Chapter 149: The Harem Rescue Squad

Consort Dowager Liu of Cining Palace was the last surviving widow of the Wanli Emperor, two generations senior to Chongzhen. She was actually five years older than the Wanli Emperor himself, and this year she had turned eighty.

Consort Dowager Liu treated every imperial prince with great kindness, and since the palace had neither an Empress Dowager nor a Grand Empress Dowager, both the Tianqi Emperor and Chongzhen regarded her as their grandmother. From the first year of Tianqi, Consort Dowager Liu had held the Empress's seal, and she had always been the one in charge of the Forbidden City's harem.

Back when the Tianqi Emperor was selecting his Empress, it was she who presided and settled on Empress Zhang. The Chongzhen Emperor's Empress Zhou had also been chosen by the old consort dowager back then.

However, the old consort dowager was a low-key person who never fought for power. In the harem she considered the Empress's interests in everything, which made everyone in the palace hold her in great esteem.

At this moment in Cining Palace, the four highest-ranking figures in the Forbidden City had all gathered: Consort Dowager Liu, the Chongzhen Emperor, Empress Zhou, and the imperial sister-in-law Empress Zhang.

Three people, six eyes, stared fixedly at Chongzhen. Chongzhen suddenly found himself the focus of the struggle and for a moment could only keep his mouth shut.

Empress Zhang spoke first: "The Crown Prince, at such a young age, was sent by you to the battlefield to fight the Jianzhou barbarians. We never agreed with this in the first place, but since Your Majesty's sacred decree had already been issued, there was nothing to be done. Now that the Crown Prince has just achieved some results, is this how you treat him?"

Chongzhen was just about to speak when Consort Dowager Liu also said: "Emperor, I have no wish to meddle in state affairs. Let us speak of family matters. The Crown Prince has repeatedly rendered great service. If you do not reward him but instead punish him, that is rather hard to justify."

Chongzhen said respectfully: "I beg Consort Dowager to calm her anger. The Crown Prince drew his blade and chased after a Censor in open view in the great audience hall. For such a grave breach of decorum, if I do not punish him, the court officials will certainly not let the matter rest."

Zhang Yan said furiously: "Those outside officials are not only incompetent, they are also jealous of the capable. If they had any real ability, how could they have let the Jianzhou barbarians fight all the way to the walls of Beijing? How could there be so many refugees around the capital? Is this the ability with which they assist the sovereign?"

She hated the eunuch faction to the bone. Back then, her pregnancy had been destroyed by Wei Zhongxian's scheming, and she had long since slapped the label of the eunuch faction on the current Chief Grand Secretary, Wen Tiren. With this latest move against the Crown Prince, her hatred burned from head to toe.

Chongzhen very much wanted to rebut a few points, but he knew better than to argue. He understood that trying to reason with several high-ranking women was somewhat unrealistic, so he could only keep his mouth shut.

Empress Zhou had not spoken the whole time. She could not openly rebuke her own husband, but anyone could see the displeasure in Empress Zhou's eyes.

Consort Dowager Liu was not as agitated as Empress Zhang. She was an old lady of over eighty now — if she got too agitated, she could not bear it. She said unhurriedly: "Emperor, though you possess the grand ambitions of the Hongwu Emperor, you lack his breadth of mind. The Hongwu Emperor could trust Crown Prince Yiwen unconditionally, but you cannot."

At the mention of Crown Prince Yiwen, Chongzhen felt a sudden clarity. That was the first Crown Prince of the Great Ming, the eldest son of the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, named Zhu Biao. Zhu Yuanzhang had made him Crown Prince as soon as he ascended the throne.

After Zhu Biao reached adulthood, whenever Zhu Yuanzhang personally campaigned at the front or had nothing to do, he would hand all state affairs over to the Crown Prince to manage, entrusting him with all power and permitting him to exercise any power of the Emperor.

In all the dynasties past, this kind of situation was basically impossible. When an emperor went on tour or personally campaigned, he would indeed have the Crown Prince serve as Regent, but he would usually leave behind a contingency — such as keeping some ministers or establishing many rules to restrict the Crown Prince's power. To put it plainly, that was distrust.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not like that. He had ten thousand reassurances in Crown Prince Zhu Biao. Every time he went out, he not only had Zhu Biao serve as Regent, but also told him cordially: use the Emperor's power freely, and handle or appoint the great and important ministers of the court as you see fit.

Such a thing had happened in this very dynasty, and it deeply moved Chongzhen, who aspired with all his heart to be a wise and sagely sovereign.

Consort Dowager Liu continued: "This realm will belong to the Crown Prince sooner or later. Moreover, the Crown Prince is still young — how could he harbor thoughts of rebellion as the outside officials claim? In over two hundred years of the Great Ming, there has never yet been a Crown Prince who rebelled. Emperor, when you were seven years old, did you have any desire to seize the Wanli Emperor's realm?"

At these words, the Chongzhen Emperor was startled. Only Consort Dowager Liu dared to say such a thing — if anyone else dared, it would be utterly treasonous.

Chongzhen did not grow angry. Instead, it stirred up tragic and sorrowful memories of the past. His birth mother had been merely a concubine-maid of his deadbeat father. When he was five years old, his birth mother, Lady Liu, had been beaten to death with a staff by his deadbeat father during one of his fits of madness.

Zhu Youjian, only five years old, had to be raised by his stepmother, Consort Li (known as Western Li). A few years later, Western Li gave birth to a daughter and could no longer manage his care, so Zhu Youjian was transferred to another stepmother, Consort Li of Zhuang (Eastern Li), to be raised.

However, before many more years passed, Consort Li of Zhuang was mistreated by Ke Shi, the wet nurse of the Tianqi Emperor, and eventually died of pent-up grief at only thirty-seven. Chongzhen had become a motherless child once again.

The Chongzhen Emperor's path of growing up could truly be called miserable. No wonder that as soon as he became emperor, he immediately ordered Ke Shi to be executed by slow slicing.

Thinking of his cold-blooded deadbeat father, and again of the birth mother buried deep in his memory, Chongzhen suddenly felt his nose sting. He turned around, drew a breath, and said: "I was wrong. I should not have trusted outside officials and doubted my own flesh and blood."

Seeing that the Chongzhen Emperor, who never admitted fault, had actually, for the first time ever, opened his mouth to admit he was wrong, the several women were all stunned for a moment.

Empress Zhang Yan of Yi'an was just about to speak again when Chongzhen had already risen and walked toward the door, saying: "I will not depose the Crown Prince. I hope Consort Dowager and my imperial sister-in-law can rest easy."

Leaving Cining Palace, Chongzhen did not go back to Wenhua Hall but returned to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. He shut himself alone in the inner chamber, gazing at the portrait of his birth mother, Empress Dowager Xiaochun, his heart filled with grief.

Zhu Youjian was merely a young man in his twenties. Though he had become emperor, he still cared extremely deeply about family affection.

Back when he had been enfeoffed as Prince Xin, because his birth mother Lady Liu had died under unclear circumstances, he did not dare to openly offer sacrifices to his mother. He could only secretly inquire of eunuchs about the location of his mother's burial and stealthily take some money to have attendants sweep her grave and offer sacrifices.

At seventeen, his elder brother, the Xizong Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youjiao, died young without a son and passed the throne to him. Only then could Zhu Youjian truly mourn his mother in the open. He posthumously honored his birth mother Lady Liu as "Empress Dowager Xiaochun," moved her from her simple grave, and had her buried together with his father, Emperor Guangzong, in Qingling.

Empress Dowager Xiaochun had left no portrait behind, so Chongzhen racked his brains to find someone to paint one. He found Consort Fu Yi, who had once been a concubine of Emperor Guangzong alongside Empress Dowager Xiaochun and had been on excellent terms with her. He had her search the palace for someone who resembled the late Empress Dowager Xiaochun, and also had the Empress Dowager's mother, the Lady of Ying State, give instructions for the painter to make corrections. In this way, he obtained a portrait of Empress Dowager Xiaochun.

After the portrait was completed, Chongzhen had it welcomed into the palace with solemn pageantry through the Zhengyang Gate. Chongzhen knelt in welcome at the Meridian Gate, and the portrait was hung within the palace, where elderly palace maids were invited to view it.

Some said it looked very much like the late Empress Dowager Xiaochun, and others said it did not. When Chongzhen heard this, tears poured down like rain, and everyone in the harem was moved to tears along with him.

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Although the imperial family knows no kinship, based on my understanding of Chongzhen, I find that he still placed considerable weight on family affection. Moreover, since the founding of the Ming dynasty, there had never yet been a case of a Crown Prince being deposed (deposing one's own son — the Jingtai Emperor had deposed his elder brother's son and made his own son Crown Prince). Chongzhen was merely seizing the opportunity to back down gracefully.