Chapter 93: The Victory Presentation Ceremony

On the eighth day of the eighth month, under clear skies, a grand victory presentation ceremony was held before the Meridian Gate of Beijing.

The Chongzhen Emperor, wearing the Tongtian Crown and a crimson-purple gauze robe, led the capital's nobles and all civil and military officials up onto the Meridian Gate tower.

Zhu Cilang accompanied Chongzhen at his side, likewise wearing the Tongtian Crown and crimson-purple gauze robe—this Tongtian Crown attire could only be worn by the Emperor and the Crown Prince during major ceremonies.

The Directorate of Palace Eunuchs had set up an imperial throne on the Meridian Gate tower, but the Chongzhen Emperor did not sit; instead he looked down at the Meridian Gate square below.

By this time, the formation before the Meridian Gate was already in place—a great number of Embroidered Uniform Guard officers stood in orderly ranks holding swords, the scene solemn and majestic.

Before the main gate of the Meridian Gate were laid out five categories of war trophies: weapons, armor, banners, severed heads, and captives—mostly seized from the Qing army, and most of the captives were also Qing soldiers.

Only a few high-ranking bandit leaders were kept among the captives, among whom the Dashing King Gao Yingxiang was especially conspicuous—his body was raised high on a great wooden frame, facing north, standing in the captive-presentation position at the center of the square.

North of the captive-presentation position stood the position for the presenting officers, where Sun Chuanting, Huang Degong, Sun Yingyuan, and other meritorious ministers stood.

West of the captive-presentation position stood Feng Ying, Minister of Justice; in the victory presentation ceremony the Ministry of Justice played a major role, as they were the ones to deal with the captives.

"Begin the victory presentation!"

At the cry of the Ministry of Rites officials, the victory presentation ceremony formally began—at once drums and music swelled, ceremonial cannon thundered, all officials stood in solemn silence, celebrating the victory.

Under the direction of the Ministry of Rites officials, Sun Chuanting, Huang Degong, and Sun Yingyuan stepped forward a few paces, faced the Chongzhen Emperor on the Meridian Gate tower, and performed four bows; the generals behind them followed in the bows, then withdrew to their standing positions.

Then the ceremonial usher announced the victory music; the Director of Music of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, a proper eighth-rank officer in charge of musical pitch, raised the flag used to conduct the music and led the musicians to their positions, where the music master knelt and requested the victory music be played.

The Director of Music raised his conducting flag, the band began to play, weaving the music together—this operation was no different from a modern concert, with the conductor waving something around.

After the music stopped, the ceremonial usher read the victory proclamation aloud, and after the reading was finished, it was handed to the Secretariat for promulgation throughout the realm.

At this time, officers guided all the Manchu captives to kneel at the captive-presentation position beside Gao Yingxiang. The haggard Gao Yingxiang glanced at the Jianzhou barbarians kneeling in a row beside him—his originally listless eyes suddenly showed a trace of curiosity.

He had never seen what the Jianzhou barbarians looked like; now that he observed them, he was quite astonished, and thought to himself: What the hell are these things, with queues like rat tails?

One of the Embroidered Uniform Guard officers guarding Gao Yingxiang saw this and laughed: "Brother Dashing King, do you find these Tartars a novelty?"

Gao Yingxiang gave a light snort and said: "They look decent enough on the outside—I thought they'd be something special!"

Gao Yingxiang had been escorted to the capital a few days earlier and had been locked up in the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Imperial Prison ever since. Some of the guards admired him as a true man, and had kept him well fed and watered before his execution by slow slicing; seeing that they had treated him decently, Gao Yingxiang deigned to reply to him.

A Manchu banner officer of the Eight Banners who understood Chinese suddenly turned and glared hatefully at Gao Yingxiang, greatly enraged.

Gao Yingxiang shot him a glare and said: "What, you don't accept it? If I were still in my old temper, daring to look at me like that, I'd have chopped you down with one stroke, you bastard!"

This Manchu banner officer was a notable figure in Manchuria; enraged by Gao Yingxiang's words, he suddenly stood up and lunged forward to strike Gao Yingxiang.

But no sooner had he risen than several Embroidered Uniform Guard officers kicked him over and pinned him to the ground.

Gao Yingxiang spat a glob of saliva at him and said: "Pah! Dog Tartar!"

This commotion drew the sidelong glances of many officials, yet they pretended not to see it—both were men about to die, what was the point of their squabbling!

Still, quite a few officials rather admired Gao Yingxiang. In past victory presentation ceremonies, bandit chiefs who reached the Meridian Gate either wet themselves in fear or shouted wildly to bolster their courage.

But this Gao Yingxiang was very composed and even cooperative—which fully demonstrated his nerve; he truly was a man who could do great things.

Zhu Cilang found it somewhat amusing—these two sides could never have met under normal circumstances; it was only because of his existence that they appeared together at the victory presentation ceremony, and even squared off against each other.

The victory presentation ceremony continued. At this time, Feng Ying, Minister of Justice, said: "I report to Your Majesty: Sun Chuanting, Governor of Shaanxi, presents the bandit chief Gao Yingxiang; Huang Degong, Vice Regional Commander of the Yongwei Camp, presents two hundred slave-bandit captives. Whether to hand them to the execution officers for punishment or to pardon and release them—I await Your Majesty's decision!"

After Feng Ying made his report, he returned to his position. These words were really just a formality—most of these captives were to be killed, unless the Emperor wanted to put on a show by releasing a few of lower rank and exiling them to the frontier or something.

The Chongzhen Emperor swept a glance over Gao Yingxiang and the Qing captives below, a look of disgust flashing in his eyes. He shouted: "Send them all to the Western Market! Gao Yingxiang is to die by slow slicing; the rest, the slave bandits, are all to be beheaded!"

Gao Yingxiang raised his head and looked at Chongzhen on the tower, not the slightest fear in his eyes. He suddenly called out loudly: "Chongzhen! In this life, I have lost. In the next life, if I still can't get enough to eat, I'll rise against you again! Hahahaha!"

Gao Yingxiang threw back his head and laughed, drawing sidelong glances from all the civil and military officials.

Wen Tiren, Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, said disdainfully: "Playing the hero even at the moment of death—truly laughable to the extreme!"

The other officials chuckled in agreement at these words; only Zhu Cilang felt some emotion. Was it Gao Yingxiang's fault? As Gao Yingxiang himself had said, he had rebelled because he couldn't get enough to eat—who, with a full belly and nothing better to do, would risk his head to rebel?

Was it Chongzhen's fault? In the second year of his reign, a catastrophic drought had struck Shaanxi, lasting for several consecutive years, leaving the entire province without a single grain harvest. He had allocated heavy funds for disaster relief and sent Grand Secretariat ministers to pacify the people—yet still he could not stop the common folk from rebelling.

The disaster was too severe, the refugees too numerous. If one truly had to assign blame, first blame the natural calamity, second blame the officials and landlords of every region who, even under such conditions, kept squeezing the peasants until they could no longer survive and rose up one after another.

The Emperor decreed the execution of the captives, and the victory presentation ceremony was half finished; afterward the civil and military officials sang out in formation, the address officer knelt and delivered the congratulatory address, and the congratulations were completed.

Amid the lively sounds of bells and drums, the crowd performed five bows and three kowtows. The Chongzhen Emperor stared blankly at Gao Yingxiang receding into the distance in the prison cart, his heart filled with boundless emotion—when he had first received word that Gao Yingxiang had been captured, his first reaction had been disbelief.

He truly could not believe that this man who had plagued him for seven years would ever have the day he was caught. At the moment he ordered Gao Yingxiang's execution, he began to believe that he could turn the tide and save the situation.

After the victory presentation ceremony ended, the common folk of the capital rushed to the Western Market, joyfully celebrating and crowding around to watch the captives receive their punishments.

The Jianzhou barbarian captives were each beheaded with a single stroke of the blade, their heads piled together with the great mound of ten thousand Jianzhou heads previously severed by the Yongwei Camp.

Gao Yingxiang's execution drew the most attention—he was put to death by slow slicing, enduring 1,560 cuts before he died. And so the Dashing King Gao Yingxiang, who had once galloped across the northwest and swept through the Central Plains, ended his life.

On that day he had risked a surprise attack on Xi'an through Ziwu Valley; had it succeeded, the future would have been boundless. But Sun Chuanting had anticipated him and set an ambush. The two sides fought fiercely for four days at Heishui Valley in the valley, and in the end he failed—bad luck is also a kind of fate.

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