Chapter 540: Return to the Capital

Privately discussing the Emperor is an extremely dangerous thing. You can attack the court's policies, you can attack a particular minister, and you can even privately curse him as a treacherous minister—none of that is a problem.

But discussing the Emperor is not a safe matter.

Whether it is overheard by others, or in terms of personal morality, this is not permitted.

Loyalty to the sovereign and love of one's country.

Speaking ill of the Emperor is hardly a display of loyalty to the sovereign.

But the person before him was clearly not like that—he spoke of the Emperor with a completely indifferent air. Shi Kefa truly had no idea who this person was; for the moment, he could only take the fellow for someone mentally unhinged.

Yet it was obvious from his dress and bearing that this man was neither poor nor low-born. When he said these things, the expressions of those around him did not change at all—clearly they were already used to it. That proved this person's status was truly too exalted to be spoken of; that he spoke of the Emperor and everyone was already accustomed to it.

But you might say it's fine, while I say it's not—Shi Kefa had no intention of chiming in.

His own teacher enjoyed the Emperor's trust, and once he himself entered officialdom, he would also obtain many resources. At a time like this, to speak ill of the Emperor—was he courting death?

"The Emperor's thoughts and actions are not something that people like us can fathom." Shi Kefa said directly.

This year he was going to participate in the imperial examinations held by the court, and at this moment he could not stir up trouble. Who knew whether the person before him was digging a pit for him? Very likely this fellow had no good intentions.

So Shi Kefa refused outright.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Shi Kefa, nodded, and said: "As you wish."

Having said that, Zhu Youxiao stood up, walked over to Shi Kefa's side, reached out and patted his shoulder, saying: "We will meet again."

With that said, Zhu Youxiao strode away.

Shi Kefa watched the departing figure, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face, but he still couldn't figure it out.

But it didn't matter—this person said they would meet again, so who knew when that would be. If they never met again, that wouldn't be strange either.

Yet in Shi Kefa's feeling, perhaps they really would meet again.

After Zhu Youxiao left this place, he did not continue strolling about, but went directly back to the palace.

Things had reached this point; there was no need for him, as the Emperor, to do anything more. The people below would handle matters well.

Now the great momentum had already been achieved; there was no one who could overturn the heavens. Going against the tide was impossible.

All these years he had spent—wasn't it precisely to consolidate his own great momentum?

In the court, civil officials supported him, and many local officials were graduates of the Imperial Academy—all of these people could give him their support.

Among the military officers, those who did not support him had already been sidelined. The Imperial Guard Corps was extremely powerful, and with their support, he could do as he pleased.

Adding the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot, his imperial authority as Emperor had reached unprecedented strength.

The Imperial Household Department had also connected with a large number of merchants on the other side; no one could stir up trouble, because no one was irreplaceable anymore.

Matters also developed exactly as Zhu Youxiao had anticipated—everything moved in the direction he had envisioned.

Shi Kefa and the others still set out. They contacted a group of scholars and went directly to various places to begin propaganda, and also began some investigations, helping the common people file accusations against corrupt officials.

With the help of these people, progress became even faster. Moreover, Zhu Youxiao's reputation grew better and better.

Of course, there were also people arranged by Zhu Youxiao among them, and quite a few. On the one hand, they supervised Shi Kefa and the others; on the other hand, they also secretly supervised those handling the cases.

After all, since he didn't know how they would act, it was better to be on guard.

As the news came in one after another, the expression on Zhu Youxiao's face grew more and more relaxed.

Under the crushing weight of the great momentum, everything else simply didn't matter.

During this period, some people also launched several rebellions and made a few disturbances, but basically they had no effect. Before Zhu Youxiao even had to lift a finger, they had already been suppressed.

Zhu Youxiao's days in Nanjing also came to an end. He directly changed course and went to Jianghuai, mainly to supervise the matter of salt field reform.

Zhu Youxiao cared about the salt field reform very, very much, and he couldn't afford not to. This was his key point—what had been smashed still had to be rebuilt.

A new technology was promoted in the salt fields—sun-drying salt—no longer boiling salt as before, greatly reducing the intensity of labor.

At the same time, the Imperial Household Department also began to regularize these people's status; those salt-boiling households became employees of the salt trading firms under the Imperial Household Department's jurisdiction.

Regarding the arrangements for these people, one could not resort to a one-size-fits-all approach. If they were laid off, they would probably have no way to make a living. After all, they had no farmland, and having spent their whole lives boiling salt here, life was already hard enough. So Zhu Youxiao had no intention of cutting off their livelihood.

As for the method adopted, he could simply copy it directly from later generations. Everyone became employees of the salt trading firms—pay them what should be paid, give them benefits as benefits should be given.

As for their children and descendants, they could be recruited internally, or they could directly go into other businesses; there would no longer be restrictions on their household registration.

In fact, this change had already been carried out among artisans for a long time. The military's artisans had long since implemented this policy, and so had the artisans under the Ministry of Works.

This actually greatly raised the status of artisans, and good artisans among the common people were also willing to work for the court. Not only was there generous salary, there were also rewards, and the artisan rating system had already been rolled out for some time now, with excellent results.

So when the regularization of salt-boiling households was promoted this time, no disturbances broke out—after all, these were all matters of raising treatment and improving life.

For a time, Zhu Youxiao's prestige rose once again, and the matters he had stirred up in Jiangnan were quickly smoothed over.

After making a circuit through Lianghuai, Zhu Youxiao did not go to any other places. Although other places also needed reform, Zhu Youxiao could not keep an eye on every single location.

After releasing all these things, Zhu Youxiao could hand them over to the people under him to handle. With a model to follow, things ultimately couldn't turn out too badly; he would just send his own people to supervise secretly.

In golden autumn, the tenth month, Zhu Youxiao finally returned to the capital.

Just as when Zhu Youxiao had left, the capital here was still as flourishing as brocade. The affairs of Jiangnan had not affected the capital in the slightest—on the contrary, they had given it a push forward.

Because of the Imperial Household Department's communication, trade between north and south had expanded considerably. The matter of the Jiangnan Maritime Trade Supervisorate had also been put on the agenda.

This time, a large number of merchants had been dealt with in Jiangnan. In many places, the charges had nothing to do with maritime trade, but many smuggling merchants had been disposed of.

Some people had made a fuss for a while, but it was useless.

As for the wokou pirates along the coast, at this time they couldn't make trouble anymore—they couldn't stir anything up. After all, the court's naval forces were cruising along the coast, and the wokou simply didn't dare come near.

The Great Ming of now was no longer the Great Ming of before.

After returning to the palace, Zhu Youxiao went at once to see Empress Zhang, and also his son.

This eldest son of the Great Ming, Zhu Cixuan, was now a half-grown lad.

Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Cixuan performed a respectful bow, proper and precise.

Empress Zhang stood behind her son, watching Zhu Youxiao with a beaming smile.

"Enough, no need for ceremony." Zhu Youxiao said to his son: "Go play. Your imperial father still has matters to discuss with your mother the Empress."

"Yes, imperial father." Zhu Cixuan acknowledged, then turned and walked out.

But he kept looking back with every step, curiosity in his eyes, as if he very much wanted to know what his father and mother were going to discuss.

Empress Zhang walked over to Zhu Youxiao's side and gave him a reproachful look, saying, "Our son has been thinking of you all this time. He's been muttering about you these past few days, and this is how you send him off?"

"A boy needs to learn to be strong." Zhu Youxiao said with a stern face, "What's the point of always clinging to his father's side?"

The two of them had been together for eight years now, and they understood each other very well.

How could Empress Zhang possibly not know what Zhu Youxiao was thinking? She merely shot him a coy, reproachful glare and said nothing more.

Zhu Youxiao had brought back a woman from Jiangnan—Empress Zhang already knew about this, but she chose not to bring it up.

In Empress Zhang's view, the Emperor had too few women. Over the past two years, people outside had already begun submitting memorials, hoping that Zhu Youxiao would take more consorts and not just keep circling around the few women in the palace.

This time the Emperor went out and brought back one woman—still a bit too few.

Zhu Youxiao didn't care either way. He glanced at Empress Zhang and said, "On this trip, I brought back a person. I'll send her to your quarters to attend to you. She's quite good—her massage skills are remarkable. Have her give you a rub later, and you can enjoy yourself too."

Hearing this, Empress Zhang immediately broke into a smile and tugged at Zhu Youxiao, saying, "In Your Majesty's eyes, does your consort really seem like such a jealous person?"

That remark was actually a bit heavy.

In truth, Zhu Youxiao's approach could easily make Empress Zhang think that he believed she would be jealous. "I'm placing her with you—just don't go and kill her"—that was the subtext.

But Zhu Youxiao truly hadn't thought that way at all. He waved his hand directly and said, "She's from outside and doesn't know the rules. Put her by your side and train her a bit."

Within this great imperial palace, Empress Zhang's standing was very high.

There weren't many women in the entire palace to begin with, and no one dared to challenge Empress Zhang's position.

Although they had been married for eight years, the Emperor's favor toward Empress Zhang could only be said to have grown rather than diminished.

All sorts of gifts were delivered on schedule without fail, and there were frequent bestowals at ordinary times too. All kinds of things were sent to Empress Zhang's quarters without pause—anything novel was always given to Empress Zhang.

Half of every month, Zhu Youxiao would stay at Empress Zhang's place.

Add to that the fact that she had the eldest son by her side—who would dare to look down on such an Empress?

Barring any unexpected turn of events, she was guaranteed to become the Empress Dowager in the future.

If you went and provoked her now, once she turned the tables, death would be your only path!

Unless you could kill her son during the succession struggle, it was better to behave yourself.

Hearing this, Empress Zhang looked at Zhu Youxiao helplessly and said, "If this gets out, who knows what people outside will say about your consort?"

"What do we care what they say?" Zhu Youxiao said nonchalantly. "Enough—we've just returned, don't keep nagging about these matters. Go take a bath and wash off the dust from the road. Come bathe with me."

As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao took Empress Zhang's hand and led her toward the back.

Though she put on a coy show of reluctance, Empress Zhang obediently followed along, her heart filled with joy.

The bathhouse within the palace was a place Zhu Youxiao frequented often, and one he greatly enjoyed.

It was very finely appointed, and the water had long since been prepared by someone.

At this time, no one attended the Empress and Emperor—the maids and eunuchs were all outside, and no one could enter.

The husband and wife bathed together inside.

Having been apart for so long, they also exchanged some intimate words.

Of course, as they talked, hands began to wander.

What happened after that goes without saying.

Two hours later, Zhu Youxiao and Empress Zhang finished their bath.

Refreshed and glowing, Zhu Youxiao walked out of the room, casually dressed in a simple long robe, his hair simply gathered behind his back.

Empress Zhang followed at Zhu Youxiao's side, her makeup intact, her cheeks flushed crimson. Only her clothes had been changed—clearly not the same set she had worn when entering.

"Did the trip to Jiangnan go smoothly?" Empress Zhang looked at Zhu Youxiao and asked with a smile.

She raised her head to look at Zhu Youxiao, her gaze full of tenderness.

Zhu Youxiao nodded, pulled Empress Zhang down to sit beside him, and said in a casual tone, "There wasn't really anything to it. It looked difficult on the surface, but once you actually got down to doing it, it was nothing much."

"What I truly did on this trip was give those people some backbone and put pressure on those with all sorts of wild ideas. As for the actual work, my subordinates handled it."

In truth, Zhu Youxiao at this stage was no longer the man he had been when he first took the throne.

If his authority had been sufficient, he wouldn't have needed to go at all this time. His subordinates could have handled the matter on their own.

Think of the might of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di—they never needed to personally go and hold the line. But now Zhu Youxiao had to go in person to steady things, which proved his authority was still insufficient.

"By the way, Duke Wei is about to arrive in the capital. We'll hold a banquet in the palace and properly entertain them." Zhu Youxiao looked at Empress Zhang and said, "Have them make the preparations."

"Very well." Empress Zhang agreed with a smile. "Your consort will see to it."

Ever since Duke Wei had been given command in Nanjing, their family's reputation in Nanjing had quickly turned sour.

Many people on their side of the network had been toppled, which left Duke Wei deeply unsettled. He feared the Emperor might pull a surprise strike and take down their family too.

So Duke Wei decisively went to Zhu Youxiao and requested that their family be transferred to the capital, and then the whole family moved to the capital. Whether someone had given him advice or someone had dropped a hint, no one knew.

Even if that were the case, Zhu Youxiao didn't mind. His subordinates had handled this matter acceptably.

Having been Emperor for this long, Zhu Youxiao had grown accustomed to this state of affairs. Let subordinates handle everything—if it was done to his satisfaction, he would go along with it; if not, he would slap it down with one blow.

What reasons? What causes?

He was the Emperor—he didn't ask for reasons, and he didn't ask for causes. What he asked for was results.

If you failed to deliver, then you were useless. No reasons, no excuses.