Chapter 45: The Yongwei Camp Marches Out

When Empress Zhou received the news that the Crown Prince had awakened, she rushed from Ganqing Palace to Kunning Palace at the first possible moment.

Gazing at Zhu Cilang's cheeks, which had lost all their former luster, and those lifeless eyes, Empress Zhou silently shed tears of heartache.

She consoled him softly: "Crown Prince, your father the Emperor only acts for your own good, worried for your safety. Your mother knows you are capable, but the Yongwei Camp in your hands numbers only five thousand men, and the new camp outside the city has just been drilled and formed—it will be a long time before they can become battle-ready troops. What will you use to hold back the Jianzhou barbarians' army?"

Zhu Cilang said nothing. He knew it was useless to discuss such matters with Empress Zhou, so he merely asked: "I heard from my sister that Father collapsed. How is he?"

Empress Zhou let out a sigh and said: "The Tianqi Emperor's Deling mausoleum was burned by the Jianzhou barbarians. Your father fainted upon receiving the news, and your aunt the Empress is also crying and threatening to take her own life."

On hearing this, Zhu Cilang's fingers clenched tightly. Burning an imperial mausoleum—only such a beastly army could do such a thing. Throughout every dynasty, only ignorant and savage armies committed such acts—the Mongol soldiers who once burned the Western Xia imperial tombs, the Jin soldiers who burned the Northern Song imperial tombs, and now these Manchu Qing Jianzhou barbarians!

Afterwards, Empress Zhou brought Zhu Cilang to Ganqing Palace, where several imperial physicians were gathered around the Chongzhen Emperor, observing him continuously and taking his pulse from time to time.

Zhu Cilang spoke up and asked: "Imperial physicians, how is His Majesty my father?"

The imperial physicians clasped their hands and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, His Majesty has suffered a seizure from shock. He will need several days of rest before he can awaken."

Zhu Cilang nodded. Looking at the slumbering Chongzhen Emperor, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. Afterwards, under the pretext of visiting his aunt the Empress, he left Ganqing Palace and arrived at Duanben Palace.

Zhang Yan, the Tianqi Emperor's Empress—this originally beautiful and kind-hearted mother of the nation—had by now cried herself into a tear-soaked wreck, endlessly murmuring about the late emperor and Deling. The sight of it broke Zhu Cilang's heart.

Zhu Cilang clenched both hands tightly and said: "I will make certain these Qing dogs die without even a place to bury their bones!"

After going in to console Empress Zhang for a while, Zhu Cilang left Duanben Palace. He did not return to Ganqing Palace, but instead left the palace and headed straight for the Yongwei Camp.

Of course, he had no thought of seizing power or ascending the throne—that would be far too unrealistic, nothing short of seeking his own death. Moreover, the Chongzhen Emperor had merely fallen unconscious from neural shock to the brain; there was no danger to his life whatsoever.

Zhu Cilang wanted to use these few days of his father's unconsciousness to lead troops out of the city to meet the enemy.

Inside the main camp of the Yongwei Camp in the imperial city.

Zhu Cilang wore a suit of golden battle armor engraved with five-clawed golden dragons, draped in a red cape, seated upright upon the main seat of the central command tent.

All the officers of the Yongwei Camp—including the two army supervisors Lu Jiude and Liu Yuanbin, the two Assistant Regional Commanders Huang Degong and Sun Yingyuan, as well as several Mobile Corps Commanders, Battalion Commanders, and every Company Commander—had all gathered in the tent.

Every officer was clad in fine armor, wearing cloud-wing helmets, belted with leather waistbands, swords hanging at their sides, their bearing stern and dignified as they stood in formation below the head of the tent, silently awaiting Zhu Cilang's orders.

Zhu Cilang rose to his feet, swept his gaze across the assembled men, and said in a deep voice: "The slave bandits are burning, killing, and plundering throughout the capital region, committing every conceivable atrocity. We are the Son of Heaven's personal troops—should we fight or not?"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

All the officers of the Yongwei Camp raised their arms and roared. For a moment, the armor scales inside the tent flashed brightly and clattered loudly, and from the officers' sleeves, glimpses of the bright red python robes beneath were revealed.

Each and every one of them was rubbing their fists and clenching their palms, carrying a bold and confident air, ready at any moment for a great battle. Zhu Cilang nodded inwardly as he watched, then continued: "This palace holds no imperial edict or dispatch order. Are you all still willing to follow me out of the city to meet the enemy?"

The men hesitated somewhat. As the Son of Heaven's personal troops, they had always obeyed only the imperial command. Although the Crown Prince was Governor-General of the Yongwei Camp and had earned their conviction, without an imperial order to dispatch them, this suddenly put them in a difficult spot.

Sun Yingyuan was the first to step forward, clasping his hands and saying: "Your subordinate is willing to follow Your Highness, to shed his last drop of blood for the Great Ming and for Your Highness!"

Zhu Cilang had anticipated this situation might arise, so he had first arranged for Sun Yingyuan and Liu Yuanbin to be transferred over from the new city, precisely so they could lend their firm support.

Sun Yingyuan had gone from being a Capital Camps Assistant Regional Commander of the second rank, transferred by the Crown Prince to the Eastern Palace's Troop Command Bureau as a Bureau Director of the fifth rank while concurrently serving as commander of the Eastern Palace guard. On paper, his rank had been lowered, but he knew full well in his own heart that this was a chance to leap to heaven in a single step.

Moreover, having followed Zhu Cilang for so long, he had come to deeply admire this Crown Prince's abilities, and so Sun Yingyuan obeyed this Crown Prince's decisions unconditionally.

Sun Yingyuan had stepped out to support him, but Liu Yuanbin hesitated. He was a eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial, and in his heart of hearts, he remained loyal to the Emperor.

Zhu Cilang took note of Liu Yuanbin's indecision, yet his face showed nothing. He merely looked calmly at the assembled officers, and for a moment the atmosphere in the tent grew stifling.

At this moment, Huang Degong jumped out and broke the strange atmosphere, saying: "Your Highness, just give the word—this old Huang will be the first to take up his blade and chop that bastard Ajige to pieces!"

Lu Jiude also came forward to declare his stance: "Your Highness, give the order! We are willing to die for the Great Ming!"

With both the commanding general and the supervisors having declared their positions, the remaining officers followed suit one after another, expressing their willingness to die for the Great Ming.

At this point, Zhu Cilang finally felt at ease in his heart. He announced in a loud voice: "Transmit the order—the entire Yongwei Camp is to enter a state of combat readiness immediately, prepared to march out at any moment!"

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In this era, the arrival of Qing soldiers was equivalent to—and even worse than—the Japanese devils entering a village in later times.

Comparing the Japanese devils to the Qing soldiers of this era almost feels like whitewashing the Japanese devils. The Japanese devils burned, killed, and plundered—the Qing soldiers did all of that too, and on top of it, they abducted Great Ming commoners to be their slaves.

When the news of Changping's fall was announced, although many people had been mentally prepared for it, it still stirred a wave of panic among the soldiers and civilians of the capital.

Many in the Capital Camps had experienced the Jisi Incident. That was in the second year of Chongzhen, when Hong Taiji led a great army to invade the Ming, driving straight to the walls of Beijing. Although the Ming army ultimately lifted the crisis at the capital, the scenes of the Jianzhou barbarian army plundering the capital region remained vivid in their memories.

Quite a few people had fought against the Jianzhou barbarians and knew well how formidable they were, so in their hearts they were already cowed from the start.

The street leading to Xizhi Gate suddenly grew much quieter, when abruptly from the east came the sound of a large army marching in orderly ranks.

Many people thought they had misheard, but listening more carefully, the sound grew closer and closer, punctuated by waves of earth-shaking cries of "Ten thousand victories!"—a sound that made the entire city tremble.

Many commoners in Beijing city were curious. Though they did not know where this army had come from, judging by the shouts, it should be Ming troops.

Amid the gazes of the many commoners, a great red dragon banner woven with gold thread finally appeared on Xizhi Gate Street. Beneath this enormous dragon banner, ranks of soldiers clad in iron armor advanced in orderly fashion.

It was a long marching square formation, arranged with perfect precision. Within the formation, spearmen and musketeers held their weapons resting against their shoulders, striding forward with heads held high—spears and firearms like a forest, like a moving fortress.

"Shua! Shua! Shua!"

Every step taken by the soldiers in this giant square formation was perfectly uniform, accompanied by the heavy sound of tramping feet.

At the center of the formation, Zhu Cilang, clad in golden armor and draped in a bright red cape, rode a fine steed. Around him were the officers of the Yongwei Camp and a large contingent of cavalry.

The iron-armored cavalrymen had their lance shafts inserted into their saddle holsters. Looking out, the lances were all of identical length, forming a dense and awe-inspiring forest of spears, while the thunderous rumble of iron hooves never ceased.

After the cavalry came the Yongwei Camp's infantry, marching in orderly ranks unit after unit, leaving the capital's commoners staring in stunned amazement. This army radiated such an imposing sharpness that they had never seen the like before.

Only a few elderly men vaguely recalled that, some fifty-odd years earlier, they too had seen such an army in the capital.

That was the army led by a General surnamed Qi when he entered the capital to present captives. That army's discipline and sharpness were very similar to the troops before them now—unforgettable at first sight. That army, it seemed, was called—the Qi Family Army!

Of course, the present Yongwei Camp could not yet compare with the Qi Family Army. The Qi Family Army's four thousand battle-hardened troops, from their founding onward, won every battle they fought, beheading a total of one hundred fifty thousand enemy heads—the strongest army in East Asia over two centuries.

The Qi Family Army had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood; the military bearing imbued with such overwhelming killing intent was still something the current Yongwei Camp could not match.

The commoners on both sides of Xizhi Gate Street whispered among themselves, their spirits running high. The capital actually still had such a powerful army stationed within it—many people felt reassured, believing that holding the capital was now no problem. Perhaps not just defending the city, but even driving back the Jianzhou barbarians would be no trouble at all.

As the great army marched past, the commoners lining both sides of the street shouted their loud approval at the troops, wave after wave of cheers rising higher and higher like the tide.

Faced with the people's shouts and praise, the Yongwei Camp's uniform footsteps did not change in the slightest. They held their heads high, eyes fixed straight ahead, their marching steps remaining just as perfectly synchronized—which only further stirred the crowd's enthusiasm.