Chapter 154 There is also Sun Chuanting

The Forbidden City, Chien-chi Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen was hosting a banquet for his imperial relatives, including Marquis of Zhou Zhou Kui, Imperial Uncle Tian Hongyu, Duke of Cheng Zhu Chenchen, and Duke of Bao Zhu Guobi. With the Manchu army pressing hard on the borders and Beijing facing imminent peril, it was a critical moment when the imperial garrison troops needed to fight to the death. To make them willing to risk their lives, a sufficient bounty of silver was required. However, when the Emperor turned the Inner Court’s Office of Keys upside down, he could only find thirty thousand taels of silver.

As for the state treasury, it had been empty for half a year, and even the salaries of the officials in the capital had gone unpaid for three months.

Left with no other choice, Emperor Chongzhen had no option but to summon these imperial relatives, using his supreme dignity as the Son of Heaven to earnestly plead with them to open their purses and assist the country in its time of crisis. Among all the imperial relatives, the wealthiest by far were Duke of Cheng Zhu Chenchen, Marquis Zhou Kui, and Imperial Uncle Tian Hongyu. Duke of Cheng Zhu Chenchen’s personal fortune numbered in the millions, yet this noble lord had merely made a symbolic donation of five thousand taels of silver.

Marquis Zhou Kui and Imperial Uncle Tian Hongyu each donated three thousand taels. The remaining imperial relatives chipped in two thousand, one thousand, or even as little as five hundred taels. In the end, Wang Chengen could no longer bear the sight and donated ten thousand taels from his own accord. Combined with the thirty thousand from the inner treasury, the total barely reached one hundred thousand taels.

Looking at the one hundred thousand taels of pure silver that had been gathered with such immense difficulty, Emperor Chongzhen’s expression was dark and gloomy.

To think that he, the sovereign of nine regions and the master of the seas, should be forced to swallow his pride and beg for a mere one hundred thousand taels! Even more lamentable was that despite lowering his pride to beg, he still could not secure enough silver. The nation’s crisis had reached such a desperate pass! Looking back at peaceful times, how much silver did the court have to shell out every year to support these imperial relatives? Yet when national disaster struck, these very same relatives were each and every one of them stingy to this extreme!

While Emperor Chongzhen wore a grim expression, Zhu Chenchen and the others appeared completely at ease.

These imperial relatives, fattened and bloated on government stipends, believed that defending the capital was the court’s business, the affair of the Great Ming Empire, and had nothing to do with them personally. In their view, being willing to donate a few thousand taels out of their own pockets already showed a proper understanding of the greater good and the overall situation.

Emperor Chongzhen said in a hollow voice, "Wang Chengen."

Wang Chengen stepped forward and answered, "This servant is here."

Emperor Chongzhen commanded, "Take these one hundred thousand taels of silver and distribute them to the garrison troops. Tell the soldiers that as long as they repel the Manchus, I will grant them even greater rewards!"

"This servant obeys the decree," Wang Chengen acknowledged, then hurriedly said to a young eunuch behind him, "Go quickly and have carriages prepared to haul this silver to the main camp. Hand it over to Eunuch Gao."

"Understood."

The young eunuch acknowledged the order and hurried away.

Right at that moment, Gao Qiqian, the garrison supervisor, stumbled into the hall in a fluster, fell to his knees, and cried out in panic, "Your Majesty, bad news! Something terrible has happened, something catastrophic!"

Emperor Chongzhen frowned and asked, "What has happened?"

"Lord Hong..." Gao Qiqian caught his breath, panting as he spoke, "Lord Hong Chengchou led troops to Tianshou Mountain to protect the imperial tombs, but they were ambushed by the Manchus at Yu River. The entire army was wiped out, and Lord Hong was captured alive by the Manchus."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen felt a sudden wave of darkness wash over his vision, and he nearly toppled to the floor. Fortunately, Wang Chengen’s eyes were sharp and his hands quick; he lunged forward and caught the Emperor just in time.

Emperor Chongzhen shook his dizzy head and said urgently, "Quickly, summon Grand Secretary Zhou and Chen Xinjia to the palace!"

Before long, Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia were summoned to the Eastern Warm Pavilion of the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.

After drinking a bowl of ginseng soup, Emperor Chongzhen had recovered his breath. He now sat behind the imperial desk with a gloomy face, gazing at Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia with an unreadable look in his eyes. His heart was filled with resentment; if either Zhou Yanru or Chen Xinjia had been willing to step forward and speak up back then, he would never have let Hong Chengchou lead troops to protect the imperial tombs at Tianshou Mountain.

If Hong Chengchou had not led troops to Tianshou Mountain, he would not have met with disaster.

Now that Hong Chengchou had been captured alive by the Manchus, who was going to command the nine thousand elite garrison cavalry remaining in Wanping? Who was going to command the eighty thousand elite border troops about to arrive at the capital? And whom could they rely on to deal with the three hundred thousand Manchu troops outside the walls of Beijing?

Looking across the entire court of civil and military officials, Emperor Chongzhen could not find a single usable talent.

With their heads lowered, Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia felt an equal measure of resentment in their hearts. Being a minister was a difficult task indeed!

If they had stepped forward to object, Hong Chengchou naturally wouldn't have had to go to Tianshou Mountain to guard the tombs, but what if the Manchus had actually dug up the imperial tombs and destroyed the dragon vein? Who would bear the blame for that? Would His Majesty take the blame? Of course not; His Majesty could never be in the wrong. In the end, the blame would have fallen squarely upon the shoulders of Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia for sticking their necks out in opposition.

The cunning and experienced Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia had no desire to be the scapegoats for Emperor Chongzhen.

In official history, such instances were hardly rare: First, with the Ming Empire fighting a two-front war and stretched thin for manpower, Emperor Chongzhen once desired to sue for peace with the Manchus. He hoped Chen Xinjia would bring it up during a court discussion so that even if the peace talks failed, the responsibility could be shifted onto Chen Xinjia. However, Chen Xinjia refused to play the role of Qin Hui and shoulder the blame, resulting in the peace talks falling through. Second, Emperor Chongzhen once considered moving the capital to Nanjing, only to be met with unanimous opposition from all the censors in the court. Not a single civil or military official was willing to stand up and insist on the proposal. Unable to find a scapegoat and afraid of shouldering the burden of history himself, Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to let the matter of moving the capital to Nanjing fade into oblivion. Emperor Chongzhen was indeed a rare, diligently governing emperor, but he relied far too heavily on political maneuvering and lacked the courage to bear responsibility—this was the fundamental reason for his repeated failures in employing personnel.

"Grand Secretary Zhou, Minister Chen, Hong Chengchou's army has been defeated and he has been captured."

Emperor Chongzhen let out a long sigh, pushing down the resentment in his heart. With the Manchu troops at the gates, this was a time when personnel were desperately needed; it was not yet the moment to settle scores with Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia.

Zhou Yanru said, "Your ministers have already heard the news."

Emperor Chongzhen continued, "Now that Hong Chengchou has met with disaster, the elite armies of the three towns under Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guang'en, and Liu Zeqing, along with the nine thousand garrison cavalry stationed in Wanping, are independent of one another and leaderless. They are very likely to be broken by the Manchus one by one. Once these four elite forces are routed, the capital will be in as much peril as a pile of eggs. Do my two ministers have any sound strategies to deal with this?"

Chen Xinjia lowered his head and exchanged a glance with Zhou Yanru.

Understanding the cue, Zhou Yanru stepped forward and reported, "Your Majesty, aside from Hong Chengchou, there is still one other person who can force the Manchus to retreat."

Emperor Chongzhen asked, "Who?"

Zhou Yanru replied, "Sun Tingxiang."

Datong, General’s Yamen.

Wang Piao asked Zhen Youcai, "Youcai, how is the matter of disbanding the garrison troops of the military colonies proceeding?"

Zhen Youcai replied, "General, apart from Datong Left Guard, Andong Central Garrison Guard, Yanghe Guard, Gaoshan Guard, and Tiancheng Guard, which still retain a few thousand old, weak, sick, and wounded soldiers, the rest of the garrisons, stations, and forts are essentially empty shells. Coupled with the fact that the commanders of these garrison forts happen to be right here in Datong City, things have gone relatively smoothly. However..."

Wang Piao asked, "However what?"

Zhen Youcai said, "However, according to the regulations of the Great Ming Dynasty, General, you do not have the authority to disband the garrison troops of the Datong Command. Furthermore, the commanders of the various garrisons harbor strong grievances. This subordinate used force to suppress their opposition this time, but there is no guarantee it won't cause trouble down the road."

"No authority?" Wang Piao said coldly. "Whoever has the hardest fists has the authority!"

Zhen Youcai said, "But those garrison commanders..."

"Of course they have grievances," Wang Piao said. "When I disband the garrison troops, I am also converting their registered military households into ordinary local civilians. Naturally, these garrison commanders are unhappy, because not only will they have to spit out the military colony lands they have seized, but from now on they will no longer be able to treat military households like slaves. I am cutting off their financial lifelines."

Zhen Youcai asked, "Then these people..."

"Let them make a fuss," a trace of savage murderous intent suddenly flashed across Wang Piao's eyes as he said with a sinister tone, "In troubled times, use heavy penalties. Those who must be killed must be killed; we cannot afford to be soft-hearted. I have already dug their graves for them, and I'm just waiting for them to crawl inside themselves. Heh heh."

Datong, Deputy General Zhao Liujin’s Residence.

Two days ago, the memorial submitted by Zhang Zi’an through the Directorate of Ceremonial had been approved, and Zhao Liujin had been officially appointed as the Deputy General of the Datong Command. In Datong now, aside from General Wang Piao, Zhao Liujin held the highest military rank. Consequently, Zhao Liujin’s status immediately became pivotal.

Tonight, Zhao Liujin was enjoying some small cups of wine when several garrison commanders with whom he had friendly ties arrived at his doorstep simultaneously.

These commanders were Chen Wei, commander of Gaoshan Guard; Li Fu, commander of Yanghe Guard; Yang Lin, commander of Tiancheng Guard; and Zhao Yang, commander of Andong Central Garrison Guard.

"Ah, you brothers have all come?" Zhao Liujin hurriedly offered them seats. "Come, come, sit down."

While offering seats, Zhao Liujin hastily instructed his household guards to reset the wine and ordered the kitchen to prepare fresh side dishes. The elation of his promotion had not yet faded, and he naturally wanted to celebrate with these old sworn brothers.

Chen Wei, commander of Gaoshan Guard, slumped heavily into a chair and said with considerable dejection, "Comparing people really makes one want to die of frustration! Back then, the brothers of us all entered the military around the same time. Now Brother Zhao has already risen to become a Deputy General, just a step away from commanding a region, but what about the rest of us? Heh, we're practically knocking on doors to beg for scraps."

"Indeed, Brother Zhao," said Li Fu, commander of Yanghe Guard. "Brother Zhao, why don't you go plead with General Wang? Why disband the garrison troops for no good reason? And to make all the military households of the garrisons convert into ordinary civilians—if General Wang really goes through with this, the rest of us brothers truly won't have a way out."

"Plead? Plead my ass!" Yang Lin, commander of Tiancheng Guard, spat on the ground and cursed, "That Wang Piao is merely a regional general, not a cabinet minister. By what right does he order disbandments just because he feels like it? Does he even have that authority? If you ask me, Brother Zhao, you should lead us brothers to kick up a fuss. Make a big deal out of it and see how Wang Piao cleans up the mess."

Zhao Liujin frowned and remained silent. He was well aware that Wang Piao had ordered the disbandment of the garrison troops and the conversion of military households into local civilians. Although he inwardly disapproved of Wang Piao’s actions, he was, after all, only a deputy general who had held the post for barely two days; he couldn't possibly openly go against Wang Piao right now, could he?

"Kick up a fuss?" Chen Wei, commander of Gaoshan Guard, said with a sinister sneer. "That's courting death! What kind of person is Wang Piao? He's a man who dares to defy imperial edicts and storm execution grounds. If you make a fuss with him, he'll give an order and slaughter the lot of you! Don't think old Chen here is trying to scare you—there is nothing in this world that Wang Piao doesn't dare to do."

Zhao Yang, commander of Andong Guard, asked, "Then according to Brother Chen's meaning..."

"If Wang Piao really pushes things to the absolute limit and drives us brothers into a dead end, then our only path left is rebellion," Chen Wei said coldly. "However, this matter must be deliberated at length, and we must strike with fatal precision without a single flaw, otherwise every single one of us brothers will die without a burial site!"

"Shut up!" Zhao Liujin slammed the table and stood up, his expression turning stern. "Have you all grown tired of living? With just the two or three thousand old, weak, and wounded men under your command, you dare to challenge Wang Piao? Doing that is nothing more than throwing eggs against a rock!"

"Not necessarily," Chen Wei said coldly. "The firearms unit under Wang Piao's command is indeed unstoppable. If we fight head-on, we don't have a shred of a chance of winning. But we won't fight Wang Piao head-on; we'll set a trap and lure him to his death! Once Wang Piao is dead, those battalion commanders under him are all reckless brutes lacking in strategy and are not worth fearing at all."

"Assassination?" Zhao Liujin said coldly. "Forget it. With the dozens of good-for-nothings under your command, you think you can kill Wang Piao?"

Chen Wei replied, "With the dozens of personal guards under the brothers' commands, we indeed cannot kill Wang Piao. But someone else can kill Wang Piao, and they are right here inside Datong City."

Zhao Liujin’s expression changed, and he asked in a concentrated voice, "Chen Wei, what on earth are you getting at?"

Chen Wei stated, "Deputy General Zhao, the dozens of personal guards under our commands cannot kill Wang Piao, but what about the three hundred death-defying retainers raised by the Prince of Dai's estate? Can they kill Wang Piao?"

"The Prince of Dai?" Zhao Liujin shook his head in disbelief, asking, "Would he make a move against Wang Piao?"

Chen Wei gave a dark smile and suddenly said, "Deputy General Zhao, and all you brothers, things have reached this point, so there's no need to hide it anymore. To tell you the truth, Chamberlain Wang of the Prince of Dai's estate approached me about this first. However, the Prince of Dai only wants to capture Wang Piao and then secretly escort him to the capital."

Zhao Liujin hesitated, saying, "Is doing that really a good idea? Wang Piao is a regional general after all, and if things go wrong..."

"Deputy General Zhao," Chen Wei said intently, "Others can hesitate, but you are the only one who cannot, because you will be the greatest beneficiary of this operation! As long as Wang Piao dies, the position of Datong General can only be seated by you. Furthermore, that incomparably brave firearms unit under Wang Piao will henceforth obey your every command."

Zhao Liujin fell silent, seemingly tempted.

Indeed, the position of a regional general was no small temptation. To Zhao Liujin, the formidable army under Wang Piao’s command was an even more fatal temptation. If he could truly win the allegiance of this powerful force, Zhao Liujin would even dare to demand a general's seal from Emperor Chongzhen! Weren't the general's seals of He Renlong and Zu Dashou obtained in just this manner?

Beijing, Heavenly Prison.

Holding the imperial edict, Wang Chengen entered the "Heaven-1" cell and cried out in a high-pitched voice, "The imperial edict arrives... Convicted official Sun Tingxiang, receive the decree."

The disheveled, bearded old prisoner hurriedly flipped over and fell to his knees.

This old prisoner, who had been a neighbor to Wang Piao for a few days, was none other than Sun Tingxiang.

Sun Tingxiang was also one of the only two Ming officials genuinely empathetic to the common people, according to Li Yan. Li Yan had never actually met Sun Tingxiang in person; by the time Li Yan joined Li Zicheng's forces, Sun Tingxiang had long since been cast into the Heavenly Prison by Emperor Chongzhen. The reason Li Yan believed this was because Sun Tingxiang had accomplished several major feats to protect the borders and bring peace to the people during his tenure as the Viceroy of Shaanxi and the Three Borders.

What left the deepest impression on Li Yan was the incident where Sun Tingxiang forcibly levied grain taxes. Because the Guanzhong region was barren and the common people were overburdened, Sun Tingxiang, in order to raise military provisions, forcibly tapped into the powerful gentry of Guanzhong, apportioning military grain taxes according to land holdings. Sun Tingxiang had executed quite a few local tyrants and evil gentry who refused to pay their taxes, yet he did not commit the slightest transgression against the ordinary folk. From this, Li Yan concluded that Sun Tingxiang was a good official who truly cared for the people.

In truth, Sun Tingxiang was indeed a good official who loved the people like his own children, and even more rarely, he was unswervingly loyal to the Great Ming Dynasty!

However, Sun Tingxiang was neither a pedantic nor inflexible censor who refused to adapt; he was an able statesman. The fact that he dared to blatantly execute the Guanzhong gentry to fund the military was proof enough of his courage and methods. What was particularly extraordinary was his exceptional military talent; he could practically be described as a sharp sword bestowed upon Emperor Chongzhen and the Great Ming Dynasty by the heavens.

Pity that such a peerless divine weapon had been shelved by Emperor Chongzhen for a full three years!

Had Sun Tingxiang not been thrown into prison, he and Hong Chengchou could have managed the external and internal affairs respectively. Even with the Great Ming Empire fighting a two-front war, it might well have been able to cope!

Wang Chengen slowly unfurled the imperial edict and read in a shrill voice: "Convicted official Sun Tingxiang, coercing your sovereign, severely violating the codes of a subject, truly acts in a rebellious manner. By crime, you deserve lifetime imprisonment and eternal disqualification from office. Now, with the Manchu army pressing hard on our borders, We consider the national crisis and recognize this as a time when talent is urgently needed. You are hereby ordered, while wearing the guise of a sinner, to lead the army as commander to campaign against the Manchus... Respect this!"

Sun Tingxiang prostrated himself flat on the ground and cried out, "Convicted official Sun Tingxiang kowtows in gratitude for the heavenly grace. Long live, long live, long live our Emperor..."