Chapter 80: Winning People's Hearts

Tang Tong walked out of Huangji Hall, and Li Chun, who was standing at attention outside the door, immediately said with a smile:

"Congratulations to the Earl of Dingxi, felicitations to the Earl of Dingxi. From now on, ennobling your wife and blessing your sons, achieving merit and fame—all will be within easy reach. This servant truly envies you."

Hearing this, Tang Tong's stride unconsciously widened a bit. Suddenly remembering something, he turned back and said with a smile:

"That my Tang family can receive His Majesty's favor is all thanks to the promotion of Director Wang of the Eastern Depot. One favorable word from Director Wang before His Majesty is worth ten of mine."

Li Chun walked a few steps alongside Tang Tong. Hearing this, he gave an inscrutable smile and waved his hand forward, saying:

"This servant can only escort you this far. The road ahead—well, that depends on how the Earl of Dingxi chooses to walk it."

Although the man before him was merely a lowly attendant eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, anyone who could serve year-round at the side of the Chongzhen Emperor was surely someone of the utmost trust—not to mention that behind the Directorate of Ceremonial stood a behemoth.

Behind Tang Tong's profuse thanks to Li Chun was, in reality, a bowing of the head to the power of the depot guards and the eunuchs.

Nowadays, within the capital, the "Three Depots and One Guard" stood side by side, monitoring all civil and military officials throughout the court. At the slightest stir within the capital, the depot guards would know immediately and make corresponding deployments at once—truly terrifying.

The depot guard agents were arresting and killing Donglin scholars in droves. The Embroidered Uniform Guard, just the same, under the Chongzhen Emperor's deliberate or inadvertent hints, pointed their spears directly at the Donglin Faction, that "court filled with the upright."

In the early Chongzhen years, ministers who had been dismissed were recalled to the capital one after another—some restored to their former posts, some given new appointments—causing the other factional forces in the court to expand rapidly. The eunuch faction, led by Wang Cheng'en, was even catching up to the Nine Thousand Years of the Tianqi era.

Tang Tong fought bloody battles outside, yet these eunuchs could cast him into an abyss of utter ruin with a single casual word whispered in the emperor's ear. To Tang Tong, the Donglin Faction was hateful enough, but they were nothing compared to the army supervisors who knew nothing of warfare yet still tried to call the shots.

Leaving Huangji Hall, Tang Tong's next step was to go straight to the military camp to tell his soldiers the good news. Along the way, Tang Tong was radiant with vigor, as if he were a different man.

Having seen the Chongzhen Emperor today, Tang Tong had thoroughly grasped the situation and had also reached a decision regarding his own future allegiance.

He was glad he had not hoarded his troops and watched from the sidelines like Zuo Liangyu and Liu Zeqing—those who stayed put to watch the outcome between Ming and Shun, thinking themselves clever, were in truth the real fools.

When two titans clash, you must choose a side.

If you don't choose Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng will destroy you in passing when he comes through. If you don't choose Chongzhen, then you'd best surrender quickly—otherwise, once Li Zicheng's great army arrives, things won't be so easy to negotiate.

In truth, before coming, Tang Tong had been both expectant and anxious. What he expected was how the Chongzhen Emperor would treat him and the soldiers under his command; what he was anxious about was naturally whether choosing the court would bring him what he wanted.

In other words, at that time, Tang Tong's loyalty to the Ming was extremely fragile—it needed a shot of cardiac stimulant.

Yet the historical Chongzhen Emperor had neither given Tang Tong the honor of a loyal minister dying for his principles, nor given the soldiers who came to defend the capital the treatment they deserved—he had not even allowed them into the capital.

To say that the Chongzhen Emperor had, step by step, pushed Tang Tong into Li Zicheng's arms is not an exaggeration—but the present situation was clearly not like that.

Tang Tong knew full well that before him stood the mighty roving bandits, yet he had still been the first to come without hesitation. Today, here, he had already obtained everything he wanted from the court.

Walking along the road to the military camp, Tang Tong gazed upon this great Ming capital, his heart surging with ten thousand emotions.

Tang Tong thought to himself: his Tang family had worked for the Great Ming for over two hundred years across generations, worthy of being called a house of loyalty and righteousness. If, in his generation, he were to surrender outright, it would be too disgraceful.

At this moment of national ruin and familial destruction, if he could don the python robe, wear the imperially bestowed sword at his waist, and lead the royal rescue army to die fighting at the foot of the capital, he would count as a loyal minister and good general who died for his country—worthy of the Tang family's centuries of martial lineage.

Tang Tong knew in his heart that whether or not the Great Ming could be preserved this time, today's choice might well be the only shining moment of his entire life.

Walking along, Tang Tong soon saw the Capital Camps' drill ground and heard the thundering footsteps of the camp soldiers within, along with their somewhat orderly shouts. He was immediately reminded of the scene not long ago when Grand Secretary Li Jiantai led the army out on the emperor's behalf, and the emperor himself ascended the city tower to see him off.

Li Jiantai truly lived up to his reputation as a blustering civil official—before the emperor, he blew boasts to the heavens. But once out of the city, upon learning that the Shun army was coming from the west, he immediately fled south with his men, and no one could call him back.

That fellow was fleeing south when he suddenly heard that a detached force of the Shun army lay ahead—namely Liu Fangliang, who had by now fought his way to the Baoding area. Only then did he realize the roving bandits were advancing on two fronts.

Then this Li Jiantai did something that even Tang Tong felt ashamed on his behalf—the bastard actually avoided Liu Fangliang again and ran headlong toward the middle without looking back.

Speaking of it, his own performance this time was far better than Li Jiantai's. The Chongzhen Emperor had said he would personally see off him and his soldiers—just thinking about that scene made him excited beyond measure.

"Soldiers, I have good news to tell you all!"

Seeing Tang Tong return from the palace in high spirits, the soldiers resting in the left army camp within the barbican all began murmuring among themselves.

"What good news!"

"Marshal, don't keep us in suspense—you're killing us!"

"Look at the Marshal looking like he's found a second spring—I bet the Emperor gave him a Princess for a wife!"

"Hahaha." Seeing the soldiers burst into laughter, Tang Tong's face turned bright red. Pointing at the household retainer who had just spoken, he shouted:

"You little bastard, what nonsense are you spouting? A Princess is a delicate flower of gold and jade—how could a crude military man like me ever dare to touch such a thing? Say one more word and I'll chop you down with my blade!"

Though he said this, the retainer was not afraid in the least and burst into laughter again, knowing full well that Tang Tong was just joking with them.

Everyone laughed heartily, and the hearts that had been rising and falling finally settled down.

On the way here, everyone could clearly see the worried expression on their Marshal's face. Now it was completely the opposite—surely this was indeed momentous good news.

After the Chongzhen Emperor met Tang Tong at the platform, he immediately summoned Wu Youke to the warm pavilion. It was said he had already thought of a method to contain the plague outbreak in the capital region. And the royal rescue soldiers, upon hearing what Tang Tong had said, erupted like a boiling pot!

The soldiers looked at the shabby weapons in their hands and the armor on their bodies that offered virtually no protection and was extremely ugly in style—all of them were eagerly anticipating the brand-new armor and weapons Tang Tong had just described.

Since ancient times, what did men join the army for?

Those with grander ambitions, like generals such as Tang Tong, valued most the family reputation, along with such ethereal things as being enfeoffed as lords or marquises, ennobling their wives and blessing their sons.

For ordinary soldiers in the late Ming, their thoughts were far simpler—to seek food and clothing in this chaotic world, to be able to support their families and keep them from starving to death. That was all.

Li Zicheng had been beaten into a bare commander several times, yet he could rapidly rise again. What did he rely on? Precisely because he could give those who followed him a meal to eat, because he could give the refugees the most basic benefits.

Ridiculous as it may sound, those benefits might only be an extremely crude place to live, or even just meals that came sporadically.

Yet even such benefits were infinitely better than the court's endless verbal promises that offered no hope whatsoever. And it was precisely such benefits that could make vast numbers of starving people risk their heads to follow Li Zicheng through life and death, conquering cities and seizing territory for him.

This simple, easy-to-understand principle is called winning people's hearts.