Chapter 55: The Friendship of Jiao and Xu

It wasn't that Wang Keshou's official career was anything special—this was merely the ordinary promotion process of a Ming official, nothing worthy of praise.

What Zhu Youxiao found strange wasn't that, but rather that Wang Keshou had built an academy for Feng Congwu.

Feng Congwu was currently serving at court—a thoroughgoing member of the Donglin Faction, and even if not a full member, he could count as half a Donglin man.

He also followed the School of Principle, yet Wang Keshou could still build an academy for Feng Congwu—that was rather interesting.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Luo Sigong and asked lightly: "Are you certain that Wang Keshou's line can inherit Li Zhi's mantle?"

One had to know that Li Zhi's mantle was not so easily inherited, and Wang Keshou was clearly not that kind of man. Although he was Li Zhi's student, judging by his style of conduct, this man was plainly a slippery official.

He lacked Li Zhi's ideas and mindset; he had no sectarian or orthodox loyalties in his heart—he was just an official going through the motions. How could he inherit Li Zhi's mantle?

"Your Majesty, Wang Keshou will not do." Luo Sigong said directly: "But Wang Keshou's student can. According to what Your servant knows, Wang Keshou has a student named Chen Kedao, a man of great arrogance who greatly venerates Li Zhi's teachings."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Luo Sigong and asked: "How old is this Chen Kedao, and what is his standing?"

"Your Majesty, Chen Kedao is thirty-six years of age, and his standing is that of a rising star of the Taizhou School." Luo Sigong said after a moment's thought.

Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly—it wasn't that he judged people by age or seniority, but rather that the task he wanted this man to do required seniority; he had to be able to command authority.

This Chen Kedao was clearly not viable. Thinking this, Zhu Youxiao looked at Luo Sigong and asked: "Is there anyone else suitable?"

"Your Majesty, then it can only be the line of Jiao Hong." Luo Sigong thought for a moment, then said.

Jiao Hong? The name sounded very familiar, but Zhu Youxiao couldn't recall what was so special about this man.

"Tell me more!" Zhu Youxiao looked at Luo Sigong and asked directly.

He was now beginning to grow curious—just how much did this Luo Sigong know? It seemed Luo Sigong had truly done deep research, or perhaps he too had been influenced by the Taizhou School?

But as far as Zhu Youxiao knew, things didn't seem to be that way. The Taizhou School was powerful among the common people—a prominent doctrine—but at the highest levels, that was not the case.

"Your Majesty, Jiao Hong sat the metropolitan examination in the seventeenth year of Wanli, placed first in the first rank as Zhuangyuan, was appointed Senior Compiler of the Hanlin Academy, and later rose to Director of Studies in Nanjing." Luo Sigong said hurriedly.

The moment Zhu Youxiao heard this, he burst out laughing.

This man was rather interesting—a proper Zhuangyuan, appointed Senior Compiler of the Hanlin Academy. By all reason, even if he couldn't be guaranteed entry into the Grand Secretariat, he should at least have managed a Minister of one of the Six Ministries, shouldn't he? Even if he couldn't manage a Minister post, he should at least have managed a Vice Minister of one of the Six Ministries?

But in the end, he got none of it—he was directly packed off to be Director of Studies in Nanjing.

Clearly this was more than merely offending people—this was being cast aside by the Emperor himself. The reason should also be simple: this man must have done something that greatly displeased the Emperor.

Although there was also one factor—Jiao Hong was already fifty years old when he became Zhuangyuan—still, it shouldn't have been that miserable.

At this moment, Zhu Youxiao also recalled some things about Jiao Hong—it was a news item he had seen in his previous life, about what domestic and international academic circles called "the largest-scale research project on traditional Chinese thought and culture"—the *Critical Biographies of Chinese Thinkers* series.

That series, aiming to explore the profound depths of traditional Chinese thought and culture and reveal the inner laws of its development and transformation, selected over a hundred figures of outstanding achievement from the two thousand-plus years from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, spanning literature, history, philosophy, classics, agriculture, industry, medicine, politics, military affairs, education, science and technology, and religion.

Jiao Hong, as an "encyclopedic" figure, was selected alongside his contemporaries Hai Rui and Huang Zongxi, and later figures such as Gu Yanwu and Pu Songling, drawing attention from all sectors of society.

At the time, Zhu Youxiao had also paid attention to it, and had even gone to look up materials on Jiao Hong.

There was one very interesting thing—this Jiao Hong was the teacher of a certain man. That man was Xu Guangqi, the very person he had always wanted to use. Jiao Hong was Xu Guangqi's teacher.

Could the "line of Jiao Hong" that Luo Sigong spoke of refer to Xu Guangqi?

Now Zhu Youxiao understood why Xu Guangqi had been squeezed out in officialdom. Xu Guangqi's views were much like his teacher's, and with what he himself championed, it was already fortunate he hadn't been branded a heretic.

"Though Jiao Hong is dead, his student still lives—it is Xu Guangqi." Having said this, Luo Sigong bowed his body and fell silent.

Zhu Youxiao now understood why Luo Sigong had first brought up the line of Wang Keshou. The reason was very simple—he didn't want to mention Xu Guangqi.

He himself had summoned Xu Guangqi back to the capital and personally received him, and had issued a gracious reply retaining Xu Guangqi's resignation memorial. In Luo Sigong's eyes, that was an extremely, extremely obvious signal.

He intended to give Xu Guangqi a different appointment, so Luo Sigong hadn't mentioned Xu Guangqi, instead bringing up Wang Keshou's student. Now that he had rejected that, only then did Luo Sigong bring up Xu Guangqi.

Even so, Zhu Youxiao also knew that Jiao Hong could only be considered Xu Guangqi's examination patron. How much of Jiao Hong's thought Xu Guangqi had actually inherited was really hard to say.

Of course, the bond between Jiao Hong and Xu Guangqi went without saying. When Xu Guangqi sat the Shuntian prefectural examination at age thirty-six, the chief examiner was the renowned scholar Jiao Hong, who discovered his talent from among the failed papers, judged him a "great scholar of the age," and placed him first.

In the twenty-fifth year of Wanli, Jiao Hong, by imperial command, served as associate chief examiner of the metropolitan examination to select talent for the state. Among the failed papers he found Xu Guangqi's. "(Jiao Hong) read it and found it extraordinary, striking the table and sighing: 'This is unquestionably a great scholar of the age.'" He resolutely raised Xu Guangqi, who had already fallen from the list, to first place.

Jiao Hong and Dong Qichang also introduced Xu Guangqi to their fellow graduate, Governor Yuan Keli of Denglai, giving Xu Guangqi's talents in military weaponry a place to be put to use.

Though it sounded quite beautiful, Zhu Youxiao felt that many things were hidden beneath the surface.

For instance, at the Shuntian prefectural examination, Xu Guangqi had failed, and Jiao Hong picked him out from the failed papers; at the metropolitan examination, again it was Jiao Hong who picked Xu Guangqi out from the failed papers.

This looked in every way like someone had deliberately struck Xu Guangqi from the lists, and Jiao Hong had saved him. Within this there seemed to be the flavor of factional struggle—perhaps even a struggle over orthodoxy: the School of Mind versus the School of Principle, the Taizhou School versus other schools.

If things were truly as he guessed, then the relationship between Xu Guangqi and Jiao Hong was not so simple.

Of course, the facts also proved Jiao Hong's judgment.

Xu Guangqi later served as Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. He devoted his life to researching astronomy, calendrics, water conservancy, surveying, mathematics, agronomy, and other natural sciences and technologies, becoming a Ming dynasty scientist and statesman who mastered both Chinese and Western learning and possessed far-reaching vision.