Chapter 58: Where in the World Is There a Method That Satisfies Both?

"Rituals, music, military expeditions, rewards, and punishments—these are the great ends of grace and awe. It is a principle that cannot be moved downward. The two handles are in the ruler's hands; losing them means the world lacks the Dao."

"Governing by virtue and loyalty is the foundation."

"For the ruler, words and deeds come from the heart; words must be followed by deeds, and deeds must be followed by results. For the minister, if words and deeds do not match, it is untrustworthy; if words and deeds do not come from the heart, hiding faults and falsely claiming ability, it is even more disloyal. Being disloyal and untrustworthy is not being a minister."

"If the ruler is not a ruler and the minister is not a minister, then the world is in great chaos." Zhu Yijun closed the book and summarized the content of today's lecture, which was also a summary of General Qi Jiguang Jiguang's arrival in the capital.

The Great Ming is still not wealthy and the army is not strong, but fortunately, there is still some money, and General Qi Jiguang Jiguang has returned to the capital, which can be considered having a strong army. Therefore, the power of rituals, music, military expeditions, rewards, and punishments can be tentatively pushed into the Jin Party's territory.

Zhang Juzheng bowed his head and said, "For the ruler, it is to observe the situation below, distinguish right from wrong, and then carry out rewards and punishments. For the minister, it is to be constantly vigilant, diligent, and conscientious, and then carry out duties and avoid suspicion. In this way, the ruler and ministers should each be in their proper place, each following their own path. If the ruler and ministers are like one body, working together to overcome the difficulties of the times, then the way of the ruler and ministers will be secure, and the world will move toward governance!"

Zhu Yijun stood up, bowed slightly in return, and said, "I rely on the Senior Grand Secretary to assist the country and teach the principles."

"Your Majesty's praise is too much. This is the duty I fulfill to report to the late Emperor and to be loyal to Your Majesty." Zhang Juzheng bowed his head again and said, "I take my leave."

Zhang Juzheng retreated outside the Wenhua Hall before standing straight, turning, and leaving. He held his hands and headed toward the Wenyuan Pavilion. The more he pondered, the more he felt something was wrong, but it seemed there was nothing wrong—everything His Majesty said was what he had taught.

He walked to the front of the Wenyuan Pavilion before he realized what was wrong.

Rituals, music, and military expeditions are the great ends of the state, major state affairs, concerning sacrifices and warfare. But as they discussed and discussed, when did it turn to rewards and punishments? Thus, the power of awe and favor, besides rituals, music, and military expeditions, seemed to have added the definition of rewards and punishments.

The key is that this definition was something he himself said in order to answer His Majesty about why the localities had grown large!

Where do rewards and punishments come from?

They come from Han Feizi's "Two Handles": "The enlightened ruler controls his ministers with two handles, and that is all. The two handles are punishment and virtue. What are punishment and virtue? Killing is called punishment, and rewarding is called virtue."

But it seemed there was nothing wrong with it. According to the Confucian view, grace and awe are in sacrifices and warfare—that is, rituals and music are for education and ceremony, while military expeditions are for military affairs and warfare. In the Legalist view of grace and awe, they are rewards and punishments, fearing punishment and profiting from rewards.

Relying only on education cannot solve the current problem of clan-based cliques running wild and the substantive military governor problem in Xuanfu and Datong. Explaining the power of awe and favor this way seemed to have nothing wrong with it.

Why does Zhang Juzheng read Han Feizi?

He is a pragmatic official; he understands flexibility. He reads whatever is useful. He not only reads Han Feizi but also Mozi.

Zhang Juzheng stopped delving into it and began to handle state affairs, sticking 'ticket' responses on one memorial after another. He actually didn't realize himself that things like heresy had become not so hard to accept.

While the young Emperor was practicing martial arts, Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War Li Le went to the Ministry of Personnel to receive the seal of the Inspection Vice Minister, and then went to the relay station to arrange for horses, intending to set off the next day, following the relay road to Datong to inspect the border and the Great Wall construction.

Just as Li Le finished his business and returned home, he saw someone waiting for a long time in front of the door. This person was a waiter from the Quan-Jin Guild Hall, holding an invitation in his hand. Seeing Li Le return, he smiled and said, "Supervising Secretary Li, my master invites you."

"Who is your master?" Li Le frowned as he took the invitation, his face changing drastically.

The errand runner just bowed and, without answering, turned and left. The waiter came from the Quan-Jin Guild Hall; his master was naturally the owner of the Quan-Jin Guild Hall, Zhang Siwei.

The owner of the Quan-Jin Guild Hall was still Yang Bo, but Yang Bo had already packed up his family's belongings, waiting for the capital evaluation system to run properly before leaving, so the Quan-Jin Guild Hall had substantively changed owners.

The reason Li Le's face changed drastically was that in this invitation, there seemed to be two small tufts of hair intentionally or unintentionally tucked inside—one silver-white, one soft. The threat was extremely strong.

Li Le returned home and checked his son's hair, finding that some had been newly cut. He clearly knew that the soft tuft of hair in the invitation was his child's hair from the capital.

And that silver-white tuft should be his mother's hair from his hometown.

Li Le's wife, Lady Liu, asked with confusion, "Husband, what's wrong?"

"Where did you take the child today?" Li Le asked with a serious face, clenching his fists.

"We have been at home and haven't gone anywhere. No strangers have entered the house either," Lady Liu said quite certainly.

Li Le came to the window of his son's side room and, looking at a shallow footprint on the window sill, knew that his son's hair had been cut by a villain who broke in last night.

This time they cut hair; what will they cut next time?

Li Le is a court censor; the Jin Party wouldn't dare do anything to him, but his family members are not court officials. This is a real threat.

"I'm going to the Quan..." Li Le was about to go to the Quan-Chu Guild Hall to find Zhang Juzheng and report that someone was threatening his family, but before he finished speaking, he realized that the other party wasn't afraid at all. Zhang Juzheng could protect his family for a while, but could he protect them for a lifetime?

Clearly not.

Li Le took a deep breath and said, "I'll change my clothes and go to the Quan-Chu Guild Hall."

Li Le's wife, Lady Liu, knew that Li Le had enrolled under Zhang Juzheng as his master. This border inspection and inspection of the construction was a task Zhang Juzheng had obtained for Li Le. Before leaving, going to pay respects was also a matter of course.

Lady Liu didn't think much of it, helped Li Le change his clothes, and sent him out the door.

Li Le came to the side door of the Quan-Jin Guild Hall, knocked on the door, handed over the invitation, looked left and right for a long time, and found no one following him. The doorman invited Li Le into the Quan-Jin Guild Hall.

Li Le hesitated in front of the door, lifted his foot and stepped into the Quan-Jin Guild Hall, and the side door of the Quan-Jin Guild Hall slowly closed.

Li Le came to the theater. A play was being performed. Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei were sitting inside the theater. As for Yang Bo, he was not present; Yang Bo was on duty at the Ministry of Personnel, as the evaluation system had recently caused quite a few messes.

For example, managing the warehouse of the capital's Tongzhou warehouse, fire inspection, itself only needed one character 'none', but the Vice Minister of Revenue insisted on writing the whole thing.

'Warehouse A, Room 107, no fire.' The warehouse ambassador Zhao Chengde inspected it at 3:45 PM. This had to be written this way. Four inspections a day, the warehouse ambassador managed a total of two hundred rooms, each room written four times—one sentence had to be written eight hundred times a day.

This is 'doubling the execution', a concrete application of 'doubling it'. It makes people do unimportant things in seemingly important matters, leaving them exhausted.

Isn't the evaluation system supposed to improve efficiency? Doubling the execution, while seemingly making clearer requirements, is actually a greater waste of time.

And Yang Bo's response was to carve a bunch of seals; the ambassador only needed to sign, that is, sign and then stamp, which was faster than before.

Yang Bo was truly earnestly pushing the evaluation system, and he was extremely responsible, wanting the evaluation system to be implemented in every detail. He hoped to find a way to both protect the Jin Party's interests and innovate, letting the Great Ming recover its vitality.

But where in the world is there a method that satisfies both?

The servants of the Quan-Jin Guild Hall also knew that the old party leader was too old to manage things. This private residence was no longer a private residence; it had become a gathering place for the Jin Party, and Wang Chonggu and his nephew Zhang Siwei were watching a play.

The play being performed was about Yue Fei dying in the Dali Temple at the Fengbo Pavilion, having his ribs broken.

The martial actor playing Yue Fei, having learned that the Emperor had issued an imperial decree for him to die at the fifth watch, looked at the north with pain in his eyes and sang: "Hoping to escape the cage, to relieve the national shame, I will not rest until death! With one breath remaining, I still look toward the Central Plains, yet I lament that my heroic heart is hard to restrain!"

"Why worry? Even if I eventually achieve fame and success, what is lacking in 'hiding the bow and cooking the dog'! How can I wait until the time of cooking!"

A sigh came from outside the play: "What a good Yue grandfather! Look at him in such a plight, yet he only thinks of serving the country with loyalty and repaying the holy grace!"

Two clown actors with white powder on their noses and below their eyebrows, who were playing the Dali Temple bailiffs responsible for sending Yue Fei on his way, bent their waists until they were almost crawling on the ground, lifted their heads with effort to look at Yue Fei, and recited: "Yue grandfather, it is already the third watch. It is not that I am urging you, but you know the temperament of Chancellor Qin."

The martial actor glared, looked with anger, and said sternly: "Say no more! Let me just bid farewell to the two emperors and the master!"

The clown actor recited and sang: "That kind of thing, it's better not to bid farewell to it!"

The clown actor put the rope on Yue Fei. Yue Fei closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them wide, singing with sorrow: "Master, alas, the Divine Land is finally sinking; the traitor obstructs, how can I bear to see the country broken and the ruler in danger? Death is better than rotting quickly. Look at the waves, loyal souls rolling together to the river!"

The clown actor began to pull the rope on Yue Fei's chest with effort. After a sad cry, Yue Fei fell softly to the ground.

Dying with broken ribs means the rope breaks the ribs and pierces the heart and lungs.

"Good, reward!" Wang Chonggu, the Grand Guardian, saw this, slapped the table, and shouted loudly.

Yue Fei's official title before death was Inspector Grand Guardian, so everyone called him Yue Grand Guardian. Yu Qian's official title before death was Grand Guardian, so everyone called Yu Qian Yu Grand Guardian.

Wang Chonggu's title of Grand Guardian was Crown Prince Grand Guardian, second rank. It was specially conferred during the Longqing peace negotiations to reward Wang Chonggu for his achievements during the negotiations.

This Grand Guardian of Wang Chonggu's is not the same Grand Guardian as the other two who repelled thieves and killed enemies.

Li Le just wanted to laugh. He didn't know how Wang Chonggu could empathize with Yue Fei. Even Li Le, a scholar, felt that Wang Chonggu was truly too shameless!

Just after the 29th year of Jiajing, there were as many as sixteen types of plays about Yue Fei in the Great Ming theaters. Li Le had truly heard this act before.

How did Li Le come to the Quan-Jin Guild Hall?!

He had received the court's task, but before he set off, he received an invitation with two tufts of hair inside!

"Supervising Secretary Li, sit, sit." Zhang Siwei invited Li Le to his seat with a kind face and said with emotion: "I like to speak directly and get straight to the point. Inviting Supervising Secretary Li here today is for the border inspection and the inspection of the construction." ===== CHAPTER 59 =====