Chapter 38

Who is the foremost outspoken minister in the realm?

In the first year of Wanli of Great Ming, it is Hai Rui.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said: “Hai Rui—recall him to court and appoint him to office; that will quiet the moral outcry.”

To halt the factional strife, make an example of one to warn a hundred: strip Luo Zun, Jing Song, and Han Bixian of their offices and send them home to idle retirement—this serves as a warning to make the Jin Party cease its attacks on Tan Lun; it is essential for stabilizing court affairs, and recalling Hai Rui resolves both dilemmas at once.

Hai Rui is the emperor’s own weapon of rebuke; the one who suffers most should be the emperor himself.

Hai Rui carried his coffin and cursed Emperor Jiajing until the man was drenched in blood and bile; yet Jiajing never dared kill him, and Emperor Longqing also spared him—but such a man is destined to be disliked in court.

The emperor dislikes him, ministers dislike him; his blade is too sharp and easily cuts his own hand. A blade like Ge Shouli is the most suitable.

Only the censorial officials and the pure streamers like Hai Rui.

Did Hai Rui stop cursing Jiajing to spare Longqing? The pure streamers tried several times to elevate Hai Rui to the Censorate, but none succeeded.

The censorial officials defending Luo Zun, Jing Song, and Han Bixian is normal—they are protecting their own vital interests; if this precedent of punishment for speech is opened, what will censors dare to speak of?

Elevate Hai Rui of the censorial corps to the Censorate—then see who dares say the emperor does not value the pure stream!

Zhang Juzheng’s blank endorsement slip, Empress Dowager Li did not understand; Feng Bao barely grasped it—but Zhu Yijun understood perfectly.

Zhang Juzheng cannot speak: as Chief Grand Secretary, he already directly threatens imperial authority; placing this weapon of rebuke—Hai Rui, Hai Gangfeng—before the emperor means that whenever Hai Rui curses the emperor, the ministers will assume Zhang Juzheng is the one cursing him.

So Zhang Juzheng could only leave it blank.

Upon hearing Zhu Yijun’s decision, Empress Dowager Li’s eyes brightened, but soon new worries rose: if Hai Rui returns to court and sees this idle young emperor, he will surely carry his coffin again to remonstrate—another flood of troubles awaits.

Empress Dowager Li only wants the young emperor to grow up safely and seize power; such matters can wait until his personal rule.

Zhu Yijun finished his pear water and said: “Master Yuanfu, today you taught from the Illustrated Compendium of Imperial Precedents, discussing Emperor Taizong of Tang and Wei Zheng. In the seventeenth year of Zhen Guan, Wei Zheng, the upright and fearless remonstrator, died. Emperor Taizong wept: ‘With bronze as a mirror, one may adjust one’s cap and gown; with history as a mirror, one may know rise and fall; with a man as a mirror, one may understand gain and loss.’”

“I ask you, Master Yuanfu: Wei Zheng assisted Emperor Taizong in adjusting his attire, knowing rise and fall, understanding gain and loss. In our Great Ming, the upright and fearless remonstrator is Hai Rui—known as ‘Hai the Brush Stand’—unafraid of power and nobility. Why, then, is Hai Rui still idle at home, not appointed to office?”

“Master Yuanfu only said: ‘The court is a dragon’s den and tiger’s lair; too rigid, and one breaks.’”

After submitting the “Memorial on State Stability,” Hai Rui was released from the Heavenly Prison the next year when Emperor Jiajing died; Emperor Longqing ascended and pardoned all, appointing Hai Rui as Left Assistant Director of the Tongzheng Office, a rank of Zheng 4th.

In the third year of Longqing, Hai Rui submitted a memorial: “Emperor Longqing hides himself, refuses to meet his ministers, ignores court officials; memorials sent to the palace vanish like mud into the sea—this memorial too vanished without trace. Soon after, Hai Rui was exiled to serve as Regional Governor of Yingtian.”

Is Hai Rui truly just a pure streamer, a man of empty rhetoric?

When Hai Rui arrived in Yingtian as governor, he promoted benefits and eliminated harms, petitioned to repair the Wu Song River and Bai Mao River to connect them to the sea, thereby forming the Huangpu River. Before this, the Wu Song River basin in Songjiang Prefecture was all marshland; Hai Rui tamed the Wu Song River completely, and the people of Songjiang praised him universally.

Officials who can manage water are rarely mere rhetoricians.

After taming the Wu Song and Bai Mao rivers, Hai Rui turned to deal with Xu Jie.

Xu Jie had seized 400,000 mu of land; Songjiang Prefecture had little rice land and much cotton land, and Xu Jie seized only the finest, most fertile fields. Hai Rui pursued Xu’s land seizures without mercy or favoritism: whatever was seized, must be returned—demanding the Xu family surrender all land.

Censor Dai Fengxiang submitted a memorial accusing Hai Rui of shielding evil commoners, oppressing scholar-officials, seeking fame and disrupting governance; thus Hai Rui was reassigned to Nanjing’s Grain Storage.

Gao Gong merged Hai Rui’s duties into the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, forcing him into retirement; Hai Rui retreated entirely, returning to his hometown of Qiongshan in Hainan to idle in seclusion.

Zhang Juzheng did not use Hai Rui because he knew: if Hai Rui returned to court and took office, he would meet only death. Hai Rui understood no compromise; once back in court, he might not even be allowed to retire to idle seclusion.

Hai Rui’s stern integrity led many officials, domestic and foreign, to recommend him—not because they admired his reputation, but because they coveted his inflexibility, intending to raise him to the capital as a sharp blade.

"If we truly wish to rectify court discipline and purify the moral climate, recalling Hai Rui is most appropriate," Zhu Yijun said with firm conviction.

Zhu Yijun was not afraid of Hai Rui; the censorial officials had long been pushing to bring back this sharp blade.

But when that happens, who will truly be wounded?

His father once said: Only magic can defeat magic.

Empress Dowager Li’s face grew grave as she pondered.

The Great Ming emperor wants Hai Rui recalled to office, but the current Chief Grand Secretary, Zhang Juzheng, is a pragmatic official, not a pure streamer—he does not wish to use Hai Rui, merely fearing that Hai Rui might break him. Zhang Juzheng is not truly afraid of Hai Rui.

Empress Dowager Li was considering whether to recall Hai Rui.

If Hai Rui returns to court and scolds the young emperor for idleness, a ten-year-old sovereign ruling the realm already causes widespread unease; if this top-tier pure streamer then scolds the emperor again, the imperial family’s face will be lost—but can a ten-year-old ruler truly withstand such turmoil? What if disaster strikes, how will it be handled?

“Better not,” Empress Dowager Li hesitated, deciding against recalling Hai Rui.

Zhu Yijun ate two cakes and drank some water: “Mother, one step back leads to endless retreats.”

“If we agree to the censors’ plea for lenient punishment, they will demand three cups of wine as penalty—will we agree or not?”

“If we agree to three cups of wine, they will demand full acquittal—will we agree or not?”

“If we agree to full acquittal, they will demand restoration of office—will we agree or not?”

“Lenient punishment, three cups of wine, full acquittal, restoration of office, rapid promotion, punishing Tan Lun—these escalating demands, must we agree to all? Tan Lun is the Grand Marshal, Minister of War—this position is vital. Master Yuanfu is implementing new policies to enrich the state and strengthen the army; without the Grand Marshal’s support, how can he strengthen the army?”

“If we refuse, the censors will riot, submit memorials, kneel before the Chengtian Gate, fast there, even ram their heads against pillars in the Huangji Hall or Wenhua Hall.”

“If the imperial power retreats one step, they advance three; retreat again, and behind you lies a precipice—how can you retreat? From the very beginning, you must not yield, must not retreat.”

Empress Dowager Li was burdened with thought; her child’s words, she had witnessed firsthand.

Her husband could not handle such a situation; in morning audiences and court deliberations, he gradually spoke less, for whatever he said was wrong, until he finally left the fighting to the Directorate of Ceremonial.

The Wanli Emperor of history was the same: retreat one step, they advanced three; he retreated a fourth, then a fifth, until finally there was no path left to retreat.

“Hai Rui is a gentleman,” Zhu Yijun said with firm conviction: “Benevolence is a scale—he is not one of those who merely rant and scold the emperor to win a reputation for purity. Mother, do not overly worry about those things.”

Politics is a game of choices; the more correct choices you make, the more imperial authority is built through repeated correctness—that is true power.

To fight court ministers, you must fight the fiercest one—Hai Rui is the fiercest censorial official.

When Hai Rui remonstrates, if Zhu Yijun proves himself right, he can step on Hai Rui’s back to gradually establish imperial authority.

Zhu Yijun clearly understood the process of building authority—but Empress Dowager Li, at twenty-seven, had not yet reached thirty; she clearly did not understand how authority is built.

“Then let Hai Rui return to court? Have the censors recommend him, and see what the court deliberation says?” Empress Dowager Li finally hesitated.

Zhu Yijun stood up: “I’m off to play!”

He cared deeply for the potatoes and sweet potatoes on Jingshan; after changing clothes in Qianqing Palace, he headed straight for Jingshan.

The next morning, the cold wind swept the land; the spring breeze of the Little Ice Age carried a biting chill, stirring the censorial officials kneeling before the Chengtian Gate.

All the Censorate’s censors and the Six Boards’ Censors had gathered before the Chengtian Gate.

The cold wind could not halt their pursuit of justice; they lined up by rank, silent and kneeling before the Chengtian Gate, petitioning the emperor to rescind the edict punishing the censorial officials.

The Censorate’s official quota was 117, but the Left and Right Chief Censors, Left and Right Deputy Chief Censors, and Left and Right Assistant Censors had no fixed numbers; in the first year of Wanli, the Censorate had roughly 130 censors. At the fifth watch, these censors and censorial officials began gathering, and by dawn, they had silently knelt in a vast sea before the Chengtian Gate.

Zhu Yijun understood the nature of these civil officials: if imperial power retreats one step, they advance three; if the emperor stands still, they still advance two!

All court ministers entering through the Right Side Gate toward the Wenhua Hall for deliberation saw from afar a vast sea of kneeling figures.

“Ge Shouli, impressive—you’ve staged such a grand spectacle. I, Tan, feel deeply honored. Hmph, last time such a scene was staged, was it against Yan Song? Or Xu Jie?” Tan Lun called Ge Shouli by his name directly.

Is this display aimed at forcing the emperor to rescind his decree?

It is clearly aimed at removing me, the Grand Marshal.

Tan Lun was a broad-minded man; he was weary of court intrigues and mutual betrayals. Sentimental attachments drain ambition; heroic spirit fades in silent suffering.

Tan Lun truly felt that living this way, so stifled and humiliated, was less fulfilling than the days when he fought Japanese pirates in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong.

So his words grew increasingly blunt; he was tired, and no longer bothered to maintain a facade of harmony. He called Ge Shouli by name, no longer speaking in veiled sarcasm, but directly.

Tan Lun almost foresaw the outcome: another great victory for the pure streamers.

Zhang Juzheng looked at the sea of kneeling figures—he had seen this many times before. This was the most basic tactic: after submitting a memorial, kneeling before the Chengtian Gate—extremely, extremely basic.

“It’s not me! Don’t smear my reputation!” Ge Shouli’s face flushed red; he stared at the sea of censorial officials and shouted: “I didn’t do this! I truly didn’t order this!”

“Believe me! It’s really not me!”