Chapter 13: An Insult to Decorum

Zhang Juzheng watched Yang Bo's retreating figure. He respected Yang Bo deeply; the term "minister of great virtue" was not mere politeness, but his true feelings. When Yang Bo was in Liaodong, the Ji and Liao regions were secure; when he was in the capital, the Nine Frontiers were all secure. Having served as both a general and a prime minister for over forty years, he had worked diligently to protect the Great Ming's empire.

Those with great power are destroyed; those with great achievements are ruined.

What was it that made the back of such a pillar of the state become so hunched? What was it that forced him to lower himself to come to this Quanchu Guild Hall? What was it that made him plead repeatedly with a junior?

It was the Shanxi Faction, it was human sentiment, and even more so, it was interests.

Yang Bo came to the Quanchu Guild Hall for the sake of the Shanxi Faction.

When Gao Gong was in power, he promoted many people from the Shanxi Faction. If Gao Gong were to be judged for treason, those he promoted would inevitably be dismissed, and the Shanxi Faction would suffer a heavy blow.

For the sake of these people, Yang Bo had to come to the Quanchu Guild Hall and speak plainly with Zhang Juzheng.

Yang Bo walked out of the Quanchu Guild Hall, looked at Ge Shouli following behind him, and said, "Don't worry anymore. Bai Gui has agreed. The Great Ming is declining day by day, and he will not sit idly by. If he wants to realize the ambitions in his heart, he cannot let the Great Ming fall into chaos."

"Therefore, a gentleman can be deceived by what is right."

"Sigh."

Yang Bo understood Zhang Juzheng very well. He could even see his own shadow in Zhang Juzheng. When he had just passed the imperial examinations, riding a spirited horse in fresh clothes, did he not also have such grand ambitions? But as he walked along, he ended up like this.

The reason Zhang Juzheng was willing to take action was neither to facilitate the implementation of the 'Examination of Merit' law nor for the position of Minister of Personnel, the 'Heavenly Official.' With Zhang Juzheng's methods, he had plenty of ways to handle the 'Examination of Merit' law and the Ministry of Personnel. Zhang Juzheng was willing to agree only to prevent the Great Ming from falling into the quagmire of factional strife from which it could not extricate itself.

If the investigation continued, the culprit could only be Gao Gong, and all evidence would point to him. This would inevitably lead to the dismissal of those Gao Gong had promoted, and the Shanxi Faction would surely strike back desperately. A factional struggle spreading across the Great Ming would exhaust the little remaining vitality of the empire.

Yang Bo had grasped this point exactly, which was why he was willing to visit. He knew this deal could be made.

"Let's go." Yang Bo waved his hand, leaned on his cane, and left the Quanchu Guild Hall.

The next morning, the Wenhua Hall was as noisy as ever. Zhu Yijun was still reading the *Direct Explanation of the Four Books*, gaining quite a bit and taking notes diligently. The great case of the assassination attempt seemed as if it had never happened.

The Investigating Censor of the Ministry of Personnel, Luo Zun, impeached the Minister of War Tan Lun and the Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Liu Sijie for occupying their positions without performing their duties, failing to fulfill their responsibilities, and being unfit for their posts, demanding their immediate dismissal.

Tan Lun was an outstanding military strategist of the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli years. He passed the imperial examinations in the twenty-third year of Jiajing and had organized local militias to repeatedly defeat the Japanese pirates. At Gebu and Nanwan, Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang fought back-to-back, and they were comrades-in-arms, known together as 'Tan and Qi.'

Hearing of the impeachment, Tan Lun did not refute it but directly submitted his resignation. After reading the impeachment memorial, Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to send it to the Ministry of Personnel. If the facts were confirmed, according to the procedure, the impeachment memorial would be sent to the Wenyuan Pavilion for draft rescripts, then to the Directorate of Ceremonial for approval. Once the process was complete, Tan Lun would have to leave his post and return to his hometown.

The court discussion was full of debate, but Zhu Yijun remained silent.

The final item of the court discussion was the case of Wang Dachen.

Ge Shouli was the first to open fire on Feng Bao. Ge Shouli spoke at great length, starting from the Three Dynasties, moving to the case itself, and finally demanding severe punishment for Feng Bao.

Feng Bao looked at Ge Shouli, sat up straight, and said, "Confucius says in the *Book of Rites, Great Unity Chapter*: 'Now the great way has been hidden, and the world has become a family. Each loves their own kin, each loves their own children, and wealth and labor are for oneself. Great men pass power down through generations as the ritual, so schemes arise, and war begins from this.'"

"What does it mean?"

"Confucius says that now, the highest order, the Way, has disappeared, and the operation of the world has deviated from the initial Way. Everyone in the world can only look after their own small families. People love their own relatives and their own children. Wealth and labor are all private. Power, wealth, mountains, and rivers have completely become hereditary and have become the justified ritual system."

"By this time, deceit, fraud, wickedness, cunning, and infighting begin to occur, and war and chaos in the world arise from this."

"Censor-in-Chief Ge is a scholar, and this humble servant is a eunuch. Is my interpretation correct?"

Ge Shouli frowned and said, "Correct, but don't try to divert the topic!"

Feng Bao shook his head and said, "How is this diverting the topic? Censor-in-Chief Ge, as soon as Gao Gong had trouble, you jumped out in such a hurry, repeatedly trying to reach your hand into the palace. Is this not 'each loving their own kin'? Right now, the Great Ming is full of factional collusion and mutual attacks. Is this not 'schemes arise, and war begins from this'?"

"The world has become like this, and you push all the blame onto us eunuchs. Now, in the case of Wang Dachen's assassination attempt, you still push the blame onto us eunuchs."

"It was Gao Gong who colluded with Chen Hong to commit a heinous crime, yet you point fingers at me and pester me endlessly."

"Who exactly is the one diverting the topic!"

"You!" Ge Shouli pointed at Feng Bao, unable to speak for a moment. Feng Bao's words were logically rigorous and used his own words to block his mouth.

Feng Bao said lazily, "If you had even a little bit of respect for His Majesty and the Empress Dowager, or even a shred of respect for the Four Books and Five Classics you read, or for Confucius, would you still be able to commit such a crime of great disrespect?! Did Confucius teach you to rebel against your superiors and assassinate the Emperor?!"

His expression suddenly changed, and he said extremely fiercely, "Ge Shouli, if you point a finger at me again, I'll have that finger chopped off tomorrow! You are a scholar! Is this how Confucius taught you to treat people with decorum!"

"Simply an insult to decorum!"

A eunuch scolding a scholar and head of the outspoken officials for being an insult to decorum.

Yang Bo pulled Ge Shouli, signaling him not to argue with Feng Bao anymore. Ge Shouli couldn't win an argument against Feng Bao. It had been months; when had Ge Shouli ever gotten the better of Feng Bao?

Zhang Juzheng looked at Feng Bao with a serious expression. Even Zhang Juzheng sometimes found the outspoken officials a headache, but only this Feng Bao could scold them so fluently, as smoothly as he kowtowed.

Feng Bao was made for this.

During the Chenghua years, the eunuch Lin Xiu of the Inner Treasury wrote a book called the *Classic of Irritating People*, specifically teaching how to annoy others. There were many ways to annoy people in this classic, and the most superior was to use their own methods against them.

Clearly, Feng Bao was well-versed in this and had mastered it to perfection.

"Hahaha!" A burst of laughter came, and everyone looked at the person laughing.

It was the Minister of War Tan Lun, who had just been impeached by the outspoken officials. Tan Lun was a very broad-minded person who laughed when he wanted to. He waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Apologies, I didn't want to laugh, but really... haha!"

Ge Shouli's face turned red. If he hadn't been unable to beat Feng Bao, he would have rushed over right now.

Zhang Juzheng closed all the memorials of the court discussion and said with a serious expression, "The villain Wang Dachen is a gambler, speaking incoherently and not to be believed. Chen Hong's false accusation of a mastermind is also not to be believed. Let the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigate and handle this matter strictly. We shall not discuss it for now."

The court discussion ended.

Everyone stood up, bowed respectfully to the little Emperor who was still reading earnestly on the platform, and said in unison, "Your subjects withdraw."

Zhang Juzheng began to preach and explain the classics. He first reviewed the content of yesterday's study, and the little Emperor's answers were perfect. Then he began today's lesson, discovering that the little Emperor truly understood, rather than pretending to understand.

For example, Confucius said: "The gentleman devotes himself to the roots; when the roots are established, the Way is born. Filial piety and fraternal respect are the roots of benevolence, are they not?"

His Majesty interpreted: The root of the Emperor is the common people of the world. If the people flourish, the nation flourishes; if the people perish, the nation perishes. And for a monarch inheriting the great unification, the greatest filial piety is to hold onto the foundation of the empire passed down by the ancestors. To hold onto the foundation, one must protect the people of the world with virtue.

This is called: The root of the monarch is the common people; the filial piety of the monarch is protecting the people with virtue.

Zhu Yijun ended today's lesson. Zhang Juzheng was a very good teacher, and the one-hour lesson always passed very quickly.

"Grand Eunuch Feng, are you also a scholar?" Zhu Yijun closed the *Direct Explanation of the Four Books* and looked at the very respectful Feng Bao.

Feng Bao immediately said with a smile, "In reply to Your Majesty, this subject is untalented, but I have read a few books."

Zhu Yijun said with great satisfaction, "If you have only read a few, then does that mean Censor-in-Chief Ge has never read a book? You did very well."

Feng Bao was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "This subject serving Your Majesty is this subject's honor. Receiving a word of praise from Your Majesty is enough to make this subject happy for several days."

Zhang Juzheng always felt it was a bit strange. This Feng Bao was a bit too respectful, even to the point of being afraid.

"If the Senior Grand Secretary has something to say, please speak freely." Zhu Yijun finished praising Feng Bao and looked at Zhang Juzheng, knowing he had something to say.

The interest exchange from last night was over, and Zhang Juzheng had to find a way to fool this ten-year-old Emperor and suppress the assassination case.

Zhang Juzheng flicked his sleeves, knelt on the ground, and said in a melancholy tone, "The villain Wang Dachen falsely accused a mastermind. The Depot and Guard have investigated for days without finding the truth. It is appropriate to slightly delay the case. When people are anxious, they close off; the more deeply they hide, the more they will eventually slacken, and the truth will reveal itself. If we push too hard, I fear we will falsely implicate the innocent and harm the harmony of heaven and earth. This was my initial intention, but the court discussion was turbulent, hence this memorial."

Zhu Yijun understood most of what Zhang Juzheng said. The gist was: a villain attempted an assassination and made wild accusations. The Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot investigated for days without result. We should slow down; the more we push, the more the villain hides. If we don't push so hard, the truth will slowly surface. If we push too hard, we might falsely implicate innocent people and harm the harmony of heaven and earth. The court discussion was turbulent, and no real work could be done, hence the memorial.

Zhu Yijun narrowed his eyes and said with an unkind tone, "Is the Senior Grand Secretary trying to fool a child? Keep it simple."

"This subject is incompetent." Zhang Juzheng closed his eyes for a moment, exhaled a turbid breath, and said these three words. He was not sure if Zhu Yijun could understand the helplessness in his words; these three words were more like something he said to himself.

Zhang Juzheng was a very arrogant person.

"In the future, when you submit memorials, stand up and speak. Don't kneel at every turn. We know what you mean: settle the matter and keep the peace." Zhu Yijun rubbed his fingers and asked, "How much did you exchange for it?"

"Ah?" Zhang Juzheng stood up and earnestly recalled His Majesty's words word for word, only then confirming he hadn't misheard.

His Majesty was asking how much benefit had been exchanged for settling the assassination case. ===== CHAPTER 14 =====