You can't only love the Qing Dynasty when you're eating the fruits of others' labor.

Chapter 194 The mentally broken Shunzhi Emperor retreated into the Buddhist hall.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

It was drizzling outside, and the atmosphere inside the hall was extremely oppressive.

The newly appointed Minister of War, Chen Zhilin, knelt on the golden bricks inside the hall, not daring to even raise his head. Yet he could sense that Emperor Shunzhi was trembling, weeping, and teetering on the edge of losing control.

Recently.

One bad news after another:
Zheng Sen, the commander of the Jinsha army, led a naval raid on eastern Fujian, defeating more than twenty warships of the imperial navy. Zheng Sen then dispatched Lu Yong to land in Fuzhou, where he killed more than a thousand officials and soldiers, including the prefect, and then lingered there.

With the cooperation of local fishermen, Zhang Huangyan of eastern Zhejiang led his troops to land in Haiyan County, Jiaxing Prefecture, killing more than a hundred people, including the magistrate. Later, fearing the arrival of reinforcements from Hangzhou, he voluntarily withdrew.

Leizhou, Guangdong, was captured by a pirate who claimed to be the "Admiral of the Guangzhou Navy of the Ming Dynasty".

In addition, local officials in several coastal prefectures and counties resigned, and small-scale rebellions involving fewer than a hundred people were rampant in the southeastern provinces.
result~
Today, we received the worst news yet.

"It is suspected that a Ming Dynasty spy infiltrated the central army tent and poisoned the troops. General Ao Bai of Dingyuan was poisoned and went mad. His deputy Jiang Qingyun was also poisoned, but his condition was slightly better. He was sometimes lucid and sometimes insane."

……

Emperor Shunzhi cried out in anguish, "How could this happen? My great cause!"

Chen Zhilin lowered his head:
"Your Majesty, please take care of your health. It is merely the work of a few petty villains. They will surely vanish in less than ten days."

"Any other news from Jingzhou?"

"not yet."

"How could it not be there? Go back and check the files again."

"Whoo."

Chen Zhilin quietly withdrew from the Qianqing Palace.

The Chen family, whose ancestral home was Haiyan, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, was a prominent family in eastern Zhejiang. The father once served as a governor, but was dismissed by Emperor Chongzhen for his poor handling of war affairs and committed suicide in prison.

Chen Zhilin was implicated in his father's crime and was dismissed from office by Emperor Chongzhen.

He was originally a key member of the Donglin Party and a famous lyricist in Jiangnan. He had a close personal relationship with Qian Qianyi and Chen Mingxia and often exchanged poems with them.

After the Qing army reached Jiangnan, he was among the first group of former Ming officials to surrender and was appreciated by the Qing court, leading to a smooth official career.

At this moment, he felt conflicted.

He didn't want Jiang Qingyun to win the battle because he had killed his old friend Chen Mingxia.

They also hoped that Jiang Qingyun would win the battle, otherwise the Ming army would sweep across the south, causing the north and south to be divided, and the Chen family's vast fortune in Haiyan would be ruined.

……

Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Shunzhi paced back and forth, sometimes pondering how to mobilize the cavalry from beyond the Great Wall to march south, and sometimes considering immediately issuing a proclamation to the world, ordering Wu Sangui and Shang Kexi to permanently guard the frontier.

"Wu Liangfu, what if I personally lead the expedition?"

"Your Majesty is of inestimable health, no, no!"

"Then do you think the army from Jingzhou can win?"

"It should be possible."

"really?"

Wu Liangfu looked distressed. What could he say?

After a while, a guard rushed in to report.

"Your Majesty, Prince Li, Mandahai, died suddenly half an hour ago."

Emperor Shunzhi was startled again.

"I remember Mandahai was only 31 years old~"

No one dared to speak.

Mandahai's sudden death was a major event. Although he was stripped of his title due to illness, he was still entitled to posthumous honors.

Funerals are for the dead, but they're performed for the living.

The next morning.

At Cining Palace, a mother and son have breakfast together.

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang dismissed her attendants.

"Fulin, Mandahai—did he really die of illness?"

"Mother, what do you mean? He did die of illness, and his death has nothing to do with me."

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang nodded thoughtfully.

"Fulin, for the court to be stable, no single official can become too powerful. Whether it is a Manchu or a Han official, if either side becomes too powerful, it will restrain the imperial power."

"My son will remember this."

Emperor Shunzhi calmly drank the white fungus and lotus seed soup.

Unexpectedly, this scene evoked a completely different feeling in Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's eyes.

No one knows a son better than his mother. Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang knew this son all too well: he was intelligent, thoughtful, wary, proud, eager to succeed, ambitious, and also lustful.

……

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang then asked, "Regarding the inheritance of the title?" "I would like to hear Mother's opinion?"

“Mandahai’s eldest son, Chang Adai, is honest and kind, and may inherit the title of Prince.”

"Restore the title of Prince?"

"Yes, take this opportunity to ease tensions with the banner lords and princes. A struggle without a complete breakdown is the essence of politics."

"Mother is right."

Emperor Shunzhi drank the white fungus and lotus seed soup without even looking up, as if it were the most exquisite delicacy in the world.

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was furious.

"Fulin, if you have any objections, you can speak up! Why be so stubborn?"

"Mother has misunderstood her son."

Shunzhi looked up, his face filled with astonishment, innocence, and confusion.

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang felt a tightness in her chest, and she slowly said:
"We must remain calm in the face of major events. What do minor setbacks at the front matter? At worst, my daughter and I will take the people and gold and silver back to Liaodong, block Shanhaiguan, and wait for an opportunity to enter the pass a second time."

"Mother, do you think it's possible?"

"Why not? Even if the Ming dynasty was about to fall, they would still fight amongst themselves. They would rather lose to both sides and hand over the country to our Qing dynasty. This phenomenon is very interesting and worth your serious study."

Shunzhi put down his bowl, his smile chilling.

"My question is, is it possible for me to abandon the state, forsake the legitimacy, and flee back to Liaodong to become a tribal khan?"

The air inside the hall froze.

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang looked at her son, whose face was full of anger, picked up her bowl and buried her head in her soup.

Emperor Shunzhi finished eating and then left in a huff.

The two never spoke another word to each other.

On that day, the chief eunuch Wu Liangfu personally went to the Prince's residence, firstly to offer condolences, and secondly to deliver an imperial edict. Chang'adai, the eldest son of Mandahai and Borjigit, inherited the title of Prince Li.

The news, once it spread, calmed the hearts of many people.

……

A light drizzle was falling.

"Your Majesty, watch your step."

Wu Liangfu, holding an oil-paper umbrella, escorted Shunzhi into a courtyard on the edge of the Thirteen Offices.

The scene before them stunned them.

The monk Tianji sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his hands holding prayer beads, like a statue. Rainwater kept rolling down his bald head, soaking his robe.

"Oh my god, who is that dog servant who serves the monk? This old servant will skin him alive."

Wu Liangfu emitted a sharp, explosive sound.

Tianji opened his eyes, stood up, and clasped his hands together:

“Amitabha, this matter has nothing to do with others; it was done voluntarily by this humble monk.”

Shunzhi sighed: "Master, why did it come to this?"

"Praying for the country should be done with utmost sincerity."

"What if I'm sincere?"

"Sincerity brings results."

"I'm feeling a bit troubled today, so I thought I'd take a walk around here."

"Please follow this humble monk."

……

Shunzhi found the small Buddhist hall to be quiet and simple, yet it exuded a refined aesthetic, quite different from the Yellow Sect Buddhist temples with gold-painted walls and white jade floors.

Subtractive aesthetics, spiritual logic, rejecting extravagance, embracing one's true self.

For Shunzhi, who was in a state of agitation at the moment: this place was excellent.

"Why don't you forget everything for now and detach yourself from the mundane world?"

"I'll give it a try."

Shunzhi simply imitated Tianji and sat down cross-legged.

"Close your eyes."

"Breathing slows down."

"Exhale the turbid air, let the true energy sink down, without form, without self, without shape."

While striking the wooden fish, the monk Tianji chanted Buddhist hymns in an extremely soothing and hypnotic tone.

Emperor Shunzhi was drowsy, half-awake and half-asleep. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly awoke with a start, staring blankly at his instinctive, mechanical action of striking the wooden fish.

Who am I?
Where am I?

Why am I striking the wooden fish here?

(End of this chapter)