Chapter 143: Hu, Dou, Steelyards, and Measures Re-determined

The next day's grand court assembly — the entire court of the Great Ming dynasty — was stunned to see Wen Tiren appear in the court hall once again.

They had assumed that once Wen Tiren was thrown into the Imperial Prison, never mind standing high in the temple halls again, even managing to retire and go home to his village would have counted as his ancestors piling up virtue for eight lifetimes!

But what about now? Wen Tiren not only got out, but after getting out he was still their Chief Grand Secretary.

And connecting this to how the Kong family was treated after Wen Tiren entered the Imperial Prison, only to have him released now — the assembled officials cursed Wen Tiren in their hearts as a piece of trash.

This bastard probably sold out the Kong family to buy his own way out today, right?

Chongzhen sat high upon the dragon throne, watching the hostile looks the assembled officials cast at Wen Tiren, his face still a mask of deadpan, but inside he was secretly delighted. Go on, hate Wen Tiren.

If you didn't hate him, this fellow probably couldn't follow Us to the bitter end with his whole heart.

Even a political greenhorn like Chongzhen could see that the looks the officials below directed at Wen Tiren were off — so how could an old fox like Wen Tiren not see it? It was just that after he got out of the Imperial Prison, he had already gone home.

As for these colleagues of his — if you were talking about someone who sent charcoal in the snow, there was not a single one. As for those who threw stones when a man was down, heh.

No matter which of their mansions his son went to beg at, they either gave him the runaround or refused to see him.

On the contrary, it was the hawks and hounds of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who, under the Emperor's orders, had looked after his whole family — the warmth and coldness of human feeling, it had come to this!

Having already seen these colleagues' true faces clearly — or rather, having had what he had long expected laid out before him like this — how could Wen Tiren's heart possibly feel any joy? Since you are heartless, then don't blame me for being unjust.

Gritting his teeth in secret, Wen Tiren at this moment once again hardened his resolve to follow Chongzhen down this road to the very end. As for you scum, as long as I keep His Majesty's favor, you all just wait!

Having decided to sell himself to Chongzhen, Wen Tiren set down the burden in his heart.

After Wang Cheng'en called out, "If you have business, present it early; if there is none, withdraw from court," Wen Tiren stepped forth from the ranks with perfect composure and memorialized: "Reporting to Your Majesty, your minister has a memorial to present."

Chongzhen, still wearing that expressionless look, said flatly: "Speak."

Wen Tiren first bowed in salute, then continued: "Reporting to Your Majesty, your minister believes that the current regulations for weights and measures in the Great Ming are in chaos, and the court ought to unify them, so as to facilitate use among the common people.

Only when weights and measures are unified will exchange among the people of the realm be convenient."

Chongzhen made an "mm" sound, then said: "Elaborate in detail. What exactly is in chaos, and what needs to be unified?"

Wen Tiren said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, take weight as an example. Among the sheng and dou measures, there are large dou and small dou.

What one commonly sees among the people is collecting with the large dou and disbursing with the small dou — to the people's great inconvenience. Take length as another example: the cun can be long, the chi can be short.

Among the people, many privately manufacture measuring tools, and those who suffer the loss are mostly the common folk."

"Your minister believes that when the mighty Qin and mighty Han were mighty, their might necessarily began first with unifying weights and measures, writing with the same script, and carts with the same axle width.

Only then did the people of the state become as one from top to bottom, and thus they could look proudly upon the world. The old system has now been in use for a thousand years; it ought to be reformed and made more precise."

Chongzhen again made an "mm" sound, and said to the Minister of Works, Xue Fengxiang: "What does Minister Xue think?"

Xue Fengxiang bowed and said: "Your minister is dull-witted; I second what Grand Secretary Wen has said."

Seeing how cleanly Xue Fengxiang had passed the buck, Chongzhen did not press the matter, but only said flatly: "In that case, let Minister Xue's Ministry of Works take charge of this matter and re-determine the regulations for weights and measures."

Xue Fengxiang bowed in acknowledgment: "Your minister obeys the decree. Your minister is dull-witted, and hopes Your Majesty will instruct: by what standard shall the weights and measures regulations be determined?"

Chongzhen very much wanted to tell him about those units — meters, decimeters, centimeters, millimeters — but figured that was rather unrealistic, so he then said to Wen Tiren: "What does Minister Wen think?"

Wen Tiren knew the moment to make himself useful had come. He immediately stepped forward and memorialized: "Reporting to Your Majesty, your minister believes that among the people, they mostly advance by sixteens, or advance by threes, which is often inconvenient.

It would be better to advance by tens: let ten fen make one cun, ten cun make one chi. Let measuring tools follow the same principle, with ten liang making one jin."

Hearing these words from Wen Tiren, and knowing full well that this was the Chongzhen Emperor's intent, Xue Fengxiang still could not help but refute: "Reporting to Your Majesty, your minister believes that what Grand Secretary Wen proposes is not appropriate."

Chongzhen again made an "mm" sound and asked: "What is not appropriate about it?"

Bowing, he said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, according to the established precedent of the Chenghua reign, five dou make one hu. If we now follow what Grand Secretary Wen proposes, then ten dou would make one hu, which would be even more inconvenient for the common people than before."

Wen Tiren, however, opened his mouth and said: "If we follow what Minister Xue says, then take the weighing instrument as an example. This item currently exists in two specifications — the twenty-liang and the sixty-liang — manufactured during the Wanli reign.

When the common people use twenty liang or sixty liang, is that convenient or inconvenient, after all? Furthermore, take the hu as an example.

At the end of the former Song, they changed it to ten sheng making one dou, five dou making one hu, and two hu making one dan — was that not also changing back and forth?"

Seeing Xue Fengxiang speechless, Wen Tiren continued: "If we are going to talk about ancestral institutions, this Wen would like to ask Minister Xue: in the first year of the Hongwu reign of the Great Ancestor, he decreed the casting of iron hu, dou, and sheng measures, to be issued to the Ministry of Revenue for grain collection and used for calibration, and still sent their models down to the realm, ordering the Warden's Office and the Market Administration to inspect and calibrate the hu, dou, steelyards, and rulers in the markets once every three days, and to assess commodity prices according to the season.

Minister Xue knows this passage, does he not?"

Xue Fengxiang was, however, in extreme agony. Was he supposed to say he knew this passage or did not know it?

If he said he did not know, that was obviously bullshit — never mind that it would be deceiving the sovereign to his face, people would probably have to ask just how he had managed to get this official post in the first place.

If he said he did know, he could already imagine what kind of crap Wen Tiren was going to say next.

Sure enough, without even waiting for Xue Fengxiang to answer, Wen Tiren went on speaking on his own: "In the second year of Jingtai, the first year of Zhengde, and the eighth year of Jiajing, in each case the Ministry of Works was ordered to manufacture hu, dou, steelyards, and measures, to be distributed to the various offices supervising the receipt of silver in the inner treasury, the circuit censors, and all inner and outer government offices, so as to ensure uniformity of measurement values.

That anyone privately manufacturing hu, dou, steelyards, or measures shall be punished according to the law, and that anyone who knows of such but does not expose it shall be jointly investigated when the matter comes to light — this too is written into the Great Ming Code.

You, Minister Xue, also know this, do you not?"

Chongzhen, however, was inwardly cursing — what the hell. He truly had not known there was such a regulation.

If he had known earlier, he would have damn well brought it out to smack people with long ago. Where did collecting with the big dou and disbursing with the small dou come from?

If all were government-unified specifications, how could the situation of big dou and small dou possibly arise? It looked like the situation of private manufacture among the people had damn well never been stopped at all!

Chongzhen, displeased in his heart, did not wait for Xue Fengxiang to open his mouth, but directly said: "Enough, stop arguing. This matter shall be led by the Ministry of Works, in conjunction with the Ministry of Revenue.

We shall also order Xu Guangqi's Imperial Academy to cooperate and participate in the matter of Eastern and Western weights and measures, to re-determine them. Regardless of the measure, all shall advance by tens.

Establish new names for them, different from the previous fen and cun standards, so as to prevent the common people from confusing them."

After Xue Fengxiang had no choice but to acknowledge the order, Chongzhen continued: "Let it be decreed: after the Ministry of Works has determined the hu, dou, steelyards, and measures, proclaim them openly to the realm.

In every local government office, there must necessarily be measuring tools of hu, dou, steelyards, and measures, for the common people to verify against.

If there are any who again privately manufacture hu, dou, steelyard, and measure tools, playing some trick of collecting with the big dou and disbursing with the small dou to fleece the common people — no matter who it is, confiscate their property and execute them!"

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(End of chapter)