Chapter 56: Face, Substance, and Dignity Are All Earned by Oneself!

Qi Jiguang losing the waist-token of the Quan-Chu Guild Hall led to a barrage of impeachments, but the result was that His Majesty always had some way to make people's eyes light up and feel refreshed.

You want to scold, you want to impeach? Go to Jizhou and see for yourself before you open your mouth, instead of just flapping your lips.

Let the impeaching censors, the 'pure stream' officials, the Hanlin scholars, and the court officials suffer the hardships of Jizhou for three months, gain a deep understanding, and then bring evidence to impeach him—use facts to speak.

Mainly, the content of the censors' impeachment was truly laughable, enough to make the ten-year-old Emperor laugh.

The first charge was that Qi Jiguang killed innocent people to claim merit. This is a completely baseless fantasy. If the Southern Army commanded by Qi Jiguang truly killed innocent people to claim merit, they would have collapsed long ago; they would never have lasted until now. How many people view Qi Jiguang as a thorn in their side?

Qi Jiguang pacified the Japanese pirates, but he offended quite a few people. With the pirate threat gone, it meant the situation became stable. How could those gentry continue to annex land? How could those maritime merchants continue to fish in troubled waters? How could those officials continue to use the excuse of military disaster to demand silver for repairing cities and coastal defenses, only to line their own pockets?

In the battles to pacify the pirates, the Southern Army often achieved results with over a thousand heads taken for only a dozen casualties, which left people stunned. This kind of casualty ratio is something some civil officials cannot understand, so the censors felt Qi Jiguang was killing innocent people to claim merit.

Battle reports can lie, casualty figures can lie, but the battle lines cannot lie. The Japanese pirates were rampant, plaguing three provinces. Now, are there any signs of Japanese pirates running wild in the three southeastern provinces?

The direction of the people's hearts cannot lie. Throughout the three southeastern provinces, there are shrines to the living everywhere. Would the people commemorate a general who killed innocent people to claim merit?

Those killed for merit were the people.

If the south is too far away, what about the north?

Qi Jiguang led troops into battle amidst heavy contradictions. Take the battle in the first year of Wanli where Qi Jiguang repelled Dong Huli; relying on the geographical advantage of the Great Wall, the Great Ming suffered only a dozen casualties, while the Northern Barbarians suffered over two thousand.

The Japanese pirates were roving bandits, but the Northern Barbarians are a formidable enemy. With such fierce battle records, can it not prove Qi Jiguang's bravery?

How many victories does Qi Jiguang need to prove his martial prowess?

The second charge against Qi Jiguang was that he embezzled vast sums. Zhang Juzheng has the most authority to speak on this charge.

Every year, the 'ice gifts' and 'charcoal gifts' that Qi Jiguang sent to the Quan-Chu Guild Hall were all in small silver fragments. Occasionally, when he was short, he would even use salt permits to make up the count. If Qi Jiguang were truly embezzling vast sums, would he send these small silver fragments when giving gifts to his backer?

The Jin Party, under the guise of repairing the Great Wall, building camps, and repairing passes, took their cut, and everyone ate until their mouths were oily, so they subconsciously assumed Qi Jiguang was the same.

The third charge against Qi Jiguang was that he fawned over the powerful and bent his will to please them. This charge is a solid one, because Qi Jiguang previously enrolled under Zhang Juzheng; Qi Jiguang did indeed fawn over the powerful and bend his will to please them.

The strangeness of this matter lies here: when Qi Jiguang fawned over the powerful, no one dared to impeach him. When Qi Jiguang stopped fawning over the powerful, these censors all jumped out.

How exactly does the Grand Secretariat obtain partial decision-making power?

Through 'ticket' responses. The 'ticket' responses contain not only the Grand Secretariat's analysis of state affairs but also proposed solutions. After the Emperor consults the opinions of the Grand Secretariat and the Directorate of Ceremonial, he makes a decision.

Many times, the Grand Secretariat's proposed solution becomes the Emperor's resolution. This is how the Grand Secretariat obtained partial decision-making power. Although it is not as powerful as the chancellors in the early Ming, it is already enough to shake the ruler.

But this time, it was the young Emperor's own idea.

It had nothing to do with Zhang Juzheng's 'ticket' response. After Qi Jiguang returned his waist-token, Zhang Juzheng could only analyze Qi Jiguang's affairs from the perspective of the Great Ming; he could not provide a solution.

And His Majesty's method was effective.

Zhang Juzheng put away the memorial and said, "After the various ministries return, tell the court officials: if they still insist on impeaching General Qi, they will be sent to the Jizhou camp to train for three months. Find evidence before you come to impeach him."

To collect evidence of crimes against a border general and Left Regional Commander, running to the territory of the border army to search for evidence—it is fortunate that Qi Jiguang is not a military warlord; he won't do anything to these censors. But if these censors continue to chatter against their conscience, the Emperor can issue an order to Jizhou, letting Qi Jiguang state his case.

Back and forth, that's half a year gone. If it drags on a bit longer, it will just be dropped. This is the typical use of institutional rigidity to turn big problems into small ones and small ones into nothing—the civil officials are most skilled at this.

It seems the young Emperor is also skilled at this kind of buck-passing.

Isn't it just buck-passing? As if anyone doesn't know how.

As for whether the 'pure stream' censors are willing to go, they probably aren't.

Leaving the capital to work outside means being sent away from the center of power. Their positions will be taken by others, and wanting to return will be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

After Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, he looked at Ge Shouli and said in an extremely severe tone, "Grand Censor Ge, I must remind you: the Fengtian Hall and Zhao Wenhua Hall are where the divine vessels reside. The censors of the Censorate are the eyes and ears of the ruler. Impeachment is a major state affair, intended to curb corrupt habits, boost upright spirit, speak for the righteous, voice the concerns of loyal ministers, address the major interests of the state, and offer advice that is hard to hear."

"For censors to so deliberately distort facts and wag their tongues—are they treating major state affairs and the major interests of the state as child's play? The Fengtian Hall and Zhao Wenhua Hall are solemn places. Impeachment is an act of justice, not groundless accusation, and certainly not a tool for factional strife."

"Grand Censor Ge, I am warning you here: you are the Left Censor-in-Chief, you are the head of the Censorate. Adhering to the constitution, clarifying your duties, being loyal to the ruler, the country, and yourself, and speaking with facts and evidence—this is the minimum requirement for every censor working in the Censorate!"

"You are the head of the Censorate. Must we wait for Hai Gangfeng to return to court to clear the atmosphere of the censors!"

Zhang Juzheng rarely used such a tone or such severe wording to lecture people. Usually, when Zhang Juzheng was dissatisfied with someone, he would directly use some means to drive them out. Scolding him like this now was truly for Ge Shouli's own good.

With the conflict between the Jin Party and the Zhang Dang, if Ge Shouli continues to charge into the fray like this, he will be the one who suffers.

"Yes." Ge Shouli was scolded to the point where he couldn't talk back and could only agree. The poor performance of the censors had not been a matter of one or two days, and Ge Shouli had no good way to deal with it, so he could only take the scolding.

Ge Shouli couldn't control the censors; he was fast becoming a mouthpiece for the Jin Party. How could the censors of the Censorate and the supervising secretaries of the Six Ministries truly respect Ge Shouli, who fawned over the powerful? Who would take his words seriously? With hearts scattered, how could Ge Shouli lead the team well?

Zhang Juzheng tapped the table and said, "If Hence Hai Rui were in court, would he be so disregardful of facts and barking wildly?"

"No!" Hearing Zhang Juzheng mention Hence Hai Rui, Ge Shouli found it hard to speak. He let out a turbid breath, which counted as an agreement.

A lecture is only effective if it hits where it hurts, to wake a person up.

Hence Hai Rui was the sore spot for Ge Shouli, the head of the Great Ming's censors. The censors didn't listen to his words as head of the Censorate at all, but took Hence Hai Rui, who was living in retirement in Hainan, as their role model, showing no respect for him whatsoever.

The reason Zhang Juzheng mentioned Hence Hai Rui—

was actually to tell Ge Shouli that face, substance, and dignity are all earned by oneself. In this round of impeaching Qi Jiguang, even if the Emperor hadn't come up with a method, and Zhang Juzheng hadn't spoken up for justice, there would still have been officials submitting memorials to defend Qi Jiguang, and Qi Jiguang would still have passed the test.

Because Qi Jiguang had just won a battle, completely annihilating Dong Huli's forces, while the Huyukou pass of the Datong Great Wall had just been easily breached by the Northern Barbarians.

Qi Jiguang had face, substance, and dignity, and even more strength. Of course, he also had influence and backers. In the past, it was Zhang Juzheng; now, it is the Emperor who is Qi Jiguang's backer.

Zhang Juzheng said all he had to say. Good words are hard to use to persuade a ghost looking for death. Zhang Juzheng had said all the good and bad words he could. How Ge Shouli walks his path in the future depends entirely on his own fortune.

The second item of the court discussion was to send the inspecting censors, led by Li Le, to the Great Wall at Huyukou and other places for inspection.

Li Le is Zhang Juzheng's man. The accompanying censors also included censors from the Shanxi Circuit of the Censorate, officials from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works, as well as eunuchs sent by the Directorate of Ceremonial, and representatives of the nobility were also heading there.

Eunuchs, officials from the Ministry of War and Ministry of Works, censors, and eunuchs from the Directorate of Ceremonial—this looks like they are playing for real. This is also the first time since the 40th year of Jiajing that censors not from the Jin Party have gone to Datong and Xuanfu to inspect the border and the Great Wall.

"Does anyone have any objections?" Zhang Juzheng held a memorial in his hand.

If no one opposed it, he would sign it and send it to His Majesty's desk for the seal.

On paper, Minister of War Tan Lun, Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang, Minister of Personnel Yang Bo, Head of the Censorate Ge Shouli, and Governor of the Capital Military Affairs Wang Chonggu were all members of the Jin Party.

Senior Grand Secretary of the Great Ming Zhang Juzheng, Minister of Rites Lu Shusheng, and Minister of Justice Wang Zhihao were members of the Zhang Dang.

If the Jin Party fully opposed it, Zhang Juzheng's 'Memorial Requesting Censors to Inspect Xuan-Da and the Great Wall' would definitely not pass the court discussion.

However, Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War Li Le was recommended by Ge Shouli. Minister of War Tan Lun had already parted ways with the Jin Party over the promotion of capital military talents—different paths mean no shared plans. Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang had already clearly acted as a traitor during the previous impeachment of Tan Lun.

Lu Shusheng was a fellow student of Zhang Juzheng, and Zhang Juzheng had even recommended Lu Shusheng, yet Lu Shusheng was cozying up to the Jin Party.

Wang Chonggu thought for a moment and said, "With this inspection by the Censorate, the hearts of the people are in turmoil. If this Altan Khan moves south and war breaks out again, and the soldiers have no will to fight or defend, what should be done?"

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wang Chonggu and asked quite calmly, "Grand Guardian Wang, do you want to hear what you are saying? Would you like to repeat it yourself?"

Raising bandits to ensure one's own importance is an extremely common tactic, but Wang Chonggu could not say directly: We cannot investigate everyone; who knows what might be uncovered.

Wang Chonggu was blocked by that one sentence and, feeling extremely helpless, looked toward Yang Bo.

Yang Bo sat up straight, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Let this trial of the 'Method of Examination and Assessment' in the capital end soon; my body can no longer hold up."

Regardless of what the Censorate uncovers this time, it will have nothing to do with Yang Bo. Yang Bo's meaning was very clear: he intends to stay out of it. He does not intend to manage the affairs of the Jin Party, nor can he manage them.

To be able to smoothly complete the pilot program of the Method of Examination and Assessment in the capital without ending up with a ruined reputation is, for Yang Bo, a great success.

"Since no one objects, then let it be so." Zhang Juzheng signed the memorial and handed it to Zhang Hong, who took it and placed it on the imperial desk.

Zhu Yijun picked up the Wanli Seal, stamped it on the memorial, returned it to Zhang Hong, and signaled that it could be sent down to the Ministry of Personnel.

Regarding this inspection of the border regions, Zhu Yijun was not optimistic. Zhang Juzheng's "black tiger strike to the heart" had hit the vital point, but if the Jin Party could be toppled so easily, it would not be the deeply rooted Jin Party that it is.

"Your subjects take their leave." After the court discussion, the officials bowed respectfully and left the Zhao Wenhua Hall.

The officials who serve the Emperor's studies, including the Book Exhibition Officials, Readers, Lecturers, and Ritual Assistants, entered the hall one by one.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng's solemn expression and asked, "Grand Secretary, how much success do you think this inspection of the border regions and review of the construction will yield?"