Swift as thunder and decisive in the moment-that was Ping An's style.
Less than six hours after receiving the confessions of Ni Qiong and the others, Ping An mobilized thirty thousand elite troops of the Beiping Guard. With the force of a thunderbolt, he surrounded the camps of the Prince of Yan's Three Guards, entered personally, and arrested Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng while they were addressing their men.
Zhang Yu's and Zhu Neng's personal guards tried to intervene, but Ping An roared like thunder, "Anyone who dares raise a hand is an accomplice to treason! Three generations of your family will be exterminated!"
Not everyone could bear the weight of a charge of treason.
For an unmarried man, it was one thing to die for loyalty to a friend; his death would implicate no one else. But who with a family would sacrifice an entire household for that loyalty?
Besides, the men Ping An had brought were all tall and powerfully built, well armed, and fully prepared. If fighting broke out, the unprepared Three Guards could only be slaughtered like lambs awaiting the butcher.
Ping An cleaved the table in two with a single stroke of his sword and shouted, "Listen well, all of you! His Majesty has exhausted his mind and strength over the New Army Strategy, laboring day and night! If anyone dares betray His Majesty or oppose the court, don't blame me, Ping An, for showing no mercy! Never mind an assistant commander—even the King of Heaven himself would have to ask whether the sword in my hand agrees, and whether the brothers under my command agree!"
Tens of thousands of elite soldiers, clad in gleaming armor and bearing sharp weapons, marched out of the Three Guards' camps with spirits high and martial might on full display. Throughout it all, there was not the slightest clamor or disorder.
Orderly and silent.
And powerful!
The arrest of Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng threw Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu, and the others at the Prince of Yan's Palace into a panic. Even Jin Zhong had not expected matters to reach this point, and for a time he had no idea what to do.
Zhu Di had many formidable generals under his command, including Qiu Fu, Tan Yuan, Liu Sheng, Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng, Guan Tong, and Lu Zhen. But in terms of command, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng were arguably the strongest.
Their arrest meant that the Three Guards had lost their finest commanders. Worse still, the men's loyalties were wavering, and the guards were on the verge of disintegration. The defection of more than five hundred men to the Regional Military Command Office made that clear.
"Come in. His Highness is awake."
Her brows tightly knitted, Xu Yihua opened the door and addressed the indecisive group.
They hurried into the room. Zhu Gaochi told Zhu Di that Ping An had arrested Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng. Propped up in bed, his eyes sunken and his body utterly exhausted, Zhu Di sighed. "What do you all think?"
"Father, we cannot wait any longer. We must rise up at once!"
Zhu Gaoxu hurriedly set out his views. "The court is pressing us harder with every step. Its intention to carry out the Abolition of the Fiefdoms is plain for all to see. We cannot sit here and watch the butcher's blade fall! We should seize this opportunity, mobilize the Three Guards under the pretext of rescuing Generals Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng, and take Beiping Prefecture!"
A shadow of worry lingered in Zhu Di's eyes. He turned to Zhu Gaochi and asked, "And your view?"
Zhu Gaochi sighed and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Father, with matters as they stand, our best course is to introduce the New Army Strategy into the Three Guards."
"Elder Brother, you're being foolish!" Zhu Gaoxu could scarcely believe his ears. "If we could introduce the New Army Strategy, why would we have waited until today?"
Ignoring Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Di and said gravely, "I have studied the court's policies and examined all its deployments around Beiping Prefecture. I found only one issue."
"What issue?"
Zhu Di asked.
Zhu Gaochi said earnestly, "His Majesty knows we intend to rebel, but he does not want us to."
Yuan Rong sneered from the side. "What do you mean, he knows we intend to rebel? If the court knew, we would all have been stripped of our titles and reduced to commoners, or detained in the Capital. How could we still be sitting here unharmed? And what do you mean, he doesn't want us to rebel? Is His Majesty so magnanimous that he hopes to win us over with benevolence and bring our hearts back to the court?"
"Shut your mouth!"
Zhu Di snapped coldly.
Yuan Rong's expression turned ugly, but he dared not speak again.
Zhu Di closed his eyes. "Jin Zhong, what do you think?"
Jin Zhong stepped forward, his brows tightly knitted and his eyes full of worry. "If we do not introduce the New Army Strategy into the Three Guards now, we will have no chance left. Yet once we introduce it, our chances will become exceedingly slim."
"If we seize Beiping Prefecture now, won't that solve everything?"
Zhu Gaoxu shouted in displeasure.
Jin Zhong turned to Zhu Gaoxu and said respectfully, "Your Highness, Ping An and Sheng Yong have long since made their preparations. Under these circumstances, the Three Guards may not be able to seize Beiping Prefecture. Even if we do, where could we go afterward? Do not forget that four hundred thousand troops surround it."
"To the south lie Zhen Ding, Baoding, and Hejian, firmly defended by Geng Bingwen. To the east is the line of Shanhai Pass, Kaiping, and Linqing, controlled by Qu Neng and Xu Kai. To the west lies Datong, held by Guo Ying, the Marquis of Wuding, while to the north is barren wilderness. Given the Three Guards' present morale and fighting strength, we cannot be confident in any direction."
"Our only course now is to accept the New Army Strategy and seek an advantage later. This is a measure we have no choice but to take, and the only way to win back the hearts of the Three Guards."
Jin Zhong's words displeased Zhu Gaoxu greatly. He felt that Jin Zhong was bolstering others' courage while snuffing out their own prestige. He told Zhu Di, "Father, give me just ten thousand men, and I will take Beiping!"
Zhu Di waved a hand and looked at Zhu Gaochi. "You are right. His Majesty is not forcing me, Zhu Di, to rebel-he is forcing me not to rebel! Whether in his arrangements at Beiping, his deployments at Shanhai Pass, Datong, Jinan, and Zhen Ding, or his transfer of Master Dao Yan to the Capital, everything His Majesty has done rests on a single word: momentum!"
"Thus, the skilled commander seeks victory through momentum rather than demanding it of individual men, and so he selects his men and entrusts them to momentum. One who harnesses momentum sends his men into battle like rolling logs and stones. By their nature, logs and stones lie still on level ground but move on a slope; square ones stop, while round ones roll. Thus, the momentum of a skilled commander's men is like round stones rolling down a mountain a thousand fathoms high. That is momentum. Heh. This nephew of mine is very good indeed."
Zhu Gaochi lowered his head and asked through gritted teeth, "Father, what should we do?"
Zhu Di gave a mournful sigh and said wearily, "Enough. Introduce the New Army Strategy into the Three Guards and quietly await an opportunity. If Heaven favors me, a turning point will surely come."
"Your Highness, Ping An requests an audience."
Qiu Fu announced quietly.
Zhu Di's expression tightened, and Zhu Gaoxu and the others grew uneasy as well. Ping An had barely arrested Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng before coming to the Prince of Yan's Palace. What did he intend? Had he already received an imperial order to send the Prince of Yan and his entire household to the Capital in prison carts?
"He has no escort."
Qiu Fu added.
Zhu Di's gaze turned dark, and he rose from his bed.
Xu Yihua hurried to support him, but Zhu Di shook his head. "It is nothing. If I cannot weather this little wind and wave, how could I gallop across the sea of desert? Let Ping An come."
The main hall.
Ping An bowed to Zhu Di and said apologetically, "Today, we received intelligence that Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng had incited soldiers to oppose the court and intended to rebel. The matter was urgent, and the Regional Military Commission had no time to seek Your Highness's approval before arresting them. I ask for your understanding."
His face cold, Zhu Di swept his sleeve across the table, knocking the teacup to the floor, and said sharply, "Understanding? Zhang Yu may have been a surrendered general of the Yuan Dynasty, but he pledged allegiance to our Great Ming and rendered outstanding service! He won great renown in the Battle of Buir Lake, then accompanied Lan Yu on campaigns against Yuanshun and the Sanmao Tribes. Taizu held him in high regard and appointed him assistant commander of the Anqing Guard!"
"He later followed me beyond the frontier, fighting with valor and devising strategies with great ingenuity, winning distinction time and again. Yet you claim that a man of such a loyal heart intended to rebel? As for Zhu Neng, he was originally a deputy battalion commander in my Central Escort of Mount Yan. Seeing his loyalty, courage, and ability, I promoted him to assistant commander of the Right Guard. He has followed me for years. Would I not know his character?"
"Never mind inciting soldiers to oppose the court-neither has ever uttered so much as a single disloyal word! Where is this treason? Ping An, if you cannot produce evidence, do not blame me for reporting you to the Capital and demanding that you answer for negligence, failing to restrain your troops, and slander!"
Watching the furious Zhu Di, Ping An merely took out a stack of papers, placed it on the table, and said quietly, "Here are one hundred statements from soldiers of the Three Guards. There are more than four hundred others at the Regional Military Command Office. If Your Highness needs them, I would not mind making another trip. I only hope that you will take care of your health."
With that, Ping An bowed and strode out.
Zhu Di's expression shifted uncertainly. He picked up the stack of confessions and read the statements. Suddenly, a roaring filled his ears, his vision went black, and he fainted once again.
Ping An heard the commotion but did not look back. Leaving the Prince of Yan's Palace, he headed straight for the Regional Military Command Office and ordered Beiping Prefecture placed under martial law. No troops were to move without the commission's orders. He also ordered Sheng Yong to take thirty thousand men and keep a close watch on the Three Guards. At the first sign of unusual movement, he could act directly without seeking approval.
Ping An was not the only man seated in the Regional Military Command Office. Zhang Bing was there as well.
Deeply uneasy about Ping An's methods, Zhang Bing cautioned him, "Without the court's permission, you must never deploy the army to destroy the Three Guards, much less surround the Prince of Yan's Palace."
Ping An knew Zhang Bing meant well. To move against the Prince of Yan without seeking an imperial decree was to wield military authority without authorization and act recklessly-a contemptuous challenge to the imperial family's dignity!
The consequences were easy to foresee.
Although Zhu Yunwen had granted Zhang Bing, Ping An, and Sheng Yong considerable authority, even instructing them to strike first if the Prince of Yan showed signs of trouble, an instruction was still only an instruction. Without an explicit imperial decree, who would take the blame if something went wrong?
Ping An understood this, but he understood something else even better: when dealing with someone as formidable as Zhu Di, either do not strike at all, or kill him outright. Drag things out too long, and the one who died would be himself.
"I will send a memorial to the court."
Knowing how complicated the situation had become, Ping An finished writing his memorial and was about to send it by Eight-Hundred-Li Express when Sheng Yong rushed in, his face shifting between alarm and uncertainty. "Something terrible has happened!"
"Has the Prince of Yan really made his move?" Ping An's expression grew grave, and he sprang to his feet.
Gasping for breath, Sheng Yong looked at the slightly panicked Zhang Bing and the calm, stern Ping An, then hurriedly said, "The Prince of Yan-the Prince of Yan has gone mad!"
"Mad?"
Zhang Bing looked bewildered.
Ping An's eyes widened in astonishment. Shouldn't he be saying that the Prince of Yan had rebelled?
Why was he saying the Prince of Yan had gone mad?
Sheng Yong drank a mouthful of cold tea and shuddered. Then he looked at Ping An and said solemnly, "Word just came in. Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, has gone mad!"
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