The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 50 The Capital Garrison is Pacified with a Laugh

The emperor's act of burning the letters undoubtedly had an effect.

After the letters were burned, the emperor issued an edict ordering the commanders of the various guards in the capital to write down the number of soldiers they were short of and submit them. At this time, no one dared to object, at least not on the surface.

Seeing that all the generals of the Beijing garrison had surrendered, the emperor gave each of them a blank memorial with the same content written on it. They only needed to fill in the blank spaces with numbers and sign their names.

Seeing how well the emperor had prepared, the clever generals exchanged glances and discussed how to fill it out.

Some of the more honest ones used their deputy general's back as a table and filled out the report.

The emperor paid no heed to their different reactions, standing on the high platform with his head held high, seemingly admiring the rare spring scenery.

Soon, the first person to present a memorial appeared in the audience. This person was an acquaintance of Tu Chengyu, Cheng Changbao, the former captain of the guards of the Prince of An's mansion. He was now the Left Guard Commander of the Xuan Tie Guard, and in reality, he commanded the entire Xuan Tie Guard.

As the emperor's most loyal supporter, he certainly had to take the lead.

After Cheng Changbao handed the memorial to Jin Ruohai, the generals who had already written their memorials and were just waiting for someone to take the lead lined up one by one to hand them in.

Those who hadn't written yet didn't dare wait any longer, so they quickly finished and handed it in.

Jin Ruohai put away all the memorials, took a step or two forward, bowed to the emperor on the platform, and said, "Your Majesty, the memorials from the eleven guards of the capital garrison have been presented. Please take a look."

The emperor seemed to be mesmerized by the scenery. Upon hearing Jin Ruohai's words, he lowered his head and asked a question that left Jin Ruohai speechless.

The emperor said, "How come there are only eleven memorials from the twelve guards? Which guard didn't submit one?"

Although the question was quite absurd, Jin Ruohai still answered seriously: "Your Majesty, all three commanders of the Changsheng Guard have been executed. Since there is no one to make the decision, no memorial has been submitted."

The emperor seemed to have just remembered the matter and said, "I had completely forgotten about this. However, how can an army be without a commander? I will arrange one right away. Is Marquis Chengji here?"

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu's maternal uncle, Marquis Chen Chongli of Chengji, stepped forward from elsewhere and walked to the front of the stage to reply, "This humble general, Chen Chongli, greets Your Majesty."

The emperor said to Chen Chongli, "Marquis of Chengji, you once served as the commander of the Beijing Garrison. Now that the Changsheng Guard is without a commander, you shall take charge of it for me."

Chen Chongli bowed deeply and said, "This humble general thanks Your Majesty and will certainly live up to Your Majesty's expectations."

The emperor said with satisfaction, "Here is the memorial submitted by the Prince of Xining after his inspection of Changsheng Guard. Take it and fill out a new memorial based on the numbers on it, and submit it to me."

As he spoke, he ordered someone to pass on the memorial from the Prince of Xining.

Chen Chongli received the memorial, filled out a new one on the spot, handed it to Jin Ruohai, and then went to the generals of the Beijing Garrison.

When the generals of the Beijing garrison saw that the newly appointed commander of the Ever Victorious Guard, sent by the emperor, was also a member of the nobility, none of them had any intention of rejecting him.

Several people who were acquainted with Chen Chongli even took the opportunity to say a few words to him.

After all, everyone could see that the emperor still valued this brother-in-law he had quarreled with in the past. If they could establish a relationship with him now, he might be able to provide assistance in the future.

When all the memorials were presented, the emperor did not read them. Instead, he said, "We, the emperor and his subjects, have been frank with each other today. I believe you will not deceive me. Therefore, I will not send anyone to the army to investigate. I will only take what you have said in your memorials as the standard." Before the generals of the capital garrison could rejoice, the emperor continued, "Since there are such malpractices in the capital garrison, it would be unfair to the rest of the army if I did not punish you."

Punishment for wrongdoing is only right, and the generals of the Beijing garrison were not surprised. What they were concerned about now was how severe the emperor's punishment would be.

The emperor continued, "Since the number of troops in the capital garrison is insufficient, their salaries will no longer be paid as before. Everything will be distributed according to what is written in today's memorial. Do you have any objections?"

Upon hearing this, the generals of the Beijing garrison cried out in despair. No matter how much they had written, they all felt that the silver that was about to be in their pockets had vanished into thin air.

Jin Ruohai asked, "Your Majesty, will the salaries of the Beijing Garrison be distributed according to the newly set quotas from today?"

The emperor shook his head and said, "The number of soldiers in the capital garrison must not be less than 200,000. This is a fixed number and cannot be changed. I will give you a one-year deadline. If your troop strength increases by 10% within this year, I will have the Ministry of War increase your military pay by 10%. If your troop strength reaches full capacity, I will restore your full pay. If after one year there are still those who have not reached full capacity, they will be dealt with according to military law."

The emperor's approach was a classic case of slapping them down and then offering a sweet treat. He punished them while leaving them a chance to make amends.

The emperor had given them this opportunity, and the generals of the Beijing garrison were quite satisfied. They all guaranteed that the garrison would be fully manned within a year.

With this, the matter of the Beijing garrison was finally resolved, and all the generals could finally relax.

The next step is to deal with Gao Chonghe, who claims to be the emperor.

The emperor brought this fat man, who was as big as a mountain, here merely as a pawn to intimidate the generals of the capital garrison.

As for his hiding in the mountains and proclaiming himself emperor, the emperor really didn't take it to heart.

Therefore, the emperor quickly punished this person.

"Gao Chonghe will be handed over to the Ministry of Justice to verify his identity and investigate his nine generations of relatives. Once his identity is confirmed, he will be executed by slow slicing, his three generations of relatives will be exterminated, and the remaining six generations of relatives will be exiled to the border army, never to return to their original place of residence for generations."

"The rest of the military leaders should have their homes confiscated and their families exterminated. As for ordinary bandits, there's no need to distinguish between them; those who have committed heinous crimes should be beheaded, while those who haven't committed any major offenses should be punished according to the circumstances."

This time, the emperor's punishment was extremely severe, with hundreds of people being beheaded.

Moreover, the first case of death by a thousand cuts (lingchi) since the founding emperor of the dynasty occurred.

After announcing the punishment, the emperor ordered his men to carry away the fat man who was paralyzed on the ground, unable to move due to shock.

After these people were suppressed, the emperor suddenly looked at Tu Chengyu and said, "Prince Su, this matter arose because they tried to assassinate you, so I will let you settle it."

Tu Chengyu said, "Please give your orders, Father."

The emperor said, "Later, the people from the Imperial Horse Administration will go to the mountains to search and confiscate that rebel's estate. You will go with them and take a look. If there are any Yu-made items, have them demolished. The rest can be preserved."

As soon as the emperor finished speaking, Tu Chengyu immediately agreed.

Confiscating property is a lucrative opportunity, and the fact that his father is sending him is clearly compensation for Tu Chengyu. After all, Tu Chengyu did contribute to what happened today, though that contribution cannot be openly acknowledged, so the emperor is rewarding him in secret.

(End of this chapter)