Chapter 56

The sky gradually became light and Qian Long watchedthe sun rising from the east as the eunuchs laid outthe Imperial breakfast for him. It consisted of manydelicacies, but he found it difficult to swallow them.

　　With Chen and Princess Fragrance gone, he felt nervousand unsettled.

　　That day, he did not grant an audience to hisministers, and spent his time napping fitfully. Onseveral occasions, he sent guards out to search fornews, but the sky grew dark and the moon sailed upover the palace walls, and still none of them hadreturned to report.

　　He started to become extremely anxious and tried tocalm himself by staring fixedly at the desert muralson the walls of the Precious Moon Pavilion.

　　"Seeing as she likes him, she will certainly likeChinese clothes," he thought. "When they return hewill already have convinced her, so why don't I takeoff these Manchu clothes and put on something Chineseto give her a surprise?"He ordered his eunuchs to find him some, but wherewould Chinese clothes be found in the heart of theManchu court? Finally, one bright young eunuch ranover to the theatre troupe and brought back atheatrical costume, which he helped Qian Long to don.

　　Qian Long examined himself in front of a mirror, andwas delighted by his dashing appearance. Then henoticed a few white hairs amongst his whiskers andurgently ordered the young eunuch to get a pair oftweezers to pull them out.

　　Just as he was sitting with bowed head to allow theeunuch to remove the offending hairs, he heard thepatter of light footsteps behind and another eunuchannounced: "Her Highness the Empress Dowager hasarrived."Qian Long started in surprise. He looked up and sawthe Dowager's image in the mirror, her face stern andpale and full of anger.

　　"I trust you are well, Madame?" he said, hurriedlyturning to face her. He escorted her to the couchwhere she took a seat, and then dismissed the eunuchswith a wave of her hand.

　　There was a moment's silence.

　　"The slaves say you have not been well today," shebegan in a deep voice. "They said you did not holdcourt this morning and haven't eaten, so I have cometo see you.""I am better now," he replied. "It was just that I atesomething fatty which made me a little uncomfortable.

　　It was nothing. I would not have dared to havebothered Your Highness about it.""Huh! Was it Muslim fat or Chinese fat?" she said, toQian Long's consternation.

　　"I think some roast lamb I ate last night disagreedwith me," he replied.

　　"That is one of our Manchu dishes. Huh! You seem to betired of being a Manchu."Qian Long did not dare to say anything.

　　"Where is that Muslim girl?" the Empress Dowagerasked.

　　"She was in a bad mood so I sent her out with someonewho can talk some sense into her.""She has a knife, and would clearly prefer to dierather than give in to you. What use is there ingetting someone to talk to her? Who did you send?"Qian Long noticed anxiously how close her questioningwas becoming.

　　"An old guard officer, surnamed Bai," he replied.

　　The Dowager looked up and let the silence hang for amoment. Then she laughed coldly. "You are the Emperor,the master of all under heaven. You can do whateveryou like, and concoct whatever lies you like, too."Qian Long knew the eyes and ears of the Dowager weremany and guessed he probably would not be able todeceive her about this affair. "The other person Isent with the girl," he answered quietly, "was ascholar I met in the south, who is very learned...""It's someone from the Chen family of Haining, isn'tit?" the Dowager's voice rasped out sharply.

　　Qian Long hung his head, not daring to utter a sound.

　　"No wonder you've put on Chinese clothes. Why haven'tyou killed me yet?" Her voice had become even harsher.

　　Qian Long knelt down in fright and began kowtowingfrantically.

　　"May I be damned by Heaven and Earth if I have beenunfilial in any way," he said.

　　The Dowager flicked up the long sleeves of her gownand walked out. Qian Long rushed after her, thenstopped when he realised he was still wearing theChinese costume. To be seen wearing such clothes wouldnot do at all, so he hurriedly changed back into hisusual gown and rushed out after the Dowager. He foundher in a side room of the Martial Hero Pavilion.

　　"Please don't be angry, Madame," he pleaded. "I havecommitted some errors and would willingly accept yourcriticism.""Why have you called that man Chen into the palaceseveral days running?" she asked coldly. "And whathappened in Haining?" Qian Long hung his head and wassilent.

　　"Do you really intend to restore the Chinese style ofdress?" she shrieked. "Are you going to kill every oneof us Manchus?""Please don't listen to the nonsense spouted byservants," he replied, his voice shaking. "How could Iplan to do such a thing?""How do you intend to deal with this man Chen?""His society is large and widespread and many of hisfollowers are martial arts masters who would die forhim, so I have been polite to him throughout whilewaiting for an opportunity to deal with them all atonce. I want to remove the roots as well as choppingoff the grass."The Dowager's expression softened slightly. "Is thistrue?"Qian Long knew the secret had leaked. With no roomleft to maneouvre, he decided he had no choice but toswear to destroy the Red Flower Society.

　　"I will see to it that Chen is beheaded within threedays," he said.

　　The shadow of a smile appeared on the Dowager'sforbidding face. "Good," she said. "Only then will yoube holding to the wishes of our ancestors." She stoodup. "Come with me," she added.

　　She stood up and walked over to the main hall of theMartial Hero Pavilion with Qian Long close behind. Asthey approached, a eunuch gave a shout and the hugedoors were opened. Inside the brightly-lit hall, twofiles of eunuchs stretched away from the entrancetowards eight princes kneeling on the floor to receivethe Emperor. The Dowager and Qian Long walked over totwo chairs on the dais in the centre of the hall andsat down. Qian Long saw all eight princes were of theimmediate Imperial family, including his own brothers.

　　He wondered uneasily what the Dowager was planning.

　　"When the late Emperor passed away," she began slowly,"he left orders that the command of the ImperialBanner troops should be divided amongst eight membersof the Imperial family. But because of the constantdispatch of forces to the Muslim border regions in thepast few years, it has never been possible to act onthe Emperor's last wish. Now, thanks to the blessedprotection of the Ancestors, the Muslim areas havebeen pacified, and from today, the leadership of theBanners will be divided amongst the eight of you." Theprinces kowtowed and expressed their great gratitude.

　　So she has decided to disperse my military strength,Qian Long thought.

　　"Please make the assignments, Your Highness," theDowager said to him. He knew he was in a losingposition, but he decided that as long as he did notattempt a revolt, a temporary dispersal of militarypower would be of no great consequence. The Dowager,he could see, had been very thorough, and he guessedthat she had also made preparations in case herefused. So he assigned each of the eight princes tobe commander of one of the Banners.

　　Meanwhile, the eight princes, all full of curiosity,were thinking: "Based on the wishes of the founder ofour dynasty, three of the Banners should be under thedirect leadership of the Emperor, and the other fivesubordinate to them. The Dowager's action to dividethe Banners among us is a serious violation of ruleslaid down by the Ancestors and is obviously intendedto weaken the Emperor's power." None of them dared todirectly refuse the Dowager's command, but all decidedit would be best to return the command to the Emperorthe following day in order to avoid the possibility ofexecution.

　　The Dowager signalled with her hand and one of theprinces came forward holding a tray on which wasplaced a small iron box. He knelt before her and shepicked the box up and opened it, and took out a smallscroll. Qian Long glanced at it out of the corner ofhis eye and saw the inscription, written in theEmperor Yong Zheng's hand, read "Posthumous Edict."Next to this was a line of smaller characters: "Ifthere should be any political changes, the eightprinces who lead the Banners must gather together andopen this."Qian Long's face drained of colour as he realised hisfather had long ago taken precautions to guard againsthis secret ever being revealed. If he dared to alterin any way the instructions of his ancestors, letalone attempt to overthrow the Manchus, the eightBanner commanders would be required to dispose of himand set up a new Emperor. He steadied himself.

　　"The late Emperor was far-sighted indeed," he said.

　　"If I can match even a ten thousandth of hisabilities, then you have no need to worry further,Madame."The Dowager passed the scroll to the most senior ofthe eight princes and said: "Take this edict of thelate Emperor and have it placed in the Lama Temple.

　　Assign one hundred bodyguards to guard it day andnight." She hesitated for a moment, then added: "Theyare not allowed to leave their posts for a second,even if ordered to do so by the present Emperor."The prince complied with her command and left with thescroll for the Lama Temple. The temple was in thenorthern part of the city near the Gate of Serenity,and had been used by the Emperor Yong Zheng as hishome before ascending the throne. After he died, QianLong had had the residence expanded and turned into aTibetan Lamaist temple in memory of his grandfather.

　　Her arrangements complete, the Dowager yawned lazily.

　　"The achievements of our Ancestors must besafeguarded," she sighed.