Green Phoenix

by Poon, Alice;

  One night in the gloomy and rainy time of early winter, as the darkness of the night was about to give way to the first pale gleams of dawn, Shunzhi had a dream while in a state of semi-slumber. In the dream, he saw a chained Donggo being dragged along a long and dimly-lit path by a group of rough guards wearing grotesque masks shaped as cow heads and horse’ heads. They were heading towards a patch of white light and she was entreating them in a hoarse voice to help her find her son.

  “There is no way that you can see your son now,” one of the horse-headed guards told her. “You are condemned to reincarnation as a deer, and your son will become a child born to a hunting family. He is destined to kill you when he is five years’ old, after which you can attain rebirth as a human.”

  “But is there no way I can meet my son now? I miss him so very much,” she sobbed.

  “No. He has been taken to the Bridge of Rebirth, where he awaits his turn to be reborn.”

  “I beg you, Master, please have mercy on me! I had so little time with my son. Could you please let us be sent together on the same route, either to be humans or to be animals?” She begged and begged with all her strength.

  “Both your destinies were fixed by the Emperor of the Ghosts and there is nothing we can do about it. This is how you atone for the wrong you did to him in your previous lives.”

  “Please, let me petition the Emperor of the Ghosts!” she pleaded desperately.

  “No. I cannot help you,” snorted the horse-head guard, and he began shoving Donggo along. She gave out a ear-splitting shriek as she was pushed closer to the white light.

  It was the shriek that jolted Shunzhi out of his dream. Cold sweat covered his forehead and his back.

  That afternoon, he summoned the monk Mao to his Residence and asked him about the strange dream. The monk told him it was just a delayed reaction to his recent loss.

  “You had the dream because you miss Empress Donggo so much. It is not uncommon for troubled dreams to include such grotesque images.”

  Shunzhi was unconvinced by this theory. He kept murmuring to himself that he must go and argue the issue with the Emperor of the Ghosts.

  A couple of days later, General Oboi requested a private audience with Shunzhi to raise the issue of the corruption of the chief eunuch, Wu Liangfu. Oboi had long been jealous of Wu’s closeness to the Emperor and he detested his arrogance. Wu, for his part, had nothing but disdain for Oboi, who he saw as a brutish, witless and self-important bodyguard. He would pay dearly for his contempt.

  Oboi had painstakingly gathered evidence of Wu’ regular solicitation of bribes from suppliers of tea leaves to the Imperial Household Departnent. The head of the Department, Sonin, had known about the eunuch’s corruption but had kept quiet about it, not wanting to stir up trouble. He was glad that Oboi had taken it upon himself to speak out and readily provided him with evidence. Apart from his flagrant acceptance of bribes, Wu had also formed alliance with Han Court Ministers to oppose the Manchu faction on policies regarding land seizures by Manchu Bannermen. It was in fact this action that irked Oboi the most, as he was one of the most aggressive land hoarders.

  By involving himself in Court matters and in corruption, Wu was guilty of serious breaches of the Rules Governing Eunuchs’ Conduct, a code of law that Shunzhi had ordered to be engraved on an iron plaque and placed at the entrance to the Bureau of Eunuchs. Such crimes, under those Rules, would be punishable by death by a thousand cuts.

  Shunzhi asked Wu to retreat to the antechamber, and received Oboi in his study. After Oboi had presented the case, the Emperor was silent for a long while. He knew the gravity of the case, but he was not one to betray his closest friends. Wu had been his playmate in childhood and a companion in adulthood who had always looked out for his interests. Besides, it could be said that Wu was supporting the Emperor by aligning himself with the Han Ministers, and as for corruption, his acts had hardly caused the Imperial Household or the common people any loss. But Oboi was a cunning wolf and would some day find a way to get Wu. Shunzhi made up his mind to protect Wu. The next step was to deal with Oboi.

  “About the bribery,” he said in a deliberately brusque and dismissive voice. “I will talk to Sonin to change tea leaf suppliers. As for Wu meddling in Court matters, I will personally see to it that he won’t have the chance to do it again. Is there anything else that you wished to speak to me about?”

  Oboi was astute enough to be able to read between the lines. He saw there was no point in pressing the case further, and made his obeisances.

  After Oboi departed, Shunzhi called for Wu and said to him:

  “Liangfu, how many years have you served me?”

  “Over twenty years, Your Imperial Highness,” Wu said with a flush on his face, fearing for the worst.

  “I am exhausted and I feel depressed. You are the only one who understands me,” the Emperor said and motioned for Wu to rise.

  “Your Imperial Highness, would you like to take a ride to South Park for some fresh air? I know your heart still aches for the Imperial Noble Consort, no… the Empress. But it will do your health no good if you let this sadness get to you. I used to be able to make you laugh, but I no longer have that power…..”

  “I know you care about me, Liangfu. I care about you too. I have to ask you to agree to one thing: retire to a monastery and live out the rest of your life there. This is for your own good and safety. I know I don’t have much time left, and before I go, I want to witness your ordination ceremony.” Shunzhi tone was melancholy and his eyes were misty with tears.

  “Please forgive me my crimes, Your Imperial Highness,” Wu said quietly. “You are so kind to save me from punishment. I know I am not worthy to serve you. I owe my life to you. Do what you please with it.”

  Wu threw himself down on his knees and hugged Shunzhi’s legs, as rivulets of tears slid down his cheeks.

  “I will ask Mao to take you under his wing. I only hope you will have a peaceful life and live to a ripe old age,” Shunzhi was choked with emotion, and waved for Wu to retreat.

  Over the years, the Chinese General Wu Sangui, who had let the Manchu forces enter China through the Shanhai Pass, had subsequently vanquished Li Zicheng’s rebel army and then helped the Qing Empire to put down many peasant uprisings in southwestern China. To reward him for his numerous victories, Shunzhi had granted him a fiefdom in Yunnan Province and had provided him with abundant military supplies and financial resources. General Wu had thus been able to build up a strong army of his own. At the same time, Shunzhi had also granted respective fiefdoms to two other Chinese warlords—Shang Kexi in Guangdong and Geng Jingzhong in Fujian. These three would later become a source of great trouble for the next Qing Emperor.

  Following the fligtht of the last Ming Pretender to Burma, Wu had total control of the provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou and lived like an emperor. He levied taxes on the peasants which he never passed on to the Qing government, he built mansions and retreats for his own use. He monopolized the salt supplies and mineral sources of the region and used the wealth created to hire yet more soldiers and buy more weapons.

  Bumbutai was throughout suspicious of the three Lords, in particular Wu Sangui. She had purposely arranged for a Qing Princess, a daughter of Hong Taiji’s, to wed Wu’s eldest son, Wu Yingxiong, but in reality, the son was kept as a hostage within the Qing Palaces to discourage Wu Sangui from turning against the Qing Empire.

  Once comfortably settled in Yunnan, Wu recalled his former love Chen Yuanyuan, who had left him soon after the Manchu victory to go to Kunming. Fifteen years of ceaseless warfare had made him yearn for a peaceful life, with his beloved woman by his side. After months of searching, he found her at last in the Temple of the Three Sages, hidden deep in the hills beyond Kunming, where she lived as a Taoist disciple taking lessons from the monk Yu Lin. The day they met, he begged her in tears to return to live with him in his Palace. She r
efused him out of hand, which only made him pine for her even more. He could see that she still had a fresh complexion and a slender figure, and for three days, he visited and begged her to relent. Moved by his dogged persistence, she finally let her woman’s heart persuade her to give in. But Wu had not anticipated that his first wife would be so obstructive on this matter. Jealous by nature and uneducated, she was soured by the younger woman’s elegance, beauty and cultured air. Upon Yuanyuan’s joining Wu’s household, she used every opportunity to bad-mouth her among relatives and house servants. She made sure everyone knew about her lowly birth and former prostitute status. She never acknowledged her greetings and forbade Yuanyuan from joining her for meals whenever Wu was not at home, and instructed maids that she be served only vegetables and rice in her own chamber.

  For nearly a year, Yuanyuan tried to maintain her patience and tolerate the woman’s meanness. But at last, dignity drove her to beg leave of Wu to return to the Temple, much to Wu’s dismay. By this time, she had become completely disillusioned with secular life and, after having a long talk with Yu Lin, she made up her mind to have her hair shaved and become a nun, taking on the Taoist name of Yu An.

  In her honor and perhaps out of guilt for having mistreated her, Wu Sangui built a large landscaped garden with a retreat house and a beautiful lotus pond in the northern part of Kunming and named it “Anfu Garden”. Yuanyuan would spend the rest of her life as a Taoist nun inside this retreat house.

  Shunzhi was unable to shake off the depression that beset him. On a cold and windy day, he went out in a carriage to the South Park Retreat to visit Mao. On Bumbutai’s instructions, Eunuch Wu Liangfu kept a close watch on his master, following the carriage on horseback.

  During his talk with Mao, Shunzhi entreated him to take Eunuch Wu as his disciple and to ordain him as a monk at the Lunar New Year. The monk gave his consent and Shunzhi addressed him again in an earnest tone.

  “I now beseech you, Master Mao,” he said, “to shave my head and ordain me as a monk. I am determined to put my secular life behind me and begin a new life in the monastery. I know I must have sinned gravely in my previous life and I want to make amend. This is the only way you can help me find peace of mind.

  “I don’t know what to say, Your Imperial Highness,” Mao replied, shocked and discomfited by Shunzhi’s request. “This is not a small matter. I think I would have to consult Master Yu Lin before I do anything…..”

  “Master Mao, you of all people will understand the pain that I have been going through. Can you not find it in your heart to do me this deed of kindness?”He began to weep like a child.

  Eunuch Wu, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, was stunned by his master’s request, and without a second thought, he mounted his horse and raced back to Cining Palace to report the news to Shunzhi’s mother. Bumbutai immediately sent an urgent message to the monk Yu Lin, Mao’s teacher, asking him to go to the South Park Retreat to prevent the ordination if at all possible.

  By the time Yu Lin arrived, Mao had already shaven off all the Emperor’s hair. After making obeisance, Yu Lin entreated Shunzhi to reconsider his decision.

  “Your Imperial Highness,” he said, “have you thought for one moment how this action might hurt the Venerable Empress Dowager’s heart, and how your subjects might be affected by it?”

  Shunzhi closed his eyes, refusing to listen. Yu Lin continued nonetheless.

  “Your status as an Emperor is a huge blessing. You alone are in a position to use your status to improve the livelihood of your subjects, while at the same time championing the cause of Buddha. By practicing the religion in your esteemed position, you can be the savior of the secular world. If you give up the position, chaos could result and nothing would be gained.”

  Shunzhi seemed a little more receptive, but remained stubbornly reticent. Yu Lin turned to Mao.

  “You have committed a grave breach of our monastery’s rules,” he declared. “You have no authority to ordain monks but you misled the Emperor into believing that you do. It is a double crime and the penalty is death by fire.”

  Mao was aware that Yu Lin was creating a story to mollify the Emperor and he prudently played along with it, faking remorse, kneeling down before Yu Lin, pleading for mercy.

  “No, no, Mao did not mislead me!” Shunzhi interjected, horrified. “I ordered him to do it!”

  “Even so, he has no right to shave or ordain anyone. He has to be burned alive for his presumptuous act as a grave warning to other monks.”

  “You mustn’t condemn him on my account, I beg you! I will give up the idea of becoming a monk and will let my hair grow back. Will that allow you to absolve him?”

  “You have the most generous of hearts, Your Imperial Highness,” Yu Lin replied. “That would certainly clear him.”

  Twenty-three

  Panting heavily, Sumalagu rushed into the garden of Cining Palace to report the latest news to her mistress. She found Bumbutai waiting anxiously on one of the four stone benches, with Siu Fa keeping her company.

  The aging maid took a moment to catch her breath.

  “He’s on his way back to …. the Palace,” she gasped. “He has a shaved head. though….” Bumbutai gasped in shock.

  “No, no!” the maid quickly added. “He hasn’t been ordained. He says he has given up the idea, for now. Yu Lin will be here shortly to make a full report to you.” She was exhausted, but managed to give a summary of Yu Lin’s ruse, and Shunzhi’s reaction. Bumbutai heaved a sigh of great relief, but her face still betrayed her concerns.

  “My poor boy,” she said. “He has a good heart, but a weak will and a volatile temperament. I only pray that Eternal Blue Sky will have mercy on him.”

  “Venerable, I know Buddha will keep His Imperial Highness in good health,” Siu Fa said soothingly.

  “He has been under so much stress, and, lately more than a fair share of emotional pain. I can’t blame him for toying with silly thoughts now and then. He is only human. What worries me most is his frailty these last months. He seems to have lost all appetite and always appears tired.”

  “Perhaps I could bring him birds’ nest soup everyday to keep up his strength,” Sumalagu suggested. She had always been the one most concerned with Shunzhi’s well being apart from Bumbutai.

  “That is a good idea, Suma. Thank you for offering to do that. I don’t know how I could ever live without you.”

  Yu Lin arrived, and Bumbutai listened keenly to his every word. He concluded reassuringly: “The Emperor has definitely given up the idea of entering the monkhood.”

  On the second day of Lunar New Year, Shunzhi attended Eunuch Wu Liangfu’s ordination ceremony at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Beijing, conducted jointly by Mao and Yu Lin. In his heart he felt happy for Wu, whose life would now be free from the shackles of wants and desires. He could see the inarticulate joy reflected on Wu’s serene face.

  The monks’ chanting during the ceremony sounded very much like a children’s song, almost lulling him to sleep. It reminded him of the magical lullaby that Wu used to sing to him at bedtime. He would always be asleep before the song ended. His eyelids were now so heavy that he wished a bed was near at hand. Then he realized he had a fever and started to feel nauseous. He bade Wu farewell and left the ceremony to return to the Palace.

  That night, when the young eunuchs were helping him undress to take a bath, he noticed with concern that red sores had appeared all over his body. His fever had gotten worse and he was feeling dizzy.

  Several days earlier, he had noticed a few blemishes on his face and arms and had thought they were from mosquito bites. Now the rashes had turned into ugly pustules. After a short moment of deep shock, he quickly resigned himself to the reality that he had contracted smallpox. The shock turned into a strange, calm feeling of acceptance, and the eternal crushing load on his chest seemed to be lifting. He ordered
a eunuch to go and fetch Schall von Bell and another to invite the Empress Dowager to come. He felt so enervated that he wanted nothing more than to lie still in bed.

  Bumbutai was just getting ready for bed when the eunuch conveyed the Emperor’s urgent invitation. An ominous feeling gripped her and she threw a cape over her shoulders and hurried to her son’s Residence. When she saw Shunzhi’s flushed and speckled face, she burst into tears. The worst of her fears had finally come to pass. Her whole body convulsed and she threw herself to the ground beside the bed, crying:

  “My precious, why isn’t the Court physician here? We have to get a physician…”

  “Mother, please calm down. No physician can help me now. There are important things that we have to discuss…. before my time is up. You have to help me….”

  “Son, you know you can always count on me. But first, how are you feeling? Are you in pain?” She felt his forehead and recoiled at its raging heat.

  “No, Mother, I’m fine. Don’t worry. I want to ask you, was Xuanye the one who had smallpox?”

  “Yes, he was lucky to have survived. Fuquan has never had the disease.”

  Just then, the German priest entered the chamber. As soon as he saw Shunzhi’s face, he knew that he was nearing death. He bade Bumbutai wash her hands immediately with vinegar and to not touch her son again, due to the highly contagious nature of smallpox. Bumbutai did so.

  “Father,” she said, “Xuanye had smallpox last year and recovered. Is there a chance…. that the Emperor too can get over this?” She knew in her heart she was wishing for the impossible.

  “Venerable Empress Dowager, I have to be honest with you. From my experience, I think the Emperor’s infection is already in a late stage, and the chances that he will live… are not good.”

  Shunzhi signalled for the priest to come closer.

  “Mafa, I know I’m dying,” he whispered. “The reason I asked for you to come is that I want you to tell me whether Fuquan is likely to ever catch the disease.”