Chapter 569: The Past Cannot Be Recalled; the Future May Yet Be Pursued

Li Le told the emperor not only the story of Old Harry but also an old tale from the Longjiang Shipyard.

The story of Old Harry was nothing extraordinary—it was merely a typical poor laborer whose life changed after the Great Ming reached Lu Song.

The story of the Longjiang Shipyard was no different.

The new Nanjing Longjiang Shipyard was built on a new site, not constructed atop the old one.

One hundred and seventy years had passed; the seas had turned to mulberry fields. All the old ship basins of the original Longjiang Shipyard had been filled in and transformed into fertile farmland, with not a trace left of its former existence. In recent years, as production capacity continued to rise, the Longjiang Shipyard planned to rebuild its Second Factory on the old site.

Rebuilding required excavation of the old site and an inventory of the past. During this process, a notebook titled *Star Raft Notes* was discovered. It had been stored in the same box as the *Chronicle of the Longjiang Shipyard*. Though somewhat decayed, its deep burial had preserved it well enough for legible characters to be discerned. After a full year of careful identification and annotation, the notebook was brought back into the light.

The notebook bore no name; Li Le called its author the Gravekeeper.

The notebook recorded the fate of the Longjiang Shipyard after the cessation of western voyages: the shipwrights who had been relocated during the early Yongle era lost their livelihoods and scattered. The ship basins were filled in, and the workers turned to farming. The number of artisans dwindled while the number of farmers grew.

When the Longjiang Shipyard was first built, it was a scene of bustling activity. Tens of thousands of shipwrights had been conscripted from across the empire and spread throughout various shipyards. All believed they would live this way generation after generation—until the great edifice collapsed.

The Gravekeeper clearly recorded the desolation after everyone had left. When the great edifice collapsed, all were focused on the struggle to reopen the seas, yet no one cared where these displaced artisans—without land or livelihood—should go.

That was the grave of the Longjiang Shipyard, the grave of the Yongle and Emperor Xuande western voyages, the grave of that era, and the grave of the Great Ming's maritime power.

The Gravekeeper mentioned one incident in his notebook.

In the early During Zhengtong era, there were seven occasions when local power brokers and wealthy elites petitioned the court to auction off the useless Longjiang Shipyard. The memorials always passed smoothly into the palace. The Three Yangs of the Grand Secretariat seemed content to let it happen and chose to ignore it—but none ever received the emperor's vermilion approval.

At that time, Empress Dowager Zhang, the widow of the Renzong Emperor, was still alive. She refused these petitions, citing the principle that ancestral foundations must not be sold.

Renzong reigned for only one year before dying at thirty-six; the Emperor Xuande Emperor, also young, died prematurely, leaving the Empress Dowager to guard her grandson and the Ming realm. Though a woman, she may have done little, yet she held firm to the principle of not selling ancestral foundations.

The reason given for halting maritime ventures was that they were unprofitable and of no benefit to the state. Yet these local elites petitioned repeatedly—seven times—for the shipyard. If the western voyages truly were unprofitable, why did the people so ardently demand the shipyard's preservation?

Were the Three Yangs of the early During Zhengtong era truly the virtuous, capable ministers they were called?

"Go summon the Grand Secretary." Zhu Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao. Zhu Zhu Yijun greatly admired the "physics toy set" Wan Shihé had devised, and this time, he truly gave the toy to Zhu Chang for play—keeping none for himself.

He had already played with it.

Zhu Zhu Yijun continued reading the notebook. The palace had refused the people's petitions to auction the shipyard on the grounds that it was ancestral heritage—but these power brokers clearly had no intention of letting the shipyard survive. In December of the sixth year of During Zhengtong, the air was dry and brittle; a great fire swept through the entire Longjiang Shipyard, leaving little of it standing.

If they could not have it, they would destroy it. After the fire, the Longjiang Shipyard collapsed completely, and the last group of artisans waiting for better days departed.

Wan Shihé, as a flatterer, knew from the moment he entered the Tonghemen Imperial Study that the emperor was in a foul mood—the atmosphere in the study was oppressive.

"Grand Secretary, take a look at this." Zhu Zhu Yijun handed him the annotated notebook.

Wan Shihé read for a long, long time. Then, suddenly rising and slapping the table, he cried out: "This is outrageous! Is this not bullying the powerless?"

The Great Ming held the Song in great contempt, always claiming to inherit Tang institutions and regarding the Song with mild disdain. This contempt arose from multiple causes: partly due to the Han Song rebellion and the death of the Little Ming King, partly because the Song was never truly a unified empire.

The Central Plains defined unification with absolute clarity: "I am the sovereign of all under heaven; all four directions pay homage. In the known world, only I am emperor—that is unification." The Liao, Jin, and Western Zi Xia all had emperors, and the Song had records of submitting as vassals. One phrase—"Your servant Gou now draws the border"—cast a massive question mark over the Song's claim to unification.

Another reason the Great Ming despised the Song was that the Zhao family seized power illegitimately. Zhao Zhao Kuangyin did end the dark age of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, but he also donned the yellow robe and betrayed the orphaned emperor and his widow.

In Wan Shihé's view, the seven petitions to auction the Longjiang Shipyard—after the imperial family had clearly refused on the grounds of ancestral heritage—were still allowed into the palace. This was nothing less than bullying the orphaned and the widow.

The Great Ming had faced two instances of a young sovereign and a fragile state. Comparing this to Zhang Zhang Juzheng, one saw that except for his insistence against imperial extravagance, Zhang Zhang Juzheng had never bullied the palace's orphans and widows. Of course, this was built on the foundation that in the third year of Emperor Wanli, when state finances were still insufficient, Zhang Zhang Juzheng raised the Golden Flower Bai Yin from one million taels to 1.2 million taels.

"No wonder Zhang Cong called Yang Yang Shiqi a traitor like Qin Gui!" Wan Shihé, reading the notebook, felt inexplicably angry. Put bluntly, the age-old conflict between imperial and ministerial power has always been either strong sovereign, weak ministers—or weak sovereign, strong ministers. Zhang Zhang Juzheng could declare, "I am not a chancellor, I am a regent," and that was typical. But even bullying has its limits.

Zhang Cong, a prominent minister of the early Emperor Jiajing era, saw most of his reforms—aside from the Examination System—reused by Zhang Zhang Juzheng, including Wang Wang Chonggu's Equalized Land and Labor system, which had originally been proposed by Minister of War Tang Long.

"Did Zhang Cong really say that about Yang Yang Shiqi?" Zhu Zhu Yijun was startled—he had never known.

To call Yang Yang Shiqi a Qin Gui was something Zhu Zhu Yijun had never imagined. Were Ming literati this vicious?

Wan Shihé nodded and said: "I checked the old records. Zhang Cong said: 'Qin Gui's treachery stains the annals, yet Yang's integrity is praised to this day—how can one fail to take warning?' He primarily criticized the Three Yangs for destroying ancestral laws, especially for restoring the chancellorship, which Emperor Taizu had abolished."

"Later, in his *Third Memorial of the First Year of Emperor Jiajing Reform*, Zhang Cong wrote: 'Today's scholars blame only the corrupt ministers for corrupt governance and the abuse of military merit. But the abuse of military merit did not begin in the early During Zhengde era—it began after During Zhengtong, due to the negligence of provincial governors and the failure of the Ministry of War to correct it.'"

"Gui E also said: 'Yang Yang Shiqi cited the Han example of abandoning Zhuya to justify abandoning Jiaozhi. This is the act of a narrow-minded Confucian in power—peace prevails above and below, bribes flow openly, discipline collapses, and ten commanderies of territory are abandoned in neglect. It is like a man building a house who refuses to lay its foundation. Yang Yang Shiqi is a traitor to Emperor Taizong—how could he be worthy of emulation?'"

"Calling Yang Yang Shiqi a traitor to Emperor Taizong and a narrow-minded Confucian was primarily over the crime of abandoning Jiaozhi."

Gui E was the originator of the Great Ming's Single Whip Tax Reform and a pivotal figure in China's transition from labor and grain taxes to monetary taxation.

Gui E criticized Yang Yang Shiqi primarily over three territorial losses: Jiaozhi, the Ordos, and the Danning Garrison. Especially regarding Jiaozhi, Yang Yang Shiqi used the Han abandonment of Zhuya as precedent, ultimately leading to the abandonment of Jiaozhi.

The blame for losing territory cannot be escaped by Yang Yang Shiqi.

The Great Ming's abandonment of Jiaozhi's thirteen departments meant abandoning the sea, abandoning silver inflows—making monetary taxation a mirage, impossible to realize. No wonder Gui E held Yang Yang Shiqi in contempt.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Cong attacked the Three Yangs because after them, the Ming bureaucracy changed its evaluation of frontier civil and military officials: from measuring how many enemies were destroyed, to measuring how much frontier wall was built, how many garrisons constructed, and how many fortresses repaired. Since Wang Ji's unauthorized execution of Commander An Jing in the second year of During Zhengtong, for one hundred and fifty years, there has been no record of civil or military officials training troops or destroying enemies."

"This was the beginning of the great evil of promoting literature and suppressing military affairs—and the most despicable trait of the Three Yangs."

Wan Shihé explained in detail why Zhang Cong and Gui E, the two reformist ministers of the Emperor Jiajing era, held such contempt for the Three Yangs. Since then, Ming military preparedness declined, the frontiers were unguarded, and military affairs collapsed entirely.

"So that's why." Zhu Zhu Yijun had thought only he disliked the Three Yangs—but now he saw even ministers like Zhang Cong and Gui E held them in utter contempt.

Whether abandoning territory, usurping imperial authority, or using ritual as a banner to destroy ancestral laws—all were grave crimes of treason. Gui E even labeled Yang Yang Shiqi and his peers as traitors to Emperor Taizong—pointing directly at their faces.

"The past cannot be recalled; the future can still be pursued. What is done cannot be undone, but what lies ahead is still within reach. Everything is still possible. After this notebook is copied by the Imperial Secretariat, retain it in the Ministry of Rites for future historical compilation." Zhu Zhu Yijun spoke with quiet melancholy. Past matters are no use to dwell on—look forward.

"Grand Secretary, your toy was greatly loved by Chang. Your advocacy of letting physics win at the starting point deeply resonates with me." Zhu Zhu Yijun praised Wan Shihé's toy. Wan Shihé had performed excellently in matters of ritual.

When Wan Shihé first entered the Zhao Wenhua Palace, Zhu Zhu Yijun had thought he would leave soon, like Lu Lu Shusheng. Yet to this day, he remained steadfast, becoming a constant evergreen in court—unmoved by any storm.

This was due to Wan Shihé's stance: he was entirely the Emperor's party.

"This is merely what I am duty-bound to do," Wan Shihé said cheerfully. "If the imperial heir likes it, that is enough. Your Majesty, should we not now appoint a crown prince?"

Wan Shihé asked casually, but he had hesitated for days, searching for the right moment. This topic was extremely sensitive; a misstep could ignite a major factional purge.

The emperor has three sons: the eldest, Zhu Zhu Changzhi, the second, Zhu Zhu Changchao, and the third, Zhu Zhu Changxun. Zhu Zhu Changzhi is the eldest and the legitimate heir. Whether by legitimacy or seniority, he is unquestionably rightful. Appointing him crown prince now would bring peace to the realm.

"Grand Secretary knows what I am worried about," Zhu Zhu Yijun said calmly to Wan Shihé. "Not now."

"I obey Your Majesty's decree," Wan Shihé immediately bowed. He did not even ask a single follow-up question. He knew perfectly well what the emperor feared.

Since Xiaozong, the Ming succession had become abnormal. Xiaozong had only one son; Wu Sect died without issue.

The first son of the Emperor Jiajing Emperor died at two months. In October of the fifteenth year of Emperor Jiajing, his second son, Crown Prince Zhuangjing, was born. He was named crown prince in the eighteenth year of Emperor Jiajing, crowned in March of the twenty-eighth year, fell ill the next day, and died suddenly.

After that, no crown prince was named during Emperor Jiajing's reign. The emperor thereafter embraced the belief that "two dragons must not meet"—refusing not only to name a crown prince but also to see his sons.

Ming officials were all brilliant—they had driven the emperor into the Tonghemen Palace, even abandoning the Western Garden. Whom were they guarding? Obvious. Even Wan Shihé himself was among those guarded.

Knowing the emperor's firm stance, Wan Shihé could now act with proper restraint.

"I take my leave," Wan Shihé said, bowed again, and departed.

Zhu Zhu Yijun watched Wan Shihé's back, paused, and asked Feng Bao: "Didn't Grand Secretary try to argue further? I said 'not now,' and he simply obeyed and left?"

The Ming Emperor Wanli succession controversy lasted until the day Prince Fu was sent to his fiefdom—emperor and ministers quarreled for years, the struggle fierce from the start.

Yet Wan Shihé simply walked away—without even a word more.

"Your Majesty, Grand Secretary likely held this question back for a long time. Asking it today took immense courage. He has no position to argue with you on this matter," Feng Bao whispered. "Grand Secretary is still very brave. I dare not ask. No one in court dares."

The current emperor bears no resemblance to the late Emperor Emperor Longqing. He resembles the Daoist Emperor most—especially the first twenty years of the Daoist Emperor: both were young sovereigns, both diligent and reforming, both surrounded by capable ministers. The only difference: Zhu Zhu Yijun carries none of Wu Sect's historical burdens and can vigorously strengthen the military.

In the early Emperor Jiajing era, there was no condition to strengthen the military. Wu Sect, fond of martial affairs, left no heir, and died from illness after personally leading campaigns—falling into water, catching a cold, then pneumonia.

Riding horses easily injures the reproductive organs—that is common knowledge. Qi Qi Jiguang had long refused to let the emperor ride until the emperor's foundation was solid enough through walking and training before permitting him to mount.

Because the circumstances were identical, appointing a crown prince became, as in Emperor Jiajing's time, a topic too dangerous to touch.

Wan Shihé daring to ask so casually had already summoned all his courage. Asking him to argue with the emperor over early crown prince appointment was too much.

Wan Shihé was mocked in scholarly circles as "Wan Without Bones." Yet even Wan Without Bones dared to ask—did any other minister dare? Even Feng Bao dared not.

As Minister of Rites, Wan Shihé must know the emperor's clear stance before acting. If the emperor says not now, then not now. When the emperor feels it necessary to appoint a crown prince, he will do so.

On the first day of the tenth month of the eleventh year of Emperor Wanli, Shi Shi Mao Hua finally settled in the capital. He refused all visits, including those from the Grand Secretary Zhang Zhang Juzheng and the Deputy Grand Secretary Wang Wang Chonggu, and remained firmly closed to all guests. Since he had retired, he must act the part of one retired—Liu Zhang Xian and Ma Fang had done the same.

Shi Shi Mao Hua, bearing the imperial edict granting him promotion and a residence, came to the Tonghemen Palace to thank the emperor.

"No need for the full kowtow. Sit and speak," Zhu Zhu Yijun said, waiting in the Imperial Study. As Shi Shi Mao Hua entered, he immediately waived the formal bow—Shi Shi Mao Hua was still unwell.

Shi Shi Mao Hua bowed again, solemnly saying: "I thank Your Majesty for your great grace."

"Shi Minister, since our parting at the Huangji Gate, over seven years have passed. Back then, you told me you would recover the Ordos. Now, it is done." Zhu Zhu Yijun spoke of Shi Shi Mao Hua's deepest longing.

Shi Shi Mao Hua smiled easily: "Indeed. Back then, I was deeply anxious, fearing my words would be seen as alarmist by court literati. The three frontier regions of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia had little grain but many soldiers. In other places, rebellion meant peasants rising up. But if Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia erupted, it would be military disaster."

"Now, the thing I feared most will not happen."

"Your Majesty, I underestimated the express roads. Even without reopening the Western Regions, as long as the express roads exist, the Ordos remain secure. The Great Ming's capital can project power into the Ordos within five to ten days—it becomes the heartland, never to be lost again."

Zhu Zhu Yijun asked curiously: "Do you think we need not reopen the Western Regions?"

"Of course not. We must reopen them. The Western Regions have mines and can grow cotton," Shi Shi Mao Hua shook his head. "Reopening the Western Regions is a barrier."

"I am old, and I speak with the arrogance of age. Your Majesty has never fought a war. But whenever war occurs, if it happens in our heartland, we lose whether we win or lose. But if it happens on the frontier, it is entirely different. Suiyuan and the Western Regions are vast and sparsely populated—that is depth. Conflicts there will not bring about collapse."

Depth and buffer zones—that was what Shi Shi Mao Hua meant. More depth ensures the safety of the Ming heartland.

Shi Shi Mao Hua still advocated reopening the Western Regions. What he meant was that he had underestimated the express roads—only after seeing them firsthand did he realize their terrifying military impact. The Ming's main force remained infantry; infantry's speed and projection capacity determined the empire's borders.

"Reopening the Western Regions is imperative," Shi Shi Mao Hua stated firmly.

Zhu Zhu Yijun spoke with Shi Shi Mao Hua about Gansu. The enthusiasm of Ming literati was something Zhu Zhu Yijun had never anticipated. Ming literati still desired progress: serving in Gansu for one year counted as two, and one could still earn merit. The current priority was catching spies—spies from Western Region tribes probing Ming court movements.

The next step would be sending envoys to Western Region states to project imperial prestige. The envoy would naturally emerge from Gansu Province—and would surely be remembered in history.

"Your Majesty, I find the capital's court has become a cesspool," Shi Shi Mao Hua said, puzzled.

"From burning coal," Zhu Zhu Yijun said, slightly exasperated. The capital was unfit for residence. Zhu Zhu Yijun had built a residence outside the Yicheng Manor in the Western Hills, but Shi Shi Mao Hua's health required constant monitoring—living in the city was more convenient.

"About the coal—I heard of it in Shaanxi. But I mean these court gazettes. They are too bold! Why does Your Majesty tolerate their wild talk?" Shi Shi Mao Hua shook his head—the emperor misunderstood him. He was not speaking of coal smoke, but of the gazette writers' reckless speech.

The people must burn coal or wood. In the capital region, all wood that could be cut had been cut—where was there any wood left to burn?

In Shi Shi Mao Hua's view, the content of the court gazettes was heretical. Their agitation of public opinion on wind power was extremely dangerous to the Ming.

Shi Shi Mao Hua was never a rigid traditionalist. He could accept new things—he was deeply interested in iron horses, express roads, and mechanical workshops, and actively studied their significance to the state. But he could not accept the rabble-rousing of these gazette writers.

"Their agitation of wind-power public opinion is hollowing out the Ming's foundations," Shi Shi Mao Hua stated firmly. "These people are entirely controlled by power brokers and wealthy elites. Their words and deeds serve only profit. They eat whose bread, they are whose dog—always has been."

"But we need debate—we must allow them to exist, allow them to speak. Among them are figures like Lin Fu, Li Zhi, and Geng Geng Xiangding. And the Ming needs these gazettes. Official bulletins alone are insufficient," Zhu Zhu Yijun considered. "Let people speak—the sky won't fall. But I will not allow nonsense."

"That's true. The Emperor Wanli Reforms do need more voices," Shi Shi Mao Hua agreed, yet persisted: "These gazettes do not verify truth or falsehood—they publish anything quickly, just to be faster than others, to boost sales. To attract readers, they deliberately exaggerate, invert truth, and call a deer a horse."

"Rumors fill the entire capital. I still believe the harm outweighs the benefit. I believe we should supervise these gazettes, verify their capacity to publish, not let them grow wild. We must punish false accusers with counter-accusation and revoke their publishing rights."

Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type printing. Though movable type underwent multiple updates, news censorship mechanisms were established in the West. In the Great Ming, this area developed entirely freely. To Shi Shi Mao Hua, this freedom was indulgence of rumor—redundant, false information flooded the capital, which was extremely dangerous.

Shi Shi Mao Hua pondered and said: "If someone accuses me of blocking speech, let the blame fall on me. I am an old man—whether I am cursed or not, I do not care."

"Your Excellency is loyal to the Emperor and devoted to the state," Zhu Zhu Yijun said with a smile. "But there's no need—Minister Shi doesn't know, but there is indeed censorship. Otherwise, wouldn't all these pamphlets be heretical texts? Some of these pamphlets have already been banned; the blame for that has long been borne by Grand Secretary Wan Shihé. The content your Excellency has seen falls entirely within the permitted scope of discussion."

"If there's censorship, how dare they bark so wildly in these pamphlets?" Shi Mao asked in astonishment. "Of all these so-called liberal opinions, only Lin Fu's and Li Zhi's essays are worth reading; the rest are utterly vile. They eat the scraps others throw them, wagging their tails like dogs—how dare they speak of freedom?"

"What did you see in them, Minister Shi?" Zhu Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

Shi Mao shook his sleeve and pulled out a pamphlet, handing it to Feng Bao. His brow furrowed. "They've conflated Wu Wei governance with freedom. It's sheer nonsense."

Zhu Zhu Yijun opened the pamphlet and read it carefully. No wonder Shi Mao reacted so strongly—the content discussed the "hate of the gentleman." The pamphlet held only one argument: that it is the will of the powerful, their grand ambitions and imperial projects, that turn the Great Ming into a hell on earth.

It opened with the famous line from Du Fu's "Ballad of the War Chariots": "Blood flows on the frontier like seawater; Emperor Wu's thirst for expansion never ceases."

Here, "Emperor Wu" nominally refers to Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, but this is a common Tang-era euphemism. Du Fu was actually criticizing Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, whose persistent military campaigns during the Tianbao era ended in repeated defeats and inflicted massive damage upon the Tang dynasty.

An Lushan and Shi Shi Siming's rebellions were made possible precisely because they saw the weakness of the Tang court.

After the criticism came the promotion of that invisible hand—claiming it could ensure everyone remained in their proper place, rather than using a visible hand to interfere. Every act of court intervention, the pamphlet argued, was a sin; it elevated Wu Wei governance to an infinite height, equating it with absolute freedom.

"This writer doesn't even understand the four characters 'Wu Wei governance,'" Zhu Zhu Yijun said, setting the pamphlet down and shaking his head. "Minister Shi, watch—someone will teach him a lesson. He advocates that invisible hand, doesn't he? When others see him make a mistake, they'll naturally kick him while he's down."

Wu Wei governance never meant doing nothing. Wu Wei means not acting recklessly; its core principle is the Dao.

The Dao has no form and no action, yet it has patterns. The Dao governs the operation of all things through these patterns. Applied to statecraft, Wu Wei governance means ruling through institutions—using institutions to constrain the behavior of officials and subjects. When designing institutions, one must deliberate carefully and thoroughly; once implemented, one must not alter them lightly, lest they cause disruption. That is not acting recklessly—that is Wu Wei governance. It is not inaction.

Clearly, this writer has no grasp of Wu Wei governance at all. Others will soon correct him. Trampling on someone is also one way to quickly gain fame. Scholars look down on each other, and this is most vividly displayed in the world of pamphlets.

"Now that Your Majesty says so, I truly feel less concerned," Shi Mao said thoughtfully. Truth becomes clearer through debate; reason becomes sharper through discussion. The foolish writers will inevitably be trampled underfoot.

"Your Majesty, I am stationed on the frontier, not in the capital. What I wish to say is this: we must not let the Western Regions become a second Jiaozhi." Shi Mao solemnly pulled out a memorial, his expression earnest. "Your Majesty, I beg you not to underestimate the difficulty of reopening the Western Regions."