Chapter 96: Debt-Slave Li Zicheng (Seeking Favorites, Seeking Recommendations)

Li Zicheng was completely stunned by what he heard. He stood dumbfounded for a long while before turning to Li Yan. "Li Yan, We ask you—how many Wu Sanguis are there in this world?"

"To answer Your Majesty," Li Yan replied, himself not entirely certain, "there should be only one... This subject has already made inquiries. On the Ming side there is only one Liaodong Regional Commander by the name of Wu Sangui."

"Then how could he appear in Yutian and Tianjin at the same time in a single day?" Li Zicheng said. "Did he sprout wings and fly back and forth?"

"This Wu Sangui presumably cannot fly..." Li Yan answered.

"Then what is going on?" Li Zicheng demanded, eyes bulging. "Why are there two Wu Sanguis?"

"Your Majesty," Li Yan replied, "not only are there two Wu Sanguis—there are also two Zhu Cilangs... Both Li Laiheng and General Li Zhi have reported discovering Zhu Cilang!"

This matter was an even bigger headache!

One Zhu Cilang was already that cunning, and now another had appeared—how much worse would that be?

"That can't be right..." Li Zicheng was, after all, shrewd enough, and figured it out in the blink of an eye. "How could there be two Wu Sanguis and two Zhu Cilangs? It is plainly that Zhu villain playing tricks... most likely the crafty scheme of that little wretch Zhu Cilang!

Attendants, go summon Military Advisor Song and Military Advisor Gu!"

Song Xiance and Gu Junen were quickly summoned to the Hall of Martial Valor in the Forbidden City, where Li Yan informed them of the discovery of two Wu Sanguis and two Zhu Cilangs.

Li Zicheng asked, "Chief Military Advisor, do a divination for Us—which Zhu Cilang is the real one?"

A divination? Song Xiance thought to himself: Zhu Cilang is so cunning, who could divine him accurately? Better to divine Wu Sangui first!

"Your Majesty," Gu Junen spoke up first, seeing the Chief Military Advisor over there counting on his fingers with no sign of finishing anytime soon, "if Zhu Cilang has already reached the Guanning army, then we will not be able to seize him for the time being... But if Zhu Cilang is in Tianjin, then we still have a chance to capture him."

"Right, right, right..." Li Zicheng pressed a hand to his forehead. "If that brat has reached Yongping, then we can only subdue him with a great army.

That being so, We can only deal with the Zhu Cilang in Tianjin first! Li Yan, take Chen Yongfu's troops to Tianjin at once and reinforce One-Eyed Tiger—Li Guo. Tell him that no matter what, he must take Tianjin for Us!"

Li Yan did not immediately accept the order, still hesitating. "Your Majesty, if Wu Sangui has truly led two or three thousand household retainers to Tianjin, the forces of Chen Yongfu and Tang Tong will likely be unable to handle him! Could we send more veteran camp troops?"

Li Zicheng snorted. "The veteran camp troops have fought for years on end and are utterly exhausted. They are all clamoring to come to Beijing to rest and refit—even Liu Zongmin is making a fuss about entering the capital... Who else can We send to Tianjin?"

"This..." Li Yan was a Zhi General assisting Tian Jianxiu in managing the army, so he naturally knew the changes that had come over the Shun army after entering Beijing.

Before entering the capital, every man had fought bravely and vied to be first. But after entering the capital, every man was thinking only of vying for offices and titles, vying for rewards, vying for property. The great city of Beijing had plainly become a huge slab of fat meat in everyone's eyes—everyone wanted to take a bite!

Of course, such thinking was only natural. The Shun organization had always been about conquering the realm and then ruling it. Now that the realm was basically conquered, the question of how to rule it had to be made clear.

Everyone accepted Li Zicheng as Emperor, but what about the ranks below the Emperor? How should the benefits of ruling the realm be divided? The Quan Generals, Zhi Generals, Weiwu Generals, Guoyi Generals, and the lower-ranking generals, colonels, and even the ordinary veteran camp soldiers all needed an accounting, did they not? They could not be allowed to have toiled for nothing, could they?

Some later historians have called the Shun army's distribution of rewards by merit "corruption," but that is really just forcing a reason onto a failed peasant uprising. In history, what dynasty at its founding ever dared shortchange its meritorious officials? If this matter were not settled properly, the men below would scatter all the faster.

And because Li Zicheng had risen too quickly—only three or four years ago he was still a roving bandit chased all over by the Ming army, and now he was master of all under Heaven—his foundations in every respect were insufficient. He had few talented men, had not established a rigorous feudal system, and had not managed his base areas well enough.

At the same time, Li Zicheng and his organization still flew the banner of equalizing wealth for the poor peasants; they were now a genuine peasant rebel army. Therefore they had no way to reward merit with land and population—the military household system created by Zhu Yuanzhang and the Eight Banners system before they entered the pass both carried elements of feudal serfdom. The hereditary officers of the guard stations and the nobles and regular bannermen of the Eight Banners were all exploiting classes within the system, and their status was the reward for conquering the realm.

But Li Zicheng could not do that now—he was a peasant uprising leader! He still believed his rapid rise had come from raising the banners of "equalize land and remit taxes" and "welcome the Roving King, pay no grain"!

If he now turned his back on all that and set about enclosing land and keeping slaves, turning the laboring people who had eagerly looked to him for liberation into serfs, would the hearts of the people not immediately swing back to the Great Ming?

Then everyone would be "eat his mother, drink his mother, when the Great Ming comes we won't be slaves"—and would not he, this Son of Heaven of the Shun, be done for?

So after entering Beijing, Li Zicheng suddenly had the feeling of being up to his ears in debt... It turned out that this probationary emperor of his had been bought on credit, and the debts had to be repaid!

Besides the old brothers who had followed Li Zicheng and now came to collect, after entering the capital Li Zicheng also had to give an accounting to the capital officials who had surrendered and welcomed him.

There were nearly 3,000 households of officials and ennobled worthies in the capital. In the original history, 23 of those households died for their loyalty. But now, because of Zhu Cilang's edict selling departure permits, and because many more had been taken along when he fled, the officials waiting for Li Zicheng inside Beijing did not number 3,000—but there were still over a thousand households. In addition, many officials and ennobled worthies who had followed the flight had fallen behind because they ran too slowly, and had either been captured and brought back to Beijing or returned to Beijing on their own.

Thus by the twenty-fifth, the number of former Ming officials inside Beijing had again reached around 2,000.

And these officials, coming mostly from all corners of the realm, could be said to represent the gentry class of the entire empire.

They too were watching the movements of Li Zicheng and the new Shun court. If they could still make do with pledging loyalty, then the realm would be at peace.

But what answer could Li Zicheng give them? He owed so many Shun meritorious officials debts that had to be repaid, yet he could not turn the laboring people who supported him into serfs to pay those debts—and the treasuries left behind by the Great Ming were utterly empty...

Li Yan understood Li Zicheng's difficulties as well, so he did not press him for veteran camp troops. He accepted the order on the spot, and together with Hong Niangzi and Chen Yongfu led troops off to Tianjin to make trouble for Zhu Cilang.

The morning after Li Yan's departure, Quan General Liu Zongmin arrived in Beijing from the front at Baodi. The Central Quan personal army commanded by Liu Zongmin had originally lain in ambush around Tumen Pass, specifically to strike Wu Sangui's relief force. But as soon as the 5,000 iron cavalry led by Wu Sangui reached Yutian, Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang began their flight. When word reached Tumen Pass, Liu Zongmin no longer kept his troops hidden, but followed behind Li Laiheng and advanced eastward. Around the twenty-third he had pushed forward to the Sanhe and Baodi area, forming a standoff with Wu Sangui, who was garrisoned at Yutian.

After deploying his forces, Liu Zongmin immediately set out for Beijing to discuss with Li Zicheng, Tian Jianxiu, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Junen how to "repay the debts."

"Aren't the mountains of gold and silver right here in Beijing? Your Majesty, have we not all these years raised grain and pay by breaking through cities? The brothers are all waiting eagerly—we cannot let them be disheartened!"

Liu Zongmin, as always, had the courage to take responsibility. The moment he ascended the Hall of Martial Valor he laid the matter out plainly... The Great Ming was truly lacking in loyal and upright men like him!

"Hu—Marquis Liu," Li Zicheng had been about to call Liu Zongmin by his nickname, but the moment he opened his mouth he remembered he was now master of all under Heaven and had to speak with some refinement, "you are the one who best knows Our heart! But Beijing is, after all, the foremost city of the realm—We cannot act recklessly there!"

"Your Majesty," Song Xiance stepped out from the ranks to offer his counsel, "the common folk of the capital have little wealth. We can demand contributions from the officials and the merchants."

Tian Jianxiu frowned and asked, "Demanding from merchants is easy—see a shop open for business and go ask for money. But how do we find the officials? No one goes out wearing Ming official robes anymore."

"That is easily handled." Song Xiance smiled. "Your Majesty need only issue an edict ordering all civil and military officials in the capital to submit their names and former posts of their own accord, and then attend court. Those willing to serve will be appointed according to their abilities; those unwilling will be allowed to return to their native places. In this way the Ming officials in the capital will come out on their own! Then those we can use, we use; those we cannot use, we make pay to support the army."

Li Zicheng burst out laughing. "Hahaha, the Chief Military Advisor has the solution! Good—that is how it shall be!"

(End of Chapter)