshan Palace the day before, returning to court in triumph, of course!

Although the war in the north was not yet entirely over, a great and complete victory was certain. The Great Qing (Later Jin), which had fought the Great Ming for decades, had now been beaten out of existence, reduced to two vassal princes, Prince Gong and Prince Jin. Though they still harbored disloyal intentions, they had only the strength left to defend themselves and protect their households, and no one dared challenge the majesty of the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty again.

So Emperor Zhu now wore an expression of supreme satisfaction. Watching the assembled ministers outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy at Laoshan Palace prostrate themselves with cries of "Long live the Emperor," he said in a voice that could not conceal his delight: "Rise, rise!"

Everyone scrambled to their feet and stole glances upward. They saw the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, now twenty-six years old, in full court attire, seated upon the imperial throne, smiling as he looked at them all — Emperor Zhu was amiable by nature and rarely lost his temper in public. He was nothing like the Chongzhen Retired Emperor, who was quick to berate his ministers.

Nor was he particularly harsh in governing his subordinates. Apart from killing some when he put down the "Nanjing eunuch faction rebellion" and pacified Zuo Menggeng, the worst fate for officials who fell into his hands at other times was exile to the island of Taiwan. In fact, the treatment of convicted former officials sent to Taiwan differed from that of death-pardoned traitors sent there. Zheng Sen had a sense of proportion: convicted former officials were generally settled on developed land in Dongning Prefecture.

Yet even this seemingly not-very-severe punishment still filled the officials of the Great Ming with dread.

Because former officials banished to Taiwan were not only stripped of every rank, with almost no possibility of restoration, but were certain to be ruined financially — so many censors were watching!

Seeing the assembled ministers rise and take their places, Zhu Cilang said with a smile: "The moment We returned, We convened this grand court assembly precisely to speak with you all about this northern expedition. We had thought it would take two or three years to reach the walls of Beijing, and ten years to achieve complete victory. Now it seems there is no need to wait so long — next year we shall recover Beijing, and within five years the pacification of Liaodong should be accomplished!"

At this, his tone suddenly deepened: "Ninety miles is only halfway on a hundred-mile journey! Though the eastern barbarians have been scattered by us, the greater part of their strength remains. Dodo controls the fertile lands beyond Shanhai Pass, with no fewer than eighty thousand fighting men under his command. Fulin holds the strong city of Beijing, with twenty or thirty thousand troops under him. There are also the bandits Jirgalang, Chang'adai, Shang Kexi, and others, each commanding elite troops in defiance of the Celestial Dynasty. Beyond the frontier, the various Mongol tribes have forces numbering no less than a hundred thousand!

Though Dodo and Fulin now lie low, they remain utterly vicious and malignant foes. We must not in the least let down our guard, still less harbor thoughts of returning to court in triumph. Rather, we must summon our remaining courage, besiege the cornered foe, recover Beijing, pacify the Liaodong lands, sweep through Mongolia, and at the same time restore cultivation and planting, stockpile military provisions, and bring peace to the common people — settling the northern frontier in one stroke!"

The reason he had traveled all that way back to Laoshan Palace was precisely to keep pushing the war policy — now that the Great Qing was gone, and Fulin and Dodo appeared to have submitted, this was absolutely not the time to let the remnants of the Qing state off, but rather the time to press the victory and besiege the cornered foe. There could be no slackening.

Hearing Zhu Cilang openly voice these war-mongering words, Chongzhen, who was beside him learning to be emperor, felt his heart pounding — talk of besieging the cornered foe was fine for a Two Courts meeting, but why bring it up at a grand court assembly?

A grand court assembly was full of people and loose tongues; how could it possibly be kept secret? Word would surely reach Jin Fulin and Jin Dodo, and when they had made their preparations, would you still find it so easy to recover Beijing and pacify the Liaodong lands?

No, wait! Chongzhen suddenly recalled how cunning and ruthless this son of his was — how could he commit such a low-level blunder? Could he be playing a trick?

"Your Majesty, are we truly going to allow Dodo to invade Joseon?"

The grand court assembly had ended, and now the Two Courts were holding a small meeting. The one raising the question was the "First Chancellor of the Great Ming," Wei Zaode. During this period, the Grand Secretariat of the Great Ming had been conducting secret contacts with the Kingdom of Joseon.

The Kingdom of Joseon hoped to use the power of the Ming to free itself from Dodo's oppression, and also wished to reap benefits from any campaign against the Manchu forces.

But the Grand Secretariat under Wei Zaode's direction looked down on Joseon's strength and was unwilling to let Joseon take a share of the spoils from Manchuria, so after months of talks with the Joseon envoys, nothing had been accomplished.

Yet Wei Zaode also did not want Dodo to invade Joseon, because a Dodo invasion would be detrimental to bringing Joseon back into the Ming's suzerain-vassal system in the future.

Zhu Cilang said with a smile: "It is not a matter of allowing or not allowing, but that aiding Joseon yields no profit. Governing a great state is not the same as doing business, but one must still weigh gain and loss. Things that yield no profit should not be done; one must act within one's means and not pursue glory at the expense of gain."

Had any other Ming emperor said such words — excepting Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di — he would long since have been denounced.

But Zhu Cilang's prestige was nearly equal to that of a founding emperor, and neither Wei Zaode nor the other ministers, vice military strategists, or army commissioners dared talk back to him.

Emperor Zhu continued: "If Dodo wants to enter Joseon, let him go. We will seize a few points on the southern part of the Korean peninsula and, when necessary, give a push to keep the Li line alive. Preserving a state from extinction is the greatest of favors. Only after we have twice saved Joseon from certain destruction will Joseon truly feel gratitude, will it move from outer vassal to inner vassal, and only then can it truly be held in our grasp!"

Wei Zaode finally understood. "Your Majesty is sagacious beyond measure. This subject has received instruction."

(End of Chapter)