Chapter 55: Emperor Yuanzhao

"Can't we make Öljey Teymur hurry up? If we wait for the Ming army to attack, will we still be able to leave?"

Though he was merely a puppet emperor, he still possessed a temper, and he addressed the Empress Qi by her given Mongolian name directly.

Empress Qi, well over forty yet still retaining her alluring charm, wore a gugu headdress and a Mongolian empress's fur robe. Adorned with pearls and jades from head to toe, she looked radiant.

With an affectionate expression, she seated herself upon the dragon throne and took Toghon Temür's hand.

"Your Majesty, the preparations are nearly complete. It is only the Crown Prince who is still tallying the silver in the imperial treasury."

Toghon Temür yanked his hand away with a look of utter disgust. For him—a devotee of esoteric dual cultivation—and the aging Empress Qi, their husband-and-wife relationship had long existed in name only. Not to mention the fact that the mother and son had joined forces to marginalize and strip him of real power.

Hearing this, he raged in anger: "That good-for-nothing Shremshah, what time of day does he think it is to still be counting money? That Ming army near Xuanfu is nowhere to be found; by the time he finishes counting, we won't even need to run. Our whole family can just huddle together and reunite in the dungeons of Jiqing (Nanjing)."

Empress Qi was equally helpless; short of absolute desperation, she would never abandon that gold and silver. Otherwise, arriving on the grasslands penniless and destitute, who would listen to the two of them?

After waiting for four hours, Shremshah, approaching thirty with his hair tied in a scholar's topknot, appeared dressed in the garb of a Confucian literati, save for the fur vest he wore over it. No matter who looked at him, he bore no resemblance to a Yuan crown prince; he looked far more like a Han dynasty licentiate.

Bowing deeply before the two of them, Shremshah said, "Imperial Father, Imperial Mother, this son has everything prepared. The carriages and horses are already awaiting your decree and we may depart at any moment."

Seeing this ostensibly respectful son, the Emperor of Yuan could not help but emit a cold laugh.

Shremshah had grown up in the household of Toghtoga during his childhood, raised alongside Toghtoga's son, Qarača.

Yet it was this very son who had called Toghtoga "foster father" to his face, only to ultimately drive Toghtoga to his death with his own hands.

He was a white-eyed wolf that could never be truly tamed. Back then, when Shremshah conspired with the grand eunuch Pak Bu-hwa and Shou Si-jian to stage a deposition and elevation plot, it caused Böbek Temür to emulate El Temür by leading troops into the capital to forcefully wed the empress. Consequently, the nation would not have rotted away to such a miserable state.

Toghon Temür shifted the blame for the fall of the state entirely onto the crown prince, refusing to acknowledge any fault of his own.

Just as the few of them were about to set off, the eunuch Jinshan entered the hall, kowtowed, and reported: "Reporting to Your Majesty and Your Highness the Crown Prince, Xingguo Duke Guantong and Vice Administrator of the Directorate of Rites Dayin Temür have brought fifty thousand troops outside the capital and request an audience."

The mere thought that these two men were younger brothers and confidants of Köke Temür caused Toghon Temür, who had just risen to his feet, to see darkness before his eyes and nearly collapse.

Crown Prince Shremshah and Empress Qi, however, wore expressions of joy. Although Chahan Temür had not led troops to pressure the palace into forcing the Yuan emperor to abdicate, the Chahan family was, after all, a die-hard faction of the crown prince.

"I decree that the city gates shall not be opened! Anyone who violates this order shall be beheaded as a warning to the public!"

Empress Qi straightened her face and said, "His Majesty is merely speaking drunken nonsense. Someone, quickly help His Majesty go to the inner court to rest."

The clear-headed Emperor of Yuan was seized by the hands and feet by several eunuchs and dragged into the inner court.

Crown Prince Shremshah issued commands to the Manager of the Bureau of Military Affairs Shilemen and Administrator of Political Affairs Qarača, who were responsible for guarding Dadu: "Let Guantong and Dayin enter the city, but their retinue must not exceed two hundred men."

Though he was jubilant, upon calming down and thinking carefully about how Koké Temür and Nahachu had sent no news, yet fifty thousand troops had suddenly appeared, he still felt that whenever the natural order was defied, something monstrous was bound to happen.

Moments later, Guantong, Dayin, and the others, guided by the eunuch Jinshan, entered the Daming Hall where the emperors of the Yuan dynasty administered governance.

"Your subject Guantong—"

"Your subject Dayin—"

"Pays respects to the Empress Dowager and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Crown Prince Shremshah raised a hand and said, "Two beloved ministers, dispense with the formalities."

Empress Qi looked with curiosity at the handsome young man in full military attire who had entered the hall without kneeling:

"This general looks rather unfamiliar."

"This humble subject is Köke Temür's—no, Arib Böke's descendant, Qun Temür. My entry into the city this time is by order of Great Khan Möngke Temür to escort His Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince on a hunting tour to Kharchin."

Shremshah immediately understood the reason why he did not kneel, and could not help asking out of curiosity: "Your ancestor was imprisoned by the Seisen Emperor and died there. Do you harbor no resentment toward His Majesty and myself?"

Qun Temür cupped his fists and said in a deep voice: "Those are merely trivial matters of the past. Now that the destruction of our country and the ruin of our families is imminent, we descendants of the Borjigin clan, instead of casting aside our grievances to unite and repel the marauders, are squandering our strength fighting for power and engaging in internal strife. Would that not make us unworthy descendants who have failed our sacred ancestors?"

The Yuan crown prince slapped his thigh in gratification and said, "As fellow descendants of Genghis Khan, to possess such awakening in times of trouble—Gu is deeply gratified."

The Yuan emperor was a puppet; he himself was the actual controller of Dadu. He instructed Left Chancellor Shilemen at his side: "Restore Qun Temür to his true surname. Gu looks forward to the day when you can lead troops to recover the southern territories of our Great Yuan. I hereby enfeoff you as the Prince of Wu."

Qun Temür cupped his fists and expressed his gratitude. Shremshah felt no revulsion at all; instead, he admired the other's genuine disposition.

Zhu Shuang, who was masquerading under the alias Qun Temür, felt deeply distressed inside. Just look at how generous the Great Yuan Dynasty was! Perhaps he should stop being the Prince of Qin, and upon returning, discuss with old Zhu to enfeoff him with the Forbidden City instead.

The reason he chose to impersonate a descendant of Arib Böke was very simple: Arib Böke had been defeated, imprisoned, and poisoned to death by Kublai Khan, and the imperial archives concerning his descendants had been destroyed along with him.

Looking at Empress Qi, who was well over forty yet possessed an arresting charm, especially the dazzling, swaying twin peaks on her chest, Zhu Shuang—who had not experienced the life of battlefields for quite some time—felt his gaze growing somewhat hazy.

Seeing his tall, robust physique and handsome features, and noticing his burning, unblinking gaze fixed directly upon her, Empress Qi could not help but proudly heave her majestic mounds.

Shremshah, standing nearby, feigned ignorance, offered an excuse, and retreated to the back ancestral hall to join his father, Emperor Shun, in dual cultivation with young maidens.

Empress Qi, leaving with the support of palace maids, suddenly turned her head just as she was about to depart and cast a bewitching wink at Zhu Shuang.

…………

By the banks of the Hutuo River, six hundred thousand Yuan troops were encamped. In the Yuan army camp, tents leaned haphazardly at odd angles, and corpses littered the ground.

Where the grain and provisions were stored, flames soared into the sky. Nahachu, sporting small braids and a robust physique, had half of his ear bitten off.

His face covered in blood, he gripped his saber and stared at Köke Temür, who sat on horseback right before him.

Köke Temür looked down at the defeated Nahachu with the smile of a victor.

He said, "Surrender. You have no more than one hundred thousand foot soldiers left, while I still have one hundred and twenty thousand cavalry."

Nahachu wiped the blood from his face, gritting his teeth as he spoke: "Köke Temür, is your clan trying to destroy our Great Yuan?"

"We have both fallen into the Han people's crafty schemes. If you surrender to this Prince now, it is still not too late."

"If you and I join our forces, we may not necessarily lack the strength for one decisive battle."

Nahachu's expression flickered uncertainly in the glow of the flames. The blood feud between him and Köke Temür was already irreconcilable. If he surrendered to Köke Temür, according to Mongolian custom, he would be wrapped in a felt blanket and trampled to death by a herd of horses.

Glancing at the ten thousand battered soldiers behind him, all of whom bore injuries, he gritted his teeth and prepared to fight to the death, for he possessed no path of retreat whatsoever.

Seeing this situation, Köke Temür's cavalry behind him all bent their bows and notched their arrows. Just as he raised his right hand to issue the order to attack, a blood-drenched scout galloped up at breakneck speed.

Weeping hoarsely, the scout cried out, "Qi Tayici, the Ming army has charged our battle lines!"