Chapter 165
Chapter 165
[After Zhu Yuanzhang Returned to the Great Ming – 16]
Zhu Yuanzhang choked. With too much dark history to refute them and his stinginess known to all, he snorted and returned to his perfect minister, Yu Qian.
“The Oirats come flushed with victory at Tumu. Great Ming has never suffered such defeat. At precisely this moment, we must display strength-both to blunt their arrogance and stabilize officials and commoners in the capital.”
“I agree. Showing weakness will only invite contempt!” Excitement flashed in Yu Qian’s eyes.
The Emperor Emeritus had trusted Wang Zhen and neglected government. The Empress Dowager lacked the late Grand Empress Dowager’s judgment, allowing the eunuch faction to poison court. Yu Qian had wished to remonstrate, but a sovereign who refused to listen left him helpless.
When Hu Ying and the old ministers chose Prince Lu as the closest adult imperial relative, Yu Qian worried. Zhu Qizhen’s youthful rashness had caused calamity, but Prince Lu was two years younger still.
Yet the young Prince acted steadily and shrewdly. He defended his succession terms, defeated the Empress Dowager’s plan to enthrone Zhu Jianshen, invoked Emperor Taizu’s iron tablet to remove her influence, then destroyed the eunuch faction.
A worthy minister meeting an enlightened ruler was true good fortune. Yu Qian explained his defense plans, only to find the new Emperor’s thought clear, flexible, and grounded in military reality-far beyond his own, like a veteran commander of a hundred battles.
Yu Qian and the young officers stared in admiration. “Did Your Majesty study military strategy?”
Zhu Yuanzhang answered without thought, “What? Does this require study? Doesn’t it come naturally?”
Yu Qian and the commanders: “…”
Yu Qian forced a smile. “Did Your Majesty read military texts or employ veteran advisers in Luoyang?”
Zhu Yuanzhang stared. “Why would anyone teach this? Think for a moment and the answer is obvious.”
Everyone: “???”
Confused by their expressions, he asked the emperors, “Does warfare require learning?”
Emperor Gaozu: “Isn’t it instinctive?”
Li Shimin: “Don’t you simply charge?”
Ying Zheng: “Don’t you issue orders from Xianyang?”
Liu Che: “Don’t you send your favorite consort’s brother to command?”
The first three fell subtly silent.
Emperor Gaozu said, “Something strange has mixed into our group.”
Liu Che: “…”
You might as well read out my identification number.
After this Great Ming display of humblebragging, Yu Qian and the officers lowered their heads to hide their expressions. The Emperor was young and raised in prosperous Luoyang. Though he spoke convincingly, perhaps this was merely armchair strategy.
Yu Qian coughed. “Your Majesty, we must show strength against the Oirats, but also take them seriously in strategy.”
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed. “In Emperor Taizu’s reign, the Oirats were Great Ming’s dogs. Under Emperor Taizong, they also dared no trouble. Only in recent years-hmph!”
Yu Qian quietly urged, “Your Majesty, they are still the Oirats.”
Zhu Yuanzhang could not understand his caution. “Are the Oirats impressive?”
Emperor Gaozu said, “What founding emperor hasn’t cleared several campaigns?”
Li Shimin listed, “Xue Ju, Song Jingang, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande…”
Ying Zheng said proudly, “I merely cleared the Six States campaign. A trivial contribution.”
Liu Che said, “How about giving the Xiongnu campaign a try?”
Zhu Yuanzhang was bursting with pride. “Just look at where all of you started, then look at Old Zhu! When I was young, I was so hungry I couldn’t even find a meal. No one taught me military strategy or statecraft. I had to feel my way across the river, one step at a time. Of all the emperors since antiquity, none came from humbler beginnings than Old Zhu!”
Emperor Gaozu laughed. “That is certainly true.”
Li Shimin had seen more than enough of the great clans of the Five Surnames and Seven Houses, as well as the powerful families of the Guanlong aristocracy. He said with heartfelt admiration, “On that point alone, I am thoroughly convinced by Old Zhu.”
Even Ying Zheng, proud as he was, inclined his head. “No falsehood there.”
Liu Che’s sharp tongue got the better of him as usual. “You merely had the right time, the right place, and the support of the people. Who here wasn’t an emperor in life?”
Ying Zheng turned to look at him, raised a hand, and beckoned through the air. A moment later, a cracked begging bowl landed in front of Liu Che.
“Take it,” Ying Zheng said. “Now go conquer the realm.”
Liu Che fell silent.
Then, without a word, he shut his mouth.
Yu Qian tried several more times to dissuade Zhu Yuanzhang, but Zhu remained unmoved. Deeply worried, yet mindful that the young, hot-blooded new emperor was upright and unyielding by nature, Yu Qian did not dare show too much of his misgivings. After accompanying the emperor on an inspection of the Nine Gates, he quietly paid a visit to Minister of Rites Hu Ying and voiced his concerns.
“At the risk of saying something that deserves death, the Tumu Crisis happened for two reasons. First, Wang Zhen constantly fanned the flames and offered treacherous advice. Second, the Emperor Emeritus was mediocre, yet determined to imitate Emperor Xuanzong and Emperor Taizong by winning glory on the battlefield. His Majesty now seems rather eager to do the same…”
Hu Ying shook his head with a wry smile and tried to reassure him instead. “What young man does not dream of accomplishing great deeds? The Son of Heaven is no exception.”
He continued, “Since His Majesty ascended the throne, has he ever neglected affairs of state? Minister Yu, you spend eight nights out of ten sleeping at your office because you are so busy with government business. But did you know that ever since His Majesty entered the palace, he has reviewed memorials until midnight every night, then risen before dawn to attend to state affairs? From his words and conduct, I see much of Emperor Taizu in his prime!”
Yu Qian was startled. “You think so highly of him?”
Hu Ying possessed an inexplicable confidence in this new emperor who resembled Emperor Taizu so closely. “Just wait and see. I cannot possibly have judged him wrong!”
As Zhu Yuanzhang took the throne and the two capitals in north and south sprang swiftly into action, the situation along the frontier continued to deteriorate.
Only the Yuan Dynasty separated the Great Ming from the Song. On the eve of the Song court’s collapse, it too had suffered the humiliation of an emperor being taken north as a captive. Now the Ming emperor had been captured, a multitude of civil officials, generals, and nobles lay dead or wounded, and nearly all two hundred thousand elite troops from the capital had been lost. The blow to morale was easy to imagine.
Frontier troops lost the will to fight and abandoned their cities one after another. Esen, Grand Preceptor of the Oirats, carried Zhu Qizhen south with him, pillaging and burning along the way, until at last he arrived before Xuanfu.
So many commanders had already fled their posts that dissension now broke out among Xuanfu’s defenders as well, and the common people were deeply uneasy.
Luo Hengxin, governor of Datong, was seventy-three that year. He summoned the officers under his command and declared, “I have received the nation’s favor all my life. Now that our country has come to this, only by repaying it with my death can I prove worthy of the court’s trust in placing Xuanfu in my hands!”
Drawing his sword, he patrolled the gates. “Anyone who dares abandon the city and flee will be executed without mercy!”
His resolve rallied the officers and soldiers, restoring their fighting spirit, while the people took heart. Luo Hengxin then organized soldiers and civilians alike for the city’s defense. United as one, they prepared to weather the crisis together.
When Esen arrived with his army, he saw Luo Hengxin in full armor personally guarding the gate. The soldiers stood ready with crossbows and arrows, while even the women, children, and elderly inside the city helped with the defense. Knowing a direct assault would be costly, Esen had Zhu Qizhen brought forward to call for the gate to be opened.
Xuanfu was Beijing’s final shield. Known as the “Lock and Key of the Northern Gate,” it had been fiercely contested by military powers throughout the ages. If the Oirats seized Xuanfu, they could sweep unhindered toward the capital, and the millions of civilians along the route would likely suffer catastrophe.
Would Zhu Qizhen, as emperor of the Great Ming, truly commit the shameless act of calling the gate open for the Oirats?
Of course he would!
It was only opening a gate. What was the big deal? His Oirat friends had treated him so warmly and spoken so sweetly that he never wanted to leave their camp for the rest of his life!
Thick-skinned as ever, Zhu Qizhen presented himself before the gate, announced his identity, then clasped his hands behind his back and ordered Luo Hengxin to open up and admit the Oirat army.
The cold wind moaned and snowflakes drifted through the air. Luo Hengxin’s grizzled beard trembled several times before he mastered his emotions and answered firmly, “Forgive me, Emperor Emeritus! I guard this gate for the Ming court and for every citizen in this city. I cannot obey!”
Zhu Qizhen’s expression changed. Before he could speak again, Luo Hengxin shouted, “Archers, ready!”
Esen had been thoroughly rebuffed. Unwilling to break his teeth on the hard bone that was Xuanfu, he slunk away with Zhu Qizhen and headed for Datong. There he sent someone to call at the gate. “We have brought back the emperor of the Great Ming!”
Guo Deng, the commander defending Datong, kept the gates firmly shut. “Thanks to the blessing of Heaven, Earth, and our ancestors, the Great Ming already has a new sovereign!”
Humiliated and enraged, Zhu Qizhen sent another message. “You and I are related! How can you treat me this way?!”
Guo Deng replied, “I have orders to defend the city. I dare not open its gates without authorization.”
Zhu Qizhen was speechless.
After a moment, he asked, “Then can I have some money?”
This time, it was Guo Deng’s turn to fall silent.
In Zhu Qizhen’s previous life, Guo Deng had indeed given him money. But this time, the court had circulated orders early on, strictly forbidding the commanders of every pass from dealing with the Emperor Emeritus.
According to rumor, after Empress Dowager and Empress Qian had sent those eight cartloads of treasure beyond the frontier, the new emperor had shed tears of anguish over the loss. He had sworn that anyone who dared send so much as another copper coin outside the passes would be flayed, stuffed with straw, and displayed as a warning.
The story was most likely false, but the new emperor’s stance could not have been clearer. Guo Deng also felt that sending money now would be like throwing a meat bun at a dog-nothing would ever come back. He therefore refused again in the sternest terms.
Zhu Qizhen returned in disgrace.
Esen was equally disappointed. With Xuanfu and Datong refusing to admit him, he consulted his advisers and decided to take a detour. He passed through Hongzhou Fort and moved on Juyong Pass, only to change course soon afterward and attack White Sheep Pass instead.
Xie Ze, commander of White Sheep Pass, died in battle, and the pass fell. Several days later, Esen arrived outside Zijing Pass. Xi Ning, the eunuch accompanying Zhu Qizhen, showed the Oirats a route around to the rear of the pass. Attacked from both sides, its defenders Sun Xiang and Han Qing were slain, and Zijing Pass fell as well.
The Oirat army then split in two, advancing on Beijing through White Sheep Pass and Zijing Pass. On the eleventh day of the tenth month, they arrived outside the capital and encamped near Xizhimen. Zhu Qizhen was lodged in an empty house outside Desheng Gate.
They had waited and waited. At last, this day had come.
The defenders inside the city had long slept beside their weapons, ready for battle. And for every day Yu Qian had spent laying his plans, Zhu Yuanzhang had spent another sharpening his blade.
Before the newly arrived Oirat army could secure its footing outside Beijing, the two sides clashed. The Ming forces slew several hundred enemies and rescued more than a thousand captives taken during the Oirats’ raids. It was only a minor victory, but it steadied the hearts of the people. Soldiers and civilians alike found the courage to keep fighting.
Seeing the Ming army in disciplined formation and fully prepared, Esen dared not attack the city rashly. At Xi Ning’s suggestion, he played the Zhu Qizhen card once more and demanded that the Great Ming send officials to welcome their emperor home.
This was too important for Yu Qian to decide alone, so he entered the palace and asked how the emperor wished to handle it.
Zhu Yuanzhang merely sneered. “Were all the palace eunuchs once favored by the Emperor Emeritus executed?”
“There are still a few in prison…”
Yu Qian paused, then smiled in understanding. “This minister understands.”
Esen had intended to probe the Ming court’s strength. Instead, all he saw in the end was a bedraggled group of wretched, condemned eunuchs. Furious, he demanded, “Send Hu Ying, Yu Qian, Wang Zhi, and the others!” He also demanded an enormous sum of silver, together with treasures and rare books.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the demands, he gave a dark chuckle but said nothing.
Grand Secretary Chen Xun cried urgently, “We absolutely cannot agree!”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a furious rebuke came from outside the hall. “Insolence! Does the Emperor Emeritus’s life mean nothing to any of you?!”
The Empress Dowager entered dressed in plain mourning clothes, with no pearls or jade in her hair. A mere half month had left her markedly thinner. When she drew near, her voice carried a note of entreaty. “Your Majesty has already ascended the supreme throne. The Emperor Emeritus is of little further use to the Oirats. If we offer more gold, silver, and jewels, we will surely be able to ransom him…”
“Esen wants more than gold and jewels,” Zhu Yuanzhang said. “He wants Hu Ying, Yu Qian, and the others to pay him a visit as well.”
Frantic with worry, the Empress Dowager said, “When the ruler orders a subject to die, the subject must die…”
Zhu Yuanzhang scoffed and turned toward her. “Why not kill Us too and add to his amusement?”
Every courtier in the Imperial Study hastily dropped to his knees.
The Empress Dowager bit her lip until it bled, resentment blazing in her eyes. “Your Majesty, the Emperor Emeritus is your own first cousin. Both of you are descendants of the Zhu family!”
Zhu Yuanzhang slammed a palm on the desk. “Is Luo Hengxin, the commander of Xuanfu, a descendant of the Zhu family? Is Guo Deng? What about Xie Ze, Sun Xiang, Han Qing, and all the other loyal ministers and brave commanders who have died-were they descendants of the Zhu family?! They could die for the Great Ming. What right does the Emperor Emeritus have to cling shamelessly to life?!”
His eyes narrowed. “Defend the realm of the Great Ming? Ha! Ha! Ha!”
He laughed three times, then all mirth vanished from his face, leaving his gaze cold and terrible. “How dare you even say such a thing!”
The Empress Dowager flared in fury. “If you are so capable, then you go!”
One hand resting on the hilt of his saber, Zhu Yuanzhang stood as immovable as a mountain. He rolled his shoulders, then rose. “Your son is all show. One kick and he falls over. But Us? We can actually fight!”