After hearing that the Qing Army had looted the Capital before fleeing, they felt a deep sense of regret.
Only after hearing Fu's words did Zhu Ci realize there were others behind him; in that brief moment, he had truly only noticed Fu.
Facing the resentful gazes of the others, Zhu Ci acted as if nothing had happened: "You have all arrived at the perfect time; there are many matters that I must rely on you all for."
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Isn't it only human nature to immediately spot the most outstanding person in a crowd? Meow sitting on a tree branch, acting all righteous. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM~
Chapter 263
Fu is so thoughtful, knowing to bring people directly to help him.
These people have arrived at the perfect time; it is just in time to smoothly take over Beijing.
The current Beijing is actually quite dilapidated, after all, having experienced successive waves of war in such a short period of time.
This was only because the Tartars had fled quickly; if they had intended to defend to the death, I fear the city walls would have been even more dilapidated.
Fu's gaze never left Zhu Ci's face. Hearing this, he could only suppress the reluctance in his heart and say, "Your servant obeys."
As for what needed to be done, that was a matter for the Grand Secretariat to handle. If they could not alleviate the Emperor's burdens at a time like this, what purpose would the Grand Secretariat serve?
Fu led the people away from Meishan, but as they were leaving, Zhu Ci suddenly called out, "Prince of Ning, stay a moment."
The others acted as if they hadn't heard him; let alone looking back, they didn't even pause their footsteps.
Zhu Ci remained silently in place.
In fact, he had been silent ever since he stepped into Beijing.
The closer he got to Meishan, the more grief filled his heart, he could only struggle to keep his tears from falling.
It is a day of great joy; it wouldn't be good to spoil the mood.
Zhu Ci walked to his side, looked up at the locust tree, said, "It is fortunate that you have come; otherwise, I would still be worrying about where to find a ritual official. Have someone prepare for it later; I am going to pay my respects at the Imperial Mausoleum at Tianshoushan."
He paused before saying, "Emperor Xiaolie's mausoleum.. Have someone find a new location later, I will provide the funds to rebuild it."
He could not let Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou continue to suffer such grievances.
Tears finally fell from Zhu Ci's eyes. He nodded vigorously, remaining silent.
It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, nor was he worried that Zhu Ci would know he was crying; rather, it was as if his throat were being choked by something at this very moment, making him completely unable to speak.
After Zhu Ci finished speaking, he patted Zhu Ci's shoulder and signaled with his eyes for the others to leave first, leaving Zhu Ci there to compose himself.
Zhu Ci did not know how long Zhu Ci stayed at Meishan afterward; he only knew that by the next day, Zhu Ci's eyes were as red and swollen as two walnuts.
He thought for a moment and did not pretend not to have noticed; instead, he had someone bring him some medicine and said, "Take good care of yourself. If you are well, Emperor Xiaolie will be happy."
Zhu Ci nodded, then handed over the memorial and said, "Your Majesty, all the ritual procedures are here."
Zhu Ci flipped through it and realized that his cousin was still a generous man; according to this procedure, he wouldn't even need to go directly to the Imperial Mausoleum at Tianshoushan; he would only need to perform sacrifices to the ancestors at the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
He thought for a moment before handing the memorial to Wu Xia, who immediately understood and returned the memorial to Zhu Ci.
Zhu Ci looked at Zhu Ci with some confusion.
Zhu Ci said in a gentle voice, "This is my first time in Beijing, so I must visit the Imperial Mausoleum in person. That way, I can pay my respects at the Imperial Ancestral Temple once, at the Longling Mausoleum once.. As for Emperor Xiaolie, you shall go on my behalf and pay your respects there once as well."
Zhu Ci opened his mouth after hearing this. Being so clever, he naturally knew that Zhu Ci's insistence on making a special trip to Tianshoushan was merely to allow him to pay respects to his parents openly.
After all, if it were him, going to the Imperial Mausoleum to pay respects would not be an easy task either.
He had originally intended to advise Zhu Ci that there was no need for such, as his imperial cousin, the Emperor, had been campaigning abroad for nearly half a year; he had lost quite a bit of weight and had clearly endured much hardship.
Having just moved into the Forbidden City, he hasn't even had time to rest before having to go and pay respects at the Imperial Mausoleum; it is a bit too much to ask.
However, no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not bring himself to say the words, even though he also very much wanted to go and see his Imperial Father and Empress.
In the end, Zhu Ci could only nod with reddened eyes.
Zhu Ci waved his hand and hurriedly told him to go back and rest.
As soon as Zhu Ci left, Fu followed immediately behind him.
Your Majesty, I have already sent people to prepare the Yuquanshan Palace. Would Your Majesty care to move to the palace?
Zhu Ci was stunned. "Hmm? Why move to the palace? Is there something wrong with the Forbidden City?"
Fu Lue frowned slightly, his eyes carrying a trace of imperceptible disgust as he said, "The Tartars have ruined the Forbidden City beyond recognition; I wish to carry out some renovations."
Zhu Ci was momentarily caught between laughter and tears. After the Qing Army entered Beijing, although they had carried out some renovations on the Forbidden City, they had ultimately stayed for a short time and had not yet had the chance to undertake large-scale construction projects.
Most of the renovations were only done on the interior decorations, while another part of the projects were left half-finished and abandoned when they had to flee in a hurry.
Oh, of course, it is said that many parts of the Forbidden City were originally decorated with gold and beautiful jade, but they have since been looted by the Qing Army, leaving some areas pockmarked and unsightly.
He waved his hand and said, "Come and sit here first."
Fu walked over and sat down, Zhu Ci said after some consideration, "Repairing the Imperial Palace will require a great deal of money.."
He saw Fu about to speak and raised his hand to stop him, saying, "I know what you mean, but starting massive construction projects while the realm is still unstable is surely a path to death. Regardless of who pays for it, it will easily cause chaos within the imperial court when the time comes."
Regardless of whether he and Fu have money, starting large-scale construction on the imperial palace just after stabilizing the realm is not a good thing, especially since if Fu does this, it will be very easy for those below him to imitate.
It wouldn't look good if word got out; the common people are still starving, yet the Emperor has already begun to indulge in luxuries. This is simply not how things should be.
Zhu Ci indeed did not care much about the reputation he had among scholars, but it depended on the situation. Unless he felt he had to use heavy measures and could not compromise with the scholars, the current situation was clearly not like that, there was no need to give them another opportunity to attack him.
To tell the truth, although the Tartars changed a few things, I must say that the Forbidden City has been renovated quite well by them.
When Li Zicheng first entered the capital, the Forbidden City had suffered some damage, later, when the Qing Army entered the pass, part of it was destroyed again.
Now, except for a few truly remote areas, the damaged parts have all been repaired by them.
As long as the pitted areas are filled in, the rest can be repaired slowly.
Zhu Ci had no particular requirements for his place of residence.
On the contrary, Fu seemed somewhat disdainful: "The Forbidden City is too small."
"The small one is fine. The imperial palace in Nanjing is too large; it feels truly empty for me to live in alone," Zhu Ci said casually.
Fu fell silent for a moment and had no choice but to compromise. Fine, if His Majesty does not want it, then so be it. Besides, His Majesty was right; for the sake of his Emperor's reputation, it was not an appropriate time for large-scale construction projects.
Setting aside the matter of repairing the Imperial Palace, Fu began to report on other matters.
Your Majesty, a battle report has arrived from the front lines. Regarding Chuangwang.. it seems there has been a slight problem.
Hmm? What kind of problem?
Zhu Ci didn't pay much mind to it after hearing that. Was there ever a shortage of trouble caused by Li Zicheng? Fu said it was a minor issue, so it shouldn't be anything serious.
The Chuangwang encountered Jirgalang and Dodo on his way back to the capital, he.. killed those two, thinking they were part of the Qing Army.
Ah??
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: How about we change Li Zicheng's title and call him the Prince of Mang? The kitty stares with wide eyes in disbelief. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM
Chapter 264
Zhu Ci looked up at Fu in shock. "What did you say?"
Fu rarely defended Li Zicheng, saying, "It is said that at that time, the troops led by Jirgalang and Dodo were all wearing Qing Dynasty attire, so the Chuangwang misunderstood their identities."
Zhu Ci immediately asked, "Did Dodo and Jirgalang not explain themselves?"
They did, but Chuangwang thought it was a conspiracy by the other side, so he feigned belief and had these two men invited into the army to be executed.
Zhu Ci..
He could see that Li Zicheng was truly someone without any idol baggage, someone who had begun to let himself go.
He wouldn't even care if people criticized him for using such methods.
For a brief moment, even Zhu Ci felt a hint of envy toward him.
However, on second thought, if time were to turn back, Zhu Ci would still choose to accept the surrender of Jirgalang and Dodo.
The two of them are different from Wu Sangui. Even if Wu Sangui surrendered, he might not necessarily be able to influence the course of the war. Without him, Zhu Ci might not be able to defeat Dorgon, but with him, Zhu Ci would have to be careful about being backstabbed by this man.
However, accepting the surrender of Jirgalang and Dodo truly could reduce many casualties.
However, Li Zicheng really did help him solve many troubles.
If it weren't for Li Zicheng, he would have intended to cast him aside like a worn-out donkey.
Even if his reputation suffered, he would still do it.
Dodo and Jirgalang had slaughtered many cities in the past, Zhu Ci remembered every single one of them.
Accepting surrender is a strategic necessity; when they are no longer needed, it will be time to settle the score.
It had to be said, Li Zicheng was truly his lucky general.
Fu watched Zhu Ci fall into a rare, contemplative silence, after waiting for a long while, he could no longer help but ask, "Your Majesty?"
Ah?" Zhu Ci said instinctively, "Chuangwang did a great job.. No, I mean, Chuangwang went too far.
Fu..
Fine, he understood; the Chuangwang should be fine.
In fact, even the court officials who had followed him were somewhat slow to react to such an absurd matter. Once they confirmed it was the truth, they began submitting memorials one after another.
Zhu Ci kept all these memorials and waited until most of the officials from Nanjing had arrived before saying, "This matter is not the fault of Chuangwang. It is simply that the National Treasury has limited resources, there were not enough supplies. It was inevitable that misunderstandings would occur when Jirgalang and Dodo's subordinates were wearing Qing Dynasty military attire. Although Chuangwang was somewhat reckless, he.. Jirgalang was, after all, the Regent of the Qing Dynasty, Dodo is also a Prince. With the two of them together, even Chuangwang would not dare to underestimate them. I think that anyone would find it difficult to believe them easily upon meeting these two."
One couldn't simply believe everything they said, could they? What if they were using a scheme?
Perhaps the Manchus do not have such a long history of culture or military treatises, but they certainly have plenty of schemes; a people without any cunning would never have been able to rule the Central Plains.
Everyone thought that it sounded like a reasonable point; no matter who it was, no one would easily believe it.