[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties":3,"chapter-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-20":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Really Am Not Neglecting My Duties",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2363289,4622,"Chapter 20","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-20",20,"\u003Cp>Did Zhu Yijun, as a second-generation emperor, know how to farm?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He truly did not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only plant he ever kept alive was the pothos—a plant that needs just a little water and soil—but he ended up killing them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not knowing how to farm doesn’t matter; the Great Ming has more farmers than fish in the river, countless in number. This is the Central Plains, where farming is etched into the bones. Even in the Wanli era, look around the world—could there be anyone better at farming than the people of the Great Ming?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As emperor, Zhu Yijun wished to farm. He could organize experienced old farmers to launch a special research effort on potato cultivation—it wouldn’t cost much. He could simply clear the Your Majesty Mountain outside Xuanwu Gate and turn it into farmland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That Your Majesty Mountain, the one with the crooked old tree, the very mountain where Chongzhen Emperor chose to hang himself at the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he could grow flowers and grass, he could surely grow potatoes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if the special research failed and no potatoes were produced, the young emperor’s personal involvement in agriculture would still signal his concern for farming. Even without practical results, it carried strong political symbolism—it would draw the Great Ming’s attention to potatoes and sweet potatoes, to these high-yield crops, and that alone would be a massive gain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the sovereign acts, the myriad people look on, take it as an example, and follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The slightest move by the emperor causes the common people to stare in disbelief: Has the sun risen in the west? What is this young emperor up to? They will at least glance at potatoes and sweet potatoes. If anyone manages to harvest twenty or thirty dan, it becomes a great benevolent act for the people!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li hesitated. The young emperor had just taught her the lesson of Hongyi—Hong meaning to hold the world in one’s heart. If Luo Gongchen had not lied, and if there truly existed crops yielding twenty or thirty dan per mu, once successful, who would dare say a ten-year-old sovereign cannot rule the realm?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if it failed, it would at least prove the emperor possessed the spirit of Hongyi, earning greater recognition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After thinking long and hard, Empress Dowager Li shook her head and said: “It’s better to focus on your studies. Martial training can be excused as a response to the assassination attempt and ancestral law, since the founding emperors Taizu and Chengzu were both mighty warriors. But now, your Majesty farming? That is truly neglecting your duty. The ministers will rise in unison to remonstrate—it will be hard to contain.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li wished for no further trouble. She only hoped her child would grow up safely and smoothly inherit the Great Ming, fulfilling the late emperor’s final wishes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun still refused to give up: “I will certainly complete my studies.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s not about the lessons,” Empress Dowager Li hesitated, then explained the stakes in detail. Normally, she could simply command with authority—no explanation needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But on the day of the assassination attempt, when the young emperor, fleeing his pursuers, knocked over chairs and tables, he had opened his mouth and said, “Don’t blame me for my lack of decorum”—and those words had struck her heart, leaving her sorrowful. How had mother and son come to this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If she tightened her control further without explaining, she feared a deeper rift would form between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Would court ministers, because the young emperor personally engaged in farming, submit memorials criticizing his conduct?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, absolutely. Even Zhang Juzheng might oppose it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The emperor is a divinely noble figure. During the spring sacrifice to Jumang, merely symbolically holding the plow is enough. What matters most is studying—the Four Books and Five Classics—becoming the kind of emperor they deem proper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Great Ming is steeped in rigid ritual propriety.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Gongchen ran himself ragged, begging and pleading everywhere to tax foreign ships—but the tax revenue didn’t go into his pocket; it went to the state treasury, to the inner treasury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Yuegang Maritime Customs Office wasn’t his alone. There were three Maritime Customs Commissioners in the Dushuang Office alone, plus the Director of the Dushuang Internal Office, the Magistrate of Chenghai County, the Fujian Provincial Governor, the Censor, and the heads of Fujian’s Tax Bureau—all watching him. How much of the foreign ship tax could Luo Gongchen possibly keep for himself?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Gongchen was generating revenue for the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On this matter—doing nothing to harm any subject of the Great Ming,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>merely generating revenue for the court—the court was mostly opposed. The Nine Classics of the State teach: cultivate civil virtue to pacify distant peoples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the young emperor wants to personally farm. The ministers will surely submit memorials.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This also touches on the conflict between agrarian studies and Confucianism.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Agrarian studies advocate “sovereign and people till together” and “equal sharing of harvests.” Sovereign and people till together means the ruler personally participates in farming; equal sharing means all harvests are distributed evenly among everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Equal sharing of harvests was impossible under the productivity of pre-Qin times—it was akin to the political ideals of the Ideal State or the Great Unity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And “sovereign and people till together” was explicitly refuted by the Confucian sage Mencius himself!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “Mencius: Teng Wengong, Chapter Four” records in detail how Mencius personally debated this issue with the agrarian scholar Chen Xiang, decisively defeating him—though this is solely the Confucian record; agrarian studies have long lost their doctrinal lineage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These are pre-Qin stories. Will Ming Confucian scholars still use pre-Qin disputes to argue about Ming principles?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Isn’t that like wielding the imperial sword of a previous dynasty to control the emperor of the Great Ming?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Confucian scholars truly will.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Confucianism is an extremely archaic doctrine, and Confucian scholars are an extremely archaic group. When ministers submit memorials, their first instinct is always to invoke the Three Dynasties—opening their mouths with tales of Yao, Shun, and Yu, as if failing to cite them proves they lack learning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the emperor personally farms, won’t every nobleman in the realm be expected to farm too?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This strikes directly at the face of the great Confucian sage Mencius—and at the face of every Confucian scholar in the realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sovereign and people till together? A grave transgression!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li didn’t understand scholarship, but she understood ministers. These ministers would lecture even when there was nothing to say—how much more so when there was something?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li and Empress Dowager Chen, the two imperial mothers, held deep disdain for these pedantic Confucians. Empress Dowager Chen even believed the ministers had woven a basket of Confucian rules and confined the emperor within it, using the words “sage” and “virtuous” merely to restrain him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those ministers, powerful elites, and gentry, deeply schooled in Confucian classics—do they, if they possess even a shred of reverence for the texts, still ignore the state’s welfare, lack Hongyi, and only know how to dig at the foundations of the Great Ming?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li explained her reasons at length. If the emperor truly wished to do this, he could wait until he came of age and assumed personal rule.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun fully understood Empress Dowager Li’s concerns and nodded: “I understand, Mother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After returning to his private quarters in Qianqing Palace, he neither read the sages’ books nor pondered Jin Party affairs. Instead, he was thinking: how could he push forward the cultivation of potatoes and sweet potatoes?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun had forgotten even taxing foreign ships—his entire focus was on potatoes and sweet potatoes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After brief deliberation, he decided he must proceed. To break free from the ritual constraints of “sovereign and people till together,” the key figure was not another—his name was Zhang Juzheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng controlled the Grand Secretariat. If he firmly supported the emperor’s personal involvement in farming and “sovereign and people till together,” this endeavor might yet succeed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng was not a traditional, conservative, rigid, or obtuse Confucian scholar. Any reformist naturally questions old institutions and seeks to improve them, to realize his own ideals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, no matter the outcome, Zhu Yijun would not lose. Even if “sovereign and people till together” remained unattainable, if the Great Ming’s inner and outer circles came to value potatoes and sweet potatoes, Zhu Yijun would have profited immensely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A ten-year-old sovereign, worrying before the world, holding the realm in his heart, wishing to do good for the people—yet unaware of proper methods. After all, the young emperor had never studied Mencius; he had only just begun reading the Analects three days ago, unaware of their weight and danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ministers of the Great Ming still possessed such tolerance. Those ministers without such tolerance were not benevolent, lacked reverence—they deserved the full force of punishment: sent to the Dissection Institute, their hearts, livers, spleens, and stomachs dug out to see if they were all blackened!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun signaled Zhang Hong to extinguish the lamp: sleep early, rise early, grow tall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Hong understood the emperor’s thoughts and concerns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Zhang Hong left Qianqing Palace, he waited silently beside the palace gate, no lantern lit, blending into the night, waiting a long time until a palace maid hurried over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you tell Xu Jue?” Zhang Hong asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes,” the maid replied quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Hong waved his hand and smiled: “Good. Go back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jue was Feng Bao’s man. Xu Jue had taken Feng Bao as his patron and father, and was Feng Bao’s most trusted confidant. This maid was placed by Zhang Hong to relay information to Feng Bao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Hong realized he was more than capable as a eunuch of Qianqing Palace, but he was not yet fit to be the old patriarch. He lacked Feng Bao’s ability to silence Ge Shouli in the outer court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was an opportunity for Feng Bao—see whether Feng the Great Eunuch possesses reverence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, in the Wenchang Pavilion of the Quan Chu Association, Zhang Juzheng lit three lamps and wrote incessantly. His duties were overwhelming. After leaving the Wenyuan Pavilion, he came straight to his study to annotate new editions of the Four Books and Five Classics for the young emperor, and to personally compose a book for him: The Illustrated Mirror for Emperors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Illustrated Mirror for Emperors was illustrated, for fear the young emperor would lack patience. The pictures were handled by the Reader Official Ma Ziqiang; the stories were compiled by Zhang Juzheng himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng truly hoped the Wanli Emperor would become a great ruler. In the chilly late winter, he did not rest in the warm chamber but sat in his study, wrapped in a heavy cloak, painting by hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pen in Zhang Juzheng’s hand was a hard pen with graphite core, sent from the palace—the same pencil the young emperor used.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young emperor was right: pencils were excellent, especially for Zhang Juzheng, who needed to write constantly. No need to dip in ink, continuous writing—its greatest advantage was not merely saving time, but preserving the flow of thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng was a scholar; his brush calligraphy and Taige script were superb. Even with this hard pen, his writing was strikingly elegant. After writing, he handed it to clerks for transcription, then sent it to the Imperial Academy for woodblock carving, and finally presented it to the young emperor for review.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, it’s already midnight,” You Qi said solemnly, urging Zhang Juzheng to rest. You Qi was Zhang Juzheng’s chief steward—in the Great Ming, such a role was called a private secretary, or family retainer, depending on the household. In any case, You Qi was Zhang Juzheng’s most trusted confidant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng had never, at any time or place, spoken a single private word to Feng Bao, the Director of the Directorate of Palace Affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was a grave taboo. If the chief minister of the outer court conspired with the chief eunuch of the inner court, it would terrify the emperor of the Great Ming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most often, Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng communicated only through glances, relying entirely on mutual understanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But some matters required private confirmation. You Qi and the palace eunuch Xu Jue were fellow townspeople.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If a momentous event arose—say, the Empress Dowager wished to depose Gao Gong as chief minister and needed the outer court’s cooperation—Xu Jue would communicate with You Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng rubbed his slightly aching eyes and said: “After finishing this chapter, the eighty-one moral precepts and thirty-six commentaries will be complete. I can have them carved tomorrow morning and use them at the morning lecture.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A message came from the palace,” You Qi said, his expression strangely uneasy. “The emperor intends to personally farm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng stared at You Qi, bewildered: “Huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This young emperor truly took unconventional paths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Martial training was one of Confucius’s Six Arts. The emperor could practice or not; if he wasn’t lazy and didn’t neglect his studies, then let him train.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But farming? What kind of thing is this?\u003C\u002Fp>",2177,"2026-06-21T07:55:54.218Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","068be404dc7887daab46ce2986b564befaaab11e65de7ed06755bd7db7643dae","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-21","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-19",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-cover.jpg"]