Chapter 83
Chapter 83
[Li Erfeng Becomes Wanyan Gou – 3]
Li Shimin hugged and kissed his precious little princess again and again, reluctant to let go. At that instant, the original body’s memories finally opened to him.
This man was the ninth prince of the Song court, surnamed Zhao and named Gou. He was twenty years old and married to Lady Wei. They had a young son and daughter.
Zhao Gou’s father was Emperor Huizong, the Retired Emperor whom the Jin had carried north. Yet Huizong was a posthumous title. The Jin title Duke Hundun-Muddled Virtue-suited him far better.
Duke Hundun had ascended the throne at eighteen. After becoming emperor, he had done virtually nothing proper and employed not one loyal minister. He was extravagantly wasteful in daily life, incompetent in politics, passively battered in war, and ruined the people’s livelihoods economically. Popular rebellions were countless. He loved sneaking out to visit brothels and manically promoted feudal superstition in the palace. Apart from his Slender Gold calligraphy, nothing about him was remotely firm.
In imperial ability, the Reigning Emperor Qinzong, captured north alongside him, could fight his father to an even draw.
Of course, Qinzong was also a posthumous title. At this point, Marquis Chonghun-Double Muddle-was more appropriate.
Two years earlier, the Jin had approached Dongjing (Kaifeng). Duke Hundun nearly wet himself and eagerly threw the throne at his eldest son, Marquis Chonghun. Then, activating the bloodline powers of the Chariot God of Gaoliang River, he gathered his wives, concubines, and wealth and fled in panic.
Marquis Chonghun smiled outwardly and cursed inwardly. If his father did not care about the ancestral realm, why the hell should he?
Father, do not forget that your son is also an outstanding descendant of the Chariot God of Gaoliang River!
Marquis Chonghun told his wife, Empress Zheng, to pack so they could flee. The peace faction agreed in chorus. Only Li Gang, then Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, entered the palace and pleaded, “The Retired Emperor entrusted the ancestral temples to Your Majesty. Would you abandon them and leave?”
The surrenderist chief ministers Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan insisted everything was doomed and everyone should run. Li Gang rebuked them. “As chief ministers, you should be loyal to the state and resist the Jin with all your strength. How can you retreat without battle and flee at the mere sight of them?”
The two surrenderist chief ministers became angry. “If you’re so capable, you do it!”
Li Gang truly was capable. He immediately volunteered. “If Your Majesty does not reject me, this subject will repay the state with his life!”
Marquis Chonghun was deeply moved and reportedly shed tears. He immediately appointed Li Gang Defender of Dongjing and placed him in charge of the city’s defenses. Less than an hour later, that surge of emotion vanished, and he picked up his bundle to flee.
Li Gang remonstrated with his life. Marquis Chonghun was moved again. Then he slept on it and announced that no, he still had to run.
Li Gang: “…”
Mud could not be plastered onto a wall. What word besides fuck could describe it?
His head splitting, Li Gang had to restrain his spineless, mentally abnormal employer through practical interests. “The families of the Imperial Guards are all in Dongjing. If Your Majesty forces them to accompany your southern tour, they may scatter and return to their loved ones. Who will protect Your Majesty? Moreover, the Jin already approach the city. If you leave now, you will run directly into them. Would that not be walking into their net?”
Marquis Chonghun said, “Minister Li makes excellent sense.”
Then he asked hopefully, “So shall we negotiate peace and surrender to the Jin?”
Li Gang: “…”
Li Gang said, “This subject does not fear death. If Your Majesty wishes to negotiate with the Jin, I am willing to enter their camp.”
Marquis Chonghun replied, “You won’t do. Your temper is too upright. You may upset our Jin daddies.”
Li Gang: “…”
Marquis Chonghun sent surrenderists to negotiate. They quickly returned with the terms: five million taels of gold, fifty million taels of silver, ten thousand cattle and horses, one million bolts of silk; the Song emperor must address the Jin emperor as uncle; the three strongholds of Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian must be ceded; a chief minister and imperial prince must serve as hostages; and the Jin army must be escorted north of the Yellow River.
Li Gang: “…”
Li Gang earnestly explained, “They demand too much money. We cannot and do not possess it. The three strongholds are military bastions; ceding them will doom our dynasty. A chief minister may serve as hostage, but not a prince. We should send an eloquent negotiator to dispute the terms and delay. When the relief armies arrive, the Jin will fear us and retreat. We can discuss the treaty then.”
Marquis Chonghun replied, “But I am so frightened. Why not give them what they want?”
Li Gang: “…”
Marquis Chonghun continued, “They want three strongholds, so give them three strongholds. As for the money, if we tighten our belts and scrape it together, we will find it somehow.”
Li Gang: “…”
Thus, Marquis Chonghun ceded the three strongholds and bestowed vast gold and silver upon the Jin. Several days later, the relief armies arrived, and the Jin departed Dongjing with satisfied belches.
Marquis Chonghun was delighted. The ancestral realm had survived, and Dongjing had not fallen. What could be wrong with such a perfect ending?
Oh, right. Li Gang, go bring back my father who greased his feet and fled.
Li Gang obeyed. After he escorted Duke Hundun back, Marquis Chonghun dismissed him from office.
That annoying old man nagged all day. Was he teaching the emperor how to act?!
So irritating!
Li Gang: “…”
Exhausted in body and mind.
Please let me die. Sincerely.
This Jin invasion inflicted indelible damage upon the fragile hearts of Emperors Qinzong and Huizong and laid the foundation for their later series of spectacular decisions.
During the Jingkang Incident, the Jin besieged Dongjing. Qinzong, Huizong, and the surrenderists trembled in terror. A thunder-cannon operator fired at the Jin outside the city and was afterward beheaded. How absurd was that?
Hundreds of Imperial Academy students knelt outside Xuande Gate to submit memorials. Loyal and upright men remonstrated with their lives. Even so, they could not stiffen the knees of the two emperors and the surrender faction.
The Jin demanded gold and silver. Give it-even if the treasuries had to be emptied.
The Jin demanded mules and horses. Give them-even if Dongjing had to be ransacked.
The Jin demanded fifteen hundred young women. When there were not enough, imperial consorts were sent to fill the quota. Some girls wept and killed themselves rather than endure humiliation, and their entire families were punished. The others could only submit and were sent in tears to the Jin camp.
The Kaifeng government office should have upheld justice for Dongjing’s people. Instead, it became the Jin army’s most effective assistant, searching the entire city for young women to provide for the soldiers’ pleasure. In the end, every woman with even modest beauty was forced to paint her face and sent into the Jin camp. This was only a fleeting glimpse of the Jingkang catastrophe.
People were slaughtered like hemp, and the stench carried for hundreds of li. How could the word tragic describe such devastation?
After viewing these memories, Li Shimin was dumbfounded. “Dear mother, how can emperors this cowardly and spineless exist?! After all that, why didn’t they die?! Fuck, they still had the leisure to father children after being captured? Sons born into slavery and daughters into prostitution-why bring children into such a situation? To let them experience the suffering of life?!”
Emperor Gaozu scratched his head. “The children were born to his palace women, but they might not necessarily have been his…”
Li Shimin: “…”
“Fuck! Then why didn’t they die?!”
Li Shimin flew into a rage. “Does the continued existence of such people have the slightest meaning?!”
Ying Zheng said quietly, “Perhaps merely to prove how low humanity can sink.”
“Why didn’t they die?!”
Liu Che offered weakly, “A wretched life is better than a good death?”
Li Shimin shouted, “But that was too fucking wretched! The Ceremony of Presenting Captives!!! Why didn’t they die?!!!”
Emperors Qinzong and Huizong, members of the Zhao imperial clan, imperial consorts, princes, princesses, Prince Consorts, and nobles were stripped to the waist, draped in sheepskins, and led by ropes around their necks like sheep to worship at Aguda’s temple…
They embodied the highest dignity of Chinese civilization: sovereigns of a nation, repositories of the realm’s honor!
Even in modern times, much less a feudal dynasty, what man or woman could bear being stripped and paraded through the streets like livestock?
Social death did not begin to describe it. The two emperors had actually endured this ultimate assault upon human dignity?!
Li Shimin understood the logic, but why had they not died?!
He was not personally involved, yet a quick review of events nearly burst his lungs with rage. When he thought of Li Gang, who had served both Duke Hundun and Marquis Chonghun yet continued diligently and devoted himself to the state, Li Shimin’s admiration rose higher than Mount Tai and deeper than the sea!
Had it been him, he would long since have stabbed those two wretches to death!
The original Zhao Gou was Duke Hundun’s ninth son. His birth mother had merely been a palace maid and was not favored, so his father also disliked him.
The previous year, officials observed an abnormal celestial sign and claimed that the Zhao ancestors were restless. Duke Hundun frowned in thought, then sent his unfavored son Zhao Gou to the ancestral homeland to fulfill filial duties in his stead, taking his family with him. By a fortunate accident, this preserved them all.
Prince Kang was unfavored, and his consort did not come from an eminent clan like other princess consorts. She was a military family’s daughter. Yet Duke Hundun had not arranged the marriage; Prince Kang had requested it himself. The couple were of similar age, lived harmoniously, and had a son and daughter.
Li Shimin temporarily suppressed his anger, lowered his head, kissed the adorable little princess, and breathed a long sigh of relief.
Lady Wei smiled at father and daughter, then noticed the visitor behind her husband. Looking closely, she showed mild surprise.
Li Gang had struck his forehead heavily against the ground. He had only wiped away the blood casually before departing, and more had flowed and dried upon his face during the journey, making him look especially fierce.
Born to a military family, Lady Wei was not especially frightened. She ordered someone to bring a damp cloth for him and another servant to fetch wound medicine. “This gentleman is…?”
“This subject, Grand Academician of the Hall of Administrative Affairs Li Gang, pays respects to Princess Consort Kang!”
Li Gang saluted her. After wiping his face with the damp cloth offered by a maid, he said respectfully, “By command of the Empress Dowager, this subject has come to escort Prince Kang and his household to Nanjing, Yingtian Prefecture. The situation is urgent. Please order the luggage packed and attendants assembled so we may depart immediately.”
Li Shimin set his jade-like little princess upon his shoulders and held her plump legs. He said warmly, “There is no time to explain. Have them pack only what is necessary and bring the two children. We depart north in an hour.”
Lady Wei froze again but asked no questions. She ordered the valuables and children’s daily necessities packed, specifically instructed them to bring two physicians, and had the attendants prepare bows and horses.
A maid brought medicine, and another servant bandaged Li Gang. Not long after his wound was treated, Princess Consort Kang, Lady Wei, approached holding the hand of a boy of four or five. She told Li Shimin, “Everything is ready. We may depart.”
Li Gang estimated that fewer than forty-five minutes had passed since he and Prince Kang arrived. Yet in that short time, the princess consort had packed and arranged every matter. She truly deserved to be called a worthy helper.
Prince Kang himself possessed Heaven-granted brilliance, with heroic martial vigor radiating from him.
Good heavens. After seeing the previous two emperors, this Prince Kang seemed to shine with the radiance of a god. Even the princess consort beside him resembled a celestial maiden descended to earth.
While Li Gang marveled, Li Shimin bent to study the eldest son before him, Zhao Ze. The four-year-old was no longer tiny. His brows were bright and handsome, much like Li Shimin’s own. A pat on the shoulder showed that, despite his age, the boy was sturdy.
He did not resemble Chengqian, Qingque, or Zhinu. He was simply himself.
That was good too.
Still supporting his daughter’s legs, Li Shimin smiled and pinched the boy’s cheek. Then he rose and said solemnly, “Let us go.”
In Nanjing, Yingtian Prefecture, Empress Dowager Meng and the court officials waited anxiously for their new sovereign.
What should be done after the capital Dongjing fell? What should happen to Emperors Qinzong and Huizong, captured by the Jin? Should the dynasty retreat south or advance north? Seek peace or fight? Opinions in Yingtian Prefecture varied, and no one could persuade anyone else.
Because of the legacy of the previous two emperors, the peace and surrender factions held the advantage. The war faction struggled to endure, hoping Li Gang’s journey would succeed and that he could persuade Prince Kang not to pursue surrender as single-mindedly as his predecessors.
After Li Gang left, Zong Ze could not help worrying. He said to his son Zong Ying, “I only hope Prince Kang possesses Emperor Gaozu’s spirit and does not resemble…”
He sighed and did not finish.
Zong Ying looked dejected and plainly held little hope for Li Gang’s mission.
In the second month of the first Jingkang year, Zong Ze fought the Jin thirteen times and won every battle. He memorialized the court, requesting that armies from every circuit and prefecture encircle Dongjing, and wrote to the commanders of several nearby prefectures asking them to march jointly. None responded. Zong Ze fought alone and still never suffered defeat. Yet with few soldiers and no support, he ultimately had to retreat.
After the Jingkang Incident, Zong Ze learned that Emperors Qinzong and Huizong had been captured. He immediately led troops to Huazhou, passed through Liyang, and intended to cross the Yellow River to block the Jin retreat. Yet not one relief army arrived, and he had to abandon the attempt in sorrow.
Zong Ze was already sixty-nine years old.
The Jingkang Incident had only just occurred. According to established history, this great anti-Jin general would die the next year, shouting “Cross the river!” three times before passing away.
Li Shimin was a superb rider, Li Gang a mounted general, and Lady Wei, born to a military family, naturally rode well. But the two children were young and might not endure excessive jolting.
The Jin had carried both emperors north. Within the realm, only Prince Kang’s branch remained among Emperor Taizong’s descendants-merely Prince Kang and his eldest son as the two male heirs.
Though Li Gang urgently wished to reach Nanjing, Yingtian Prefecture, he dared not press them. Prince Kang was young and strong, but if the haste harmed his heir, a hundred deaths could not atone for Li Gang’s crime.
Lady Wei understood the greater cause. After they traveled through the morning and stopped at noon, she said, “Affairs in Yingtian Prefecture are urgent, and the Empress Dowager cannot support everything alone. Every day earlier that Your Highness arrives is a day earlier that the realm may settle. Go ahead with Academician Li. This concubine and the children will follow.”
Li Shimin had only just met his beloved wife again and had spent less than a day with her. Naturally, he was reluctant to separate and tried to keep her with him.
Lady Wei said seriously, “The realm is in chaos, and the people suffer. Your Highness reaching Yingtian Prefecture early to take charge would be their greatest blessing. Why let wife and children delay you and behave like sentimental youths? Leave half the guards. This concubine can safely bring both children to Yingtian Prefecture.”
Li Shimin gazed at his wife’s familiar face and recalled the Xuanwu Gate Incident, when she had climbed the city wall beside him and encouraged the soldiers.
His beloved wife, his Guanyinbi, had never been a frail willow dependent upon him. She was a partner who could fight beside him. Only such a woman could stand at his side and admire the Great Tang’s vast realm.
He smiled faintly and no longer insisted. “Be careful on the road. Take excellent care of yourself.”
Lady Wei smiled serenely. “Husband too.”
Seeing such a principled Princess Consort Kang, Li Gang nearly shed tears.
The Book of Changes said that when misfortune reached its extreme, fortune began. Had Heaven decided that the Great Song had reached the absolute limit of cowardice after producing two supreme examples of emperors, and therefore finally granted them an exceptional Emperor and Empress?
No, he would have to worship at a temple after returning. Some things demanded belief.
Li Shimin and Li Gang bade farewell to Lady Wei and the children, then rode lightly and swiftly toward Nanjing, Yingtian Prefecture.
They departed in the afternoon and traveled all night. At dawn the next morning, they safely reached Yingtian Prefecture.
The Jin had swept up Emperors Qinzong and Huizong, while no imperial clansmen except Prince Kang’s family escaped. Li Shimin entered Yingtian Prefecture at the Empress Dowager’s command to inherit the throne.
Li Gang intended to enter the city first and summon the officials to welcome him. Li Shimin solemnly rejected the plan. “Take me first to General Zong’s residence.”
Li Gang froze, then his eyes grew wet. He respectfully answered, “Yes,” and turned his horse toward Zong Ze’s home.
It was still early, and weariness lingered upon the gatekeeper’s face. Hearing that visitors had come, he hurried forward to ask their identities. Recognizing his master’s acquaintance Li Gang, he became even more respectful. He was about to ask who the unfamiliar young man beside him was when he suddenly recalled Li Gang’s assignment. His legs instantly weakened.
“Your Highness, Prince Kang…”
Li Shimin nodded gently. “Is General Zong at home?”
The servant hurried to report. Li Shimin and Li Gang entered. Just as they reached the front hall, an elderly man with graying temples hurried out, astonishment and excitement upon his face. It was Zong Ze.
He had only recently risen. When told that Academician Li Gang and Prince Kang had come together, he thought he had misheard.
Zong Ze knew that Li Gang had personally gone to escort Prince Kang to the capital. But how had they arrived so quickly? And why had they come to his residence before entering the temporary palace to greet the Empress Dowager?
This was an unmistakable political signal.
The young Prince Kang, the only imperial clansman to escape disaster, plainly favored a northern campaign and recovery of the lost territories. Why else would he come directly to Zong Ze’s home upon entering Yingtian Prefecture?
Zong Ze quickly understood. Emotion surged through him, and his eyes grew wet. He was about to bow when Prince Kang solemnly bowed first.
“Your Highness must not!” Zong Ze said, dropping to his knees.
Li Shimin seized and supported him. “General, you harbor loyalty and righteousness, forgetting family for the state. After seeing sovereign and father fall into disaster, you raised more than a hundred thousand righteous soldiers within days. For such devotion, please accept a bow from Gou!”
Zong Ze was nearly seventy and had weathered decades of hardship for the state. His sovereign had not understood him, and his colleagues had doubted him. Only fierce loyalty sustained him. How could he remain unmoved when Prince Kang traveled from afar and praised him so highly?
Then Zong Ze recalled the humiliation of Jingkang and the disgrace suffered by state and family. He burst into grief-stricken tears and could no longer form words. Li Shimin and Li Gang wept as well, choking repeatedly.
With the realm overturned and the people devastated, this was no time to claim that men should not lightly shed tears.
Zong Ze escorted Li Shimin into the inner room. This time, Li Shimin did not decline the seat of honor. Li Gang accompanied him at the side. Servants brought hot tea, then closed the doors so the three men could discuss affairs undisturbed.
The Jingkang Incident had occurred only recently, so they inevitably discussed it. From there, they spoke of the campaign and how Dongjing (Kaifeng) should have responded.
Seeing Prince Kang’s wisdom and martial bearing, reminiscent of Emperor Taizu, and knowing he was now the sole heir to the throne, Zong Ze tactfully urged him not to repeat his predecessors’ mistakes. Li Gang agreed. But as they continued, the conversation gradually changed flavor.
Zong Ze said, “The Jin lack literary civilization, but possess their own strengths. Their purely barbaric valor often allows them to…”
Li Shimin shook his head and scoffed. “They are merely a rabble. Why fear them? I need only lead light cavalry deep into their ranks, attacking and shooting until the enemy falls into disorder. Then we pursue our advantage and inevitably rout them!”
Zong Ze: “…”
Li Gang: “…”
The previous two emperors had indeed been useless cowards who concentrated on surrender instead of war, but Prince Kang did not need to go this far in the opposite direction!
Too much was as bad as too little!
Could the Great Song not improve? Could Heaven not send them one normal emperor?!
Never mind. A warlike ruler was still better than one addicted to surrender.
Zong Ze and Li Gang had complicated feelings. Li Shimin merely smiled and offered no further explanation. Facts spoke louder than words. He trusted they would believe him eventually.
After remaining at Zong Ze’s residence for two hours, Li Shimin rose, bade farewell, and went to the palace to meet Empress Dowager Meng.
At the same time, the officials came to pay respects to their new ruler.
Empress Dowager Meng had led a bitter life. Born to an eminent family, she was dignified in appearance and character. Yet because she was too proper and solemn, Duke Hundun, who loved visiting brothels, disliked her and deposed her from the palace. Misfortune, however, contained good fortune. This was precisely why she escaped being taken north by the Jin. Every peck and sip was indeed determined by Heaven.
When she met Li Shimin, Empress Dowager Meng showed no arrogance. She spoke kindly with him for a while, but when the Jingkang Incident arose, she finally shed tears.
“I am only a woman who lived outside the palace and know nothing of governing. I hope the new sovereign will raise our reputation, recover the realm, welcome back the two emperors, and wash away the humiliation of Jingkang.”
Li Shimin looked sorrowful and respectfully agreed.
Well-informed officials had heard that Prince Kang visited Zong Ze before entering the palace. They knew he favored the war faction. Though they frowned inwardly, they also considered him too naive-or, more bluntly, someone who had never suffered a beating from the Jin.
He was young. After losing a few times, he would understand.
The Empress Dowager had issued her edict, and Prince Kang was the sole surviving descendant of Song Emperor Taizong within the imperial clan. The officials raised no objection. On the first day of the fifth month that year, Prince Kang Zhao Gou ascended the throne at Nanjing, Yingtian Prefecture, and proclaimed the Jianyan era. He honored the two emperors in the north from afar, named his legitimate mother Empress Dowager Meng, appointed his principal consort Lady Wei as Empress, made his heir Zhao Ze Crown Prince, and titled his young daughter Zhao Changning Princess Jinyang.
The new emperor’s first decree ordered a thorough investigation of all who had collaborated with the enemy or betrayed the state, with severe punishment.
Chief Minister Li Bangyan had strongly advocated ceding territory for peace. While remaining in Dongjing, he even ordered the execution of soldiers who fired upon the Jin camp. For this supreme humiliation of the state, he was stripped of office, his property confiscated, and his entire family executed.
Xu Bingzhe, Prefect of Kaifeng, had searched Dongjing for women to please the Jin and sent them to enemy camps by the cartload. He was stripped of office, his property confiscated, and his entire family executed.
Minister of Personnel Wang Shiyong defected to the Jin, opened the gates for them, and behaved so servilely that he was called the Jin men’s grandfather. He was stripped of office, his property confiscated, and his entire family executed…
The new emperor had only just ascended the throne when heads began rolling. The surrender and peace factions panicked and submitted protests. Their dynasty had always governed the realm jointly with the scholar-officials. How could His Majesty act this way?
Li Shimin smiled faintly, then his face turned cold. He ordered forty strokes administered in court to more than twenty remonstrating officials. Over half had their spines broken and could not rise. Covered in blood, they were dragged from the front hall.
The court fell silent. The peace faction trembled, while the war faction’s eyes shone with delight.
Li Shimin said indifferently, “The past was the past. The present is the present. Times have changed, so the rules must change.”
A civil official approached trembling. “Your Majesty, how can the ancestors’ laws be altered?”
Li Shimin asked, “In the ancestors’ time, did the humiliation of Jingkang occur?”
Silence filled the hall.
Zong Ze was old. Seeing the new ruler sweep away entrenched disease and the court take on a renewed appearance, the knot in his heart dissolved. He immediately requested command of an army.
Li Shimin knew the old general had only one year left according to history. He repeatedly urged him to remain, asking him to command the Imperial Guards and Nanjing garrison instead. At the same time, he entrusted him with another task.
Zong Ze remained stunned for a long while, then rose and bowed solemnly. “This subject accepts the command and will not fail Your Majesty.”
At the middle of the mao hour, around six in the morning, dawn approached. Fully armored, Zong Ze went before Qingming Hall, the new emperor’s bedchamber, and struck the bell. After three peals, he faced the hall and called, “Zhao Gou, do you still remember the humiliation of Jingkang?”
The new emperor rose, his voice hard as stone. “Until the shame is avenged, I will not dare forget it for a single day!”