Chapter 438: The Grand Rite

On the sixth day of the twelfth month in the sixth year of the Chongzhen reign, an urgent report sent via a post station along the Great Wall was delivered into the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

This letter was sent by Cao Huachun from Xining; it was clear the soldiers and post riders along the route had not dared to delay, taking only six days to reach Beijing.

In truth, the letter he sent contained no important intelligence — otherwise it could never have passed the scrutiny to be sent out from Hehuang — and its content merely reported to Chongzhen on the progress of Liu Chengzong's wedding preparations.

Beyond that, it was a suggestion that the Emperor issue an edict to procure a full set of princely wedding ceremonial regalia from Lanzhou and bestow it upon Xining.

Cao Huachun had been in the new city for some time now, and he could sense that the character of Liu Chengzong's armed group had undergone an earth-shaking transformation since their last meeting.

The Marshal's Manor had many strengths: their army's morale was high, their equipment was excellent, and they now had a stable grain income and arms manufacturing, making them even more formidable than before — to call it earth-shaking was no exaggeration at all.

But he had not come to find strengths in a rebel army; on the contrary, his mission this time was to find its weaknesses.

Taking the former Lion Army as a benchmark, Cao Huachun had barely managed to identify one weakness: the officers of the Marshal's Manor treated him better now, and their hostility had diminished.

In the past, the Lion Army's attitude toward the imperial court had been that of a primary enemy, one of absolute hostility, but this time when Cao Huachun entered the new city, not to say he received excellent treatment, but at the very least, when he chatted with many high-ranking officers, Brocade Guard agents, and Marshal's Manor guards about ordinary matters unrelated to military or political affairs, the conversations could be described as quite pleasant.

The reason was simple when one thought about it: people's thinking can be guided by public discourse; in Qinghai, their primary enemy was the Mongols, but the Grand Marshal's foreign policy was not one of hostile annihilation, but rather one of annexation to build a common community — a policy that in itself brought no great benefit to their stability.

Yet it prevailed because their soldiers were elite, their grain was plentiful, and they had established a political regime, which manifested in people's behavior as the pursuit of promotion and wealth.

No one in the Marshal's Manor considered the pursuit of promotion and wealth a disgrace; from the lowliest gate-guarding soldier to the highest officers and officials, everyone unabashedly pursued promotion and wealth, and for that they were willing to drill, study, and work.

They believed they possessed the ability to pursue wealth and power in an open and honorable manner, and they believed even more that the Grand Marshal could give them the chance to prove themselves.

To be honest, Cao Huachun had originally intended to use the imperial court as a benchmark to discover the Marshal's Manor's weaknesses, but later found that using the court as a benchmark, he simply could not find any weaknesses in the Marshal's Manor — and even whether the pursuit of promotion and wealth was a weakness at all had become a question in his heart.

This should not have been a question.

Cao Huachun had entered the palace at thirteen and studied in the Inner Academy from childhood; his instructors were all presented scholars of the Hanlin Academy, and his learning in the Confucian classics was no weaker than that of a licentiate, to say nothing of the arts of qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

What scholars valued was sincerity of intention, rectification of the heart, and self-cultivation; promotion and wealth should be a process in life, not its purpose — in other words, life ought to have pursuits higher than promotion and wealth.

But compared to the court's atmosphere, which outwardly proclaimed sincerity of intention and rectification of the heart while in reality its intentions were insincere and its hearts unrectified, Cao Huachun truly did not know which was better: naked pursuit or furtive lechery.

In any case, Cao Huachun believed that at this moment, from top to bottom, the Marshal's Manor was more chaotic in spirit and thought than it had been in the Lion Army period.

First of all, the ceremonial regalia being prepared for Liu Chengzong's wedding had long since overstepped all bounds; that finely crafted leather robe with hidden patterns — though the patterns were hidden, Cao Huachun could still clearly make out the Twelve Symbols, and he was most familiar with those.

Dragons and pythons were of no consequence; in the Great Ming, such things were not something just anyone could wear casually, but leaving aside the coiled-dragon patterns on cotton-armored military dress, when it came to the flying-fish, bull-fighting, python robes, and dragon robes granted as imperial gifts, far too many people could wear them.

Only the Twelve Symbols were an imperial ceremonial system that had persisted from Emperor Shun to the Great Ming, interrupted only by the Qin dynasty, and only the Emperor could wear all twelve symbols together upon his person.

Especially when Liu Chengzong brought up the notion of "wicked people," Cao Huachun could distinctly feel an immense sense of crisis.

Those words were not spoken for his ears, but for the ears of the Marshal's Manor generals seated in the courtyard at that moment, meant to awaken the hostility toward the court lurking in people's hearts and to guide the soldiers and civilians under the Marshal's Manor toward a pursuit higher than promotion and wealth — the changing of Heaven's Mandate.

To eliminate the wicked people he spoke of, those who did no proper work, engaged in no production, and monopolized wealth; for the happiness of more people, to give more people the freedom to pursue power and wealth; to follow Heaven and answer the people's will, and launch an eastern campaign.

As the saying goes, if the name is not correct, the words will not flow smoothly, and if the words do not flow smoothly, the endeavor will not succeed; clearly Liu Chengzong was unifying thought, seeking to grasp righteousness in his hand.

Cao Huachun saw this moment as an opportunity, and he wanted to ruin Liu Chengzong's plans.

In the past, Liu Chengzong had risen in rebellion as a deserter, violating the law and deserving extermination, but since extermination had proved impossible, even if the letter were thrown in Chongzhen's face, Chongzhen could not reproach him one bit on moral grounds, because unpaid wages and empty stomachs meant the court had failed to do the court's job.

But now times had changed, and Cao Huachun believed this wedding was precisely a good opportunity to weaken the legitimacy of Liu Chengzong's rebellion.

His idea was that since Liu the Lion's overstepping of bounds was already a foregone conclusion and could not be stopped, it would be better for the Emperor to issue an edict to procure from Lanzhou and bestow upon him a full set of princely wedding ceremonial regalia.

Even better, issue ten thousand salt certificates to Lanzhou, allocate one hundred thousand taels at domestic salt prices to purchase three million jin of green salt from the Marshal's Manor as wedding expenses, thereby demonstrating the court's profound benevolence and righteousness toward him, and putting on a show for all within and beyond the Hexi Corridor.

In this way, should Liu Chengzong wish to raise troops again in the future, not to say that the hearts of the internal soldiers and civilians would tie his hands and feet, but at the very least, the resistance of the Hexi soldiers, civilians, and government troops against him would certainly be more resolute.

A ruler should be a ruler, a subject a subject — that is, the sovereign does the sovereign's job well, and the minister does the minister's job well.

Cao Huachun felt his suggestion was excellent; although the Marshal's Manor's salt price was far higher than that of the interior, the Hehuang salt market was saturated, and Liu the Lion used this to make profit, with the salt lake's output far exceeding Hehuang's consumption. Buying at domestic salt prices, though a low price for him, represented a larger market and could earn surplus money, so presumably he would not refuse.

And on the court's side, allocating one hundred thousand taels of silver and issuing ten thousand certificates meant the cost would ultimately be borne by the salt merchants; moreover, with Hanzhong suffering floods and salt prices soaring, the court might even make some money from this.

The Chongzhen Emperor's reply was even faster, taking only four days to enter Hehuang and be handed by a post rider to Liu Chengzong, who was offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth at Sun Moon Mountain.

In this little patch of territory he controlled, whether Cao Huachun sent letters or received them, nothing could be hidden from Liu Chengzong.

Liu the Lion knew he had written to the Emperor; he and Yang Dingrui had read the letter long before it was sent on to Lanzhou. He did not know whether Cao Huachun's motives were good or bad, but the suggestion itself indeed had both pros and cons for the Marshal's Manor.

The good aspect was naturally the economic gain; the bad aspect was the loss of prestige. This made him regard Cao Huachun, this chief attendant of the Prince of Xin, with a bit more respect — the man truly had some substance.

Still, the letter had to be sent; Liu Chengzong was secure in his position, and the initiative in the matter ultimately remained in his hands.

Now that the Chongzhen Emperor's reply had arrived, Liu Chengzong did not open it but directly handed it to Cao Huachun.

Cao Huachun had been far too eager for this letter; he took it and began opening it at once, only looking up nervously halfway through to ask, "Will the Grand Marshal not take a look?"

Liu the Lion thought to himself, the letter has already come back, what is there for me to see? Whatever the letter says, I will know from your reaction.

He waved his hand and smiled. "No, no, I won't look. It is a letter the Emperor wrote to you; you just read it."

Cao Huachun was relieved, but all the joy and anticipation on his face froze in the very instant he unfolded the letter, turning to dead ash.

His Majesty had grasped all of his ideas, and righteously and sternly rejected his suggestion, spending ninety percent of the letter explaining to him the principles of why doing so would be contrary to ritual propriety.

The procession from the Heaven Sacrifice turned back toward the new city; Yang Dingrui and Cao Yao exchanged a word with Liu Chengzong and left first. They had to go home to prepare the ceremonial regalia for the Gift-Giving and Bride-Price rites.

Liu the Lion was to hold two weddings in succession: first, marrying Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, and Yun Jiaoyue; second, the eight consorts of Chahar.

The eight Chahar consorts all had their own relatives among the Ordo tribes; their maiden families were far too numerous.

But Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, and Yun Jiaoyue all had no family at home; only Sanlang had a nominal relative without blood ties like Che Cai.

Therefore, they had separately acknowledged Yang Dingrui and his wife as adoptive father and mother, and Cao Yao's wife as an elder sworn sister, together taking the Yang Dingrui household as their maiden home.

The problem of having no family at home was not limited to the three of them; the entire Marshal's Manor had this problem.

According to ritual, Liu Chengzong would not go to fetch the brides in person but was to dispatch a minister with both a son and a daughter to fetch them on his behalf. The problem was, while there were many people under the Marshal's Manor's rule who had both a son and a daughter, within the scope of "ministers," it was far too difficult.

It had only been five years since they rose up; when people joined the Lion Battalion and the Lion Army, most were bachelors. These past few years the fighting had never ceased, and they often marched a thousand li; in the past they had no families, and even those with families found it hard to stay together.

Many high-ranking officers had only married within this past year — where would they have gotten babies? Those with both a son and a daughter, and with both children in Hehuang, were only Yang Dingrui and Zhou Riqiang.

And even then, of Yang Dingrui's three children, two had been picked up by his wife during the Ansai famine; the only one with a proper son and daughter of his own was Zhou Riqiang alone.

So the task of fetching the brides could only be given to Zhou Riqiang.

Including the Heaven Sacrifice, the entire wedding process was to last seven days; the Marshal's Manor had to prepare the imperial throne, the edict table, the tally table, the ceremonial regalia, the painted bridal sedan, and other such items, and the Yang Dingrui household also had to tidy up and prepare.

On the road back to the city, Cao Huachun was laden with worry, while Liu Chengzong was quite relaxed and said with a smile, "His Majesty did not agree."

Cao Huachun nodded. "His Majesty said this is not right, that it does not conform to ritual propriety."

Liu Chengzong's mouth stretched into a silent grin, then he said to Cao Huachun with earnest gravity, "His Majesty is right. You should listen!"

Cao Huachun took this as mockery, which angered him. Stiffening his neck, he retorted, "His Majesty exerts himself to govern and seeks to revive the realm. He is no unruly scoundrel as the Grand Marshal puts it. Sincere intent and righteous devotion should not be ridiculed!"

At once, everyone in the column who could hear their exchange fell silent. People glanced cautiously at Liu Chengzong, who had just been contradicted. To everyone's surprise, Liu Chengzong did not get angry.

There was not even the slightest stiff, forced restraint of fury on his face. He looked entirely normal, still speaking with earnest gravity, and repeated, "His Majesty is right. You must support him."

The thoughts behind this remark were complicated, but sympathy was the dominant note.

Yang Dingrui had said it years ago when writing to Chongzhen: ritual propriety governs ruler and subject, father and son. Even when Chongzhen exchanged letters with rebel armies, he insisted on proper ritual form — clearly a rather pedantic man.

And within that pedantry, what Liu Chengzong saw was despair.

People are nothing exalted. They are just like Little Zuanfeng. A dog has its innate nature, and a person has an innate nature too. A dog is trained by a person; a person is trained by society.

Every person's behavioral pattern is formed through bargaining with society. Bark twice and get meat — next time you're hungry, you'll bark twice. Bark twice and get beaten — next time you're hungry, you'll try acting cute. Positive reinforcement makes you keep doing something; a harsh beating makes you find another way. Eventually, this shapes a person's cognition and behavioral pattern.

Chongzhen was different. This man guided his life strictly by the principles he knew, ran into walls everywhere, and lived in a world of despair with almost no positive reinforcement — yet never wavered from his original intent, throwing himself into the great and complex profession of emperor every day with boundless energy.

Watching a man like that rise early and toil late, diligent and devoted, leading the nation down a road of no return — what grounds did Liu the Lion, a man in the same line of work, have to reproach him? None.

"You are a close attendant to the Emperor. I do not fault you for saying these things. In the future, don't bother advising the Emperor. Support him. Everything the Emperor does is right."

Liu Chengzong's few words left Cao Huachun bewildered. He asked, "Grand Marshal, what do you mean by that?"

"The Emperor rules all under Heaven by the system of rites and music. He believes in it; he acts on it. Even though the times have deteriorated to this state, the realm has still not disintegrated — because the realm has no reason to disintegrate."

Liu the Lion shook his head. "I am not mocking the Emperor. In the past I did not quite understand, but now I have some experience of my own. My experience is completely different from the Emperor's experience. The circumstances we live in are also different. I am in no position to mock him."

The people loyal to Liu Chengzong in He-Huang and the people loyal to the Zhu imperial house across the realm are two entirely different kinds of people. His experience could not possibly guide the Emperor.

"Do not, just because you have seen the sights of He-Huang, urge the Emperor to do anything unorthodox or deviant. What you have seen here cannot help the Emperor — it would only harm him."

Cao Huachun's eyes widened. Earlier, he had indeed been thinking of going back and telling the Chongzhen Emperor all about the changes in He-Huang.

Because in his eyes, Liu Chengzong was a frontier ruler, and one who had managed this kingdom — which had not even declared a dynastic title — remarkably well. He thought many things here might hold instructive value for the Great Ming.

But now that Liu Chengzong had laid it out so plainly, it made him hesitate. "Grand Marshal, this humble one ventures to ask boldly — why is that?"

"Is the Emperor a fatuous ruler? The nation's troubles did not begin with him. He simply lacks the ability to reverse them. These floods, droughts, locusts, and plagues — put anyone else on that throne and it would be the same. The Great Ming cannot be saved, unless..."

Cao Huachun asked urgently, "Unless what?"

"There is no 'unless.' The Emperor sets demands on himself. The frameworks and constraints bind him too tightly. But perhaps, if you tear down those frameworks, the Great Ming would simply cease to exist."

Cao Huachun thought to himself: Is it really that hopeless?

How could a perfectly fine dynasty sound, from Liu Chengzong's words, as if it would fall tomorrow?

In a certain sense, Liu Chengzong actually believed that Chongzhen's very merit lay in his pedantry. If he were not pedantic, the dynasty still could not be saved — and if he dared resort to drastic measures, he would destroy his own legitimacy to rule with his own hands.

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "As things stand, even if the dynasty falls, the Emperor's posthumous name will not be a bad one. If he tried something else, in the end I fear not only would the dynasty fall, but he would truly become a fatuous ruler who lost his kingdom."

"No one can say for certain what will happen when dynasties change. We are old acquaintances. Master Cao, take things as they come. If it doesn't work out, come join me. I won't promise much... but you'll have no worries over food and clothing."

Liu Chengzong was mid-sentence when he spotted several riders kicking up dust in the direction of the new city. Before long, they galloped up close. A trusted bodyguard swung off his horse and clasped his fists. "Grand Marshal, Chief Wang has arrived. He brings urgent word."

Chief Wang was Wang Ziyong.

Liu Chengzong frowned. Everyone around was dismissed. The bodyguard reported, "Grand Marshal, Chief Wang says the Three-Border Supreme Commander Hong Chengchou has entered Gansu."

Hong Chengchou.

Liu Chengzong slowly exhaled. In his heart, he said to himself: What a fine wedding gift!

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

Good evening!