Chapter 78: Tang Tong Comes to the Rescue

"Your Majesty, it is Tang Tong who has arrived at the capital with his royal rescue troops."

After Li Chun finished speaking with utmost respect, the Chongzhen Emperor stood frozen on the spot — so it wasn't Chen Qiyu after all. After pondering for a long while, he asked in a low voice:

"How many men did he bring to rescue the capital? And where are Huang Degong and Zuo Liangyu — why haven't they arrived yet?"

Even before he had traveled through time, the historical Chongzhen Emperor had already issued royal rescue edicts to three men; Tang Tong was only one of them, the other two being Zuo Liangyu, General Who Pacifies Bandits, and Liu Zeqing, Regional Commander of Shandong.

"To answer Your Majesty, the Earl Who Pacifies the West has brought over twenty thousand troops!" As Li Chun said this, his face was full of beautiful hopes for the future — in his heart, it seemed, the capital should now be saved.

Zuo Liangyu had accepted the edict only to ease his own conscience, but there was no way he would actually come to die. Even if he did come, the Chongzhen Emperor would not dare let him enter the capital region, because Zuo's forces were in truth roving bandits wearing the skin of imperial troops.

In other words, Zuo Liangyu not coming to rescue the capital was actually saving the Chongzhen Emperor trouble.

Liu Zeqing was more straightforward — he plainly said his leg was injured and he couldn't come, ignoring the Son of Heaven's messenger entirely, not even honoring the edict, openly showing that he was hoarding his troops and asserting his own power.

Of the three men who received the royal rescue edict, only Tang Tong came to Beijing without a second word, bringing his men along. Relatively speaking, Tang Tong was someone the Chongzhen Emperor still wanted to make use of.

But the Chongzhen Emperor would not be overly optimistic either. In history, after Tang Tong reached Juyong Pass, he surrendered without much of a fight, and later defected to the Jianzhou barbarians — his various deeds made him look like birds of a feather with Jiang Xiang and Wang Chengyin.

There was another saying, that this Tang Tong actually wanted to fight, but when he went out of the pass planning to fight with his back to the river, the supervising eunuch Du Zhizhi surrendered within the pass, and only then did Tang Tong have no choice but to surrender along with him.

The Chongzhen Emperor could not make up his mind for a moment, and after deliberating for a long while, he still said:

"Transmit the edict: permit Tang Tong's royal rescue troops to enter the barracks of the Southern Barbican for rest and reorganization — no need to camp outside the city. Summon Tang Tong to the Platform to see me; I have words to speak with him."

"Also, have the Shenwu Army and the regiment camps keep close watch on every move of Tang Tong's forces. If any news of them harassing the people spreads, report it to me at once!"

Soon, having heard the news, Tang Tong arrived at Huangji Hall — this so-called Platform was actually located in the center-rear position of Huangji Hall.

Seeing the Great Ming Emperor high above him, Tang Tong suddenly felt his own insignificance, and bowed his head to the ground in prostration:

"Your subordinate general Tang Tong pays respects to Your Majesty — ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!"

In history, the Chongzhen Emperor had a deep wariness of Tang Tong, and there was an ancestral rule that royal rescue troops were not permitted to enter the capital, so Tang Tong had only received 4,300 taels of silver and a pile of empty promises.

What was utterly ridiculous was that of this so-called 4,300 taels of silver, what actually reached Tang Tong's hands was only 40 taels — the 4,000 had been tacked on just to sound nice.

One can imagine what a disappointed expression Tang Tong wore at that time — for a general who had come to the capital with burning zeal to rescue it, this was truly a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

In truth, this Tang Tong knew full well that Beijing was already a place of death, yet he still brought his men over without fearing death — that alone made him a rare loyal and courageous general.

Even if the Chongzhen Emperor did not trust him much, he should at least have given the man the honor and face he deserved on the surface.

Who knew — it might work wonders. This Tang Tong, like Bai Guangen, not only refused to surrender to Li Zicheng but instead began to fight to the death for the Great Ming — that would mean one more measure of assurance of survival for the Chongzhen Emperor.

Tang Tong knelt on the ground, his rear end stuck up high; he could not even bear to look at the awe-inspiring Son of Heaven above him without feeling guilty at heart. Hearing no response for a long time, he grew even more anxious and uneasy.

"Rise."

"Your subordinate general obeys the edict!"

Tang Tong was clearly experiencing this situation for the first time, and seemed rather flustered — he actually answered directly with "obey the edict," and after rising, he did not look at all like a great general commanding troops in the field, but rather like a student meeting his teacher.

In fact, as soon as Tang Tong arrived beneath the walls of Beijing, a gracious edict had been issued, saying he was to come to the Platform to see the Emperor, and that the Emperor had further instructions.

At that time, Tang Tong was absolutely delighted in his heart, feeling that he now had tremendous face before others.

It was said that when a great general left the capital on campaign, the Emperor would summon him at the Platform, bestow a banquet of encouragement, and it was even possible he would personally ascend the city tower to see him off. In the past, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, and many other famous generals and ministers had all been summoned by the Chongzhen Emperor at this Platform.

These glories, to the former Tang Tong, had only ever been things heard of, things to envy — they could never have fallen upon the head of an unknown nobody like him. But this time Tang Tong had full confidence that it could not slip away.

Thinking of this, Tang Tong, kneeling in the hall, could not help but smile silently. He thought of how his Tang family had been a military house for generations, loyal to the Zhu family for a hundred years — and that he himself could carry things through from start to finish, becoming the first general to lead troops to the capital in response to the edict, was no disgrace to his ancestors' name.

Though this honor had come somewhat late, at least it had not skipped the Tang family's share. And at this moment, Tang Tong had even already formed the resolve to die fighting for the Great Ming.

"The Earl Who Pacifies the West has entered the capital to rescue the throne — he may be called a fine general of this world, and I am deeply gratified. At this time of national crisis, if a few more fine generals loyal to the sovereign and devoted to the state like the Earl Who Pacifies the West emerged, why worry that the roving bandits cannot be pacified, why worry that the Jianzhou barbarians cannot be destroyed!"

Hearing this, Tang Tong's face actually flushed red, and he knelt, clasping his fists and saying:

"Your Majesty does not scorn your subordinate's baseness, but still summons me at the Platform and bestows loyalty and courage. Such holy grace — your subordinate... truly could not repay it even with ten thousand deaths!"

"Hahaha!" The Chongzhen Emperor laughed loudly several times, stepped down from the dragon throne, helped Tang Tong up, looked deeply at this heroic and stalwart man before him, and said, patting his shoulder:

"The day before yesterday I received a memorial reporting that Liu Fangliang is leading over a hundred thousand roving bandits to Baoding, heading straight for the capital region. Does the Earl Who Pacifies the West dare to fight?"

Tang Tong's expression changed, and then he said in a loud voice:

"Your Majesty need not worry. Your subordinate was born into a military house and ought to vow to serve the state and fight the enemy bravely!" As he spoke, Tang Tong hesitated, and only under the Chongzhen Emperor's repeated pressing did he continue:

"It is only that... the men under your subordinate have followed me in campaigns north and south, yet their pay has never had any source. Armor is desperately lacking, morale is unstable, and fighting strength is a concern."

The Chongzhen Emperor nodded at these words. Though what Tang Tong said had some suspicion of profiteering from a crisis, on careful thought it was indeed the truth, and he smiled at once:

"I thought it was some great matter. In recent days I have already issued the back pay owed to Xuanzhen and Datong — for the officers and men who were first to enter the capital to rescue the throne, it should be even more so."

As he spoke, the Chongzhen Emperor suddenly raised his voice and said toward outside the hall:

"Wang Dehua, draft the edict: have the Armory Directorate and the Armory Bureau take charge of replacing weapons and armor for the Earl Who Pacifies the West's officers and men — any delay will be severely punished!"

"Furthermore, have Ni Yuanlu, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, draw 500,000 taels of silver from the national treasury to make up the military pay, and it must be delivered into the hands of every single officer and soldier. If anyone dares to embezzle military pay, execute his nine clans!"

Hearing this, Tang Tong felt as if he were dreaming. Before he could react, he heard the Chongzhen Emperor speak again:

"Someone, come! Bestow upon the Earl Who Pacifies the West a python robe, a dragon-tiger helmet and armor, and a precious sword. He shall lead the royal rescue troops to Huangcun to join with the rest of the capital region forces. I will personally ascend the tower of the Forbidden City to see off the Earl Who Pacifies the West!"