Chapter 905: The Son-Khan Loves His Imperial Father (Seeking Subscriptions)

Firecrackers crackled in unison, drums and music resounding. On the canal pontoon bridge west of the great Tianjin bastion, a crowd of "Mongol warriors" in grimy gray cloth robes, Buddhist prayer beads around their necks, knives and quivers at their waists, mounted on short-legged horses, were escorting a gaudily dressed elderly matron and a shaven-headed youth in a disorderly press from west to east.

On the east bank of the canal, nearly two thousand cavalry lancers of the palace guard, clad in black plate armor, riding tall cropped-ear chargers and carrying ten-foot lances on their backs, stood in two great square formations arrayed neatly on either side of the official road. Few as they were, they struck instinctive dread into the Mongol matron—these Ming iron cavalry in plate armor, on foreign horses, with lances at their backs, were beyond any doubt the nemesis of Mongol warriors who had lost their courage!

This discerning matron was none other than the Great Consort Nangnang, who had served two sovereigns, Ligdan Khan and Hong Taiji. She had now come with her son Bombogor, following the Ming Prince of Chongqing, Zhu Cihuan, to the Tianjin garrison city where the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming had halted his progress.

The Great Consort was Ligdan Khan's principal wife, and having campaigned east and west at his side for so many years, she was certainly a connoisseur of cavalry. Thus when she saw the one hundred and twenty "foreign-horse cavalry" that Zhu Cihuan had brought to the old Chahar camp, she was greatly startled—the Great Ming actually had so many "heavenly horses"!

Such "heavenly horses" were occasionally to be seen on the Mongol steppe, but they were one in ten thousand, even one in a hundred thousand!

Which meant that behind one hundred and twenty heavenly horses there must be a vast herd of at least one million two hundred thousand horses!

This was no laughing matter! A quarter of one million two hundred thousand horses would suffice to support a powerful cavalry host of one hundred thousand men, each with three mounts.

And a cavalry host of that scale was already enough to sweep across the Mongols of the southern and northern Gobi—the Mongol warriors could neither defeat them nor even flee from them!

The Mongol horse might be hardy and capable of long marches, but the Mongol warrior could not abandon his tribe and flee for his life alone! Without the tribe, where would his food and clothing come from? How would his warhorses and weapons be replenished? How would he survive on the boundless steppe?

The mobility of a Mongol tribe and the mobility of Mongol cavalry were entirely different things! The tribe drove its cattle and sheep, hauled its great carts, supported the old and carried the young, and had to move from pasture to pasture. Its speed was not great, its route predictable, and so it could hardly escape the pursuit of a large enemy cavalry.

If the Ming army could truly produce horses in the hundreds of thousands, then the conquest of all Mongolia would be only a matter of time.

And now the Great Consort Nangnang had actually seen at least two thousand heavenly horses!

What was going on? How was this possible? How could there be so many heavenly horses? By the standard of one in ten thousand, the Great Ming would have to possess twenty million horses?

How could that be possible?

Could it be that these fine horses were not one in ten thousand, but one in a hundred, or even one in ten? What breed was this? How could they be so excellent?

"Great Consort, the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming and the Retired Emperor will receive you and the young prince in the traveling palace at Tianjin garrison."

Zhu Cihuan, Prince of Chongqing, who had gone ahead, and Chahar Guhalun, with several dozen attendants, rode out to meet the Great Consort Nangnang. Guhalun was fluent in Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese, and so served as interpreter between the Great Consort and Zhu Cihuan.

Zhu Cihuan looked to be in excellent spirits. He had just seen Zhu Cilang in the traveling palace at Tianjin garrison and had even received praise—something exceedingly rare! Among the several older sons of the Retired Emperor in Nanjing, "Little Fortune" Zhu Cixuan was the most likable, while he, Zhu Cihuan, was somewhat disliked by all and had never once been praised by his imperial elder brother. Now that he had actually received praise, could it mean smooth sailing to high office from here on?

"Great Consort, young prince, come quickly with me—do not keep the Son of Heaven waiting." Zhu Cihuan smiled and beckoned to the Great Consort Nangnang and Bombogor.

Guhalun translated his words into Mongol, then added a sentence of his own: "Great Consort, the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming has already agreed to enfeoff Bombogor as Prince Gong!"

May the Buddha bless us!

The Great Consort Nangnang glanced at her shaven-headed son Bombogor, who looked somewhat hesitant, and said with a smile: "Child, when you see the Son of Heaven and the Retired Emperor in a moment, you must call them Ama and Mafa!"

"E-niang," Bombogor said, looking rather unwilling, "I have only one Ama and one Mafa!"

The Great Consort Nangnang nodded with a smile. "Right, right—from now on the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming is your one and only Ama, and the Retired Emperor of the Great Ming is your one and only Mafa. From now on you must obey them and be filial to them! Only in this way can your elder brother Abunai and I, your E-niang, live well!"

"E-niang..." Bombogor was at a loss for words.

The Great Consort Nangnang waved a hand and said cheerfully: "Don't be foolish. You're not Fulin—he has sat on the throne, so of course he is unwilling. You are nothing at all, and now you've become a Prince of the Great Ming, with endless glory and wealth ahead of you. What is there to be dissatisfied about? Quickly now, come with E-niang to kowtow to the Son of Heaven and the Retired Emperor!"

Bombogor sighed and could only follow the Great Consort toward the Tianjin garrison city.

He knew that his E-niang was not like Bumbutai—she was sincerely submitting!

Because her former husband Ligdan Khan had been the Great Khan of the Mongols, and she, as the Khan's principal wife, had been the Empress of the Great Mongol Nation! Yet she had ended up as a secondary consort of Hong Taiji. Although she ranked above Bumbutai and was at one time second only to Empress Jeje, her true standing had been laid bare in the power struggle after Hong Taiji's death.

Those Manchu banner-lord princes had never once considered Bombogor!

Bombogor was also a son of the principal wife, and the Great Consort Nangnang's status was second only to Empress Jeje—she was the second most honored woman in Hong Taiji's palace. If Hooge could not succeed to the throne, then it should have been Bombogor who succeeded. Why did it have to be Fulin?

Moreover, the Great Consort Nangnang had another son—Abunai, Prince of Chahar—who was of the direct line of the Golden Family and heir to the Great Khan of the Mongols!

The Great Qing had enfeoffed Abunai as Prince of Khalkha, but his princedom was an empty one! The Chahar Eight Banners each had their own commanders, and they were not appointed by Abunai. The Qing Emperor had made himself Great Khan of the Mongols—could Abunai, the legitimate heir to the Khanate, possibly come to any good end?

Sooner or later he would be done to death!

In the Great Consort's view, Abunai must immediately cling to Zhu Cilang's coattails—best of all, make Zhu Cilang his adoptive father! Henceforth Abunai would be the "son-khan," and Zhu Cilang would be the "imperial father." The imperial father would support the son-khan in ruling the Mongols, and the son-khan would be filial to the imperial father, serving as the first line of defense on the Great Ming's northern frontier.

If this matter succeeded, the Mongol nation would be revived!

"Bombogor respectfully inquires after the sacred well-being of the Imperial Ama and Imperial Mafa! Long live His Majesty, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!"

When Bombogor made his obeisance to Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen, he spoke in Chinese, so both Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen could understand him.

Chongzhen frowned and glanced at his son, who was grinning from ear to ear, thinking to himself: Do you reckon you have no hope of surpassing your father in the matter of begetting sons, and so you mean to take in more adopted ones?

"Good, good, good. Rise. Grant him a seat." Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Great Consort Nangnang, you be seated as well!"

"I thank the Imperial Ama!"

"This humble woman thanks you for the seat."

Zhu Cilang smiled as he sized the two of them up. Bombogor had a square face, a great shaven head, and was passably handsome. The Great Consort Nangnang was getting on in years—close to fifty—but she had kept herself well, and her features were more regular than Bumbutai's. Were she twenty years younger, she would have been a Mongol beauty.

"Good, good." Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile. "Bombogor, since you call Us Imperial Ama, We shall not shortchange you. Fulin's princedom of Prince Gong is yours! We further bestow upon you the surname Jin—henceforth you shall be called Jin Boguo!"

Bombogor hastily knelt and kowtowed again—he had been reluctant a moment ago, but now his kowtows came fast indeed. It seemed his days in the Great Qing court had not been easy either, and so he had cultivated a rather nimble mind.

At this moment the Great Consort Nangnang secretly shot a glance at Zhu Cihuan—the Great Consort and Abunai were both most hospitable, and after Zhu Cihuan arrived at the old Chahar camp, they had selected two beauties of the direct Golden Family line to attend him in bed.

Zhu Cihuan at once said to Zhu Cilang with a smile: "Your Majesty, Jin Boguo's elder brother Abunai has long admired Your Majesty's civil and martial achievements, and earnestly wishes for a father such as Your Majesty. He therefore wishes to follow Fulin's precedent and acknowledge you as Imperial Father. Your subject-brother sees that Abunai is sincere, and so wishes to speak on his behalf—why not simply accept him?"

(End of Chapter)