“Must that man make things this way? Is he only satisfied when he puts this dowager on a raging fire to be roasted alive?”
Qing Yang saw Lei Cheng shuffle into the great hall with his stooped body. She furrowed her elegant brows and asked in a cold voice.
“On this southern campaign, Lord Li Zhigao, Feng Liao, Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong, and other officials attend the lord. They all believe that without bloodshed, it will be difficult to quell the hostilities. Even if blood is not spilled now, it will be virtually impossible to avoid bloodshed in the future—five days ago, I secretly hurried to Liyang for an audience with the lord. Apart from Huaidong, the various lords were still endlessly debating whether Jinling should see a hundred thousand deaths, thirty to fifty thousand deaths, or just over ten thousand casualties to make a token impression. And if people truly must die, there’s no guarantee it won’t implicate the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty. The lord insists that the ministers devise good strategies to preserve Jinling and Jiangnan entirely, while also ensuring the complete safety of the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty,” Lei Cheng said.
“What kind of perfect strategy is this?” Qing Yang complained resentfully.
Lei Cheng was about to offer further persuasion when he heard footsteps below the hall. Moments later, two palace maids rushed over, reporting: “Your Majesty is in a towering rage and wants to issue an edict granting Marquis Yang death. Director Zhang cannot dissuade him and has even had his forehead broken by His Majesty…”
“This is complete chaos,” Qing Yang hurried with Lei Cheng toward the young emperor’s sleeping quarters.
From a distance, they could hear the crashing sounds of things being smashed. Entering the great hall of the sleeping quarters, they saw Zhang Ping and several attendant eunuchs kneeling at the hall entrance, clearly blocking Yang Bin from storming out. But as Yang Bin smashed things inside the hall to vent his anger, they dared not approach to stop him.
Zhang Ping’s frost-white hair and beard were already stained red with blood.
“How long does Your Majesty intend to throw this tantrum?” Qing Yang shouted sternly to stop him.
The youth still feared Qing Yang after all, and huffily sat back down behind the imperial desk.
“Do you think this seat is naturally yours to occupy? Do you know how many piled corpses lie beneath this seat, how many deadly schemes are hidden there? Do you think when the full court of civil and military officials kneel and kowtow, shouting ten thousand years, they truly harbor any fear or respect for you in their hearts?” Qing Yang waved her hand for all irrelevant people to withdraw from the sleeping hall, keeping only Zhang Ping and Lei Cheng by her side. She walked before the imperial desk, staring at the somewhat defiant young Bin, and demanded sternly, “Do you know that after the main Meng army forces were completely annihilated at Zezhou, Prime Minister Shen and Marquis Yang repeatedly contemplated relocating the capital, yet Zhou Bingwu, Du Chongtao, Gu Zhilong, Zhang Han—every single one of them—and even Yang Zhitang who withdrew to Hongzhou, still memorialized to dissuade the capital relocation? Did each of them truly have Great Chu’s state and altars in mind, thinking of making a final stand against the Liang army at Jinling? Or rather, did they fundamentally just want you and me, mother and son, to die cleanly and decisively as martyrs for Great Chu, so they could burden-free pledge allegiance to a new master? Zhang Ping and Yang En teach you the art of ruling the realm as an emperor, yet they must not turn you into someone arrogantly self-important who knows nothing…”
“…” The youth still sat huffily behind the imperial desk, remaining silent.
“Zhang Ping, tell His Majesty everything that happened between the Late Emperor and Han Qian from the twelfth year of Tianyou onward—everything you know. Do not hide or conceal even the slightest detail.” Qing Yang also sat down angrily and called Zhang Ping forward, instructing him to explain completely what happened in the thirteenth year of Tianyou when Emperor Yanyou left the palace for his mansion, and the events that occurred when Han Qian, Feng Yi, Kong Xirong, Li Chong, and others attended lectures at the Marquis of Linjiang’s mansion.
Previously, when Yang En and Zhang Ping instructed the young emperor, although they tried their utmost to teach him practical statecraft, when it came to past events from the twelfth year of Tianyou onward, they necessarily avoided certain matters and deliberately overlooked Han Qian’s presence, instead highlighting Emperor Yanyou’s youthful success and brilliant martial prowess. They even intentionally downplayed the cruelty and bloodiness of the Yang clan’s internal fratricide before and after the Jinling rebellion.
Including the true cause of Han Daoxun’s death—how could they have explained it completely to the young emperor before?
However, whether discussing the Battle of Xichuan, the削藩 campaign and pacification of Jinling, the battles defending Tangyi, or the Yanyou Palace coup, Zhang Ping had personally experienced them all. Too many detailed inside stories, even too many people’s inner conflicts and shifts in circumstances—he understood them more clearly than even Shen Yang or Yang En.
“Alas…” Zhang Ping wiped his forehead, which had stopped bleeding, and walked over with a bitter expression on his face…
…
…
“Tell me, has Yang En become senile, or has he long since secretly pledged to Liang?”
After Gu Zhilong returned to his residence, he discussed today’s court assembly situation at Chongwen Hall with Fu Gengwen, Xi Ying, and his youngest son Gu Xiongchang, still utterly perplexed.
“Yang En hasn’t become senile. He’s more likely unwilling to see blood flow like drifting pestles in Jinling, willing to sacrifice his own reputation and name,” Fu Gengwen said with emotion. He hadn’t previously thought Yang En might actually be persuaded by Cai Chen and willing to stand forth to do this reputation-destroying deed.
“What do you mean?” Gu Zhilong asked.
“After the Liang army crosses the river, the possibility of the Imperial Guard holding Jinling City is less than one in ten. But even if the Liang army besieges the city and the princes and ministers in court all choose to surrender the city, and the troops of Jiangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan, Jing-Xiang, and Huaidong all surrender at the news, the Liang ruler and ministers will never forget the old events from four hundred years ago when the Sui Dynasty’s Emperor Wen pacified Jiangnan and brought the Lord of Chen back to Luoyang, only to have Jiangnan’s subjects and people twice rise in rebellion. That’s why Marquis Yang said that merely surrendering the city is insufficient to gain the trust of Liang’s ruler and ministers…” Fu Gengwen said.
“Surrendering the city isn’t enough—will the Liang army truly launch a great massacre? How can Yang En be so certain?” Gu Zhilong asked in alarm.
“Perhaps someone close to Luoyang is guiding Marquis Yang,” Fu Gengwen said. “Setting aside the various regions of Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangdong, and Jing-Xiang, what does Marquis Gu think are the chances that Jinling’s troops and civilians, fighting desperately to defend Jinling City until imperial loyalist armies from the various prefectures and counties arrive to ultimately repel the Liang army?”
“This…” Gu Zhilong really didn’t want to face this topic from Fu Gengwen.
“Lord Fu seems quite clear about what the Liang army intends to do?” Xi Ying asked with a gloomy face, staring at Fu Gengwen with hesitation.
Hearing Xi Ying say this, both father and son Gu Zhilong and Gu Xiongchang looked toward Fu Gengwen with hesitation.
“Some days ago, an old friend who disappeared for several years without a trace did indeed suddenly visit, analyzing the situation for Gengwen. Gengwen felt there was some merit to it and am now presenting it before Marquis Gu,” Fu Gengwen said calmly. “What, does Lord Xi feel there’s a problem?”
What could Xi Ying say?
Gu Zhilong shook his head, somewhat too lazy to investigate whether Fu Gengwen had long been colluding with the Liang army. He also signaled Xi Ying not to dwell on this matter.
Unless he harbored a determination to “rather be shattered jade than intact tile,” even if Fu Gengwen had long been secretly colluding with the Liang army, could he really arrest Fu Gengwen and send him to the authorities for severe interrogation?
He believed what mattered more was how he should act to avoid becoming a sacrificial offering.
“What does Gengwen believe we should do to preserve our families?” Gu Zhilong couldn’t be bothered to maintain his dignified posture as Minister of War and asked directly.
“Gengwen dares not presume to comment on what choice Marquis Gu should make, but Gengwen thinks that perhaps tomorrow someone in court will echo Marquis Yang’s counsel for the Empress Dowager to marry the Lord of Liang—of course, not spilling any blood at all is obviously impossible. Even if the Lord of Liang wishes to take Jinling without bloodshed, Chuzhou will probably have to be fought over. After all, the Liang army’s Second Central Campaign Army, led by the great Liang general Han Donghu, is advancing south along the Si River specifically prepared for Chuzhou,” Fu Gengwen said.
…
…
No one knew who leaked the news, but the Imperial Academy students were the first unable to bear such “national humiliation and sovereign disgrace.” Had Zheng Xingxuan not received word early and promptly dispatched troops to strengthen the guard at the Liyang Marquis’s mansion, Yang En might well have been dragged into the street by these scholars and beaten to death.
Batches of middle and lower-ranking officials also submitted memorials impeaching Yang En, their words expressing such hatred they wished to devour his flesh and gnaw his bones.
For a time, public sentiment surged turbulently throughout Jinling City with street discussions everywhere, carrying great determination to sacrifice lives and spill blood for Great Chu’s survival.
On the nineteenth, the Liang army followed its established plan. Dozens of warships assembled and advanced toward Caishi Jetty, using cannon bombardment to drive the garrison troops from the various fortifications below Cuiluo Mountain. They landed and occupied Caishi Jetty, then began stretching iron chains over two li long between Caishi Jetty and Little Yellow Sandbar, preparing to construct a floating bridge across the river.
Simultaneously, Han Donghu led the Second Central Campaign Army across the Huai River, bringing his forces to the walls of Chuzhou City.
The Second Central Campaign Army had only two battalions with thirty-six light and heavy smoothbore cannons, but from the twentieth, they deployed outside Chuzhou’s northern wall. When persuasion to surrender failed, that very night they launched a fierce bombardment of Chuzhou City.
The Wanghuai Gate tower on Chuzhou’s northern wall, along with its gate passage, was quickly demolished. By noon the next day, sturdy northern Chuzhou wall had been blasted open with gaps over ten zhang wide, and casualties among the city’s defenders exceeded a thousand. On the twenty-second, four light smoothbore cannons were dragged atop the walls. Under grapeshot fire, the defending troops attempting to counterattack and retake the walls using dense formations suffered even more horrific casualties.
On the twenty-third, as the Liang army’s vanguard forces killing their way into Chuzhou’s inner city captured the Prince of Xin’s palace, Yang Yuanyan—who had been bedridden for half a year with arrow wounds not yet healed—wielded his blade attempting to block the Liang army. He was struck by over ten arrows and died. Prince of Xin’s tutor Ruan Yan drank poison and died as a martyr. Ruan Yan’s son Ruan Tao, along with Prince of Xin’s heir Yang Cong and over ten others, were all classified as first-class war criminals. The day after Chuzhou fell, Han Donghu ordered them bound and publicly strangled for display at Chuzhou’s south gate…