Chapter 139: You Don

Before the Gate of Imperial Supremacy in the Forbidden City, Beijing.

Dawn had just begun to break, and the daily court session at the imperial gate was starting again. The ministers filed in one after another to memorialize on matters, and a constant stream of coughing filled the air, much like the login notification sound of QQ in later generations.

Below the imperial seat of Chongzhen, Zhu Cilang sat on a small stool, listening until he was nearly yawning. The courtiers only dragged up useless topics, and after all their discussion back and forth, who knew how much could actually be carried out.

His imperial father was far too diligent—he insisted on holding morning court almost every single day, and listened with utter seriousness, now furrowing his brows in deep thought over a problem, now offering his own views, speaking as if he truly knew what he was talking about.

The Chongzhen Emperor had spent years confined within the palace. His understanding of affairs under heaven was limited to the memorials submitted by his ministers. What local officials reported still had some semblance of truth, but as for the capital officials—calling their reports misleading would be putting it mildly.

Zhu Cilang truly wished he could drag Chongzhen outside the palace for a look, take him for a spin through the disaster-stricken areas of Beizhili. He reckoned that after that trip, the Emperor would finally know what he ought to be busy with every day.

Just as the memorial segment was drawing to a close, the Chief Censor of the Left, Tang Shiji, suddenly stepped out from the front row and said, "Your Highness, your minister wishes to ask you something."

Zhu Cilang was somewhat curious, wondering what this damned censor wanted now. He only said flatly, "Speak."

Tang Shiji said solemnly, "Your minister has heard that when Your Highness was besieged at Xincheng, the Jianzhou barbarians drove commoners before the walls, yet Your Highness ordered the defenders to open fire on those commoners. May I ask if this is true?"

Zhu Cilang furrowed his brow and said, "Correct. The order was mine. What is Censor Tang driving at?"

The courtiers, who had been listless moments before, all straightened up, looking at Tang Shiji in astonishment, then at Zhu Cilang. So Blabbermouth Tang was going to make a move against the Crown Prince!

Tang Shiji said gravely, "Your Highness is the heir apparent, yet you ordered the slaughter of our Great Ming's own common people. Is this something a benevolent ruler could do?"

Zhu Cilang had long known someone would seize on this matter to make a big fuss and strike at his prestige. He just hadn't expected it to come this quickly.

Zhu Cilang rose from the small stool and slowly walked down, his sharp eyes fixed on the man. Though Tang Shiji felt somewhat uneasy inside, he bravely met Zhu Cilang's gaze without flinching.

"Are you questioning my actions?" Zhu Cilang gave a cold snort, then said flatly, "In Censor Tang's view, those commoners could not be killed?"

Tang Shiji said with an air of righteousness, "Those commoners may have been coerced by the Tartars, but surely they did not deserve death? Does Your Highness not find it too cruel to order the defenders to fire cannons at them?"

Zhu Cilang looked at Tang Shiji with some contempt, his face expressionless. "Then in your view, I should simply let these commoners fill the moat with their iron shovels, then climb the scaling-ladder carts, open the way for the Tartars up the walls, and let Xincheng fall?"

He looked at Tang Shiji, and his tone suddenly turned merciless: "Thirty thousand Tartar troops attack Xincheng, and they even make commoners lead the assault—yet our Great Ming defenders cannot fight back? Just let them attack the city? Have you read yourself stupid, or has your brain gone faulty?"

Tang Shiji's face cycled through red and green under this verbal assault, shifting constantly, his emotions running high. He was just about to open his mouth to rebut when Zhu Cilang cut him off again.

Zhu Cilang said in a stern voice, "The commoners coerced by the Tartars are Great Ming commoners—but are the hundred-some-thousand people inside Xincheng not also Great Ming commoners? To sacrifice the few to save the many—that is true salvation! True benevolence and righteousness!"

The assembled ministers were astonished. They had not expected the Crown Prince, young as he was, to be so sharp-tongued. Even the Chief Censor of the Left, Tang Shiji, famed for his glib speech, had been silenced by the rebuttal. It truly exceeded everyone's expectations.

The Chongzhen Emperor was also quite surprised. He watched the whole scene with great interest, secretly cheering his son on. He had long been fed up with this Blabbermouth Tang—always spouting benevolence and righteousness from morning to night. I'm a grown man; do I need you to teach me how to live?

Tang Shiji's face flushed red, his heart raced, his breathing grew rapid—his blood pressure nearly spiked. He said with great agitation, "Water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize it! Your Highness speaks lightly of killing, and twists words to justify it!"

Zhu Cilang found it amusing. "How exactly have I twisted words? The corrupt merchants, greedy officials, and Tartars I have killed—which one of them was not a wicked villain undermining our Great Ming? Does killing them count as slaughter? Count as sin?"

Tang Shiji was gradually getting carried away. He raised his head high and said, "Commoners are not wicked villains, yet Your Highness killed them. Not just the commoners outside Xincheng—I have heard that Your Highness previously killed more than three thousand commoners at Liangxiang as well. Am I not speaking the truth?"

Zhu Cilang nodded. "What you say is true. I killed them all. Those I killed at Liangxiang were petty men who profiteered from the nation's calamity amid the chaos—the moment the Tartars left, they plundered the granaries and robbed the people's money, smashing, looting, and burning in the disorder, committing every kind of evil and harming the common folk of the Great Ming. Should such men not be killed?"

Zhu Cilang looked toward Feng Ying and said, "Minister of Justice, you tell me—according to the Great Ming Code, what punishment do these crimes warrant?"

The Minister of Justice, Feng Ying, stepped forward and reported, "In reply to Your Highness, according to the Great Ming Code, whoever steals money, grain, or goods from granaries—regardless of how many are involved, if the total exceeds forty strings of cash, whether ringleader or accomplice, all are judged by the value of the stolen goods and beheaded! If thieves resist arrest or commit murder in the act, all are beheaded!"

Tang Shiji's forehead was faintly beading with sweat. He felt this Crown Prince was not easy to deal with.

Remarkably, none of the hundred officials interjected. They all quietly watched the war of words between the Crown Prince and Tang Shiji, the number-one mouthpiece of the Censorate.

Zhu Cilang continued, "As for the commoners you mentioned, Censor Tang, who were coerced outside Xincheng—on the battlefield, who does not fear death and injury? Yet these commoners willingly took up shovels to fill the moat. Do you know how the Tartars treat the people inside a city every time they breach its walls?"

Zhu Cilang pointed at Tang Shiji and barked, "Go and see for yourself! Go to Shunyi, Huairou, and Baodi—ask the people in those cities how the Tartars treated them after breaking through! At the least, they loot every last piece of property in the city, rape and plunder the people; at the worst, they massacre the entire city to vent their fury! Do you know what that scene looks like?"

Tang Shiji was momentarily stunned into silence by the argument. He had read so many books—why could he not out-argue a child? Though what the Crown Prince said made good sense, he still refused to accept it.

He stammered, "Even so, Your Highness should not have ordered the cannons to fire and harm the commoners. They are all subjects of the Great Ming…"

Zhu Cilang frowned. "If those commoners had helped the Tartars breach the city, what then?"

Tang Shiji said, "But the city wasn't breached, was it?"

Zhu Cilang suppressed his anger with effort, let out a light breath, and strove to calm himself. "Then in your view, when the Tartars drive the people into battle, what fine strategy do you have?"

Tang Shiji said again, "Your minister was not at Xincheng—how would I know what to do?"

Zhu Cilang closed his eyes, and only after a long moment slowly opened them. "Tang Shiji, do you understand the art of war? Do you know how battles should be fought?"

Tang Shiji was both frustrated and blunt: "Your minister is a civil official. I do not understand the art of war, much less how to fight."

Zhu Cilang could no longer hold back. He strode forward a few quick steps, pointed at Tang Shiji's nose, and said, "You don't understand a goddamn thing—so what the hell are you even talking about?"

Having said this, Zhu Cilang turned and strode off, returning to the small stool beside the Chongzhen Emperor's imperial seat and sitting down without another glance at him. This idiot had truly read himself stupid, his head stuffed full of sage philosophy—chatting with him was pure nonsense.

The Chongzhen Emperor, for his part, looked at Zhu Cilang beside him and gave him a knowing smile.

Tang Shiji was left completely dumbfounded by the verbal assault. He stood frozen in place, feeling his mind in a muddle, until after a long moment he gave a sudden start and cried, "An affront to decency! This is truly an affront to decency!"

Zhu Cilang, however, paid him not the slightest attention, which stirred murmurs among many officials. The erudite civil officials furrowed their brows, privately thinking the Crown Prince crude, while some Crown Prince partisans and military officers secretly chuckled.