Chapter 902: Your Majesty, You Must Remain Loyal to the Qing! (Please Subscribe)

Inside Beijing, it was still the twelfth year of the Qing Shunzhi reign!

Qing rule, at least within the walls of Beijing, was still very secure. Because everyone with the connections to betray the Qing had already slipped away, and those who remained were the sort who looked like they had nowhere else to go — except for the Shunzhi Emperor.

The Chonghua Palace where Dorgon had once lived was now the Loyal Prince's mansion of the Qing, and at the same time the true center of power within "Qing City." That "Emperor within the Second Ring" had now returned to a state of being under regency — it was no longer even a matter of his edicts not leaving the Forbidden City, but of his edicts not getting down Coal Hill. For he had now moved into the Coal Hill fortress, and had summoned the remaining two thousand-odd old Eight Banners musket cavalry to guard the fortress. He no longer went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony for court, nor did he patrol "the various places within the Second Ring." If he had anything to say to Shang Kexi, he had Shang Zhixin relay the message.

"My lord, His Majesty seems to have become infatuated with Buddhism these days. He spends all day with that monk Tongxiu from the Thousand Buddha Temple. Oh, and yesterday he even bestowed on the monk the two-character title 'Yulin,' so now he is the Chan Master Yulin Tongxiu. And because the Empress opposed His Majesty's faith in Buddhism, she had a falling-out with him, and even got beaten. His Majesty also wants to depose the Empress."

The corpulent Shang Kexi was now lying on a couch, holding a Nanjing Military Academy artillery textbook, Artillery and Siege Warfare, obtained from who knows where, flipping through it — to Shang Kexi, the contents looked like a book from heaven, a pile of bizarre diagrams and symbols, plus many tormenting arithmetic word problems.

Hearing his son's words, Shang Kexi set down the book in his hand, raised his eyelids, and stared at Shang Zhixin with a very strange look. "Depose the Empress? Isn't the Empress pregnant with the dragon seed? How can she be deposed? Could it be that the dragon seed isn't His Majesty's?"

Shang Zhixin felt a bit unnerved by his stare, but still explained on behalf of Shunzhi and Meng Guqing, "My lord, as far as your son knows, the dragon seed in the Empress's belly should be His Majesty's. But His Majesty and the Empress truly are not very loving — all the eunuchs in the palace know this. His Majesty has been in poor spirits lately and often beats the Empress to vent his anger."

"Is that so? And the Empress can take it?"

Shang Zhitong said, "Can't see that she can't take it. The Empress is a Mongol woman, quite sturdily built — looks like she can take a beating."

"Isn't that fine then?" Shang Kexi said. "One willing to hit, one able to take it — where else would you find that? What's all this talk of deposing her?"

"But His Majesty is resolute," Shang Zhixin said. "He insists on deposing the Empress, and even wants to expel her from Beijing!"

"What? Expel her too?" Shang Kexi frowned. "Outside the city it's chaos and war — can she even survive out there?"

Shang Zhixin shook his head. "Perhaps the point is precisely for the Empress to die outside the city!"

Shang Kexi sighed. "Then let him be. She's his wife anyway — none of our business! By the way, has the matter of naming the Crown Prince been brought up?"

"It has," Shang Zhitong said. "Because His Majesty has already decided to depose the Empress, he plans to make the third prince, Xuanye, the Crown Prince."

Xuanye was a son of a concubine; his mother, Lady Tunggiya, was merely a minor consort and not favored in Shunzhi's palace. Of course, the second prince, Fuquan, was also a son of a concubine, while the one now in Meng Guqing's belly was the only legitimate child. Before the Kangxi era, the Qing imperial house placed great emphasis on legitimate versus concubine birth. Any prince counted as legitimate (not necessarily born of the Empress — one born of a high-ranking secondary consort could also count as legitimate) was often of exalted status, could receive a higher title of nobility, and could also be allotted a niru. But a prince born of a concubine often received only some title like "general," and had no niru to be allotted.

Shang Kexi shook his head repeatedly. "What a mess. The Empress is clearly pregnant, yet he wants to expel her and make a concubine's son his heir. Absurd! What about Sonin? Doesn't he advise him?"

"That sycophant Sonin? All he knows now is chanting sutras and worshipping Buddha alongside His Majesty." Shang Zhixin asked, "My lord, should we help the Empress?"

"Did she ask for your help?" Shang Kexi asked. "Has she spoken to you?"

"No — no, she hasn't."

"Then don't meddle in other people's business!" Shang Kexi waved a hand. "Just arrange for someone to escort her out of the city!" He paused. "You get back to Coal Hill quickly and keep a close watch on His Majesty for me!"

"Keep a close watch on His Majesty?" Shang Zhixin was taken aback. "My lord, are you afraid of trouble within the family?"

"Hmph!" Shang Kexi snorted. "I doubt he has the guts. What your father worries about is His Majesty betraying our Qing dynasty!"

"His Majesty betray the Qing?" Shang Zhixin was stunned again and again. "My lord, the Qing is his family's."

Right — how could the Qing Emperor betray the Qing?

Shang Kexi gave another cold snort. "He already betrayed once, in Tianjin. He's now a turncoat official of the Ming — worse than his N's twice-serving ministers!"

Shang Zhixin thought for a moment. "Can he still betray the Qing now? The Ming wouldn't let him off either, would they?"

Shang Kexi snorted. "The Ming will either let him off, or let us off — do you understand? This Beijing city is not easy to take. If Emperor Zhu didn't come, your father would worry that we'd be trapped and die here ourselves. Now that he's come, there's nothing to fear — the Emperor is personally leading the campaign! That means he has to win beautifully, you know? He's come to put on a show, to let all the various figures of the north see his prowess. So he cannot afford to be stuck for long before a strong city without taking it."

Shang Zhixin shook his head, looking at his father. "My lord, is it possible the Ming would still let us off?"

"Why not? As long as he can't take Beijing for a while, he's bound to strike from within Beijing."

Shang Kexi smiled. "For the sake of winning beautifully, what wouldn't Emperor Zhu do? He spared Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou — why wouldn't he spare me, Shang Kexi? Isn't my family full of loyal martyrs? Didn't I, Shang Kexi, fight to the death for the Great Ming? If not for those three bastards Shen Shikui, Kong Youde, and Geng Zhongming, would I have gone over to the Tartars?"

Shang Kexi's family was indeed full of loyal martyrs. His father and his elder brother were loyal martyrs, and his own wives and concubines were loyal martyrs too — they died for the country when Lüshun fell. And he himself had once followed Mao Wenlong and Huang Long in battle for the Great Ming. Later, because Huang Long was killed by Qing troops brought in by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, and Lüshun was massacred, he was left homeless and without backing. And because he had earlier supported Huang Long and become an enemy of Shen Yongxing's grandfather Shen Shikui, he had no choice but to go over to the eastern barbarians.

Oh, and that Shen Shikui was himself a loyal martyr too, but his son became a traitor!

Shang Zhixin sighed. "It's all the Chongzhen Retired Emperor's fault. If he'd had the ability of the Hongxing Emperor, our Shang family would surely be loyal subjects of the Great Ming right now!"

"Isn't that the truth!" Shang Kexi sighed. "If only being a loyal subject could keep you alive — no, if only you could avoid dying at the hands of your own people — your father wouldn't have become a traitor..."

Being a loyal subject under Chongzhen truly offered no way to survive, and the probability of dying at the hands of one's own people was quite high! Never mind a minor figure like Shang Kexi — even major figures like Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting, weren't they also done in by their own people?

Not like the loyal subjects who followed Zhu Cilang — most of them could rise in rank and grow rich. Of course, there was that trap of the last-place elimination, but the great loyal subjects all had guaranteed minimum posts, and could still enjoy the fruits of victory.

Shang Zhixin thought for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "My lord, do you mean that we should fight in order to negotiate surrender?"

Shang Kexi nodded lightly. "His Majesty is most likely thinking along the same lines. So he might betray the Qing and sell out us loyal subjects of the Qing!"

Shang Zhixin gritted his teeth. "We can't let him get away with it. We must make him die a martyr for the Qing dynasty, and let us become thrice-serving officials!"

Shang Kexi's face was grave. "Child, remember this. Kong Tingxun and Geng Zhongming are not the same as us! They have no way out!"

"I know, I know." Shang Zhixin nodded vigorously.

It turned out that the father and son Shang Kexi and Shang Zhixin still did not know that the lingchi of Kong Tingxun's sister Kong Sizhen had not been carried out on her flesh, but on her hair. Kong Sizhen was now Zhu Cilang's slave, and naturally had to accompany Emperor Zhu north.

Also, Princess Jianning, Ajige, who had just turned fourteen this year, had also accompanied Zhu Cilang north.

As for these people in Beijing — if they could be beaten to death, that would of course be best. But if they couldn't be beaten to death, Emperor Zhu was also prepared to use stratagems.

(End of Chapter)