-
26. Appeasement towards the Manchus
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
I* Appeasement toward s the Manchu s Without giving any response, Ma ordered his servant to hurriedly prepare a sedan chair and headed for the Board of War. Ruan simply ignored his guests and went out with Ma, followed b y Yang and the duty officer. Fou r sedan chairs set off for the Board's yamen as if on wings. In th e Ston e Nes t Garden , onl y Ear l Zha o an d Presiden t Qia n remained . They were so shaken by the duty officer's repor t that they quite forgot the y were guests, and politely saw Ma and Ruan out to their sedan chairs! They then returned to the hal l an d continue d wit h thei r palaver abou t thei r respective theorie s o n how to meet the emergency. Disconcertedly Qia n addresse d Earl Zhao, 'In my view, the mos t importan t thing at this moment is to evacuate the national capital. To Hangzhou if a nearer place is preferred, or to Fuzhou if a place further awa y is considered better. In one word, w e cannot affor d t o repea t las t year's disaster o f allowing Beijin g t o fall . Before Beijing was lost, General Wu Xiang ordered the city gates to be closed and forbade th e official s t o escape . He proclaimed, "I f we have t o die, we shall di e together!" The result was that all the officials were caught in the same net by the roving bandits. Some eight hundred officials were seized and tortured. The tortures were the squeezing of the fingers and feet, flogging, beating with a rod and being strung up. In addition , the y pressed th e officials t o return al l "stolen property" . This time, whether the invaders be Zuo Liangyu's army or the Manchus, they are unlikely t o be an y more reasonabl e tha n th e bandits . For this reason , w e mus t never, never make the same mistake again. It is most important to quickly move the capital!' 251 The Peach Blossom Fan Earl Zhao stroked his short beard and argued contemptuously, 'What damne d use is it to remove the capital? If you move to Hangzhou, they will pursue you to Hangzhou! I f you go to Fuzhou, they will come after yo u to Fuzhou! Let me ask bluntly, if you keep on yelling for the "removal of the capital" without having had a good fight a t the front, i s it not tantamount t o escape?' Qian felt deeply humiliated by the vehemence of this speech. Blushing violently he sai d i n defence , 'Ther e i s a vast differenc e betwee n movin g th e capita l an d escape!' The grea t Earl waved his hand and reasoned, 'No , no! Whatever you might say, movin g th e capita l i s the wors t plan . Accordin g t o me , w e shal l see k th e Emperor's decision. We should embark upon a national conscription which covers all the provinces on the south of the River. With the exception of members of the royal clan an d nobility , official s an d gentlemen , an d thos e student s wh o ar e i n receipt of government stipends , every other mal e from th e ag e of sixteen to th e age of forty-five, whoeve r he may be, must join the army. We must adopt a policy of "sacrificing one' s own home i n order to protect the nation". The people mus t sell thei r belonging s i n orde r t o equi p themselve s wit h arms . Fodder an d othe r provisions must be prepared by the prefectures and counties. In this way, we shall have a grand army adequately supplied. They will defend u s against the north o r the west as required. It is only then that we may continue to enjoy life and await final victory with our minds at rest. Brother Qian, do you not think my opinion is far superior to yours?' Thus speaking , he patted hi s knees and shoo k his head i n a manner o f selfcongratulation . Qian coul d hardl y preven t himsel f fro m laughin g out . H e thought , 'Yo u...