Chapter 177: Bestowing Elixirs and the New Academy

"What does my beloved minister mean by that? Am I the sort of person who cannot tell right from wrong?" Zhu Youxiao was in a good mood at the moment and rarely teased Shen Tingyun.

"My beloved minister works so hard for the country and for his sovereign — you are a model for officials and a pillar of the state. My heart aches for you, and at the same time I am quite pleased." Zhu Youxiao said with an appreciative look on his face.

He shifted the topic and said with concern: "Chen Hong, bring a cup of ginseng soup for Minister Shen, and also fetch a box of my Everlasting Spring Pill for him."

Chen Hong bowed and replied from the side: "This servant will go at once."

Everlasting Spring Pill? Shen Tingyun was stunned.

Seeing that Shen Tingyun was somewhat bewildered, Zhu Youxiao laughed: "Minister Shen, my Everlasting Spring Pill is a very fine elixir. It can prolong life and restore vitality — after taking it, the effects are quite noticeable."

"Your servant thanks Your Majesty!" Shen Tingyun quickly said with a grateful expression, though what he was actually thinking inside was anyone's guess.

What exactly was this Everlasting Spring Pill that Zhu Youxiao spoke of?

In truth, it was just the ordinary hawthorn pills Han Li made, with a bit of tonic added — enough to stimulate the appetite and make one eat more. Beyond that, it had no other function whatsoever.

Seeing Shen Tingyun's exhausted expression, Zhu Youxiao knew he had been staying up late recently, not resting well, and probably had a poor appetite too.

Giving Shen Tingyun some hawthorn pills — his body had no problems, and eating a few hawthorn pills to whet his appetite was hardly a big deal.

Of course, this was also Zhu Youxiao laying groundwork for the future.

If one day he needed to use other elixirs, it would make him seem less abrupt.

Zhu Youxiao wanted to try regularly bestowing elixirs upon his ministers, turning it into a habit of his, so that when he used them later, no one would find it strange.

Otherwise, if he very abruptly bestowed a single elixir on a minister and had him eat it, and then the man died — what kind of affair would that be? If the very first person died from eating it, and then he bestowed more elixirs, would any other minister dare to eat them?

Zhu Youxiao did not know whether Shen Tingyun would dare to eat the elixir. In any case, he himself had been chewing one whenever he had nothing to do these past couple of days, and it felt rather nice.

This was also the first kind of elixir Han Li had refined, and most importantly, its sweet-and-sour taste was very good.

The things were brought over quickly.

It was a long wooden box that looked quite plain and unadorned. When opened, it was lined with a layer of red velvet cloth, upon which sat nine pills that were black with a hint of red.

Besides that, on the tray there was also a purple-clay soup pot containing fragrant, enticing ginseng soup, still gently steaming.

Originally Zhu Youxiao had thought Shen Tingyun would not eat the elixir, but who would have expected that right in front of him, he washed one down with the ginseng soup and swallowed it.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao smiled.

Whether Shen Tingyun had done it deliberately or was putting on a show for him — none of that mattered.

Eating the elixir on the spot was a declaration of loyalty, and for such behavior Zhu Youxiao naturally had to give full recognition.

"My beloved minister, I can see from your complexion that you must be quite weary. Why not let me give you a few more days off to go home and rest?" Zhu Youxiao said with a concerned expression.

Before Shen Tingyun could speak, Zhu Youxiao turned to Chen Hong and said: "In a moment, arrange for a few imperial physicians to go to Minister Shen's residence and have them give him a thorough examination. If any medicinal ingredients are needed, just inform the palace and take them from the palace stores."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong respectfully acknowledged from the side.

Shen Tingyun said with a grateful look: "Your servant thanks Your Majesty for your concern. These past days I have been busy preparing matters for this academy, so I have indeed been staying up late a fair bit, which is why I look somewhat tired. But your servant's health is still fine."

"That is best then. My beloved minister has just assumed the post of Minister of Rites — this is precisely the time to spread your wings. You must not neglect your own health." Zhu Youxiao smiled and nodded, then said: "Since my beloved minister has been preparing for so long, I imagine there has been considerable progress. Let me have a look."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Shen Tingyun acknowledged, then respectfully presented the booklet he had been holding in his hands.

Taking the booklet Shen Tingyun had presented from Chen Hong's hands, Zhu Youxiao began to leaf through it.

In this booklet, Shen Tingyun discussed in detail the construction of the academy.

First, from site selection to building scale to architectural style, detailed plans were laid out, and even after each item of planning there was a rough budget estimate.

Seeing all this, Zhu Youxiao could not help but sigh — such an official was truly rare. He worked with clear organization and thought of everything comprehensively; it really put one's mind at ease.

At the back of this booklet, Shen Tingyun had also written about other things, such as the selection of teaching materials, the staffing of teachers, and the classification of courses to be offered.

He had written about many things up there, including methods for strengthening the body such as archery and horsemanship, and the subjects established also included military affairs, mathematics, and so on.

If it were built according to this plan, then this would be a comprehensive university — one could say it encompassed everything, with every subject available, even military affairs being incorporated within.

Zhu Youxiao raised his head, looked at Shen Tingyun, and sighed inwardly again — these people really were all talents.

"Minister Shen is truly greatly talented! Handling such a massive undertaking with such clear organization and order — you truly live up to being a minister I singled out, and in the end you have not disappointed me!" Zhu Youxiao said with an appreciative expression.

For officials who could do things for him, Zhu Youxiao naturally would not be stingy with praise.

Hearing Zhu Youxiao's words and receiving the Emperor's approval, Shen Tingyun's face showed not only joy but also an expression of relief.

Zhu Youxiao continued reading further back, and at the end Shen Tingyun had even written about matters of tuition for enrollment — in other words, how to collect school fees.

Free education was certainly impossible. On this matter, Shen Tingyun explained in detail how to collect money, how many students to enroll, and how much to charge each student.

After that came the school's annual budget calculations. After tallying everything up, there would still be some surplus each year that could be invested into the school's operations and expansion for the following year.

In Shen Tingyun's calculations, the entire school was an independent entity that would not add burden to the Great Ming's finances.

Of course, the annual tuition was also relatively high, which meant that ordinary students could not afford to attend this academy.

However, Shen Tingyun had also provided a solution later on — during the annual enrollment season, students could apply for a royal subsidy, which was the subsidy Zhu Youxiao provided.

This money naturally would not come out of Zhu Youxiao's own pocket — the academy would set aside a portion of its funds separately for this purpose.

Such matters, of course, would be done in Zhu Youxiao's name. This kind of gesture to win people's hearts naturally had to be done by the Emperor.

After reading this far, Zhu Youxiao felt quite helpless — this was clearly a scheme Shen Tingyun had pulled.

You, Shen Tingyun, cooked up this thing using the Emperor's name — how could Zhu Youxiao possibly really let the academy pay for it?

It would certainly come from his own privy purse. This was clearly adding an expense for himself, yet he could not avoid paying it.

It was written there that for any student who applied for the subsidy, the royal house and the academy would jointly send people to verify the circumstances of their family.

If they truly were from impoverished families, then the royal house would provide a subsidy that would allow them to complete the entire academy without spending much money.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao had the feeling of founding a university. At the same time, Zhu Youxiao also perceived some deeper intentions of Shen Tingyun's.

For example, this school was located in the capital and its fees were relatively expensive, but the talents produced by this school could be distributed into the military and civil official spheres.

So who would come out of it? Who would benefit most?

The answer was simple — the sons of the capital's nobles and imperial in-law families.

These families had money to spare and status, and they also held office in the capital. If His Majesty truly established this academy, they would be very willing to send their sons into it. If they succeeded, fine; if not, so be it — after all, their families had plenty of sons, and losing one or two was no great loss.

As for civil officials objecting — the nobles and imperial in-laws did not care in the slightest. What could they possibly do to them?

At worst, they'd confiscate some money and grain and give us a scolding—surely they can't strip us of our offices and titles?

Besides, we're supporting Your Majesty here. Even if those civil officials impeach us, what can they actually do?

This isn't like going to the battlefield to die—what a wonderful opportunity!

It's obvious Shen Tingyun wants to recruit a batch of allies to support their reforms.

Zhu Youxiao had already figured it out: Xu Guangqi, Shen Tingyun, Li Zhizao, and the others had been harboring thoughts of reforming the Great Ming, and not just for a day or two.

Once Xu Guangqi and his associates all rose to power, such ambitions would likely become impossible to suppress.

Such ambitions naturally weren't for their own sake—having reached their position, they surely knew what reform meant for an individual; it could very well end in shattered bones and ground flesh.

But for the sake of this country, they were still willing to do it, and Zhu Youxiao felt somewhat moved in his heart.

Loyal and righteous men exist in every era.

It's just that Xu Guangqi, Shen Tingyun, and the others weren't people who merely spouted empty idealism; they had their own ideas and methods.

After entering the court, Xu Guangqi and the others discovered they stood alone and weak. Though His Majesty had elevated the three of them, they still lacked the strength to push through their ideas and policies, so they simply needed to recruit more people.

The ministers at court needed to be won over, and the nobles and imperial relatives standing on the sidelines watching the excitement also needed to be won over—but it couldn't be done too openly.

If done too openly, people would think they had lost the moral integrity of civil officials; and colluding with the nobility would also make His Majesty feel that they were forming factions for private gain, even reaching out to that side.

That would lead to no good end.

So Shen Tingyun adopted a very simple method: bringing the sons of nobles and imperial relatives into the Emperor's Academy to study.

He wouldn't need to collude with them in any way—as long as they studied in the academy and absorbed the doctrines and ideas of his side, they would be his own people.

There was no need to bind people together with shared interests; everyone could be bound together by shared ideals.

What could Zhu Youxiao say about Shen Tingyun's ideas and methods?

All he could say was: beautifully done!

From the Imperial Scholarship mentioned earlier to all these later arrangements, Shen Tingyun had thought of everything down to the last detail—no wonder the man looked so exhausted.

Moreover, Zhu Youxiao felt this probably wasn't the work of Shen Tingyun alone; it should have been Xu Guangqi and the others working on it together.

The portion concerning budgeting and finance was likely Li Zhizao's doing, while the part about curriculum design was probably Xu Guangqi's.

This was the crystallized fruit of their joint efforts and shared vision.