Raising an eyebrow with an air of amusement, Wang Cang Hai said, “With the Chancellor’s seal in my left hand and the Tiger Tally (military command token) in my right, I can fulfill the promise Your Majesty made when you launched the Tianjing Rebellion—that I would hold a position of ultimate power. Isn’t that right?”
“Indeed, it is,” the Yong Wu Emperor said with a strained smile.
Three days later, Wang Cang Hai, appointed as the imperial envoy, led a contingent of 600 silver-armored soldiers from the Yong capital of Yingjing to the original site of the imperial ancestral tomb in Wu Prefecture.
The silver-armored soldiers were Wang Cang Hai’s private army, numbering over 9,000. The size was kept within the legal limit of 10,000 private soldiers permitted for a prince under Yong law. When Zhu Wen, as Emperor Xiao Wen, was on the throne, Wang Cang Hai, then Deputy Commander of the Five-City Garrison, had already assembled 3,000 silver-armored soldiers, personally training them in military tactics under the pretext of grooming generals for the emperor. In the second year of Xiao Wen’s reign, Wang Cang Hai led these soldiers to the East Sea to suppress pirates and raiders. He built 64 warships and expanded his forces to over 6,000 soldiers. This Wang family army triumphed in countless naval battles, clearing the southeastern coast of centuries-old pirate threats within two years and driving raiders over 1,000 li (approximately 500 kilometers) away from Yong’s shores.
Two years after Wang Cang Hai left the capital, Prince Yan, Zhu Di, rose in rebellion under the banners of “Restoring Order in Heaven’s Name” and “Purging the Court of Traitors.” Leading his army, he attacked Yingjing, the capital, and forced Emperor Xiao Wen, Zhu Wen, into a desperate situation.
Upon hearing the news, Wang Cang Hai traveled by sea, hurrying day and night, and managed to return to Yingjing a day before Zhu Di’s forces breached the city walls. Unexpectedly, the man who had been as close as a brother to Zhu Wen since the age of thirteen not only refused to defend the city but also set fire to the Jiqing Palace. To the shock of all, Wang Cang Hai personally handed over Zhu Wen’s remains and the Imperial Seal of State to Zhu Di.
Even more astonishing, Wang Cang Hai wrote a proclamation with his own hand, which was distributed across the land. In it, he declared that, according to his observations of celestial phenomena and star charts, Emperor Xiao Wen, Zhu Wen, was a celestial star deity incarnated on earth to undergo trials. Having completed his mission, Zhu Wen could only ascend to immortality by self-immolation, returning to the heavens and his rightful place in the celestial sphere. Wang Cang Hai proclaimed that Zhu Di was the true Son of Heaven, the destined dragon emperor, and that his ascension to the throne was ordained by the heavens.
At the time, Wang Cang Hai was only eighteen years old, but he was already widely recognized as a prodigy and a peerless astrologer. His proclamation legitimized Zhu Di’s claim to the throne and shaped public opinion in his favor. However, it also solidified Wang Cang Hai’s infamy as the “Minister Who Slayed His Monarch.” The story of an eighteen-year-old who could set fire to a palace and burn an emperor to death with his own hands spread across the land, striking both fear and awe.
Even Zhu Di harbored apprehensions about Wang Cang Hai. After ascending to the throne as the Yong Wu Emperor, Zhu Di rewarded him according to his contributions, promoting him to Minister of War. However, he stripped Wang Cang Hai of his command of the Five-City Garrison, the force responsible for defending the capital, under the pretext of reassignment. Instead, he sent Wang Cang Hai to the remote deserts and barren lands of the northwestern frontier to plant trees and dig irrigation canals. Naturally, Zhu Di did not allow the 6,000-strong Silver-Armored Army, Wang Cang Hai’s personal troops, to remain in the capital. These soldiers were sent to the frontier along with Wang Cang Hai.
0 Comments