The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 47 Thunder and Rain, All are the Emperor's Grace

As the emperor shouted his question, three generals from the capital garrison stumbled out, the leader of whom was Shao Wenbiao, the commander of the Changsheng Guard.

The three men walked over, knelt down with a thud, and shouted:

"This humble general, Shao Wenbiao, Commander-in-Chief of the Changsheng Guard, pays his respects to Your Majesty."

"This humble general, Lu Hongye, Left Guard Commander of Changsheng Guard, pays his respects to Your Majesty."

"This humble general, Cui Qingdu, Right Guard Commander of the Changsheng Guard, pays his respects to Your Majesty."

After the three men paid their respects, the emperor did not have them helped up, but instead stood on the high platform and looked down at them, asking:
"It's good that the three commanders of the Ever-Victorious Guard have arrived. Now I ask you, did the Prince of Xining wrong you in what he just said?"

Upon hearing this, the three men immediately knelt down and lay prostrate on the ground with their heads on the ground.

Shao Wenbiao stammered as he replied, "Your Majesty, this humble general... this humble general..."

The man was so terrified that he couldn't utter a complete sentence. After a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out four words:

"This humble general deserves death!"

The two adjutants behind him also kowtowed and cried out that they deserved to die.

The emperor said coldly, "Hmph, so you admit to these crimes."

Shao Wenbiao kowtowed again, but had nothing to say, only saying, "This humble general deserves to die."

The Emperor said, “You deserve to die. I entrusted the nation’s ever-victorious army to you, and the safety of the capital to you. What trust I have placed in you! But how have you repaid me? You’ve been drawing salaries without working, drinking the blood of your soldiers, and treating them like slaves. You’ve turned this once-mighty army, renowned throughout the Western Regions, into a coal-mining force. How can you, Shao Wenbiao, face the old Marquis?”

Upon hearing this, Shao Wenbiao wept bitterly and kowtowed again, crying out, "This humble general has failed the Emperor's grace; I deserve ten thousand deaths."

The emperor roared, "Since you want to die, I will grant your wish! Guards!"

Upon hearing the emperor's summons, a line of soldiers immediately marched out from the outer camp of the Imperial Horse Stables.

The emperor pointed at Shao Wenbiao and the other two and said, "Remove their armor, take them out of the camp, and behead them immediately. Send their heads to every guard in the capital camp so that all the soldiers can see them."

Upon receiving the order, the Imperial Horse Stable soldiers stepped forward, pulled the three men up, and roughly tore off their armor. Throughout the process, the three men seemed resigned to their fate and did not struggle at all.

Just as the Imperial Horse Administration soldiers were removing the armor from the three men, the emperor continued, "Issue another imperial decree to strip these three families of all their titles and official positions, and to retrieve all their imperial edicts and documents. The Imperial Horse Administration is to proceed to confiscate their property, and all family members, regardless of age, must be taken outside the city and beheaded."

Upon hearing this, Shao Wenbiao, who had previously resigned himself to his fate, immediately struggled and cried out, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! Your Majesty, please forgive me! This was all done by this sinful subject alone. My wife and children were completely unaware. I beg Your Majesty to forgive me. This sinful subject is willing to be torn apart by five horses and subjected to slow slicing, but I only beg Your Majesty to spare my family."

Shao Wenbiao's every sentence was a wail of grief, every word a plea; the sorrow in his words was so profound that it brought tears to the eyes of all who heard them.

The other generals in the Beijing garrison, in particular, shared the same guilt as Shao Wenbiao, so they all felt the same way and could not bear to look at him.

Upon hearing the emperor's harsh decree, Jin Ruohai and Wang Ziteng, as the nominal commanders of the Five Military Commissions who controlled the nation's armies and the direct commanders of the capital garrison, had no choice but to join forces and plead for leniency.

Jin Ruohai said, "The guilty general Shao Wenbiao has deceived the emperor and violated military law. He deserves to die ten thousand times over. This humble general only begs Your Majesty to spare his wife and children from death, considering the sacrifices made by the late Marquis Dingyuan for the country." Wang Ziteng said with a stiff upper lip, "This humble general begs Your Majesty to calm your anger and forgive his family's death sentence."

The emperor ignored Jin Ruohai's pleas for mercy, but flew into a rage at Wang Ziteng, shouting:

“Wang Ziteng, as the military governor of the capital garrison, you are in charge of the twelve guards of the capital garrison for me. Now my entire guard of troops has become useless. What kind of military governor are you? I haven’t even settled your scores yet, and you still have the nerve to come out and plead for others. Do you really think I’m made of clay? Guards, remove Wang Ziteng’s armor and take him outside the camp gate to await punishment.”

Upon hearing this, the soldiers of the Imperial Horse Stables rushed forward and quickly stripped Prince Teng down to his undergarments, then shoved him out of the imperial camp.

Although everyone guessed that Wang Ziteng's position as the military governor of the capital was coming to an end, no one expected that the emperor would not only remove Wang Ziteng from his post, but also seem to intend to punish him.

It seems the issue of ghost employees in the Beijing garrison won't end so easily. Most of those who had just tried to plead for Shao Wenbiao and the others dared not step forward.

Only Prince Jin Ruohai of Xining remained there, bowing and refusing to retreat.

The emperor asked Jin Ruohai, "Prince of Xining, do you still wish to plead for Shao Wenbiao's family?"

Jin Ruohai said, "Your Majesty, I beg Your Majesty to pardon the death penalty imposed on Shao Wenbiao and his family."

The emperor said, "What if I refuse?"

Upon hearing this, Jin Ruohai knelt down once more and said, “Shao Wenbiao is ambitious but incompetent, greedy for money and profit, which has rendered the Changsheng Guard ineffective and powerless. However, considering that his ancestors died for the country several times, and that he has not caused any major disaster, his head can be beheaded and his family property confiscated. As for the Changsheng Guard, Your Majesty can choose a good general to rebuild it. I dare to guarantee that within a year, the Changsheng Guard will surely regain its fighting strength and satisfy Your Majesty.”

Jin Ruohai's words, seemingly a sincere plea for Shao Wenbiao and others, were in reality a condition offered to the emperor.

He first belittled Shao Wenbiao, expressing his approval of the emperor's decision to kill Shao Wenbiao to establish his authority. Then he brought up Shao Wenbiao's ancestors, which was a reminder to the emperor that the ancestors of the military nobles were all like the Shao family, having risked their lives to help the Tu family conquer the world. If the emperor were to wipe out the entire Shao family because of this, cutting off their lineage, it would break the hearts of all the nobles.

He then stated his conditions: the candidate for the commander-in-chief of Changsheng Guard would be sent to the emperor for direct appointment, without needing to consult with the nobles. Finally, he guaranteed that the nobles would not make things difficult for the emperor in rebuilding Changsheng Guard, and would even help the emperor complete the reconstruction of Changsheng Guard within a year.

The emperor naturally understood the meaning behind Jin Ruohai's words; these were actually the conditions he wanted. So, he stood on the command platform, pretending to be hesitant.

The officers of the Twelve Guards of the Capital Garrison, seeing the emperor hesitate, knew what to do if they were smart enough. They stepped forward first and stood behind Jin Ruohai to plead for mercy. The slower ones, however, also knew what to do and followed suit, pleading for mercy as well.

For a time, all the generals of the Twelve Guards of the Beijing Garrison were pleading for Shao Wenbiao and his companions.

Standing on the high platform, the emperor saw that the matter was almost settled and said, "Since all the generals have pleaded for leniency, and I am not a tyrannical ruler, I will spare the lives of the three families, but demote them all to commoners and exile them to their original hometowns, and for three generations they will be barred from holding office."

Once the emperor spoke, Shao Wenbiao and the other two stopped struggling, and the generals who had pleaded for their lives also breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their original positions.

Everyone thought that the matter was over, but unexpectedly, the emperor said something that terrified everyone.

"If the Ever-Victorious Guard is so incompetent, what about the other guards in the Beijing Garrison?"

I was at the construction site and came back late, please forgive me.

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(End of this chapter)