Chapter 34: The Water That Overturns the Boat Is the Tears of the Common People; The Ruler Does Not Know Until the Flood

Offending Feng Bao will result in being dismissed from official status for stepping into the office with the left foot.

Offending Zhang Juzheng will result in being dismissed to leisure for stepping into the office with the right foot.

Offending both will likely result in being exiled to Yongning Temple to chisel ice and catch fish.

After Xu Zhenming received the messages from Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng, he began to coordinate and arrange all plans. The Emperor's personal farming must happen, but the dirty and tiring work could be done when His Majesty was not there.

"Didn't you say to plant after Qingming? It's only the first month; can we raise seedlings already?" Zhu Yijun asked with a furrowed brow. He was truly practicing seriously.

Xu Zhenming looked at the large glass fire room and sighed again at the power of authority—it was truly omnipotent. Xu Zhenming said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Qingming is mainly for soil temperature and irrigation."

Does the glass fire room lack soil temperature? Does it lack irrigation? It lacks neither.

Zhu Yijun looked at the glass fire room and understood Xu Zhenming's meaning. Even if it lacked sunlight, it could be solved.

The taste of power was indeed wonderful to the extreme.

"This way, Your Majesty." Xu Zhenming brought Zhu Yijun to the seedling room. There were three types of potatoes: yellow, purple, and white. There were four types of sweet potatoes: red-hearted, white-hearted, yellow-hearted, and purple-hearted.

These three types of potatoes and four types of sweet potatoes were all sent to the capital by Luo Gongchen, the Assistant Commissioner of Coastal Defense at the Yuegang Tax Office.

And what Zhu Yijun had to do was to spread all kinds of potatoes and sweet potatoes on the ground with everyone else, wait for them to sprout, and after they sprouted, they could be cut and the seedling raising could begin.

Moving potatoes and sweet potatoes was not very troublesome. Zhu Yijun held a pen in his hand and recorded Xu Zhenming's words bit by bit into a book.

Xu Zhenming and several old farmers chatted for a long time about raising water chestnut seedlings, facing a pile of potatoes and sweet potatoes spread on the ground. Zhu Yijun just listened and did not speak.

After Xu Zhenming finished chatting with the old farmers, he came to His Majesty and said: "This seedling raising is the top priority."

"This water chestnut is the same as potatoes and sweet potatoes. Water chestnuts use bulb seeds. If these bulb seeds are planted repeatedly, they will degenerate and become severely toxic—meaning the yield is low and unstable. If planted, male water chestnuts often appear, the plants become dwarfed and clustered, do not form bulbs, and ultimately have no yield."

Water chestnuts have commonalities with potatoes and sweet potatoes in many aspects. Since the Song Dynasty, some people have wanted to plant water chestnuts, which have extremely high yields, on a large scale.

But they never succeeded in the end. In the end, water chestnuts could only be used for famine relief in lean years; it was extremely difficult to make them a staple food.

In most cases, water chestnuts were planted as a fruit, and water chestnuts could not grow in the north because the north was cold.

"Do these water chestnuts, potatoes, and sweet potatoes have no seeds?" Zhu Yijun asked with some curiosity.

Xu Zhenming shook his sleeves and took out a cloth bag from inside. After opening it, there were some kidney-shaped seeds of various colors inside. He said quite definitely: "They have seeds, but the germination rate is too low, and the yield is extremely low."

After planting an acre of land and repeatedly replanting, it still could not reach the planting density.

When the water chestnuts bloomed, one had to knock off their flowers, cut their floating roots, and trim their attached leaves, so there was even less harvest of sufficient seeds.

After Xu Zhenming's explanation, Zhu Yijun finally understood: the reason they didn't use seeds for planting was mainly because they couldn't be planted successfully.

On the matter of farming, Zhu Yijun never casually expressed any of his own views. He truly didn't know how; he could even kill green radishes he raised. He chose to follow the advice of professionals.

Leave professional matters to professionals.

Zhu Yijun farming meant whatever he planted died; living for a day counted as a day, leaving it to fate. So, under the premise that Xu Zhenming and the old farmers really wanted to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes well, Zhu Yijun had the imperial power to mess things up.

Xu Zhenming was a jinshi; he could stand from the perspective of a civil official and flatter His Majesty, praising His Majesty for accepting good advice, but he didn't, because he didn't think of it. He was just very simply accompanying His Majesty to farm, very simply wanting to do this thing well.

Xu Zhenming knew nothing else, only how to farm. If he knew how to be flexible, he wouldn't have entered the capital carrying a bamboo book box on his back.

As the sun set, the Great Ming Emperor returned to the Qianqing Palace, washed up, and after dinner, ran straight to the desk to begin recording the bits and pieces of the day's harvest.

And this time, he had an extra question collection. These were all the difficulties at present—for example, how to detoxify these crops that use tubers for cultivation. Detoxification is needed to maintain yield. How to detoxify is not a topic Zhu Yijun needs to overcome now.

What Zhu Yijun needs to do now is to summarize the experience and lessons of agricultural books and farmers through the ages to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes successfully on the land of the north.

He kept drawing a glass model on paper. One end of this model had a large glass bulb, and the other end was open. Water would be poured inside, using the principle of thermal expansion and contraction to make the water level rise and fall to measure temperature.

He put down the pen in his hand, very satisfied with the model in his hand—it was the most primitive thermometer. This thermometer could determine at what temperature potatoes and sweet potatoes could sprout, at what temperature they would grow vigorously, at what temperature they would bloom, and at what temperature they would freeze and need replanting.

Farming—he was truly farming seriously. Although Empress Dowager Li always felt the child was working hard, Zhu Yijun truly felt that everything was very interesting. He was thinking about how to encourage the planting of potatoes and sweet potatoes after successful cultivation.

"The way of the ruler must first be to cherish the people. If one harms the people to serve oneself, it is like cutting one's own flesh to feed the stomach; the stomach is full, but the body is dead."

This was a passage Zhang Juzheng explained today when talking about Tang Taizong Li Shimin, meaning: As a ruler, one must first think of the people in one's heart. If one harms the people to serve the ruler, it is like cutting the flesh from one's own thigh to eat; although the stomach is full, the body is already dead.

"The people can carry the boat, and they can also overturn it."

The people are like water; they can carry the boat, and they can also cause the boat to overturn.

The principle is very simple and not hard to understand, but usually, the Emperor is the last person to know that the country is about to perish.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the turmoil of the Yellow Turban Army seemed to spread across the entire Eastern Han in an instant, like a prairie fire, as if it had been suddenly ignited. "The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall stand; the year is Jiazi, the world shall be auspicious"—this cry seemed to resound across the entire Eastern Han empire in just a few months, blooming everywhere.

Was the surging momentum of the Yellow Turban Army really an accident? Actually, no.

Long before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the slogan "The Azure Heaven is dead" had already been widely circulated among the people.

There was a brick called the "Azure Heaven is Dead Brick," inscribed on the 4th day of the 4th month of the 3rd year of Jianning—fourteen years before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, this brick had already been inscribed.

From "Azure Heaven is about to die" to "is dead" is the process of the people's grievances going from an undercurrent to a boiling point.

The water that overturns the boat is the tears of the common people; the ruler does not know until the flood.

The water that overturns the imperial court and the country is the tears of the common people, but until the flood, the gentleman, the ruler, cannot see it.

Zhu Yijun did not see the tears of the common people, but he knew the ending of the Great Ming, and he knew the responsibility on his shoulders.

"Hoo! Finished. Tomorrow, hand it to the eunuch Feng Da and have him fire it, then place it in the Jingshan glass fire room. Since we are doing it, we must do it well, do it finely, and do it clearly." Zhu Yijun handed the drawing in his hand to Zhang Hong, then headed towards the bed, threw himself onto the bed, and fell fast asleep.

Early to bed and early to rise makes one grow tall.

Zhang Hong handed the draft paper to the palace maid, the palace maid handed the draft paper to Xu Jue, Xu Jue handed it to Feng Bao overnight, and Feng Bao had the Armory Bureau fire the paper overnight.

Officials inside and outside the empire were all ready to serve His Majesty the Emperor at any time; this was the Emperor's right.

On the 2nd day of the 2nd month, the dragon raises its head, a thunderbolt flashed across the sky, and the rumbling sound spread and exploded in the air, then reached the Zhao Wenhua Hall where the court discussion was taking place.

And at this time, the Minister of War, Tan Lun, was retiring again.

This time, it was not because of dereliction of duty or blocking Wang Chonggu's list of military talents for the capital, but because Tan Lun went to the Sun Altar to offer sacrifices during the Spring Equinox and, due to the cold spring weather, caught a cold, coughed repeatedly, and lost decorum.

If the Emperor knocks over tables and chairs, or if the Emperor's walking is not steady, he will be scolded by Empress Dowager Li. So, if court officials cough, sneeze, squat down due to physical exhaustion, or whisper to each other during sacrifices, it is also losing decorum.

Impeaching Tan Lun were the Censor of the Fujian Circuit of the Censorate, Jing Song, and Han Bixian.

"The heavy responsibility of the Ministry of War is entrusted to the wrong person. If the Northern Barbarians act unexpectedly and invade our borders, and he cannot perform the sacrificial duties for a moment, how can he be entrusted with the ten thousand chariots in times of trouble?" Ge Shouli, the Chief Censor of the Censorate, finished reading Jing Song's memorial and handed it to the little eunuch, who placed it in front of Zhang Juzheng.

"Ah, yes, yes, you are right. Tomorrow I will write another memorial to retire, begging for rest due to illness. Isn't it just that you don't like the sight of me? I won't stay here to be an eyesore to you." Tan Lun stood up abruptly, about to leave.

Zhang Juzheng pressed Tan Lun down and said calmly: "Minister Tan, this is the Zhao Wenhua Hall."

Once these words were spoken, Zhu Xixiao, standing at the door with a embroidered-spring sword and a whip, breathed a sigh of relief. This Tan Lun was acting on impulse, directly leaving the seat in anger. Should the decorum officials stop him or not?

Tan Lun leaving privately like this was definitely losing decorum. According to the system, the decorum officials should arrest him on the spot; it was their duty.

But as a military noble, Zhu Xixiao arresting the Minister of War on the spot would be causing trouble for his brother, the Duke of Cheng, Zhu Xizhong.

Hearing Zhang Juzheng call him, Tan Lun could only flick his sleeves forcefully, look at the triumphant Ge Shouli with disgust, and sit back in his seat.

Tan Lun had betrayed the Jin Party, and the Jin Party seized the opportunity to impeach him. Tan Lun had indeed made a mistake—losing decorum. In the Great Ming Dynasty, where ritual and education were strict, this was indeed a major crime.

Zhu Yijun paused the pen in his hand, pondered for a moment, and continued writing.

What Ge Shouli's fart meant was not important.

Tan Lun fell ill before the Spring Equinox and asked for leave, not attending the Sun Altar sacrifice. The Ministry of Personnel did not approve the sick leave, so Tan Lun went to the Sun Altar while ill. The cold wind hit him, almost sending him away directly. His illness had just recovered, and the dogs of the Censorate had already begun to pounce.

Wave after wave, just because Tan Lun had changed sides regarding the list of military talents for the capital.

At least most of the Jin Party thought so.

Tan Lun's situation was extremely difficult.

"Chief Censor Ge, the Minister of Rites Lu Shusheng also coughed repeatedly at the Sun Altar; why did no one impeach Lu Shusheng?" Feng Bao began to speak sarcastically.

"There is such a thing?" Ge Shouli frowned, looking at Feng Bao with confusion.

"Could it be that Chief Censor Ge only knows one thing and not the other?" Feng Bao sneered. Could the vanguard of the Jin Party impeach a minister of a ministry without complete information?

Whenever the little Emperor went out, he would have Feng Bao reveal the bottom line!

As a person of the Inner Court, Feng Bao's primary duty was to protect imperial power. Tan Lun offending the Jin Party was because of the matter of recommending military talents for the capital, to prevent the Jin Party from monopolizing power. Regardless of Tan Lun's purpose, and whether he was using this matter to show loyalty to Zhang Juzheng, he had directly and indirectly protected the Emperor's safety.

Feng Bao naturally wanted to protect Tan Lun.

Feng Bao sat up straight, fired at full power, aimed at Ge Shouli, and said calmly: "The 'Analects of Confucius: Weilinggong' says: 'If one is strict with oneself and lenient with others, one will avoid resentment.'"

"Chief Censor Ge is also a scholar; what does this mean? Explain it? If Chief Censor doesn't want to explain, it doesn't matter; let me, this eunuch thief, explain it."

Ge Shouli's face changed upon hearing this.

This eunuch thief was using the big stick of the Analects to hit people again! ===== CHAPTER 35 =====