Chapter 678: Three Suns Hanging High

The Chongzhen court had never been this chaotic.

Throughout the entire twelfth month, Chongzhen was mired in helplessness over the news that Hong Taiji of the Later Jin was about to proclaim himself emperor.

The Later Jin could hardly keep any secrets from the Great Ming, especially a matter as momentous as usurping a reign title and changing the era name, which required lengthy preparations — intelligence had long since reached the Ming court through various channels.

But knowing was useless; they could not stop it. By now, even Hong Taiji himself could not stop Hong Taiji from becoming emperor.

The predicament Hong Taiji of the Later Jin currently faced was, in truth, much the same as Liu Chengzong's at the Marshal's Manor — both had accumulated too much war pressure over a long period and desperately needed an outlet.

Liu Chengzong actually had it a bit easier; his pressure was mostly internal, as he was anxious to grant official titles to his officers. Hong Taiji, on the other hand, faced greater external pressure.

Because before proclaiming himself emperor, Hong Taiji's status was essentially that of a confederation leader, with no strict hierarchical authority over those allied states.

The Khan of Khorchin, the King of Joseon — Hong Taiji was also just a khan. How was he to rule over them?

Originally, this could have been handled slowly, the way Liu Chengzong did — Ligdan Khan buried at Eight Corner City, the Khoshut Khan residing in Xining City, the Ordos Jinong kept in Monan, and three taijis in Ü-Tsang suppressed and not daring to claim the title of khan.

After all, everything comes down to strength. With enough strength, even a marshal can make an emperor.

But the Later Jin's two recent westward campaigns had been thwarted, damaging Hong Taiji's prestige. He had to act before the opposing nobles of the various allied states could raise their heads — have the leaders of each faction petition him to assume the imperial title, proclaim himself emperor, and formally establish the hierarchy of sovereign and vassal.

Although the Monan Protectorate was far too slippery, and the Ming armies in Xuan-Da and Liaodong were no easy targets, dealing with Joseon, Khorchin, and the various remnant nobles of the Northern Yuan was child's play for Hong Taiji.

Proclaiming himself emperor was not the goal. The goal was to use the proclamation to better consolidate Manchu strength.

And for Chongzhen, it was truly helplessness.

This age was bizarre and grotesque.

All the absurdities his ancestors had never seen in generations had converged upon him.

To the west, a veteran frontier soldier had become the Khan of the Han skilled in war and gone off to inherit the Mongol legacy.

To the east, a Jianzhou Jurchen sought to become the Wise Khan of the warrior nation, sought to become the Chongde Emperor.

In truth, Chongzhen was deeply troubled by Hong Taiji's proclamation, but he was not particularly angry.

After all, war between Ming and Jin had long been the norm; proclaimed emperor or not, the two houses were mortal enemies already.

Besides, for Chongzhen, there were some things in this world he would never even consider.

For instance, his own kingdom perishing, the Great Ming coming to an end.

That was imaginable, and there was a tiny probability of it happening.

And then the eunuch Cao Huachun usurping the throne and becoming emperor.

That too had an even more negligible probability of happening.

But he would never imagine the Later Jin entering the pass and ruling all under heaven.

How could that be possible?

Impossible. He would not even dream such a dream. At most, they would be a Jin Kingdom.

Yet Hong Taiji had still managed to step squarely on Chongzhen's tail — the reign title.

Chongzhen meant "supreme auspiciousness."

Chongde meant "supreme virtue."

So he was saying that I lack virtue?

But anger aside, Chongzhen still felt a small, secret relief in his heart.

Thank heaven Hong Taiji, in choosing his reign title, had not used something like Shunde or Chongshun, fulfilling the prophecy that "upon encountering Shun, it shall cease."

That saying had been circulating since the time of Esen.

Comparatively, what worried him far more at this moment was that Liu Chengzong, provoked by Hong Taiji, might also proclaim himself emperor.

That man was the one truly shaking the Great Ming's rule.

Chongzhen did not trust the civil officials and military officers he could see, but he had always been supremely confident in the strength of the northern Ming rank-and-file soldiers he could not see.

Hong Taiji's Eight Banners were indeed a strong army — fierce in battle, tightly cohesive — but the Ming's northern troops were also hardy and battle-worthy. Though they fought under frustrating constraints, they had always maintained a strategic standoff, presenting a formidable, many-armed front.

This standoff could be sustained for two reasons: first, the Ming armies in Liaodong and Xuan-Da were not so fragile as to collapse at a single blow; second, Hong Taiji could not win hearts within the Ming interior — even if he breached the border defenses, he faced enemies front and rear and could not gain a foothold.

His expeditions, exhausting his forces on distant campaigns, would often take only one or two cities before he had to retreat in haste.

Liu Chengzong's Marshal Army was different. His troops were not necessarily much stronger than the Eight Banners or the northern Ming armies, but they had many supporters deep in the Ming heartland. When his battle line advanced, it usually took just two fights.

First, defeat the main army corps; then, defeat the local militia. After that, the region would simply accept it — no seesaw struggle, just a clean and swift acceptance of his rule.

He was the one who truly shattered Chongzhen's confidence in the northern Ming armies to rock bottom... This man was the northern Ming army, and the Ming army considered him one of their own.

The clearest example was Regional Commander Yu Chongxiao, now pinned down by Liu Chengzong in Yansui Garrison, not daring to move.

This man's previous post was Vice Commander of Ji Garrison. He had led troops to hold off a larger force, faced Hong Taiji's personally commanded army head-on, and repelled them — it was for this that he was promoted to Regional Commander of Yansui.

It could not be said that he was disloyal or lacked ability.

But in Yansui, military morale was riddled with holes. Yu Chongxiao simply did not dare lead his troops out of the garrison.

By now, Chongzhen was no longer in the dark about the situation in Shaanxi, as he had been a few months ago.

He actually had quite a lot of intelligence on the Marshal Manor's movements.

Because of the Chief Grand Secretary at court, Wen Tiren.

This Wen Tiren and Chongzhen were a perfect match.

Both were self-serving egoists who put self-preservation above all. Chongzhen was the king of passing the buck; Wen Tiren was the non-stick pan.

This man had passed the metropolitan examination as a second-class jinshi in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, at just twenty-four years old — a genius.

This genius did not participate in factional strife. Sensing the chaotic situation, he found a way to secure an official post in Nanjing.

He did not seek wealth, did not pursue profit, did not form cliques. With the posture of a diligent and incorruptible paragon, he served for thirty years straight.

Wen Tiren was extremely capable, utterly incorruptible, and highly skilled in legal matters and fiscal administration. The messy data that made other cabinet ministers frown — he grasped it all at a single glance, exceedingly astute and seasoned.

But just like Chongzhen.

Whenever a problem needed solving, Wen Tiren would lower his head and stay silent.

The moment it was time to deal with a person, his eyes would light up.

He and Chongzhen were like mirrors for each other, seeing another self in the world — ruler and minister who knew one another as they knew themselves, heaven-made friends despite the gap in years.

Wen Tiren knew Chongzhen was interested in Shaanxi affairs, so he found a junior colleague serving as Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices — Xue Guoguan.

Xue Guoguan was from Hancheng — the very same Hancheng where Zuo Maodi served as magistrate.

At present, the only county in all of Shaanxi that had neither surrendered to the Marshal's Manor nor gone to war with the Marshal's Manor.

Xue Guoguan mobilized his clansmen to probe the surrounding areas for news, gathering a great deal of confidential intelligence and the latest movements concerning the Marshal's Manor.

Through the Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren, this intelligence all made its way to the Chongzhen Emperor's desk, and for this Xue Guoguan was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

In any case, Zuo Maodi profited immensely — no sooner had Liu Chengzong recommended him for outstanding distinction than Chongzhen also recommended him for outstanding distinction, an excellent official certified by both sides at once.

Zhang Xianzhong called Zuo Maodi to the Rites Office for a meal, but Zuo Maodi simply ignored it; yet when a single letter arrived from the newly appointed Vice Minister of Rites Xue Guoguan, Zuo Maodi went straight to Beijing to report on his work.

He was still on the road when Chongzhen's originally hopeful mood plummeted to rock bottom because of a court military dispatch.

Hong Taiji's proclamation as emperor severely impacted the steppe situation — small groups of Mongol nobles south of the Gobi migrated east to attach themselves to Daiching Gurun, while Mongol troops to the east also fled west to submit to the Monan Protectorate.

Since both sides were dirt-poor, before reaching their destinations, to raise travel funds, they would all breach the border walls along the Xuanfu–Yunzhou stretch of the Great Ming and raid for plunder.

In the end, they delivered several dozen heads to Hao Xiaozhong, the Mobile Corps Commander of the Wanquan Regional Military Commission, for nothing.

If this news was tolerable, then the intelligence from the south made Chongzhen's heart leap into his throat.

The third day of the twelfth month.

Zhang Yichuan, the false Henan Regional Commander defeated by Henan Regional Commander Zhang Renxue, appeared outside Yingzhou city.

Prefect Yin Meng'ao and Vice Prefect Zhao Shikuan were just about to go to Fengyang to pay respects to their superiors; hearing the news, they galloped back into the city and led the able-bodied commoners in a resolute defense.

The city wall was breached; Yin Meng'ao personally wielded a great blade to guard the gap — his brothers, sons, and nephews, seven men in all, died; Yin Meng'ao also drowned himself in the water, clutching his official seal.

Zhao Shikuan led troops in street fighting and also died of exhaustion; his wife, née Li, took her three daughters upstairs and set herself on fire.

The licentiate Liu Tingfu, nephew of Yunnan Administration Commissioner Liu Jiuguang, died in battle; Liu Jiuguang's son Liu Tingshi defended the western city separately and died by the blade.

In addition, the retired Minister Zhang Heming, his son Zhang Datong, and his younger brother Yunnan Vice Administration Commissioner Zhang Heteng were killed.

The Secretariat Drafter Tian Zhiying, the Court of Imperial Entertainments Chief Clerk Li Shengbai, the Vice Clerk Li Yuanbai, Huangyan Magistrate Liu Daoyuan, and Huining Magistrate Yang Nan all died together defending the city.

Also, the Yingzhou Guard was besieged — Guard Commander Li Congshi and Wang Tingjun, Battalion Commander Sun Sheng and Tian Sanzhen, and Company Commanders Luo Yuanqing, Tian Demin, Wang Zhilin, Wang Tan, and others died fighting on the wall.

Other officials, gentry, scholars, and commoners who perished totaled one hundred and three; the women in the city who died for their chastity numbered twenty-seven.

In a single day, both cities were breached.

The fourth day of the twelfth month: Huoqiu County, sixty li from Yingchuan on the south bank of the Huai River, sent an urgent appeal.

At the time, Huoqiu Magistrate Huang Rifang's term had expired and he was awaiting a new assignment; seeing the crisis, he fled that very day to Fengyang and reported to his superiors that the defense of the city could be entrusted to the Instructor Ni Keda.

However, Instructor Ni Keda knew nothing of this, nor did he receive any notice from Fengyang Prefecture ordering him to defend the city.

All he saw was Zhang Yichuan, allied with tens of thousands of sect followers from Yingzhou, Huoqiu, and other places, raising the banner of the Ancient Primal True Dragon Emperor and besieging Huoqiu.

Ni Keda had been recommended by the county gentry just before the crisis; he took out the county magistrate's seal, organized over a thousand able-bodied commoners from the city's populace, and assigned them to defend the four gates.

He personally defended the north gate. At the very start of the engagement, he opened the gate in a feigned surrender, let Zhang Yichuan's three hundred vanguard troops crossing the river into the city, and shot them all dead, boosting the defenders' morale.

Only by this means was little Huoqiu County able to withstand a full day and night of assault.

But Huoqiu was a small county after all — no reinforcements outside, no heavy cannon inside. After the initial clash, their strength flagged, and soldiers and civilians could only throw firecrackers at the peasant army outside the city at night.

The crux was that Fengyang Prefecture was an exceedingly complex place; during Zhang Yichuan's attack, the common people's conduct was starkly divided.

The natives of Fengyang Prefecture were extraordinarily resolute in defending the city — even if the city fell, they would stubbornly die for the dynasty, embodying the tenacity of the Great Ming's place of origin.

The outsiders in Fengyang Prefecture, however, were resolute in attacking the city, welcoming the outsider Zhang Yichuan with great enthusiasm; nearly everywhere he went, they rose up in response.

This was because, back when it was designated the place of origin, the Ming Founder built up his homeland, forcibly transforming the tiny Zhongli County of Linhao Prefecture into Fengyang Prefecture, a metropolis second to none under heaven, through sheer human effort.

In this process, the native residents gained the real benefit of tax exemption, and the twenty neighboring households of that year became hereditary tomb-keeping households free from worry for generations — but at the same time, three hundred thousand commoners were relocated from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The Founding Emperor forcibly elevated Fengyang Prefecture to a position it did not naturally belong to, so naturally it flourished and then declined.

The sudden influx of a massive population reclaimed land everywhere in Fengyang Prefecture, causing Fengyang, which originally had only one hundred thirty thousand people, to bring four hundred thousand qing of land under cultivation.

Thus, after the mid-Ming period, Fengyang's mountain forests were bare, its river courses in chaos, and with the Yellow River adding to the havoc, disaster became routine.

The first to bear the brunt were the descendants of the early Ming immigrants, who wandered about begging and naturally became targets for various sects to win over.

This also split the people of Fengyang into two starkly distinct factions — either they were extreme loyalists to the Great Ming, or their rebellious hearts blazed like fire, igniting at the slightest spark.

Zhang Yichuan had just experienced the collapse of an army tens of thousands strong; now commanding these scattered soldiers, he wielded them like his own limbs. From an earthen hill, he easily discerned the city's defensive layout and immediately ordered his subordinates to move several cannons from the army to the weakly defended south gate and bombard the battlements.

The man responsible for defending the south gate was called Shi Shilin, who had filled Ni Keda's post as Instructor. Under Zhang Yichuan's fierce assault, he lost his will to fight, fled by rope over the city wall under cover of night, and the southern wall, now leaderless, promptly fell.

The Vice Magistrate Zhang Youjun, the Assistant Instructor He Bingruo, the local officials Dai Tingdui and Tian Jiting, and the provincial graduates Wang Yuzhen and Zhang Canheng died in battle defending the city.

After the city fell, Ni Keda did not surrender but continued a desperate street-by-street defense at the north gate. In the end, the able-bodied commoners around him were nearly all killed or wounded; he was captured by the enraged peasant army, taken to the Primal Emperor Palace dedicated to the Zhenwu Great Emperor, and executed.

Ni Keda's wife, née Dai, upon hearing the grievous news, wept bitterly toward the Primal Emperor Palace, performed sacrificial rites, and then hanged herself.

Some peasant soldiers saw that her bracelet could not be removed, so they hacked off her hand with a blade.

His youngest son, Ni Benyi, had been hiding in a manger and was originally safe, but seeing this scene, he was overcome with grief and fury. He leaped out, loudly cursing the rebels, and used his own body to shield his mother's remains. He was slashed over thirty times and collapsed in a pool of blood. After the battle, he was rescued and survived, his body covered in scars.

Ni Keda's daughter, Ni Gu, only twelve years old, saw her parents' violent deaths and also dashed her head against the Huoqiu official residence, dying on the spot.

The Ni family servant, Ni Biao, also took his own life after the defeat.

Ni Keda's entire household was loyal to the death; only four sons survived.

The sixth day of the twelfth month.

Zhang Yichuan led his army to attack Shouzhou but failed to take it, then immediately followed the current straight down to Lu'an Prefecture.

In just a few short days, Fengyang Prefecture was utterly set ablaze by Zhang Yichuan. For a time, local bandits rose up everywhere — in Luzhou and Anqing to the south, and Sizhou and Huai'an to the east.

People raised banners bearing the titles of various generals and regional commanders under the Ancient Primal True Dragon Emperor, attacking cities and seizing counties, burning passes and destroying villages.

While the south was in chaos, the north — the Henan and Shanxi region — was as well. Local bandits and fierce outlaws from Yancheng, Fenzhou, Lin County, Zhangde, and Lin County also gathered over ten thousand men, burning, killing, and pillaging everywhere.

The situation was gradually spiraling out of control.

At this critical juncture, how could the court spare any thought for Hong Taiji proclaiming himself emperor? Memorials poured in, all urging the deployment of major forces to encircle and annihilate Zhang Yichuan.

In short order, mobilization orders converged for You Shiwei and Zhang Waijia's iron cavalry from beyond the passes, Xu Laichao's Tianjin troops, Tan Daxiao's White Rod troops, Ni Chong's capital garrison troops, Yang Yufan's Shandong troops, and Liu Zeqing's canal-defense troops.

The northern troops were a chaotic mess heading south, while the southern troops were urgently rushing north, determined to surround and kill that self-proclaimed emperor Zhang Yichuan in the Southern Metropolitan Region.

Against this backdrop, the travel-worn Zuo Maodi entered the Forbidden City and was summoned by the Chongzhen Emperor to the Platform for an audience.

Chongzhen had originally hoped that Zuo Maodi could bring him a sliver of hope.

But he put his foot in his mouth and asked, "What has Liu Chengzong been doing these past two months?"

Zuo Maodi replied, "Your Majesty, over the past month or so, the Marshal's Office has been summoning governors and generals to Xi'an. A major move is certainly in the works. This humble minister fears that Liu Chengzong is preparing to usurp a royal title and declare himself king."

Chongzhen, whose mood had just barely eased, immediately broke down and roared, "As if my troubles aren't enough, he wants to add to the chaos by declaring himself king too?"

This left even Zuo Maodi bewildered.

He thought Chongzhen should hate Liu Chengzong the most, so why did these words sound not only lacking in hatred, but even carrying a faint hint of reproach?

This emperor is truly strange.