Chapter 237: Waiting for the Results to Come Out

Xu Guangqi's words gave Han Kuang and the others a moment of hesitation.

It wasn't that they thought there was anything wrong with what Xu Guangqi had said, but rather that they believed what Xu Guangqi had said was true.

If this Chen Qing truly was like Hai Rui, perhaps His Majesty really would give him an important post.

One thing was perfectly clear: although Han Kuang and the others had not spent a very long time with His Majesty, it had in fact been quite a while. As far as they were concerned, they already had a fair sense of His Majesty's temperament.

For instance, His Majesty did not like compromise, and would never be threatened by anyone. For instance, when His Majesty did things, he often did not consider tradition, but instead approached matters from some very strange angles.

In short, no matter what His Majesty did, it would never strike anyone as strange.

If you said His Majesty was moody and unpredictable, he wasn't exactly that either — in any case, the feeling he gave people was simply very odd.

If you said His Majesty was not wise and capable, well, many of the things he did won universal praise, yet at many other times he left people speechless, even making them think this was a fatuous and incompetent Emperor.

The feeling His Majesty gave people was extremely contradictory — of course, this was only the feeling of the four Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat present.

If one were to ask for outside evaluations, some people might think His Majesty could be an enlightened ruler, but there were probably very few such people;

more people did not think highly of His Majesty, and many even secretly criticized His Majesty like Chen Qing did.

This was also the reason Han Kuang and the others were worried that the matter might blow up.

"This has nothing to do with us." Han Kuang sat up straight and said slowly: "No matter what this Chen Qing is like, it has little to do with us. If this Chen Qing himself has problems — corruption, for instance, or dereliction of duty — that would actually be a good thing for us."

Sun Chengzong instantly grasped Han Kuang's meaning. What they needed to defend was only their own right to speak, to keep His Majesty from killing people for what they said.

If this Chen Qing had other faults, then there would be nothing wrong with His Majesty killing him — as long as he was not killed for having said the wrong thing.

After all, what people like themselves needed was only a fig leaf, not a genuine determination to protect him.

The other two exchanged a glance — of course they also understood the meaning of Han Kuang's words, and likewise understood what those words represented, but they could not spell it out, or else it would make them seem utterly devoid of scruples.

At the same time, Han Kuang's words also reminded them of one thing: no one could be Hai Rui.

The reason Hai Rui had been able to achieve what he did back then was that the man himself was extremely outstanding — at the very least, no one could find fault with him.

So none of the three, Sun Chengzong included, said anything.

Seeing that the three of them were all silent, Han Kuang said directly: "Now go find the people below us, and tell them not to speak recklessly, not to make a fuss and follow Chen Qing and the others in their nonsense."

"Let us first see how the matter turns out, and see whether this Chen Qing has problems. Isn't the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigating him? Wait until the results come out, then we'll talk."

The several men nodded, which counted as reaching an agreement on this matter. With that, Han Kuang and the others no longer lingered in the duty room — each returned to his own place, and soon became busy again, as if nothing at all had happened.

In the Western Park.

Zhu Youxiao was reading Hai Rui's records.

After flipping through some of them, Zhu Youxiao really did discover something that interested him.

Before he had transmigrated, he had heard many legends about Hai Rui, most of them concerning his side of being an incorruptible official.

Of course, there were also accounts of Hai Rui's handling of cases — for instance, that he favored the poor and extorted the wealthy households. When judging cases, he would make the rich households pay money to pacify the poor, which was why he won the support of the poor.

There were also stories about how he starved his daughter to death over matters of honor and reputation, and so on — one could say the legends about Hai Rui were passed around in an utterly fantastical manner.

However, Zhu Youxiao did not believe either of those two claims.

That Hai Rui valued honor and reputation in his studies — this Zhu Youxiao believed; but that Hai Rui starved his daughter to death over such a matter, Zhu Youxiao did not believe, because there was simply no record of it in any official history — it was all rumor.

According to the novel *Jian Zhi Bian* by Yao Shuxiang of the Ming dynasty, it was mentioned:

Hai Rui's household was poor. One day, he saw his five-year-old daughter eating a cake, and asked who had given her the cake.

Upon learning that it had been given by a certain servant, Hai Rui flew into a rage and said: "How can a good girl casually accept things from a man? Only if you starve to death are you my daughter, Hai Rui's daughter!"

From then on, Hai Rui's daughter was so frightened that she wept without cease, refusing to drink or eat. No matter how the family coaxed and urged her, it was useless, and after seven days she finally starved to death.

Regarding the matter of Hai Rui starving his daughter to death over his regard for honor and reputation, Zhou Lianggong of the Qing dynasty also mentioned it in his work *Shu Ying*. However, this matter is not recorded in any of the official histories such as the *History of Ming*, the *Veritable Records of Ming*, or the *Guo Que*.

If this had truly happened, Zhu Youxiao did not believe those historical records would have omitted it — especially the *History of Ming*.

As for those records about his case judgments mentioned above, Zhu Youxiao actually did not believe those either — it was just that he had not found any solid evidence.

But today, while going through the materials, Zhu Youxiao really did find some interesting things.

"For any case that is doubtful, rather than wrong the elder brother, better to wrong the younger brother; rather than wrong the uncle, better to wrong the nephew; rather than wrong the poor commoner, better to wrong the wealthy; rather than wrong the honest and simple, better to wrong the cunning and obstinate.

"When the matter concerns a dispute over property, rather than wrong the common people, better to wrong the local gentry, in order to remedy abuses.

"When the matter concerns a dispute over words and appearances, rather than wrong the local gentry, better to wrong the common people, in order to preserve propriety."

This viewpoint and strategy were put forward by Hai Rui. This was indeed one of the very important reasons Hai Rui was attacked by later generations.

Hai Rui's words here would certainly not work in later ages, and would inevitably be criticized. But spoken in this era, they won the praise of the myriad people.

The reason was also simple: this was based on Confucius's thought that "the father conceals for the son, the son conceals for the father," as well as the entire system of village rules and folk covenants established upon that thought.

This was the mainstream ideology of this era — it was politically correct.

But none of this was what interested Zhu Youxiao. What truly interested him was another matter.

After Hai Rui assumed office as Governor of Yingtian, he immediately promulgated the *Governor's Covenant*, stipulating that whenever the Governor went on inspection tours, officials of the prefectures, departments, and counties were all forbidden to go outside the city walls to welcome him, and were also forbidden to prepare banquets in his honor.

Considering that high court officials might still need to maintain a bit of dignity, Hai Rui permitted the working meal to include one item each of chicken, fish, and pork, but geese and yellow wine were not to be provided, nor was the meal to exceed the food allowance standard.

This food allowance standard was: three qian of fine silver in places where prices were high; two qian in places where prices were low. In addition, even expenses such as candles and firewood were included within the above amounts.

The more Zhu Youxiao looked at this policy, the more familiar it seemed — he even felt somewhat pleased, and at the same time somewhat moved.

Being able to produce a policy like this — it would be strange if Hai Rui were not squeezed out.

Reaching out to place Hai Rui's materials on the table, Zhu Youxiao rubbed his forehead.

If only he had an official like Hai Rui under his command — at least such a man was not afraid of death and could become a sharp blade in his hand.

As long as one could put such a man in the right position, he would be able to do many things for him.

Although such a man would have many limitations and would do many things improperly, and was not the perfect official in his mind, Zhu Youxiao had never imagined he could find a perfect official who matched his ideal.

Such a person might not even be findable in later ages, let alone in the Great Ming.

What Zhu Youxiao wanted was only officials who matched his ideas, only officials who could get things done for him.

He did hope this Chen Qing would be like Hai Rui. If he truly was, then this man really would have to be given an important post.

"Your Majesty," at this moment Chen Hong walked over and said softly: "It is time for the meal."

Zhu Youxiao looked up at the sky and saw that it was already dusk.

Hearing Chen Hong say this, Zhu Youxiao finally felt a bit hungry. He rubbed his stomach and stood up, saying, "Then let's go eat."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong quickly acknowledged and led the way ahead.

Zhu Youxiao was in a somewhat poor mood today, so he didn't go to Empress Zhang's place to dine with her.

Otherwise, Baozhu would worry again upon seeing him so preoccupied, and he didn't want to bring such a mood to her.

After dinner, Zhu Youxiao looked at Chen Hong and asked, "Isn't tomorrow the day of the Imperial Academy examinations?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." After saying this, Chen Hong looked at Zhu Youxiao cautiously and asked, "Will Your Majesty still go out tomorrow?"

As he spoke, Chen Hong looked at his master with some concern. The reason was simple — after such a major incident today, would His Majesty still be in the mood?

Glancing at Chen Hong, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said, "Why wouldn't I go? Do you think something like this could make me put aside other matters?"

"That Chen Qing is certainly detestable, but he's not worth abandoning proper business over. Prepare yourself well — tomorrow we'll go out as usual."

"Yes, Your Majesty. This servant has already made all the arrangements." Chen Hong nodded hurriedly.

In fact, Chen Hong had prepared everything days ago; there was nothing left to prepare, since His Majesty had already decided earlier to go and take a look.

His question just now had merely been to ask whether His Majesty wanted to cancel.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Good. Come, accompany me for a stroll."

Every day after dinner, Zhu Youxiao would take a walk.

He didn't want to ruin his health — as the saying goes, "A hundred steps after a meal, and you'll live to ninety-nine" — so he had always maintained this habit.

But no sooner had he stepped out the door than Zhu Youxiao saw Empress Zhang approaching from the other direction.

Upon seeing Empress Zhang, Zhu Youxiao smiled and walked up to her, saying, "Baozhu, why have you come?"

"Your concubine has come to accompany Your Majesty on a walk." Empress Zhang said with a radiant smile, and at the same time walked to Zhu Youxiao's side and took his arm of her own accord.

This gesture made Zhu Youxiao pause slightly in surprise.

This wasn't like Empress Zhang at all — on ordinary days, she would never do such a thing.

Her claim of accompanying him on a walk was clearly a pretext.

She had learned he was in a bad mood and had come to keep him company and lift his spirits.

Zhu Youxiao suddenly felt a warmth in his heart. He reached out and gently patted Empress Zhang's hand, saying with a smile, "Then accompany me for a walk."