Emperor Chongzhen frowned. Those three sentences had been delivered with such watertight precision that he finally grasped the formidable nature of his Senior Grand Secretary.
At the same time, a murderous intent stirred within him.
As a traveler from another time, how could he not see through Wei Zaode’s true intentions?
Emperor Chongzhen nodded, signaling for everyone to return to their positions. He scanned the assembly, his gaze growing icy. "I have heard everything you ministers just said. Some of your words were reasoned and sound, while others were complete and utter nonsense!"
"Guang Shiheng, you claim the Capital can be defended. How, exactly? Tell me your plan!"
Guang Shiheng’s eyes darted around. "The Capital holds a million people. If we conscript a hundred thousand citizens, we can certainly hold the walls."
Emperor Chongzhen asked with a dark expression, "How do you intend to conscript them? By rounding up able-bodied men or by recruiting soldiers? If you press-gang the civilians, aren't you afraid they will turn their weapons against us at the first sign of battle? Where will the money for recruitment come from? Pay for the military can be delayed, but what about food? Do you expect the common folk to bring their own rations to man the walls?"
Under this barrage of questions from Emperor Chongzhen, Guang Shiheng’s mind went blank. He stammered, "This... money and grain are matters for the Ministry of Revenue. I was merely offering a strategy."
Emperor Chongzhen flew into a rage. "Fine! I hereby promote you to Minister of Revenue. If you have no strategy to provide, I shall have your head."
Emperor Chongzhen was not truly enraged; a mere junior official was not enough to trigger his fury. He was doing this to draw Wei Zaode out. Guang Shiheng was just a pawn; the real boss behind him was Wei Zaode.
Terrified, Guang Shiheng scrambled to his knees. "Your Majesty, please calm your anger! I... I did this for the sake of the Imperial Court."
Emperor Chongzhen sneered, "Guang Shiheng, are you deaf? I have already appointed you Minister of Revenue. Please, explain your strategy!"
Hearing that polite "please," Guang Shiheng felt true terror. Few in the Great Ming Dynasty could withstand a "please" from Emperor Chongzhen, and he was certainly not one of them. He knelt on the floor, banging his head against the ground. "Your Majesty, forgive me! I should not have spoken recklessly in the Imperial Court. Please, Your Majesty, grant me mercy!"
Watching the junior official grovel, the last shred of pity in Emperor Chongzhen’s heart vanished. If Guang Shiheng had stood his ground and refused to admit guilt, Emperor Chongzhen might have spared him for his fortitude. After all, the scholars of the late Great Ming Dynasty had long lost their integrity, and if one finally appeared, he shouldn't be eradicated. But even his spine was made of nothing but jelly.
Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand for Guang Shiheng to return to his place. The timing wasn't right yet; killing him later would be just as easy.
He surveyed the officials and said slowly, "I am no foolish monarch. Since ascending the throne in the seventh year of Wanli, natural and man-made disasters have never ceased. I hoped to restore the Great Ming Dynasty, but the Heavens have not granted my wish. Now, the rebel bandits are rampant, the Jiannu are audacious, public morale is unsettled, and the Capital is difficult to defend."
"I am disappointed. Not just in myself, but in all of you."
"We are guilty of death! We have failed to share the burdens of our sovereign, nor have we alleviated the suffering of the people," Senior Grand Secretary Wei Zaode knelt to plead for punishment. Deeds might not get done, but appearances had to be maintained.
"We are all guilty!" the officials chorused as they knelt in a sea of robes.
"Rise, all of you. We shall proceed according to Li Banghua’s plan. The Crown Prince, Prince Yong, Prince Ding, the ladies of the inner palace, and a small number of officials shall accompany them. The rest shall remain with me to guard the Capital and await the arrival of the relief armies. As for the list of officials to go to Nanjing, let Li Banghua draft it."
Emperor Chongzhen had long realized that, whether in history or reality, he faced only three paths: Defend, Flee, or Negotiate.
He immediately dismissed fleeing. If he fled south, the consequences would be unimaginable. The vow that the "Son of Heaven guards the nation's gate" would become empty words, and the decades of blood shed by countless men on the Liaodong frontier would be reduced to a game. More importantly, Wu Sangui, who was marching thousands of miles to rescue the Capital, would find himself caught in a pincer attack. If he surrendered to the Jiannu as he did in history, the tragedy might repeat itself. Then, Emperor Chongzhen would not only have failed his ancestors, the fallen heroes, and the suffering masses, but he would have betrayed them all.
He also ruled out negotiation. Throughout the Great Ming Dynasty, the policy had been: no marriage alliances, no indemnities, no ceding of territory, and no tribute. The Son of Heaven guards the gate; the monarch dies for the state. He could not break that bottom line.
The final answer: Defend.
Historically, Emperor Chongzhen had failed to save the Great Ming in seventeen years; he could certainly do nothing in a week. The only thing he could do now was hold Beijing. As long as Li Zicheng could not take the city, the foundation of the Great Ming would remain, and history might yet be rewritten.
"Your Majesty is wise! We shall strictly obey the Imperial Decree!" Li Banghua led over thirty officials in kneeling to accept the order. The officials who supported Li Ming Rui, after a moment of reflection, also knelt to accept the decree.
The Emperor had entrusted Li Banghua with drafting the list of ministers to travel with the Crown Prince—what did that mean? It meant that Li Banghua had quietly gained significant power. If one wanted to avoid catastrophe by fleeing to Yingtian, one had to align with Li Banghua. In the blink of an eye, half the officials in the court were on their knees.
Wei Zaode’s expression was grave. To him, the best strategy was to leave the Emperor and Princes behind to offer to Li Zicheng. If he could force Emperor Chongzhen to sign an abdication decree, that would be a monumental achievement, and Li Zicheng would surely grant him high rank and titles. But if the Crown Prince escaped while Chongzhen stayed to fight to the death, things would become complicated. Not only would there be no credit, but he would also be specifically targeted. He had heard that the Great Shun was brutal to Ming officials who had no merit to offer. Without a "pledge of allegiance," he felt uneasy.
The rule of political games was that the minority obeyed the majority. Now that the Emperor and most officials had agreed to the Crown Prince’s relocation, the matter was irreversible. Yet, he could not fathom it. In the past, Emperor Chongzhen would have been indecisive, either calling the cabinet for a private meeting or mulling it over in his quarters for days. What had gotten into him today? He had made the decision right here in the court!
"Your Majesty!" Wei Zaode tried to awaken the indecisive Chongzhen he once knew.
"My mind is made up!" Emperor Chongzhen cut him off sharply and continued, "The officials going to Nanjing must assist the Crown Prince diligently, and those remaining in the Capital must assist me with all their strength to resist the rebel bandits!"
"Yes!" more than forty officials responded in unison.
"Now, the second matter." A faint, subtle smile appeared at the corner of Emperor Chongzhen’s mouth. "I had someone calculate the cost earlier. Between the pay for the Capital Garrison and the funds for new recruitment, there is a shortfall of 1.5 million taels of silver."
"The treasury is empty and there is no money to be had. It is said that the Ming Army will not fight without full pay, and with full pay, they are invincible. To resist the rebels, you ministers must find a way! As long as we can scrape together one million taels of silver, we can hold the Capital!"
The officials all bowed their heads in silent, tacit agreement. The topic of silver had haunted them from the first year of Chongzhen to the seventeenth. The annual revenue of the state treasury was never enough; if it weren't for the secret treasury reserves accumulated during the Wanli era, military pay would have run out long ago. The Emperor wanted them to come up with money—how? From where? If they could have produced the money, the Great Ming wouldn't have been turned upside down by a bunch of rebels.
Seeing that no one spoke, Emperor Chongzhen feigned a laugh. "Since you ministers have no ideas, I, for one, have an idea!"
"Please, Your Majesty, enlighten us!" The Senior Grand Secretary, though reluctant, immediately played along with the Emperor.
"Donations!"
The gathered officials remained silent. It was an old routine; they had donated countless times since the sixteenth year of Chongzhen.
"Do any of you wish to donate silver? Those who donate will be granted promotions and titles!" Emperor Chongzhen looked anxious on the surface, but his inner thoughts were different: *My ministers, I have given you a chance. If you fail to grasp it, don't blame me!*
Li Banghua was the first to step forward. He knew Emperor Chongzhen was about to make his move.
"I, Li Banghua, entered the civil service in the thirty-first year of Wanli. Every cent of my family's wealth comes from the Imperial Court. Now that the Court is in crisis, I am willing to offer my entire family fortune to help eliminate the rebels."
"Good! Li Banghua’s loyalty is evident. I shall reward you handsomely!" Emperor Chongzhen struck the table as he rose.