Chapter 161
Chapter 161
[After Zhu Yuanzhang Returned to the Great Ming – 12]
Zhu Yuanzhang was determined, and Prince Lu was the uncrowned king of Luoyang. The wedding arrangements proceeded smoothly. Five of the Six Rites-proposal, inquiry of name, confirmation, presentation of gifts, and selection of the date-were swiftly completed. Before the final bridal procession, envoys from the capital reached Luoyang bearing earth-shattering news.
Zhu Yuanzhang was reviewing the guest list. “Don’t fear expense. Add everything necessary. The Princess Consort’s maternal family has reached Luoyang; make them feel at home.”
He revised several ceremonial details. Since Prince Lu’s marriage was the estate’s foremost affair, every subordinate listened carefully.
Ying Zheng and Emperor Gaozu played chess. Li Shimin practiced swordsmanship nearby. Liu Che watched in boredom. “Old Zhu, don’t prepare so much. By now the Tumu Crisis has occurred. You may be escorted to the capital for enthronement at any moment. If the wedding moves there after you’ve spent a fortune here, your miserly heart may kill you on the spot.”
Zhu Yuanzhang kept studying the list. “Economize where appropriate and spend generously where appropriate. Whether I remain Prince Lu or become emperor in the capital, Old Ma deserves the best. Money spent on her is worth it.
“When we married before, Guo Zixing arranged it. Many brothers from the army attended, and it was lively, but not sufficiently dignified. In this life, I will make it up to her.”
Before Liu Che could answer, hurried footsteps sounded. A gatekeeper arrived breathlessly. “Your Highness, Minister of Rites Hu Ying, Commandant of Imperial Equipages Shi Jing, Grand Secretary Chen Xun, and Eunuch Director of Ceremonial Jin Ying have arrived with the Empress Dowager’s decree!”
The confidants exchanged looks. Such senior officials would not travel merely to congratulate a wedding. Hu Ying was over seventy and a pillar of court while Duke of Yingguo Zhang Fu accompanied the Emperor to war. With a Grand Secretary, Prince Consort, and Eunuch Director of Ceremonial present as well, the mission had to be graver.
No one dared voice their bold suspicion. They followed Prince Lu out to receive the decree.
Hu Ying and the others had ridden urgently and were covered in dust. When Zhu Yuanzhang ordered an incense table prepared, Hu Ying stopped him. “In an emergency, ceremony must yield.”
The decree said exactly what Zhu Yuanzhang expected. The Reigning Emperor Zhu Qizhen had been defeated and taken captive during his personal campaign. Though a Crown Prince existed, he was an infant. With a child ruler inviting doubt while the state was in crisis, the Empress Dowager and officials invoked the fraternal succession rule in the *Ancestral Injunctions of Great Ming*. Prince Lu Zhu Qikun, legitimate grandson of Emperor Renzong, was ordered to inherit the throne.
Zhu Yuanzhang had waited for this decree. Yet receiving what he wanted brought little joy.
The Tumu Crisis marked Great Ming’s turn from prosperity toward decline. Two hundred thousand soldiers had been annihilated, the Emperor captured, and nearly an entire generation of military nobles destroyed. The bloody outcome lay before him.
A wastrel did not grieve over the fields his grandfather earned because he had never won them himself. Zhu Qizhen might not care, but the news pierced Zhu Yuanzhang’s heart.
Hu Ying had strongly advocated enthroning Prince Lu. Eldest Imperial Son Zhu Jianshen was only two. Even in peace, a child emperor invited turmoil. Now the Oirats watched hungrily, the Son of Heaven was captive, two hundred thousand elites were gone, and the Central Realm trembled.
Hu Ying did not regret his decision. To save time, the seventy-four-year-old had ridden from the capital to Luoyang. Yet at Prince Lu’s gates, doubt still troubled him. As he read the decree, half his soul seemed to hover overhead asking whether his choice would lead Great Ming into deeper ruin.
When the reading ended, he secretly observed Prince Lu. There was no joy at gaining the throne, only profound grief and anger over the Tumu Crisis.
Hu Ying relaxed slightly. Then he examined the Prince’s face and suddenly shuddered.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked up from the decree. His eyes were bright and carried innate majesty even without anger. Overwhelmed, Hu Ying’s knees weakened and he fell.
Grand Secretary Chen Xun hurried to support him. “The venerable minister has ridden too far. Your Highness, please allow us to bring a chair…”
Before Zhu Yuanzhang replied, Hu Ying cried out. Two streams of old tears fell. “The ancestors protect us! Your Highness looks exactly like Emperor Taizu in those days!”
Chen Xun froze. Shi Jing, the Prince Consort and Commandant of Imperial Equipages, looked astonished. Displeasure flashed through Jin Ying’s eyes.
After the Emperor’s capture, the Empress Dowager had wanted to enthrone Zhu Jianshen, but the officials opposed her. She finally agreed to Prince Lu on condition that Zhu Jianshen become Crown Prince and inherit after the new emperor’s death.
Hu Ying, a minister entrusted by the former emperor, had fiercely disputed with her. Jin Ying came both to escort the new sovereign and assess his temperament for the Empress Dowager. He privately sneered at Hu Ying for invoking Emperor Taizu to flatter him.
“Minister Hu is old, and memory fades. Emperor Taizu died many years ago. How can you remember his face? If I recall correctly, you became a presented scholar in the Jianwen Era. How can you claim resemblance upon first meeting Prince Lu?”
Hu Ying smiled. “Yang Pu and I passed in Jianwen’s second year, two years after Emperor Taizu died. But before that, His Majesty summoned us and other young examination candidates. We spoke before the throne. He called us future students of the Son of Heaven and permitted us to raise our heads and see the imperial countenance.”
Jin Ying had not expected that. Since other old ministers could verify it, he could only smile awkwardly and stop.
“Old Zhu, he actually met you! He certainly lived a long time,” Li Shimin marveled. “Do you remember him?”
Zhu Yuanzhang replied proudly, “Being summoned to behold my imperial countenance was the fortune of three lifetimes. I handled countless affairs and had only three days off a year. Why would I remember a crowd of brats I once summoned?”
Li Shimin burst out laughing, and Ying Zheng and the others joined him.
Though neither Hu Ying nor Jin Ying openly showed anger, faint hostility hung in the air.
Prince Consort Shi Jing smoothed matters over. “As Emperor Taizu’s descendant, His Highness naturally resembles him.”
Grand Secretary Chen Xun added a few polite remarks, finally turning the page.
Zhu Yuanzhang ordered tea and invited them into the front hall, then asked for details of the Tumu Crisis.
Hu Ying sighed, tears falling. “The battle was horrific. Tens of thousands died amid the chaos, and nearly all two hundred thousand elite capital troops were lost. Among the officials and nobles, Duke of Yingguo Zhang Fu, Duke of Cheng Zhu Yong, Marquis of Gongshun Wu Kezhong, Marquis of Taining Chen Ying, Commander and Prince Consort Jing Yuan, Earl of Pingxiang Chen Huai, Earl of Xiangcheng Li Zhen, Earl of Sui’an Chen Xun, Earl of Xiuwu Shen Rong, Earl of Yongshun Xue Shou, Minister of War Kuang Ye, Minister of Revenue Wang Zuo, Commander Wu Keqin… almost every civil and military official accompanying His Majesty died. It is a catastrophe for the realm!”
His voice broke.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew little of Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong, but knew their fathers Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng, famed commanders of the Jingnan Campaign who followed Old Fourth, Zhu Di.
When Zhu Yuanzhang first heard of the Jingnan Campaign in the underworld, he had raged at Yunwen for his foolishness and at Old Fourth for daring to rebel-and succeeding.
Eventually, his anger faded. Yunwen was dead and Old Fourth became emperor, but at least both bore the Zhu surname. The meat remained in the family’s pot.
This was different. Old Fourth’s military nobility had been squandered by an unworthy descendant. The family pot itself had been smashed, and the family’s stomach would go hungry.
“Duke of Yingguo and Duke of Cheng were both old, weren’t they?”
Yu Qian bowed sadly. “Duke of Yingguo was seventy-five. Duke of Cheng was fifty-nine.”
In the blink of an eye, the juniors had become old men and descended to the underworld.
Earl of Yongshun Xue Shou’s father, Xue Bin, was a Mongol who submitted during the Hongwu Era; Zhu Yuanzhang himself had bestowed the surname Xue. And the others…
The military nobles hurt, but the loss of two hundred thousand elite troops hurt just as deeply.
Two hundred thousand!
He had personally created the Five Chief Military Commissions!
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed again and again. Even a man as resolute as he could not keep tears from wetting his robe.
Hu Ying had already grown satisfied with the new ruler, who showed no delight at the throne and first asked about the disaster. Seeing him weep, however, Hu Ying feared excessive softness like the rulers of fallen Song.
He urged, “What is past has passed. Your Highness must focus on the present, travel north immediately, eliminate Wang Zhen’s faction, and stabilize the court!”
Zhu Yuanzhang wiped his tears. “Forgive the spectacle. Since childhood, I could never bear hearing of tragedy…”
His confidant added, “Our Prince is famous far and wide for his merciful heart!”
Hu Ying smiled. “Mercy is good, but the common saying warns that the kind are bullied. Once Your Highness enters the capital and governs the realm, you must judge the proper measure carefully.”
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded solemnly. “Minister Hu speaks wisely. I will remember it.”