Chapter 2647: The Capital (Part 3)

His sudden interest in Zheng Sen was no passing whim. The Imperial Court had simply gained a brief respite and could finally spare attention for the Kun.

Two years ago, when the Kun captured Guangzhou and swept through Liangguang, the court had debated a southern expedition. But the imperial forces in Liangguang had collapsed entirely. The battalion soldiers and guard garrisons originally stationed there were virtually annihilated. Even the Governor-General of Liangguang, Xiong Wencan, had barely managed to flee into Hunan with the remnants of his shattered army, where he had been clinging to survival ever since.

Losing armies and abandoning territory, surrendering two entire provinces—in the past, Xiong Wencan would long since have been held accountable and thrown into the imperial prison. By now, his head would likely have rotted away. That Chongzhen had kept him alive until now was partly because the border situation was grave and he was reluctant to change commanders lightly. More importantly, the court had neither troops to reinforce Liangguang nor anyone else who could control the situation.

The Emperor had considered many times arresting Xiong Wencan and bringing him to the capital for interrogation in the Sky Prison. But Wen Tiren had dissuaded him: currently, more than a dozen civil and military officials were capable of dealing with the Roving Bandits, and a few could contend with the Eastern Barbarians, but officials who understood the Kun and had actually fought against them were exceedingly rare. Wang Zunde had been dead for several years, leaving Xiong Wencan as the sole surviving expert. Therefore, he could only pinch his nose and let him "atone for his crimes through meritorious service."

Chongzhen was not entirely ignorant of the Kun. Over the years, through scattered memorials, garrison reports, and secret dispatches from the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he had glimpsed aspects of this thorny enemy. In particular, he had read Notes on Pacifying the Hairs, submitted for imperial review, many times over. He knew he was facing a completely new opponent—different from the Eastern Barbarians and the Roving Bandits, different from the Wokou and the Red-Hairs. Everything the court and the public knew about the Kun came from this small booklet. This was also why he had to tolerate Xiong Wencan until now.

Last year, he had revealed his intention to punish the Hairs to his cabinet ministers. Apart from Wen Tiren, their attitudes had been vague, showing considerable disapproval. Indeed, the court was beset by internal troubles and external aggression at the time; it simply could not attend to a war in the distant south.

No matter how thorny the Kun were, punishing them was something that had to be done. Otherwise, how could he face the tumultuous criticism of court and public? How would future generations judge him as an emperor? Though the Xuande Emperor had abandoned Annam, Annam was merely a region beyond the pale of civilization, hardly counting as lost territory. But Liangguang was part of the empire handed down from the Taizu Emperor, ranked among the two capitals and thirteen administration commissions—how could it be discarded under his reign? If the court lost two Provincial Administration Commissions and did not raise troops to punish the rebels, would not the phrase "under all heaven, every spot is the sovereign's ground" become a mockery? Would those increasingly arrogant military men still hold the court in any regard?

As a monarch, there were some grievances he could not discuss with his ministers. He could only sigh in secret.

These days, apart from the Grand Secretariat's decision to levy a "Guangdong Surtax" starting from the ninth year of Chongzhen, there was no conclusion on whom to select as Commander-in-Chief or which troops to mobilize. Even Wen Tiren, on whom he had always relied, maintained a rather ambiguous attitude. In his words, he revealed a hope for "pacification."

Given the court's current situation, pacification might indeed be an option. Yet his intuition told him the Kun' appetite was likely enormous, and they would not agree to ordinary conditions. Even if, as the cabinet ministers suggested, he promised them Qiongzhou Prefecture, they might not be satisfied. Moreover, ceding territory would cause an uproar in public opinion. The very thought of such a scandalous act against heaven and earth made the Emperor shudder.

Only by demonstrating the court's power to the Kun would there be any possibility of them accepting pacification.

When he considered it, the situation was ridiculous. The Eastern Barbarians occupied the bitter cold lands of the Northeast; originally, Old Nurhaci was just a minor personal guard under Li Chengliang, with hundreds of followers and no more than a few dozen armored men. Since his grandfather raised troops in his later years, in merely twenty or thirty years, they had beaten the court into repeated retreats, losing all of Liaodong. As for these Kun, it was said that when they first arrived, they had no more than a few large ships and a few hundred people. They had drifted to Qiongzhou, that remote southern borderland, barely surviving on industry and commerce. Yet now they had trained elite troops and capable generals, sweeping through Liangguang in one fell swoop. His Great Ming possessed a vast empire spanning ten thousand li, hundreds of millions of subjects, and thousands of civil and military officials—yet it could do nothing against these two great barbarian groups, one in the north and one in the south, and was forced to consider "pacification"...

At this thought, misery washed over the Emperor. He could never understand how the Great Ming, which was clearly so powerful, had fallen to such a state.

Seeing that he remained silent after dinner, his gaze distant and dazed, Concubine Tian knew he was worrying about state affairs again. Fearing that his pent-up grief would cause indigestion, she hurried to divert his attention with conversation, speaking of the "Divine Physician" and "Immortal Medicine" that had recently become the talk of the capital.

Though the capital was grand in scale, its urban environment was far from pleasant, owing to the large population and the perennial sandstorms of the north. In earlier years, when national power was strong and officials were competent, there had been some management of environmental hygiene. But in these final years of the dynasty, with hearts unsettled and social order in chaos, the original management systems existed in name only. In recent years, with the Eastern Barbarians entering the borders to plunder, a large population had flooded into the city. Infectious diseases ran rampant—diarrhea, coughing, fever... Though such illnesses mainly prevailed among the lower classes who lacked clean drinking water and lived in harsh conditions, high officials and noble personages could not remain immune. Many people had fallen ill, and quite a few officials had taken leave for this reason. However, by seventeenth-century standards, this did not yet qualify as a "plague."

Concubine Tian's father had also fallen ill, and at one point his condition had grown quite grave, causing her great anxiety. Yet palace rules did not allow concubines to visit their families—not even their own fathers. She could only have medicine prepared from the Imperial Pharmacy and sent home. Not long ago, her family had finally come to report that her father had recovered. It was said he had taken medicine from a Divine Physician, and the diarrhea that had been unstoppable had ceased in just two days.

The medicine prescribed by this Divine Physician showed remarkable efficacy, particularly for coughing, fever, and diarrhea—its effects could be called immediate. Thus it had caused an instant sensation in the capital. Even the Emperor, deep within the palace, had heard of it; after all, reporting market news was one of the daily duties of the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Chongzhen did not take the matter to heart. The capital was gathered with high officials and nobles. Since they were human, they had seven emotions and six desires, as well as three disasters and six calamities. Thus monks, Daoists, physiognomists, and divine physicians had always been most keen to come to this "place of the Emperor." The emergence of a "Living Immortal" was nothing new. So long as they did not spread fallacies to deceive the crowd, he generally could not be bothered to inquire.

When Concubine Tian mentioned this, he treated it as after-dinner entertainment, listening casually without paying much attention. But then she said, "...This Divine Physician Zhou's medical skills are indeed superb. Especially the medicines he prepares himself—they are effective for almost every symptom, no inferior to the Kun' medicine..."

He suddenly stiffened and demanded, "What did you say?"

Concubine Tian had seen the Emperor looking gentle, his eyes half-closed, his face relaxed and content. She had not expected his expression to turn fierce so abruptly. Her heart filled with fear, and she stammered, "This concubine said that the Divine Physician's medicine is extremely effective..."

"No—you said it is no inferior to whose medicine?"

"H... Hair... Kun..." Concubine Tian groaned inwardly. Why had she mentioned this for no reason? Though she was in the harem, through the eunuchs around her and the family members sent by her father to deliver items each month, she knew a thing or two about the current political situation. The Kun were one of the Four Great Calamities of the world, written by the Emperor on the screen in the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

"Kun, Kun," Chongzhen repeated the term several times. After a long while, he asked, "What is the background of this Divine Physician Zhou? Where did your father find him?"

"He was recommended by the new Minister of War, Lord Wang." Concubine Tian dared not conceal it.

That would be Wang Yehao, Chongzhen thought. After the death of Minister of War Zhang Fengyi, Wang had been handling the ministry's affairs with the title of Left Vice Minister of War. However, the Emperor felt he was not a suitable candidate for Vice Minister, so he had decided to recall Yang Sichang, who was at home observing mourning, to active duty, overriding the mourning period. At the same time, to allow Wang Yehao to work with peace of mind, he had specially granted him the title of Minister of War.

Yet Chongzhen had never liked this person. Though Wang had been reasonably competent during his terms as Grand Coordinator of Zhejiang and Left Vice Minister of War, he was a member of the Zhejiang Faction. Although he had been stripped of his status by the Eunuch Faction in the sixth year of Tianqi for submitting a memorial regarding the Wanggongchang Explosion, the Zhejiang Faction's past of attaching themselves to the Eunuch Faction made the Emperor harbor a grudge against these old members.

Monks, Daoists, physiognomists, and physicians who gained great fame in the capital mostly had the backing of gentry and noble families—without this, they could not establish a foothold. It was not surprising that Wang Yehao was Doctor Zhou's patron. Tian Hongyu was Concubine Tian's father; Wang recommending a divine physician to treat his illness and curry favor with the "Imperial Father-in-law" was common practice.

However, Chongzhen was extremely wary of the harem interfering in politics. Wang Yehao's move made him suspect whether this person was plotting to whisper into his ears through Concubine Tian. His face immediately darkened.

Seeing his expression sour, Concubine Tian became even more flustered. Just as she wanted to explain herself, she suddenly remembered her father's advice: when encountering a difficult situation, stillness was better than movement. She simply remained silent, waiting for others to speak first.

Fortunately, the Emperor's mood was decent today. Recalling that he himself had initiated the inquiry about the Divine Physician, the matter seemed unrelated to any plea for influence. His expression quickly relaxed, but he made a mental note regarding Wang Yehao and Divine Physician Zhou. He reminded himself to have Wu Mengming investigate the matter carefully tomorrow.

"What is this Divine Physician's name?"

"This, your concubine does not know. The family servant only mentioned it in passing when delivering the message..." Concubine Tian answered cautiously. She had more or less guessed the Emperor's thoughts just now.

"Let us not discuss this Divine Physician," Chongzhen said, shaking his head. "You said just now that it works even better than the Kun' medicine—is there Hair Rebel medicine in the capital?"

"As for the Hair Rebel medicines circulating in the capital, your concubine knows of seven or eight kinds. Most are common household medicines for peace of mind. The most famous ones are Zhuge Marching Powder and Plague-Repelling Powder."

Chongzhen remembered. During the Jiaxu year examinations of 1634, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had secretly reported that someone had purchased a large quantity of pills and powders to distribute freely to scholars coming to the capital. The main medicine distributed was Plague-Repelling Powder, and it was said the effects were quite good. As for the people distributing the medicine, they were merely some local wealthy households intending to accumulate merit and do good deeds. He had set the matter aside after hearing it.

"Plague-Repelling Powder—is that not from a pharmacy in Guang..." he said casually, then suddenly caught himself. Did the Kun not originate in Guangdong? So the Kun' tentacles had already extended into the capital at that time!

(End of Chapter)