Chapter 429: Deyue

Early autumn. The northern air had turned cool, and the bricks, tiles, grass, and trees of the Forbidden City were all dyed golden yellow.

Beneath the corridor eaves, the warm evening sunlight streamed through the layered gaps between crimson pillars, casting tracks of golden light upon the wooden floor.

The Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian, wore a bright yellow robe with the Twelve Ornaments and strolled between light and shadow with a tabby cat cradled in his arms. The ginkgo leaves covering the ground outside the hall reminded him and his empire that they had survived yet another difficult year.

In truth, the situation this year was not too terrible compared to before.

Although the Shandong rebel army had crossed the sea to surrender to the Eastern Brigands, the famous king among the northern brigands had already been eliminated. The court had strengthened military preparations at Xuanfu, formed an encirclement of the rebel armies across the Taihang Mountains, Zhenbao, and Henan, and even won a minor victory in Liaodong.

The Shandong rebel army was Kong Youde, who in the fourth month of this year led over ten thousand soldiers and their families across the sea to defect to the Later Jin. The famous king among the northern brigands was Ligdan Khan; the Ming court's final intelligence on the Chahar was that he had plunged headlong into Liu Chengzong's embrace.

Those encircled in Shanxi, Northern Zhili, and Henan were the various rebel kings from Shaanxi. Last year the Yellow River had burst its banks at Mengjin Ford, and this year it flooded again. A turning point in the war could be expected by next year.

As for strengthening military preparations at Xuanfu, although the scourge of the northern brigands had been eliminated, court officials argued that the Later Jin could likewise invade through Xuanfu. To enhance defensive capabilities, two hundred and sixty-nine cannons were distributed to the various circuits of Xuanfu, including one hundred and thirty-seven Western-style cannons and forty-eight Red Barbarian Brigand-Subduing Cannons.

In addition, there were one hundred seventy thousand jin of gunpowder, over four hundred thirty thousand large and small lead balls, and over nine hundred fifty thousand large and small iron balls.

As for the minor victory in Liaodong, the Eastern Brigands had raided the border in autumn. Zu Dashou, having learned that the Later Jin army was encamped thirty li from Ningyuan, dispatched Encampment Commanding Officer Shi Dayong with three thousand troops to lie in ambush and prevent them from raiding Xingshui Fort.

This force included Battalion Commanders Zu Zeyuan, Zu Keyong, Wang Tingchen, and Li Juzheng; Company Commander Qian Youlu; Militia Garrison Encampment Commanding Officer Wang Zhidong; various Battalion Commanders Zhang Tao and Zhang Fengxiang; and Company Commanders Cheng Jiru and Zhou Yuji, among others.

The next day, several hundred Jin vanguard troops indeed raided Xingshui Fort and collided with Commander Cui Shijie and Squad Commander Zhang Chengliang, who had been leading scouts beyond the perimeter. After being defeated, they turned and retreated. During the scouts' pursuit, two thousand Jin ambushers charged out, whereupon two thousand Ming ambushers also surged forth and drove the enemy back.

The battle actually went rather well, but the Chongzhen Emperor was very angry. Partly because, despite the good outcome, the commanding officer Shi Dayong had died in the fray — though that was secondary.

More importantly, capturing tongues no longer yielded real intelligence.

As the war between the two sides grew ever more intense, the Eastern Brigand soldiers became increasingly resolute in their willingness to die. Matters that could once be clarified by capturing a single tongue now, in this battle, saw dozens of tongues taken, yet the enemy's troop strength could not be ascertained.

Among those captured prisoners, the reported strength of the Jin raiding army fluctuated between five hundred and thirty thousand, making it impossible to discern which was true and which was false.

This meant the Chongzhen Emperor... could only trust the frontline generals.

This matter greatly displeased the Emperor. He knew he ought to trust the frontline generals, but the problem was that the frontline general was Zu Dashou, and his feelings toward Zu Dashou were extremely complicated.

To say this man was disobedient — well, he certainly was.

During the Jisi Incident, when Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, Zu Dashou arbitrarily led his troops and fled back beyond the pass. Yuan Chonghuan wrote him a letter and he returned, and they managed to finish the campaign to recover the four cities of Luanzhou and Yongping. But after that, Yuan Chonghuan was executed, and Zu Dashou returned to the front lines at Jinzhou, essentially never leaving his military camp again.

Or rather, wherever he went, his personal guard battalion followed, and the Eastern Depot agents could never catch him even if they wanted to.

Yet one could not say he was disloyal, afraid to fight, or useless to the court. At the Battle of Dalinghe, Zu Dashou held out until his supplies were utterly exhausted. First they ate the horses, then they ate people, and finally he surrendered. After surrendering, he managed to escape back to Jinzhou and continued defending the city.

The court could do nothing about him, because this man truly could fight, and he was genuinely willing to fight for the court.

Chongzhen had gradually come to understand that while an emperor could indeed do anything, an emperor was also a man, and a man must bear the cost of his decisions.

In a sense, he held the most difficult profession in the world. An ordinary person could make any decision without necessarily bearing the cost.

Because when an ordinary person made a decision, it might not succeed, and if it did not succeed, naturally there was no cost to bear. The emperor was different. Most things the emperor wanted to do, he could accomplish. He could dismiss or kill any civil official or military officer.

With a single thought, that person was gone. Once the person was gone, the cost arrived, and regret came too late.

Dissatisfaction with the status quo was one thing; whether changing the status quo would worsen the situation, the Chongzhen Emperor was uncertain. So Zu Dashou was still alive, living very well, at the pinnacle of official rank.

In truth, although the Chongzhen Emperor found Zu Dashou utterly disagreeable, he also knew very clearly that if all of the Great Ming's military officers possessed Zu Dashou's ability and moral integrity, then the Eastern Brigands, the Northern Brigands, the Western Bandits — none of them would be a problem.

This was a bastard who was unwilling to die himself but didn't mind if others died, yet he was also a competent general who used every possible method to attack the enemy.

If he could fight in the field, he fought in the field. If he couldn't, he ran. After running, if he had grain, he defended the city. When the grain was gone, he ate the horses. When the horses were gone, he ate people. When there were no people left to eat, he finally killed a colleague and surrendered. After surrendering, he still escaped and came back to defend the city again.

The distant Li Yongfang — if Li Yongfang had possessed Zu Dashou's integrity, Nurhaci could never have taken Fushun. The recent Kong Youde — if Kong Youde had possessed Zu Dashou's integrity, he should have held out in Shandong to the death rather than delivering cannons across a thousand li to Hong Taiji.

And those several Regional Commanders who suffered defeat in Hehuang — they should have deceived Liu Chengzong, then escaped back to fight again!

Ah, why think so much about it.

The Chongzhen Emperor shook his head, stroked the fur of the tabby cat in his arms, and walked step by step toward the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Let Heaven decide.

These past two years, Zhu Youjian had grown increasingly fond of the phrase "let Heaven decide."

His heart was very weary. He had made some decisions, unable to say whether they were right or wrong. Some decisions he later realized were wrong, and the situation worsened. Some decisions everyone believed were right, and the situation still worsened.

But he could not stop making them. Chongzhen had chosen a courtesy name for himself: Deyue.

He was deeply conflicted. The affairs of the realm had already shown signs of exhaustion when he ascended the throne. His father had forced his mother to take her own life; his elder brother had liked to play with young boys. These were all manifestations of failing to observe morality and ritual propriety.

He longed to use morality and ritual propriety to restrain both himself and the realm, yet the blood that flowed in his veins was irascible and prone to rage.

He admitted his own incompetence, but when state affairs were handed over to the officials, that lot didn't seem any more competent than himself. Yet when he killed those people, matters only grew worse.

So what else could he do? Let Heaven decide.

In the Palace of Heavenly Purity, a very interesting invitation was waiting for him. The invitation came from Liu Xiangyu, saying that his son Liu Chengzong was about to marry.

When Chongzhen learned of this invitation, his first reaction was a surge of violent fury. The Western Bandits had seized Hehuang, and they still dared to send him an invitation? Every official who had delivered this invitation to the capital, every last one, deserved to be beheaded.

But his anger quickly subsided, leaving only a sense of absurdity. Even if they sent the invitation, he could not possibly attend the wedding.

This was the first time anyone had ever sent him an invitation. It was rather novel.

He read Liu Xiangyu's letter. The brushwork was in the upright Guange style, the tone calm and smooth. Like the former acting magistrate of Mizhi, he reported on Liu Chengzong's actions over the past few years, conveyed the news of the Mongol Khan's death, and the bumper harvest in Hehuang.

As well as the news that Liu Chengzong had been acclaimed by the Oirat Mongols beyond the frontier as Duntawulus Daiqing Khitan Khan, and that Liu Chengzong was soon to marry.

Hmm, the letter was very fine... After reading it, the Emperor felt an immense sense of defeat, so disgusted that he had no desire to review memorials for the entire day.

That Liu Chengzong had been acclaimed beyond the frontier as some Duntawulus Khan did not displease the Chongzhen Emperor. On the contrary, he was very pleased.

As long as he didn't come to contend for the Central Plains, Liu Chengzong could call himself Grand General of the Universe for all he cared.

Even regarding the annexation of Hehuang, Chongzhen could not muster hatred in his heart for the Liu family, father and son. If his own Zu Dashou could, in Liaodong, without taking a single tael of silver from the state, keep the Eastern Brigands utterly subdued and obedient, what would be the harm in enfeoffing him as the hereditary Prince of Liao?

Chongzhen could accept these bizarre things happening in the world.

In his heart, he bore no hatred for the vast majority of the rebel leaders. He could understand why these people rose in revolt, and he knew the cause was natural disasters and the court's failure to do what the court ought to do.

But understanding was one thing. He had already done his utmost, yet the situation had not improved in the slightest. Others were rebels — at best carving out autonomous fiefdoms, at worst overthrowing dynasties. He was the emperor, so naturally he had to defend his own state.

The point that disgusted Chongzhen was mainly this: here he was, in the midst of self-reflection — apart from Qin Liangyu, everyone under Heaven was either useless or a troublemaker, and Heaven itself kept throwing obstacles in his path, sending floods, droughts, locusts, and plagues one after another. What was the meaning of all this?

And then Liu Xiangyu came along, brandishing his son's certificate of merit to rub salt in his wounds. The old Zhu family was in mourning; the old Liu family was holding a wedding. This disgusted him deeply.

With state affairs in such ruin, how could Liu Chengzong be out there thriving so brilliantly?

He was so envious!

In truth, although Chongzhen lacked the ability to govern the state well, he did have a method to deal with Liu Chengzong's emerging regime — appoint him Supreme Commander of the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi.

Despite the intense anti-smuggling patrols at sea, it was not difficult for Chongzhen to learn about Liu Shizi's governance policies in Qinghai. In truth, there was nothing special about them — equal-field land distribution and tax-by-land, much the same as the policies every dynasty adopts at its founding.

And such policies, let alone bringing peace to all under heaven, could not even bring peace to Hehuang year after year.

Chongzhen had this figured out very clearly in his mind: Hehuang was peaceful because Hehuang had suffered neither drought nor flood, and because they had sacked Lintao Prefecture.

Therefore, as long as he appointed Liu Chengzong as Supreme Commander of the Three Frontiers, Liu Chengzong — who could thrive at sea and be a king — would, like all those officials under heaven brimming with talent, turn into a useless man.

However, Chongzhen had no intention of granting this office. After all, Liu Xiangyu had sent him an invitation to a happy occasion; there was no need for him to deliver news of a funeral in return.

Chongzhen did not recognize Liu Chengzong's virtue. Ever since their first contact several years ago, he had believed Liu Chengzong lacked the quality of moral character.

Back then they had agreed to cut off the traffic between sea bandits and northern barbarians. Now, look — he himself was the sea bandit, and had also taken up the profession of Mongol Great Khan on the side.

He had said he would guard the fence of the frontier, but what he actually did was pull up every post of that fence. In the past, the Great Ming's northwestern border was at Xining; now he had moved it to Lanzhou.

What was more, the Lindan Khan's body was not yet cold in its grave, and he was already forcing the man's eight wives to marry him.

Yet Chongzhen had one good point: although he was headstrong and self-willed, in his heart he was always very clear about matters. He knew whom he could afford to provoke, and whom he could not.

For instance, Zu Dashou in Liaodong; for instance, that whole great clan of his own imperial relatives; for instance, Liu Chengzong — these were all people with no moral bottom line, people he could not afford to provoke. He knew that in the eyes of such men, his words as emperor were like farts, utterly beyond his control.

Toward people he could not control, he had always simply not tried to control them.

This is just like how a gentleman can be constrained by his sense of propriety. Some people have rules in their hearts, and everything about them is conferred by those rules, so you can use rules to restrain them. But some people have no rules in their hearts at all — so how can you use rules to restrain them?

When you run into someone with no rules in his heart, then power is something that exists if he believes in it, and does not exist if he does not.

But Chongzhen did recognize his own virtue. Although war between the two sides was ultimately unavoidable within the next ten years or even longer, he did not mind sending a gift on such a happy occasion.

Thinking of this, he ordered the eunuch attending beside him to summon Yang He of the Ministry of Rites to the palace. Then, alone in the vast empty hall, he laughed to himself and settled in his mind on the choice of envoy — Cao Huachun.

When Eunuch Cao learned of this, his face turned green.

In his heart he thought, what did I ever do to deserve this?

Having received the imperial command, one should charge into a dragon's pool or a tiger's den without hesitation — except for this one place, Xining City. He did not want to go.

"Rest easy, this time it is a good matter. Send him some gifts, and by the way, take a letter for me. Liu Xiangyu has already sent his letter over; he is an elder, after all. It is only proper that I write back."

Cao Huachun was nearly in tears. "Your Majesty, last time was also a good matter — you even granted him an official post. Your Majesty does not know the tremendous effort it took your slave to escape with his life. That Liu Shizi refused to let your slave leave no matter what!"

"Then what is to be done?" Chongzhen's face hardened. "Many people have gone to Xining. Only you and Minister Yang managed to return. Do you want me to send Minister Yang again?"

In his heart, Cao Huachun cried: Your Majesty, so you do know that no one else comes back alive!

Is it that I'm afraid of not coming back? What I'm afraid of is you and that Liu Shizi's father becoming pen pals!

Once or twice would be one thing, but when the time comes and you send me off into that dragon's pool and tiger's den to deliver letters every day, entering Xining as if it were my own home — would that look right?

But in the end, a slave is not his own master. Even with ten thousand unwilling thoughts in his heart, now that the Emperor had spoken at this critical moment, he had even less recourse. He could only follow the Emperor's lead and ask, "What gift does Your Majesty wish to send to that bandit Liu?"

"The Hetao."

Cao Huachun did not understand at first. When he did, he was even more puzzled. "The Hetao? Your Majesty, the Hetao lies to the north, but the bandit Liu is in the west, separated by Gansu and Ningxia. This..."

Chongzhen's face was wreathed in smiles. This was probably the happiest thing for him lately.

"Ever since the eastern caitiffs seized the lands beyond Xuanfu and Datong, they have shown intent to demand tribute and open markets at Zhangjiakou. Moreover, although the eastern caitiffs are rampant now, surrendered barbarians are continuously knocking at the passes along the northern border. There is a chance to recover the Hetao. The difficulty lies in the eastern caitiffs watching for an opening, and the court and countryside being so depleted that we cannot send troops to recover the Hetao."

Chongzhen spoke with firm conviction. "Now that the Liu clan has made the Tartars recognize him as Daicing Qan, I shall give him the Hetao. Let Xuanfu and Datong open trade with him. Better to give the great Hetao to him than to let the eastern caitiffs, who have slaughtered my millions of innocent subjects, take it."

"This..."

Cao Huachun dared not respond. This matter was no longer something he could discuss; it required the court ministers to talk it over with the Emperor. One misstep and they might send off the tiger only to bring in an even more fearsome Daicing Qan.

Seeing his expression, Chongzhen laughed lightly, unconcerned by Cao Huachun's fear. He merely gritted his teeth and said, "If he has the courage to rouse his loyalty and valor, drive his troops to recover the Hetao, and fight a great battle with the eastern caitiffs, why would I begrudge him a fief of land?"

-----Off-topic-----

Good evening!