Chapter 9: Borrowing Money from the Empress

Zhu Cilang stood outside Kunning Palace, sending Wu Zhong ahead to announce his arrival. The palace had many rules, and since he had transmigrated into the body of the newborn Crown Prince, he was essentially a native-born Ming dynasty man, already thoroughly familiar with all these regulations.

As the central palace, Kunning Palace was grand and imposing, several times larger than Zhongcui Palace.

As the Crown Prince, Zhu Cilang was supposed to reside in the spacious Ciqing Palace, but because Empress Zhang Yan of the Tianqi Emperor had once helped Chongzhen ascend the throne, the Chongzhen Emperor had given the Ciqing Palace, originally meant for the Crown Prince, to his sister-in-law Empress Zhang as a sign of respect.

Zhu Cilang naturally had no objection to this. This Empress Zhang was dignified and beautiful, with an excellent character, and had always treated Zhu Cilang with great care. He held her in high regard as well.

Before long, a eunuch's high-pitched call came from within Kunning Palace: "Her Majesty the Empress summons His Highness the Crown Prince to an audience!"

Zhu Cilang straightened his vermilion court robes and walked toward the main hall of Kunning Palace.

Empress Zhou was a beautiful and dignified woman, her skin white as jade, only twenty-five years old this year.

According to the ancestral system of the Great Ming, imperial consorts were all selected from humble households, and had to pass through eight rounds of nationwide screening.

Eight rounds of screening — harder than the talent shows of later generations. One can imagine that the beauty of the Ming emperors' consorts was nothing the big donkey-faced women of the Manchu Qing could compare to.

"The Crown Prince has come." Empress Zhou came forward to greet him. The rules of the imperial house had kept mother and son from seeing each other often these past two years.

"Your son Cilang pays his respects to Her Majesty the Empress." Zhu Cilang made a formal deep bow with complete solemnity.

"Since you've finally come, don't be so stiff. Just call me Mother." Empress Zhou smiled, bending slightly and reaching out to support him.

Zhu Cilang smiled as well, and noticed that his younger sister and brother, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, were also in Kunning Palace. They were still young and could stay in Kunning Palace often.

His younger sister, Princess Kunxing Zhu Meichuo, was one year younger than Zhu Cilang — she was the Changping Princess of later braid-drama fame, the nun Jiunan, the one-armed divine nun.

His third younger brother, Zhu Cijiong, was four years old this year, the prototype of the Third Prince Zhu in the later Kangxi Dynasty. Both Zhu Meichuo and Zhu Cijiong were born of the same mother as Zhu Cilang.

After Zhu Cilang took his seat, the two came forward to bow to him, and Zhu Cilang returned each bow in turn.

After finishing their bows, Zhu Meichuo and Zhu Cijiong went off to play nearby, while Zhu Cilang and Empress Zhou sat and chatted about things that had happened over the past few days, mostly concerning studies and daily life. For a time, the atmosphere was warm and harmonious.

Finally, Zhu Cilang found his opportunity and said to Empress Zhou: "Mother, your son would like to get some money from you. Might Mother have some to spare?"

Upon hearing this, Empress Zhou, afraid her son might be short on living expenses and suffer hardship, went without a word to a brocade box and took out some gold and silver.

Zhu Cilang was puzzled — why didn't this beautiful Empress even ask what he needed the money for? All the speeches he had prepared were wasted. She was far too generous.

When Zhu Cilang took the gold and silver Empress Zhou handed over and looked at it, he estimated it was only a few hundred taels of silver, and was instantly dumbfounded. What could this even do? It wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth — only enough for tips. Not a single proper matter could be accomplished with it.

Zhu Cilang blinked and said: "Mother is usually such a straightforward person — why is she so stingy when it comes to money?"

Empress Zhou rolled her beautiful eyes at that and said: "As the heir apparent, you can't go spending money lavishly. Go on, how much do you want?" This time Empress Zhou was being very generous.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang said in a low voice: "Mother, at least four or five thousand taels, surely."

Empress Zhou grew anxious at once: "You little brat, what do you need that much silver for?"

Zhu Cilang glanced at Empress Zhou, then continued: "Your son has now taken command of the Yongwei Camp. As the Son of Heaven's personal troops, they are supported by funds from His Majesty Father's privy purse. Now that Father's privy purse is empty, your son can only borrow from Mother."

Zhu Cilang naturally dared not say that he was using the money to activate the Embroidered Uniform Guard to develop intelligence and monitor officials — if word of that reached the Emperor Father's ears, the Chongzhen Emperor would probably leap up and curse: "I don't even dare to spy on my officials, but you're quite something, boy — do you want to turn the world upside down?"

Empress Zhou said nothing after hearing this. She understood her husband's difficulties better than anyone. Ever since the roving bandits had risen everywhere last year, the court had no money left, and even the privy purse had been nearly drained.

Empress Zhou said nothing more, only turned around and brought out all her private savings along with her gold and silver jewelry, placing them before Zhu Cilang. She said: "All of Mother's possessions are here. Take them all. Mother knows you've been clever and sensible since you were small, and that you'll do great things in the future. Mother has only one thing to say: be careful in all things. What can be done, do it; what cannot be done, step back. Do not force matters."

After hearing Empress Zhou's words, Zhu Cilang was somewhat moved. The history books only recorded that Empress Zhou was virtuous, but he never expected her to be so righteous, donating all her possessions.

Zhu Cilang did not put on airs. He had Wu Zhong take the valuables, and said seriously: "Mother, rest assured. Within a few months, your son will return every single one of these items to you."

Empress Zhou looked at his earnest expression and laughed: "My son has truly accomplished things. No wonder your Father Emperor said you've grown up."

Seeing that she seemed unconvinced, Zhu Cilang did not explain and could only smile along.

Zhu Cilang chatted with Empress Zhou for a while longer before rising to take his leave.

The smile on Empress Zhou's face quickly froze, and she said with some regret: "Mother had wanted to keep you for dinner."

Seeing his mother's expression, Zhu Cilang quickly said: "Mother, be at ease. Your son will come to pay his respects another day."

After leaving Kunning Palace, Zhu Cilang was still fairly pleased. Now he had money in hand — the gold and silver Empress Zhou had given was worth at least five thousand taels of silver.

Zhu Cilang had Xu Sheng deliver three thousand taels of silver, and sent word to Li Tingbiao to prioritize investigating Duke of Cheng Zhu Chunchen and Supervising Secretary of the Military Bureau Guang Shiheng.

These two scoundrels were in cahoots, putting obstacles in his way — it was time to make a move against them.

In just two days, Zhu Cilang received another message from Li Tingbiao, saying that through their covert investigation of Duke of Cheng Zhu Chunchen, they had uncovered quite a bit of explosive material.

For instance, the Duke of Cheng had used his power to forcibly take concubines, seized people's estates and fields, and accepted bribes from Capital Camps officers.

The most explosive of all was that Zhu Chunchen took pay for soldiers who didn't exist, cooked the books, and secretly colluded with several senior eunuchs of the Armory Bureau to cut corners and embezzle funds meant for manufacturing firearms.

What surprised Zhu Cilang even more was that Li Tingbiao had actually gotten his hands on the account ledgers.

"This old Embroidered Uniform Guard is truly terrifying." Zhu Cilang was shaken inwardly, recalling the descriptions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard from later generations.

It was said that during the Hongwu era, the Embroidered Uniform Guard served as secret agents monitoring officials — Grand Secretary Song Lian's menu when hosting guests at home, the Imperial Academy Chancellor's angry expression at home, even trivial matters like an official losing a 20,000 tile while playing mahjong with his wife and concubines at home — Zhu Yuanzhang knew all of it.

"Still, I like it!"

As one in power, Zhu Cilang naturally wished to hold such a trump card in his hand, able to see the cards in his opponents' hands.

With criminal evidence against Duke of Cheng Zhu Chunchen in hand, how should he handle it? Zhu Cilang's mind raced, considering all the possible consequences.

Hand it to the Chongzhen Emperor to finish off Zhu Chunchen? Zhu Cilang shook his head and rejected that idea. It would indeed be satisfying, but what then? Would the Capital Camps smoothly fall under his command? There would probably still be people at court trying to stop him.

And what about Zhu Chunchen's family property? If the Emperor Father confiscated it, he wouldn't get a single coin. Zhu Cilang was in desperate need of money right now.

Zhu Cilang rubbed his chin with his right hand, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

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Note: Some say Zhu Meichuo's birth mother was Consort Wang Shun. This claim is actually a fabricated plot point from the 1996 book "Tianwen: Spring and Autumn of the Late Ming" by Taiwanese author Lin Peifen, but it has since been cited many times.

In the early Qing, when compiling the Ming history, Hanlin reviser Wang Ji wrote in the "Chongzhen Changbian": "In the third year of Chongzhen (1630), on the jiaxu day of the tenth month, the Emperor's first daughter was born, delivered by the central palace."

There are a few uncommon characters in this chapter that I've marked with pinyin. It's not because I'm afraid you won't recognize them and it'll affect your reading, haha — don't misunderstand. Just pretend I'm the one who doesn't know them, so I marked them.

Hahaha *hic*