Chapter 166
Chapter 166
[After Zhu Yuanzhang Returned to the Great Ming – 17]
The instant he finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang roared, “Attendants!”
Eunuchs and palace servants poured in from outside the hall. “At Your Majesty’s command.”
Zhu Yuanzhang shot the Empress Dowager a sidelong glance and sneered. “The Oirats are at our gates, and the capital is about to go to war. At a time like this, nothing matters more than internal unity. We cannot permit unrest. Imagine if someone secretly issued an order in the Emperor Emeritus’s name to open the gates-or if some Empress Dowa-something tried to save her useless son by secretly colluding with the Oirats. That would be disastrous!”
The Empress Dowager was speechless.
What was the point of censoring her title when he might as well have called her by name?
Her face turned livid, but Zhu Yuanzhang appeared not to notice. He continued issuing orders. “We shall go at once to the Nine Gates and supervise the battle alongside Minister Yu. You are to remain here and attend upon the Empress Dowager. Do not leave her for even a moment. If anything happens to her before We return, We will have all your heads!”
After serving the new emperor for many days, the palace servants and eunuchs knew his temperament well. A shudder ran through them; none dared take his words as a joke. They bowed in unison. “Yes, Your Majesty!”
The Empress Dowager laughed in her fury. “Does the emperor mean to imprison this Dowager?!”
“We meant nothing of the kind,” Zhu Yuanzhang said blandly. “Your Majesty should not overthink it.”
She gave a cold laugh and swept aside the servants approaching her. “And if this Dowager insists on leaving?!”
Zhu Yuanzhang said, “When Emperor Xuanzong was alive, he and Your Majesty shared a deep and devoted love. His passing must have caused you unbearable grief. You endured only because the Emperor Emeritus was still young and needed you. Who could have imagined that he would turn out to be such an utter disgrace? First he blindly favored a treacherous eunuch, then he allowed himself to be captured on his northern expedition. A Son of Heaven of the Central Plains actually called at his own gates for foreign barbarians! He has dragged the Great Ming’s honor through the mud!”
His face frosted over, his expression grim. “Having raised such an unfilial descendant, Your Majesty was consumed by guilt. You had failed the ancestors and the gods above, and the common people below. In utter despair, you hanged yourself. A perfectly understandable end!”
“Zhu Qikun, you dare!”
The Empress Dowager’s face went deathly pale. She shouted, “This Dowager is Emperor Xuanzong’s empress and the Emperor Emeritus’s birth mother! You are merely a new emperor inherited from a lesser branch. How dare you treat this Dowager so?! When you die, how will you face Emperor Xuanzong in the underworld? Emperor Renzong, Emperor Taizong, and Emperor Taizu will never forgive you!”
Zhu Yuanzhang burst out laughing.
Live long enough and a man truly would see everything. Someone was actually threatening Old Zhu with his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons!
If those brats dared utter a peep in front of their old ancestor, he would take her surname instead!
“Xuanzong, Renzong, and Taizong? Hahahaha!” Zhu Yuanzhang threw back his head and laughed.
His laughter made the Empress Dowager’s scalp prickle. Forcing herself to hold firm, she blustered, “What are you laughing at? They are all ancestors of the Great Ming! What is so amusing?!”
Zhu Yuanzhang finally mastered his laughter and pointed at her. “We shall remember what you said. Your Majesty had best remember it too. If the Yellow Springs and hell truly exist, then when the two of us arrive below, we can argue the matter again!”
The Empress Dowager could make no sense of this and was about to speak again, but Zhu Yuanzhang had lost all patience. He turned to the attendants and barked, “What are you standing there for? Escort the Empress Dowager away!”
Then, lowering his voice-but not so much that she could not hear-he ordered, “Let her eat, drink, sleep, and relieve herself as she pleases. But she is not to leave the room, and no one outside is to pass her any messages…”
“So long as she stays quietly inside, she is the Empress Dowager. The moment she steps through that door and tries to make trouble or drag me down, she becomes nothing at all!”
Zhu Yuanzhang raised a finger, stopping the eunuch before he could respond. He clapped his hands, and a trusted attendant brought in a length of white silk.
All color drained from the Empress Dowager’s face. Had the servants not been supporting her, she would have collapsed on the spot.
The eunuch held the white silk as though he bore a mountain in his hands. He swallowed with difficulty and whispered, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Zhu Yuanzhang adjusted the jade belt at his waist and cleared his throat in satisfaction. “We are off!”
With that, he strode away carrying his saber, leaving the Empress Dowager, eunuchs, and palace servants frozen in place like a flock of dazed hens.
The emperors in the space could not restrain their laughter. Emperor Gaozu said, “Look how badly Old Zhu frightened them!”
Ying Zheng smiled as well. “Aren’t you afraid this will truly blow up in your face?”
“It won’t,” Liu Che said with a wicked chuckle. “If the Empress Dowager actually died, the matter would indeed become enormous. Old Zhu is Zhu Qikun now, not the founding Emperor Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang. But that eunuch would never dare strangle her for real. He knows he would die too.”
Li Shimin rubbed his chin, smiling. “What if she throws caution to the wind, stiffens her neck, and charges out anyway?”
After laughing for some time, Ying Zheng finally grew more serious. “The Empress Dowager possesses legitimacy, after all. Given your current reputation and authority, this move is still somewhat rash. I assume you have a plan?”
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily but refused to answer.
Liu Che snorted. “Of course he has a plan. He is simply hiding it from us. Hah!”
…
At first, Esen had planned to use Zhu Qizhen to test the Ming court’s resolve. Once the new emperor ascended the throne, however, Zhu Qizhen became yesterday’s news and lost all value. Esen gained nothing but a handful of eunuchs Zhu Qizhen had once favored. He did not catch so much as a glimpse of Yu Qian, Wang Zhi, Hu Ying, or any of the others.
The sham negotiations ended there. Both sides prepared to fight in earnest.
As commander-in-chief, Yu Qian deployed the generals separately and arrayed an army of two hundred and twenty thousand outside the Nine Gates. Commander Tao Jin held Anding Gate; Count Liu An of Guangning held Dongzhi Gate; Count Zhu Ying of Wujin held Chaoyang Gate; Commander Liu Ju held Xizhi Gate; Marquis Gu Xingzu of Zhenyuan held Fucheng Gate; Regional Commander Li Duan held Zhengyang Gate; Commander Liu Dexin held Chongwen Gate; and Regional Commander Tang Jie held Xuanwu Gate.
Yu Qian himself joined Shi Heng outside Desheng Gate, together with Deputy Commander Fan Guang and Wu Xing’s forces, to face Esen. He issued ruthless orders: if a general abandoned his troops and fled first, the general would be executed; if the troops abandoned their general and retreated first, the rear ranks would cut down the front. Every hope of escaping punishment vanished. From that moment on, not a single general or soldier dared shrink from battle.
Yu Qian, Shi Heng, and Fan Guang defended Desheng Gate together, and it was there that Esen launched his first attack. Yu Qian ordered Shi Heng to conceal an ambush in the empty houses, then sent several cavalrymen forward to lure the enemy. More than ten thousand Oirat troops gave chase. Deputy Commander Fan Guang seized the opportunity to unleash the firearms, and the soldiers lying in ambush surged out as one, catching the Oirats completely unprepared. Esen’s younger brother Boluo and the senior commander Maonahai were both killed by cannon fire, and the Ming army’s prestige soared.
With the first battle won, Yu Qian’s expression eased slightly. Fan Guang, Shi Heng, and the others could not hide their pleasure. On the city walls, archers kept their bows drawn as they watched the Oirat soldiers retreat beyond range, and a hint of relief appeared almost simultaneously on every face.
Just then, Yu Qian heard something tear through the air. He turned toward the sound and saw an arrow streak out with the speed of lightning. It buried itself in the back of an Oirat commander on horseback below the walls, knocking him from his saddle. The enemy formation immediately fell into chaos. Without even stopping to recover the commander’s corpse, the soldiers scattered and fled.
Delighted, Yu Qian looked back. “Who fired that arrow? He deserves a reward!”
Shi Heng agreed. “The Oirat bandits had already withdrawn far beyond ordinary bowshot, yet the archer struck his target with a single arrow. Such strength and accuracy are truly rare!”
No one stepped forward to claim the praise.
An instant later, another arrow flew, once again taking an Oirat officer’s life.
Yu Qian spun around in shock. “Your Majesty!”
Zhu Yuanzhang did not look at him. Muscles tightening in his arm, he drew the bow and fired again. “Minister Yu, what do you think of Our archery?!”
The bowstring thrummed, and another Oirat officer toppled to the ground.
Deeply shaken, Yu Qian said with heartfelt admiration, “Your Majesty’s martial prowess is extraordinary. This minister stands in awe!”
Shi Heng likewise bowed with admiration. “Your Majesty is valiant and mighty, with all the bearing of Emperor Taizu!”
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and praised Shi Heng in return. At that moment, Esen, realizing he could gain no advantage at Desheng Gate, turned toward Xizhimen instead. Commander Sun Tang was responsible for defending Xizhimen, but Yu Qian feared the slightest mishap and promptly ordered Shi Heng to lead troops there as reinforcement.
Yu Qian had already proven his strategy and ability in the previous life, so Zhu Yuanzhang offered no opinion. Yu Qian, however, did not dare disregard the Son of Heaven and respectfully asked, “What does Your Majesty think?”
Zhu Yuanzhang swept his sleeve decisively. “Trust those you appoint, and do not appoint those you doubt. Since We entrusted Minister Yu with the defense of Beijing, We naturally have no reason to question your judgment!”
Moved, Yu Qian thanked him repeatedly.
At that moment, Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed the attendants around them. He looked uneasy as he asked in a low voice, “Minister Yu, can We safely entrust the Great Ming and Beijing to your hands?”
Yu Qian shuddered. He immediately swept aside his robe and dropped to his knees. “This minister is willing to spill his brains upon the ground for Your Majesty! Even ten thousand deaths would draw no complaint!”
“Good!” Relief and emotion filled Zhu Yuanzhang’s face. He personally helped Yu Qian to his feet, clasped his hand, and said with deep reluctance to part, “Minister Yu, you are Our Zhuge Kongming! With a minister such as you, what more could We ask? Since antiquity, sage rulers have governed effortlessly by trusting worthy ministers. We believe this with all Our heart. The Empress Dowager is praying to the Buddha in the palace, while We shall shortly pay homage at the Imperial Ancestral Temple and beseech the ancestors of every reign for protection. Until the Oirats retreat, We shall not leave the temple! In this vast court, you alone are worthy of Our trust. Today, We entrust every matter of resisting the enemy to Minister Yu. We hope you will not disappoint Us!”
Overcome with gratitude, Yu Qian’s tears soaked his robes. “When Your Majesty places such faith in this minister, how could this minister dare disappoint you?!”
Tears flashed briefly in Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes. He patted Yu Qian heavily on the shoulder, then departed with the imperial entourage.
Hu Ying was coordinating Beijing’s funds and provisions when he suddenly heard someone beside him give a long sigh and offer him a cup of hot tea.
With all his attention fixed on the abacus, Hu Ying had no thought to drink. He waved a hand carelessly. “Withdraw. Do not disturb me!”
The man did not move.
Half a day later, at Wang Zhi’s residence…
Zhu Yuanzhang declared, “Formulating strategy within the command tent and winning victory a thousand miles away-Minister Wang, you truly are Our Zhang Liang! In this vast court, you alone are worthy of Our trust…”
The emperors in the space fell silent.
Old Zhu, your heart is truly filthy!
Li Shimin said with malicious delight, “If he cannot compare them to those men, whom would you have Old Zhu name? ‘My dear minister, you truly are Our Hu Weiyong’? Or perhaps, ‘My dear minister, you truly are Our Lan Yu’? Neither sounds terribly auspicious.”
Emperor Gaozu snickered.
The corners of Ying Zheng’s mouth lifted. He could not help turning his face away to laugh.
Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless.
Get lost!
Had none of these bastards ever drunk boiled water in their last lives? Why did they insist on bringing up the one subject he least wanted to hear about?!