Chapter 5: Routine Memorial

By the time Yang Lian arrived at Liu's residence, he found that everyone else had already gathered.

Minister of Rites Sun Shenxing was just then setting down his teacup with a heavy clink, a look of satisfaction on his face as he said, "Madam Ke was bewitchingly beautiful and wanton in conduct, constantly coming and going from the palace. Many found it strange, and rumors spread through the streets, all manner of wild talk. Now that she's dead, it's a good thing."

"Brother Liu's words are mistaken. Madam Ke was no ordinary wet nurse—she was the wet nurse of His Majesty himself, not yet forty, in the prime of her strength. How could such a person simply die?" Liu Yijing countered.

This left Sun Shenxing somewhat flustered. Red-faced, he stammered, "The death of a woman is not worth discussing."

"Merely excess in the pursuit of pleasure." Though that was what the news said, this was a matter of the deep palace, and the true details had never been clearly observed by outsiders. If one were found to be prying into palace affairs, one's fate would likely be no better.

"In my view, it's not that simple—you all know it in your hearts." Yang Lian stepped into the study and took a sip of light tea. After a long moment, looking at the varied expressions on everyone's faces, he said slowly, "The red sun is about to rise."

Hearing this, all fell silent. Yang Lian's words had struck some corner deep in their hearts. They no longer discussed anything; the tea tasted flat in their mouths, and one by one they rose to take their leave, each returning home with his own thoughts.

Within the imperial palace, after the imperial physicians had done their work, Zhu Youxiao ate some fine snacks that Chen Hong had specially ordered the imperial kitchen to prepare. Feeling somewhat better, he strolled through the palace with his hands clasped behind his back.

Not far off, a bird was pecking at a pot of bird-of-paradise flowers. Zhu Youxiao watched for a while, then murmured to himself, "If the dead are useful, then they ought to die." After muttering this, he gave an order: "Chen Hong, transmit my decree—let Wei Zhongxian be Director of the Eastern Depot."

The Eastern Depot was an official office. Also known as the Eastern Investigation Depot, it was a privileged surveillance institution, secret service, and secret police organ of the Ming dynasty.

In the mid-to-late Ming, the Embroidered Uniform Guard stood alongside the Eastern and Western Depots, their activities intensifying, and they were often jointly called the "Depots and Guard."

The Eastern Depot's power surpassed that of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It answered only to the Emperor, and without judicial approval could freely surveil and arrest officials and commoners alike, thus beginning the Ming dynasty's practice of eunuch interference in government.

Zhu Youxiao had a very direct understanding of the Great Ming. Whether in political institutions or in culture and customs, everything was vastly different.

The ministers in those great halls all spoke of benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but when it came to actually getting things done, the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were far more useful—and there were some matters unfit for the light of day that required them as well.

This country was already riddled with holes. To govern it well, one had no choice but to employ means that could not bear the light.

How could talent like Wei Zhongxian be shut out of the door? Besides, in all these years of the Great Ming, every eunuch who wielded absolute power had done so with the Emperor's tacit approval.

The Great Ming valued civil over military. At court, military officers could not balance the civil as in other dynasties; their status was far too low. If not for the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, wouldn't those ministers turn the world upside down?

The so-called "Director of the Eastern Depot" had the full title of Imperial Commissioner and Eunuch Superintendent of the Eastern Depot's Officers and Agents, abbreviated as Superintendent of the Eastern Depot or Director of the Eastern Depot.

The name "Depot Master" would become infamous in later ages. This was Zhu Youxiao's reward to Wei Zhongxian, and the first step in entrusting him with great responsibility.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" When Chen Hong first heard that Wei Zhongxian was to be Director of the Eastern Depot, he trembled, then quickly acknowledged the order and retreated backward with a bowed body, not daring the slightest negligence.

Qianqing Palace was the most important place in the Ming and Qing dynasties, where the Emperor resided and conducted affairs of state.

The name Qianqing Palace came from the Dao De Jing: "Of old, those that attained the One: Heaven attained the One and became clear; Earth attained the One and became tranquil; spirits attained the One and became numinous; valleys attained the One and became full; all things attained the One and came to life; lords and kings attained the One and became the standard of the world."

Qianqing Palace had a hip roof with double eaves of yellow glazed tiles, seated upon a single-tier white marble platform. Nine ridge beasts adorned the eaves corners; beneath the eaves, the upper tier used seven-step bracket sets with single cantilever and double upturned arms, the lower tier five-step bracket sets with single cantilever and single upturned arm, decorated with golden dragon and imperial seal paintings, and doors and windows of three-way interlocking hexagonal lattice.

Gazing at the majestic palace before him, Zhu Youxiao wondered whether he would be bitterly cursed by the successive emperors of the Ming for doing carpentry work in Qianqing Palace—but he didn't care. If the Ming had come to such a pass, with so many years of dynastic mandate still remaining, there were many things one could no longer afford to worry about.

Clearly, the eunuchs' execution was quite competent. The items in the workshop were arranged neatly in order—from the smallest carving knife to the largest planing bench, every tool was available.

"Alright, all of you withdraw." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, shooing the few lesser eunuchs out of the workshop. "From now on, without my command, no one may enter this place. Violators shall be beheaded!"

His workshop needed no idle bystanders. The other reason was simple: how does a sovereign establish authority? Maintaining mystery is a good method.

Zhu Youxiao decided to make this place a secret zone in the eyes of outsiders—though in truth, there was nothing here for him. Aside from doing some woodworking here every day, this was merely a place where he pondered matters. But an Emperor—what he needed was mystery.

After making an inspection round, Zhu Youxiao turned and left the room. Glancing at Chen Hong, who was attending at his side, he gave an order: "Send a few people over to help make the funeral arrangements at the household of the Lady of Fêng-sheng a grand and proper affair."

Chen Hong hastily bowed and said, "Rest assured, Your Majesty—this servant understands!" With that, he bowed and withdrew to find people to arrange the matter.

Zhu Youxiao stretched his limbs, then said in a calm voice, "Bring up the routine memorials of these past days—I wish to review them." With that, he turned and walked toward his study.

He needed to look at the routine memorials to understand the recent situation of the Great Ming, and then decide what to do next.

Routine memorials were, in fact, the documents by which ministers of this era submitted matters to the Emperor. By comparison, later generations mostly knew of the memorial—but the memorial and the routine memorial were not the same thing.

In the early Ming, officials and commoners used only personal memorials to speak to the Emperor. In the twenty-second year of Yongle, it was stipulated that if various offices had urgent matters they could not present in person, they were permitted to submit routine memorials, used exclusively for official business. Their format was a folded booklet of paper, each page containing six lines of twenty characters each.

All matters of troops, punishments, grain, money, and local civil affairs—great and small official business—used routine memorials, which officials submitted with their seals affixed, sent to the Office of Transmission and then to the Grand Secretariat for presentation to the throne. Private matters used personal memorials, which were not permitted to bear seals.

Official business used routine memorials; private matters used personal memorials. Routine memorials bore seals; personal memorials did not. Both types were presented through the Office of Transmission, and before the Emperor reviewed and approved them, the Grand Secretaries had already prepared draft rescripts.

The Qing dynasty's memorials could bypass the Grand Secretariat and go directly before the throne, and anything could be said in them—even subordinates secretly reporting the misconduct of their superiors was permissible.

Because memorials eliminated intermediate transmission links and employed the court-dispatch method, they could not only reach the Emperor's hands rapidly, but after the Emperor's vermilion endorsement, could be sent directly back to the submitting official for immediate implementation, greatly improving administrative efficiency.

At the same time, because memorials were conducted in secret, between provincial governors-general and governors and their subordinate circuit intendants, between local and central authorities, between the inner court and the outer court, apart from the normal superior-subordinate relationships, a new relationship of mutual restraint was formed.

Ministers informed on one another; the Emperor's eyes and ears were spread throughout the capital and beyond. No one knew who had reported what about whom to the Emperor. Public and private affairs and interpersonal relations in the central ministries and local regions—whether great or trivial—the Emperor could learn of directly from the memorials.

The Emperor thus used memorials to rectify official conduct, monitor the people's condition, issue orders, and purge those who opposed him. All the realm's affairs were handled by one man alone, carrying feudal imperial power to an unprecedented extreme.

Looking at the routine memorials sent up, Zhu Youxiao suddenly smiled. Factional strife, was it? It seemed he had discovered something interesting.

Tapping on the routine memorial with his hand, Zhu Youxiao leaned back on the daybed, flipping through the memorial in his hand—but his mind was entirely elsewhere.

After a long moment, Zhu Youxiao withdrew his gaze, reached out to pick up the memorial, and after flipping through it once, he finally understood what was written on it—it was actually a routine memorial sent up from Liaodong.

"Yuan Yingtai, ah!" A cold smile twisted at the corner of Zhu Youxiao's mouth. He hadn't expected this routine memorial to be submitted by Yuan Yingtai.