"I am willing to remain with Your Majesty in the Capital to defend against the rebel bandits. As for the matter of assisting the Crown Prince, I pray Your Majesty will appoint someone else!" Li Guozhen bowed deeply, striking his head against the floor in solemn earnest.
Emperor Chongzhen smiled faintly. "Earl of Xiangcheng, what I just said was an order, not a suggestion. Return to your manor immediately to pack, and depart tonight."
"Once you arrive in Nanjing, you must assist the Crown Prince with the utmost diligence."
Li Guozhen raised his head, his mind racing. Was this true or false? A moment later, he had his answer. On the nineteenth day of the eleventh month of the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign, the Emperor had conferred upon him the title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent.
The Grand Preceptor, Grand Tutor, and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent were all posts within the Eastern Palace, each responsible for the instruction of the Crown Prince. The Preceptor taught the classics, the Tutor taught martial arts, and the Guardian ensured his safety. Their junior counterparts held assistant roles. Although these were honorific titles without executive power, their holders were the first to be considered when someone was needed to assist the Crown Prince.
With this realization, Li Guozhen no longer hesitated. He immediately knelt to receive the mandate: "Your Majesty, I accept the decree and offer my gratitude!"
"Very well, you may withdraw. This journey to Nanjing is of utmost importance; the task rests entirely on your shoulders, Earl."
"I will not betray Your Majesty’s trust."
After Li Guozhen left, Emperor Chongzhen slumped into the dragon chair, trying to collect his thoughts. He was exhausted; he no longer had the energy to maintain imperial protocol or keep up appearances. The Great Ming was a tangled knot of yarn, and one had to carefully tease apart the threads to unravel it without damaging the whole. If he failed, history would only repeat itself. He could no longer rely on, or even hope for, his officials to take the initiative; if the Capital was to be defended, it had to be done according to his own strategy. The historical Chongzhen had micromanaged the elite forces of the Great Ming into oblivion; he, however, would have to micromanage this collection of the old, the weak, and the infirm if he was to hold back the rebel bandits.
It seemed as though fate had a hand in this.
"Come in!"
Wang Chengen, seeing the Emperor lolling in the dragon chair in such an unseemly posture, assumed he was resting and hesitated to disturb him, only to be stopped by the Emperor’s voice.
"Your Majesty, the silver hidden behind the Hall of Mental Cultivation has been inventoried. Here is the ledger for your inspection," Wang Chengen said, sounding apologetic. He felt he deserved to die for disturbing his Sovereign, who had finally found a moment to rest.
Emperor Chongzhen took the ledger and glanced at it. There were forty thousand ingots of silver, fifty taels each, and one thousand ingots of gold, twenty taels each. Converted, this totaled approximately 2.2 million taels of silver.
"Send 1.5 million taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue. Keep the rest in the Palace of Heavenly Purity."
"The... the Palace of Heavenly Purity?" Wang Chengen’s head was filled with questions. Conventionally, such funds should be deposited into the Imperial Treasury. Although it was the Emperor’s private money to use as he pleased, the Imperial Treasury had a complete system of oversight to prevent embezzlement or theft.
"Yes. Store the remainder in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. And while you are at it, take the forty thousand taels of gold from the Imperial Treasury as well, and keep them together."
"As you command."
"Has Gao Shiming returned?"
Gao Shiming, the Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, oversaw the twenty-four offices of the Imperial Household. He held a rank even higher than Wang Chengen and was one of the few individuals whom Emperor Chongzhen trusted implicitly. He had not disappointed that trust; in history, after Li Zicheng breached Beijing, Gao Shiming realized the end had come and had immolated himself for his country. His loyalty was beyond reproach. Previously, he had been sent out of the capital to Shandong to deliver silver as a gesture of consolation to Liu Zeqing, who was feigning an injury from a fall from his horse. By his reckoning, he should be back by now.
The thought of Liu Zeqing made the Emperor’s teeth ache with resentment. Among the generals at the end of the Ming, Liu was the most detestable—slaughtering civilians to claim false military merit, no different from the bandits themselves. He would have his men burn and pillage, harming the common people, only to set a fire afterward and shift the blame onto the rebel bandits. If anyone dared to impeach him, he would have them assassinated and then use heavy bribes to silence Cabinet ministers, turning major issues into trifles. Currently, he commanded fifteen thousand troops; if he could be made to obey the Imperial Court, he would be a vital force.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Director Gao is waiting outside for an audience. Seeing that Your Majesty was resting, he did not dare to disturb you."
At these words, a warmth spread through the Emperor’s heart. Throughout the entire Great Ming, there were very few people who genuinely wished him well. There were a few in the Inner Palace, a few in the court, and the rest were these eunuchs.
"Send him in."
"As you command."
Gao Shiming hurried into the hall, adjusted his robes, and knelt. "Your subject, Gao Shiming, pays his respects to Your Majesty. Long live, long live, long live the Emperor."
Gao Shiming was very pale, giving one the impression of a corpse that had risen after three days. His features were regular, and save for his effeminate tone of voice, he was no different from any other adult man.
"Did you see Liu Zeqing?"
"Your Majesty, your subject saw him, and he showed no sign of injury; he appears to be faking it."
"I knew that long ago. Did he not offer you any silver?"
A chill ran down Gao Shiming’s spine. How did the Emperor know about events a hundred miles away? He hurriedly took a parcel from his robes and held it above his head with both hands. "Your Majesty, this is the silver Liu Zeqing gave me. Your subject has not touched a single tael."
"It is good that you accepted it. It is good!" Emperor Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief. If Gao Shiming had not taken the money, his next step could not be carried out.
Seeing Gao’s bewildered expression, Emperor Chongzhen explained, "Since Liu Zeqing does not wish to come to the Capital to perform his duty, let him go to Nanjing instead."
"I have decided to have the Crown Prince oversee the state in Nanjing. I will issue an Imperial Mandate; you shall make another trip to Shandong and order him to accompany the Crown Prince there."
An Imperial Mandate? Gao Shiming, still reeling from the shock of the silver, was stunned by the term. Under normal circumstances, the imperial decree process was rigid: the Emperor issued an order, the Cabinet drafted it, the Six Ministries provided legal consultation, and the Directorate of Ceremonial checked the procedure before stamping it. Finally, the Censorate and the Imperial Household Office would affix their seals.
An Imperial Mandate, however, bypassed the Six Ministries and the Cabinet entirely. In the Ming Dynasty, officials who ignored a formal decree met a grim fate, whereas those who ignored an Imperial Mandate not only escaped impeachment but often received support from the Cabinet and the Six Ministries when the Emperor tried to hold them accountable.
Gao Shiming thought for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty, Liu Zeqing has already refused to respond to the summons to defend the capital. He may not obey an Imperial Mandate to go to Nanjing."
Emperor Chongzhen smiled faintly. "Given his cowardly nature, he will likely be overjoyed."
"Remember, have him wait near Tiemenguan in two days. He is to board a naval vessel with the Crown Prince and proceed to Nanjing."
Gao Shiming, exhausted from his journey back from Jinan, had only wanted a full meal and a long sleep. But the Emperor’s words instantly invigorated him.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"It is almost noon. Go get some food, and set off immediately after."
"I obey your decree."
As Gao Shiming turned to leave, he cast a jealous look at Wang Chengen and hurried out. People are often compared to others to their own detriment. Although Wang Chengen did not hold as high a rank as he did, he was always by the Emperor’s side. That kind of trust could not be begged for.
After he left, Emperor Chongzhen continued to instruct Wang Chengen: "Help me remember: tomorrow morning, draft an imperial decree stating that the Shandong Regional Commander Liu Zeqing has refused to obey the summons, and his crime warrants death. Anyone who kills Liu Zeqing shall be promoted three ranks and rewarded with one thousand taels of gold."
"Your Majesty, Liu Zeqing holds great military power; I fear he will be difficult to slay," Wang Chengen reminded him cautiously.
Emperor Chongzhen knew perfectly well that Liu Zeqing would be hard to kill. If he were easy to dispatch, the historical Chongzhen would have already cut him down. To kill him, one had to use strategy. And those strategies were already prepared.
"Draft another decree immediately: order the Regional Commander of the Liaodong and Dengzhou naval forces, Huang Fei, to mobilize fifty warships. Have him wait at Tiemenguan for the arrival of the Crown Prince, and then escort him to Nanjing."
"Give him a second, secret mandate: tell him that Liu Zeqing intends to seize the Crown Prince to control the Nanjing court, and instruct him to devise a plan to execute Liu Zeqing before escorting the Crown Prince to safety."