Chapter 37

Zhang Juzheng’s scalp prickled every time he heard “I am confused”—My Lord, can you please stop being confused?!

Zhang Juzheng spoke with utmost sincerity: “Your Majesty, I… shall clarify your doubts.”

Zhang Juzheng truly wanted to say: I cannot clarify these doubts—could Your Majesty ask questions more fitting for your age? These questions are all paradoxes of ideal versus reality, theory versus practice, and they were making Zhang Juzheng himself lose confidence.

Zhu Yijun stared with wide eyes and asked calmly: “I have heard that bandits pass like a comb, while soldiers pass like a louse-comb—bandits plunder like a comb, but soldiers, like a fine-toothed louse-comb, strip everything clean.”

General Qi suppressed the pirates in the south and repelled the northern barbarians, enforcing strict discipline among his troops—any soldier who trampled a single stalk of rice was beheaded; the southern troops are the finest in the world.

The pirates ravaged the southeast, spreading smoke for a thousand li; the people lived in misery.

“The northern barbarians plundered the northwest, waging war for fifteen years, leaving soldiers and civilians displaced.”

“General Qi commands the southern troops, campaigning south and north, yet in court deliberations, they call him a useless appendage, a superfluous burden—is General Qi and his southern troops truly an appendage?”

“Thus, though a state be great, loving war leads to ruin; though the world be at peace, forgetting war invites danger.” Zhang Juzheng answered solemnly—meaning Qi Jiguang was no appendage; if he were, he would never have summoned Qi Jiguang to the capital for rewards.

Zhu Yijun immediately asked: “Master Yuanfu, how does one govern by virtue?”

According to the Nine Classics of the world, merely cultivating virtue is sufficient to quell the pirates and northern barbarian incursions.

The Longqing Accord and Altan Khan’s tribute were seemingly great victories of cultivating virtue to pacify distant peoples—but had not the Ming forces fought the northern barbarians under Altan Khan for twelve years in Xuanfu and Datong, exhausting them to the bone? Had not Qi Jiguang now gathered one hundred thousand elite troops in Jizhou as commander of the three frontier commands? Would the northern barbarians not have invaded again, plundering beyond the passes?

They would.

So the young emperor asked: how to govern by virtue?

Zhang Juzheng fell silent for a moment, bowed his head, and said: “Your Majesty, I do not know.”

Zhu Yijun swiftly wrote a few more lines and said: “Virtue is the highest pursuit; governing by virtue, persuading by virtue—all are aspirations, the longing of every heart—but laws and decrees must still be established to constrain behavior. Law promotes virtue and deters evil; statutes define frameworks to halt disputes; decrees make people understand their duties.”

“Virtue lies within, law lies without; one must use law to restrict human conduct and decrees to govern the state.”

“Thus it is said: virtue is established above, law transforms below; rites are crafted according to circumstances, laws are made according to events; guide by virtue, restrain by law, unify by rites, govern by law.”

Zhu Yijun’s view—that law restrains people and governs the state—corresponds to governing by virtue and persuading by virtue.

His view was not novel—he did not deny Confucius was right; he upheld Confucius’s benevolence and virtue while discussing practical implementation.

Emperor Xuan of Han once said: the Han system blends the Way of the King and the Way of the Tyrant—more plainly, it is a Confucian skin with a Legalist core.

Wearing the banner of Confucian virtue, yet practicing Legalist constraints on people.

Zhang Juzheng fell silent for a long while; this balanced thinking of theory and practice gave him pause before he bowed and said: “Your Majesty possesses divine insight from youth—you are truly heaven-endowed.”

The lecture continued; in the emperor’s questions and the Grand Secretary’s answers, an hour passed swiftly.

Zhu Yijun gathered all his draft papers, bowed slightly, and ended today’s lecture.

“Your Majesty, please allow me to see you off.” Zhang Juzheng performed a deep bow; after the emperor departed, the Grand Secretary of Great Ming stepped out of the Wenhua Hall. The midday sun blinded him slightly—he paused briefly, then smiled faintly, hands clasped, stepping with measured, steady strides toward the Wenyuan Pavilion.

When the young emperor took things seriously, one could truly rest easy—Zhang Juzheng had already seen the signs of a wise monarch in him.

The Ming Confucian scholars no longer cared what Confucius truly meant—why should the Ming emperor care?

Zhang Juzheng was a pragmatic official; his political stance was: appoint pragmatists, and be cautious with moralists.

Pragmatists are officials who abide by law and reason, understand flexibility, know how to act, and prioritize results.

Moralists are those who refuse flexibility, obsess over texts, nitpick, and blow minor issues out of proportion.

Zhang Juzheng was a pragmatist; upon entering the Wenyuan Pavilion, he saw a secretary carrying a pile of memorials inside—these were all memorials pleading for the reinstatement of Luo Zun, Jing Song, and Han Bixian.

In one hour, the Ming censorial officials had reacted: three censors impeached a minister and were stripped of office and sent home to idle—of course they would rally to save them.

Zhang Juzheng opened the memorials, pondered long, did not write a single word, but attached a blank floating ticket to each one.

He could not speak plainly—Tan Lun was his man; the punishment of Luo Zun, Jing Song, and Han Bixian was the emperor’s decision.

The blank floating tickets meant he knew how to resolve this—but he could not say so.

The censorial officials sought to rescue Luo Zun, Jing Song, and Han Bixian, who had been stripped of office and sent home.

The memorials quickly reached the Office of Eunuchs; the senior eunuchs of the Office marked them all with crosses—this was the emperor’s first punishment of court officials; guarding imperial authority was the eunuchs’ sacred duty!

When these memorials finally reached the Qianqing Palace and were seen by Empress Dowager Li, the young emperor was gritting his teeth, holding a horse stance.

Standing Zhuang was exhausting work.

Empress Dowager Li studied several memorials for a long time—this was the Ming’s self-correction mechanism at work; the emperor’s decisions could be challenged by censorial officials, and these memorials made sound arguments, leaving her hesitant.

Censor Wang Shiju wrote: “Ministers are the heart and liver of the state and must be protected to nurture the nation’s vital energy; censors are the ears and eyes and must be cherished to uphold the nation’s righteous spirit.”

Ministers, as the nation’s heart and liver, must be protected—that is the nation’s vital energy—but are censorial officials, the emperor’s ears and eyes, not to be cherished? Are they not nurturing the nation’s righteous spirit?

Today you trust ministers and crush censors—you devalue the ears and eyes, and comfort the heart and liver—does Your Majesty want vital energy but not righteous spirit?

If you do this, courtiers who are smooth-tongued and flatterers will multiply; those who speak frankly and uphold justice will grow scarce.

Will righteous men fall silent? Will loyal ministers hold their tongues? Is this truly beneficial to the state?

Thus it is said: “Fear that supple, compliant habits will prevail, while the bone-deep integrity will vanish. Righteous men will seal their lips; loyal ministers will be mute—is this good for the realm?”

“Supple and compliant”: grease and skin. “Bone-deep integrity”: backbone and moral fiber.

Censor Jia Sanjin wrote: “Ministers are the nation’s arms and legs; censors are the nation’s ears and eyes. The duty of ears and eyes is to impeach; the court must nurture their upright, fearless spirit and forgive their boldness.”

Ministers are the nation’s arms and legs; censors are its ears and eyes. The very function of ears and eyes is to impeach—yet the court nurtures censorial officials precisely to cultivate their upright, fearless, unyielding spirit, and now you strip them of office for doing their duty? This is unjust—they must be pardoned for their bold speech.

Only then will censorial officials not shrink from speaking up in the future. If today you punish them for impeaching ministers, you will demoralize all future advisors—they will dare not speak again.

When the state faces grave threats or the court harbors great villains, who will dare to offer harsh but necessary advice to correct the court and purify the moral climate?

Thus it is said: “In the future, when the state faces great benefit or harm, or the court harbors great evil, who will dare to offer unwelcome counsel and invite punishment?”

Empress Dowager Li had over a dozen such memorials—all pleading for the three censors.

If moralists’ opinions are ignored, they will keep submitting memorials; if the emperor still refuses, they will chatter incessantly in the Wenhua Hall and Huangji Hall; if he still refuses, they will kneel before the Chengtian Gate and refuse to rise until he yields; if he still refuses, they will fast, smash their heads against pillars, and die to speak truth.

Under the guise of loyalty to the sovereign and the state, they do nothing truly loyal or patriotic.

Moralists and censorial officials are extremely troublesome—that is why Jiajing and Longqing hid in the inner palace and avoided court ministers; debating them, you lose either way.

Feng Bao looked at the censorial memorials and said: “These moralist opinions truly invert right and wrong.”

“The emperor made it very clear: punishing these three censors was not because they impeached the Grand Marshal, but because they formed cliques to eliminate rivals—and they would not stop unless they won. If we do nothing, won’t they keep submitting memorials? Tan Lun is a gentleman—they are merely bullying a gentleman.”

“If they truly cared about great state interests or great court corruption, why did they only impeach Tan Lun when Lu Shusheng also coughed?”

Feng Bao clearly pinpointed the crux of the case against Tan Lun—the ritual breach at the Chaoritan involved not only Tan Lun but also Lu Shusheng.

“The emperor’s use of the words ‘clan faction’ was truly enlightening and deafening!” Feng Bao praised the emperor once more before Empress Dowager Li.

With the emperor’s two words, Feng Bao now spoke with twelvefold confidence.

The emperor, with two words, had laid bare the essence of this matter, crystal clear.

The court permits factionalism—each group has its own political stance and acts on it, which benefits the state; this is detailed in Ouyang Xiu’s “Treatise on Factions.”

Gentlemen form factions with fellow gentlemen through shared ideals and principles; villains form factions with villains through shared interests—this is natural and has always been so.

Even in the age of Yao, Shun, and Yu, the Eight Yuan and Eight Kai—sixteen gentlemen—formed a faction with Shun as their core.

How do we distinguish between factions of gentlemen and factions of villains?

Through relationships.

And the emperor’s single phrase pinpointed the nature of the Jin Faction.

“Clan faction”—“clan” means kinship by marriage: Wang Chonggu and Yang Bo are in-laws; Zhang Simei and Wang Chonggu are uncle and nephew; the Jin Faction is also a regional faction centered on Shanxi natives.

The single word “clan” cuts to the heart—succinct and incisive.

“During today’s lecture, the Grand Secretary said Your Majesty is heaven-endowed—I agree. Your Majesty, with just one word, has laid bare the sordid connections of the Jin Faction, crystal clear.” Feng Bao voiced his opinion, expanding on the meaning of “clan faction.”

As Chief Eunuch of the Office of Eunuchs, Feng Bao held power to participate in governance, deliberate, and even decide—though this violated ancestral law, after two hundred years of Ming rule, if the emperor did not rely on eunuchs’ unscrupulous loyalty, he would long ago have been devoured alive by ministers.

Empress Dowager Li sighed helplessly: “Feng Dang, did you see the Grand Secretary’s blank floating tickets? Is he planning to stay out of this? If the moralist outcry flares again, it won’t be easy to settle.”

After being beaten with the court cane, they feel no shame—they take pride in it, even gain fame among censorial officials and advance their careers—all through seeking reputation.

Empress Dowager Li found it difficult; Feng Bao found it difficult too—in Jiajing’s reign, the emperor beat censors, and it backfired: they became even more relentless, forcing Jiajing to retreat hastily.

“Indeed, it is hard to handle.” Feng Bao said firmly.

Ignore the censors, and criticism never ends; heed them, and you retract the emperor’s own decision—court officials will think the emperor is afraid.

Dilemma, dilemma, how to resolve this threefold dilemma?

“Look at the emperor—how earnest he is.” Empress Dowager Chen didn’t care about court intrigues; she held a firm belief: no matter how fierce the wolves, tigers, or demons, before the true dragon, they must lie low.

Now they bully the young emperor—later, they’ll all be on a list.

Zhu Yijun finished his practice and walked toward Empress Dowager Li and Empress Dowager Chen, smiling his signature smile: “Mother, Mama.”

Empress Dowager Chen was the legitimate empress of Emperor Longqing, ranking higher in the palace than Empress Dowager Li—but after Longqing’s death, whether Li received her honorific title, moved into the Qianqing Palace, or took control of the Six Palaces’ seal, Empress Dowager Chen offered no resistance. She had no son—why stir trouble for what gain?

In indulgence, Empress Dowager Chen doted on Zhu Yijun; Empress Dowager Li doted on Zhu Yilou.

“Your mama is tearing her hair out over the trouble you’ve caused, yet you’re smiling brightly.” Empress Dowager Chen placed a chilled pear-and-sugar drink and pastries before the young emperor.

“Trouble?” Zhu Yijun blinked, then understood what trouble she meant.

Zhu Yijun thought, then thought again, and said: “Who is the foremost righteous minister of the realm?”