Chapter 62

The target in the Martial Arts Hall is the same as targets elsewhere.

This rectangular target is truly already very large; it is not circular, but rectangular. With such a large target placed there, His Majesty still missed it.

The air at the scene suddenly became stiff; at this moment, something had to be said to ease the atmosphere.

Zhu Xixiao was sweating profusely from anxiety, and after racking his brains, he said, "In 'Records of Military Training,' General Qi says: 'Shooting is not about the diagram; one must be able to pull a heavy bow and shoot heavy arrows, and it must fly straight, fly far, and hit often. If it hits, it must penetrate deeply. This is a superior archer and cannot be treated as an ordinary one.'"

It doesn't matter if you don't hit; archery is not meant for hitting targets. Being able to pull a heavy bow and shoot heavy arrows makes one a superior archer.

On the battlefield, everyone fires in volleys; as long as it can be shot out, that is enough. What is emphasized is the collective hit rate, not the individual hit rate.

Zhu Xixiao finally helped His Majesty regain some face, preventing His Majesty's dignity from falling to the ground.

As a military noble, Zhu Xixiao had used his greatest ability to restore His Majesty's face. Being able to recite this passage completely was due to the hard work Zhu Xixiao had put into studying General Qi's military books.

"Isn't it just missing the target? I will practice well." Zhu Yijun gripped the slingshot tightly. He did not need Zhu Xixiao to borrow General Qi's words to save his face; accuracy is indeed something that must be practiced.

As a noble of the Cheng Duke Mansion, whose fate is tied to the state, Zhu Xixiao naturally knew the archery training method suitable for His Majesty's age: training with a thirty-jin soft bamboo bow for one hundred days. After one hundred days, as the technique gradually becomes proficient, one gradually increases the force, and after another hundred days, one can use a sixty-jin bow.

This just happens to reach half the strength of a Ming soldier's superior archer, making him a junior archer.

A Ming soldier's superior archer has "tiger strength," pulling a heavy bow of one hundred and twenty jin or more. A medium-strength archer is about one hundred to one hundred and twenty jin, while a junior archer is sixty jin. Junior archers need to shoot more accurately, needing to be able to pierce a willow leaf or a louse, using technique to make up for the gap in strength.

The young Emperor is clearly not at that age yet; even with perfect training, he can only use a sixty-jin bow. To be a junior archer and pierce a willow leaf or a louse, he needs accuracy.

Moreover, bows and arrows are easily damaged; it is better to practice with a slingshot first to find the feel.

Zhu Yijun soon grew fond of the slingshot, a small toy. After playing with one hundred porcelain pellets, his accuracy had reached the point where he hit the target nine out of ten times.

The foot-archery target has three bullseyes in total. Hitting the bullseye nine out of ten times from ten paces away is already quite good. Of course, this accuracy still needs to be improved, and there is still a long way to go before piercing a willow leaf or a louse.

Zhu Yijun was having a great time, the porcelain pellets in his hand making a clattering sound. Empress Dowager Li frowned.

"Using a Sui-Hou pearl to shoot at a bird a thousand fathoms high—people will surely laugh at using something so precious to achieve something so trivial. If the scholar-officials in court find out the Emperor is playing with a slingshot, they will nag incessantly again. I fear even the Commandant will be implicated." Empress Dowager Li expressed her concern.

"Using a pearl to shoot at a bird" is a very common idiom.

The Sui-Hou pearl was a treasure of the pre-Qin Warring States period, equivalent in value to the He-Shi Jade, and extremely precious. Later, it passed into the hands of the First Emperor of Qin, and there are no further records of it. Using a Sui-Hou pearl to shoot at a bird means using such a precious treasure to shoot at birds, which is not worth the loss.

Empress Dowager Li knew this allusion because Zhang Juzheng often cited it when submitting memorials, saying that one must distinguish between the light and the heavy, the urgent and the slow.

This is not to say the porcelain pellets the young Emperor plays with are precious, but that the young Emperor should not be so neglectful of his proper duties.

"Let them talk." Empress Dowager Chen, however, looked relaxed and did not worry about the young Emperor. What does it matter if a child of this age is a bit playful?

"Greetings, Empress Dowager." Feng Bao hurried into the Martial Arts Hall, knelt and kowtowed extremely smoothly, and then said, "A thief broke into the Precious Farming Hall today, claiming to be stealing from Jingshan, but was caught by the Eastern Depot agents."

"Are you sure it was theft?" Zhu Yijun's voice, carrying a chill, sounded from behind Feng Bao.

Feng Bao was startled; people can be scared to death by other people!

His Majesty's voice was icy, devoid of any emotion, and its sudden appearance truly made Feng Bao tremble with fear. His Majesty is truly elusive; just a moment ago he was shooting porcelain pellets in front of the target, and in the blink of an eye, he was here.

"He is a habitual offender. Your subject took the Eastern Depot agents and interrogated him, but found nothing unusual." Feng Bao hurriedly replied.

Feng Bao did not lie; it was just a thief who could scale walls, not a conspiracy to sabotage the Precious Farming Hall, where His Majesty personally engages in agriculture.

The chill on Zhu Yijun's body immediately dissipated, becoming gentle. He nodded and said, "Since he is a habitual offender, let him identify where he climbed over the palace wall into Jingshan. It is a good chance to check for leaks and fill the gaps. If he is willing to confess others who also went to Jingshan to steal, it can be considered as 'atoning for crimes with meritorious service' to fill the holes in this imperial garden."

Theft in the imperial palace is a very common occurrence; even assassinating the Emperor can happen, let alone theft.

Theft in the imperial palace is not a phenomenon unique to the Great Ming. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, on the twelfth day of the tenth month of the fourth year of Vice Prefect, the Qing, having just quelled the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, were in high spirits. The seal of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, preserved in the Grand Council, was stolen by someone!

After investigating back and forth, it ended up as a muddled account, pinning the crime on the Ministry of Justice official Salonga, and it was left unsettled.

In the twenty-fourth year of Wanli, a fire broke out in the Qianqing and Kunning Palaces of the Ming Imperial Palace. When renovating these palaces, the Qing ancestor Nurhaci had disguised himself as a laborer and spied for many years.

【Citing the original text from "Veritable Records of Ming Shenzong": The Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Guan Yingzhen, submitted three proposals for the capital: First, on patrolling the imperial city: It is heard that the slave chieftain was originally a slave of Wang Gao's family. In the past, when Gao was beheaded at the street, the slave harbored resentment, then immediately remained anonymous, working as a laborer in the forbidden palace, spying for many years.】

Zhu Yijun looked at Feng Bao and realized that this fellow had undergone many changes recently.

For example, in this Baoqi Hall theft case, according to Feng Bao's previous habits, he would likely have pinned this matter on the Jin Party, increasing the two Empresses Dowager's disgust for the Jin Party and the outer court officials, and increasing their trust in Feng Bao, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. But this time, Feng Bao did not do so, choosing instead to tell the truth.

The eunuch did not complicate or expand the matter, taking the opportunity to claim credit; this is a good thing.

This change is commendable and, in Zhu Yijun's view, beneficial to the resurgence of the Great Ming.

Why did Ge Shouli suffer from being squeezed? It is because Ge Shouli was disloyal, untrustworthy, and unfilial; he was not loyal to himself, did not speak the truth, and did not follow the order of seniority. The censors did not respect him, the eunuchs humiliated him, and the Senior Grand Secretary admonished him because he had lost both his face and his substance.

And now, Feng Bao has become capable.

Zhang Hong secretly thought it a pity. He accompanied His Majesty the Emperor and knew that His Majesty hated such officials who spoke nonsense, made mountains out of molehills, used pretexts to make trouble, and complicated and expanded matters. With Feng Bao not speaking nonsense, it became increasingly difficult for Zhang Hong to change from a "second ancestor" to a "first ancestor."

Feng Bao had to keep his position as the "first ancestor." Once he couldn't keep it, his end would certainly be more miserable than Chen Hong's. The method Feng Bao chose to keep his position was not to attack the Qianqing Palace eunuch Zhang Hong, but to improve himself.

"What did you learn today?" Seeing the young Emperor had dealt with the matter, Empress Dowager Li signaled for Feng Bao to stand up and speak, and began to inquire about the lecture.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Today, the Grand Secretary spoke about Emperor Jingzong of Tang playing polo in the side hall. Emperor Jingzong had just ascended the throne, and the late Emperor's coffin had not yet been buried. Emperor Jingzong did not know how to mourn, only how to play, without restraint. The officials remonstrated, asking Emperor Jingzong to be frugal and restrained, but he did not listen, playing polo with the eunuch Liu Keming in the side hall for fun."

"When he played to his heart's content, he ordered the musicians to play music and blow horns, and the dancing girls danced to the music. Afterward, he gave great rewards, hired laborers to accompany him, and caught foxes for fun. He only attended court three times a month, and later simply stopped attending court, leaving the eunuchs to handle affairs."

Empress Dowager Chen asked suspiciously, "What happened to Emperor Jingzong of Tang later?"

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Emperor Jingzong of Tang met with the disaster of regicide; the eunuch Liu Keming, who played polo with him, killed him."

When Zhang Juzheng lectured on history, he didn't just tell this story; he explained very clearly the dangers of eunuchs holding military power and palace guards, starting from Emperor Xizong of Tang.

Empress Dowager Li looked at Feng Bao unconsciously, but Feng Bao was very calm and composed.

Liu Keming was a eunuch of the Tang Dynasty; the Great Ming only had one Cao Jixiang. Ming eunuchs do not hold military power, let alone palace guards. Feng Bao's duty is to kowtow and act like a fox borrowing a tiger's might to bite officials in the Wenhua Hall. In this regard, he does very well.

"As for this slingshot, do not play with it in the future." Empress Dowager Li looked at the slingshot in the young Emperor's hand and made a decision.

Zhu Yijun was stunned, Zhang Hong frowned, Feng Bao looked suspicious, and Zhu Xixiao looked terrified. He hurriedly said, "Your subject is derelict in his duty, only thinking of His Majesty's martial arts training and completely forgetting the saying that 'playing with objects ruins one's ambition.' Your subject is guilty."

"The Commandant acted with good intentions; how could there be any reason to blame him?" Empress Dowager Li said very gently, "It is just worrying about the officials in court speaking nonsense, submitting memorials, and causing waves."

Using a pearl to shoot at a bird, playing polo in the side hall—all are neglect of proper duties. Empress Dowager Li saw the young Emperor's hard work. At ten years old, he was busy from morning till night, leaving with the stars and returning with the moon. Why is the Supreme Ruler of the world so hard-working?

After Empress Dowager Li and Empress Dowager Chen finished speaking, they looked at each other, their eyes filled with helplessness. Can the young Emperor playing with a slingshot really rise to the level of the governance of the country?

Yes, and it certainly will.

The Jin Party holds the power over military, political, financial, and supervisory affairs in Xuanfu and Datong, with suspicions of forming cliques to exclude others and signs of regional separatism and raising bandits to ensure their own importance. Why haven't these censors come out to shout and make trouble?

Those censors and officials in the court just like to pick on the young Emperor's minor problems, making mountains out of molehills and using pretexts to make trouble. Scolding the Emperor can bring fame, while scolding the Jin Party will lead to retaliation.

Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and said with a smile, "Today, the Grand Secretary also lectured on the Analects, where the Master says: 'The superior man is not a vessel.'"