[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties":3,"chapter-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-93":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Really Am Not Neglecting My Duties",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2363362,4622,"Chapter 93: Good Advice Cannot Persuade a Man Doomed to Die; Mercy Cannot Save One Who Chooses Self-Destruction","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-93",93,"\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun was deeply surprised by Empress Dowager Li; she was acknowledging her own mistakes and attempting to rectify them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the Ming system and Confucian rites of filial piety and hierarchy, the Emperor was the most honored person in the Ming realm—but now, with the Emperor still a child, Empress Dowager Li resided in the Qianqing Palace and exercised imperial authority, making her the most exalted person in the land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In her position, wielding such power, to admit fault and actively correct it—this, in Zhu Yijun’s view, was rare and precious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who among men is without fault? To err and then amend—that is the greatest good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In pre-Qin times, Duke Ling of Jin was a tyrant who slaughtered indiscriminately; Shi Ji advised him, warning that such conduct would scatter the people’s loyalty. Duke Ling immediately replied: I know my fault—I will surely change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Ji joyfully told Duke Ling: Who among men is without fault? To err and then amend—that is the greatest good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Duke Ling only grew worse, ultimately losing the people’s support and being murdered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duke Ling accepted good counsel in words but remained obstinate, knew his fault yet refused to change—becoming the perfect illustration of “Who among men is without fault? To err and then amend—that is the greatest good.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?” Empress Dowager Li asked, puzzled by the young Emperor’s surprised expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun smiled and said: “Nothing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li beamed: “It’s no shame for a mother to make a mistake—I’m just a woman, ignorant of state affairs. But my son is growing wiser, and that’s all that matters. You scolded those ministers in the Huangji Hall who only chatter endlessly and pontificate without resolve—well done! It was satisfying!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After this incident, I’ve come to understand: the more enlightened you are, the more your imperial authority shines—not by extracting silver from the outer court.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li was gradually improving in state affairs—this was a good thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She realized that forcing the court to grant silver for her father’s house renovation had caused chaos, and she was willing to rescind her order. For a woman at the pinnacle of power, this was exceedingly difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, the Ming court never demanded much of Empress Dowager Li—just that she raise the young Emperor properly. They didn’t expect her to match Empress Ma’s virtue, only that she cause no trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Yongle, Ming empresses and empress dowagers came from humble backgrounds, lacking powerful maternal clans to support them. Their influence was extremely limited; they couldn’t even preside over court, let alone rule from behind a curtain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng had long pondered the Emperor’s public and private interests. The Emperor repeatedly asked him to define these terms clearly—and each time, he’d ask: “Master Zhang, have you figured it out yet?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng had scratched his head bald trying to solve the Emperor’s questions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, when Empress Dowager Li demanded court funds to repair her father’s garden, Zhang Juzheng carefully examined the entire affair and deepened his understanding of public versus private.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the Wenyuan Pavilion, Zhang Juzheng attached floating slips to every memorial, then returned home to write letters to provincial governors, explaining why specific policies couldn’t be implemented, the adverse consequences they might trigger, or how they ought to be executed properly—these letters were part of his daily routine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing these tasks, in his spare moments, Zhang Juzheng studied his dark chamber. He had men polish transparent glass, crystal, and gems, placing them in sunlight; any prism could split light into seven colors, which then merged back into one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not sorcery at work—it was the infinite principle of all things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From this point on, Zhang Juzheng had no further objections to the young Emperor’s rudimentary optical experiments in the dark chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Play, as long as it wasn’t alchemy, was merely a harmless pastime for the Emperor’s idle hours.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng had annotated the Four Books. Smiling at You Qi as he entered, he said: “Hai Gangfeng is right—the Emperor is working too hard. At ten years old, his daily grind is exhausting. A minor, harmless hobby is a wise long-term strategy; prolonged exertion leads to fatigue.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When people interact, they pass through life. Some find joy in intimate conversation within a single room; others, through attachment to their passions, roam freely beyond form. Though their inclinations differ, some quiet, some restless, when they find delight in what they encounter, momentarily satisfied—how is this not happiness?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Everyone lives only one lifetime. Some cherish deep conversations with friends; others pour their hearts into personal passions. Though their tastes vary, their temperaments differ, when they find joy and contentment in what they encounter—isn’t that happiness too?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You Qi smiled upon hearing this. For the past six months, his master had returned home no longer weighed down by gloom, but energized—thrilled by the unfolding of his grand vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main reason: the young Emperor had finally begun to take things seriously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, as the Emperor’s tutor, Zhang Juzheng had imposed strict discipline. You Qi had urged him to ease up—but the Emperor showed no real engagement with his studies and remained indifferent to state affairs. Now, Zhang Juzheng actually viewed the Emperor’s “idle pursuits” as harmless recreation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Word has come from the palace: Empress Dowager Li intends to revoke the four thousand taels granted to the Marquis of Wuqing and redirect them as a gift.” You Qi had received word from Xu Jue. This round, the nobles and imperial relatives were reaching into the palace for money. Instead of pressuring the outer court to raise funds and warn against repetition, Empress Dowager Li was correcting her mistake—this surprised You Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Power easily blinds men. Even when they know they’re wrong, they refuse to change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm?” Zhang Juzheng frowned, then relaxed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew Empress Dowager Li’s nature well—she would never admit fault, even for the Emperor’s authority. If even the Empress Dowager bowed, court ministers would only bully the orphan and widow further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her willingness to admit fault meant she trusted the young Emperor more deeply. Even if her dignity suffered slightly, it would not harm the Emperor, nor would court ministers look down on the palace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a transformation—exactly the one Zhang Juzheng hoped to see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He certainly did not want a dowager empress clinging to power—it would be devastating for the emperor, especially in obstructing his eventual assumption of rule.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Empress Dowager Li did not seem particularly attached to power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Easy.” Zhang Juzheng smiled, picking up his telescope and gazing at the stars, studying the faintly reddish moon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You Qi said, surprised: “Easy?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Easy. Since the palace has recognized the error, it’s simple. Your master still has some skill—how could this possibly damage the Empress Dowager’s dignity? It will be handled perfectly.” Zhang Juzheng replied with calm confidence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Zhang Juzheng, nothing was truly difficult—until now, he’d been helpless in educating the Emperor; now, he was still helpless in educating the Emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the circumstances were entirely different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young Emperor’s innocent, pure heart asked sharp questions—Zhang Juzheng had to ponder long and ground his answers in practical experience to understand them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next morning, during court deliberation, Zhang Juzheng handled the matter flawlessly. The third son of Marquis Wuqing Li Wei—Empress Dowager Li’s own brother—had gotten into a brawl over a coal mine in Xishan. The fault lay not with the Wuqing household, but with the Marquis of Chengshan, who had deliberately provoked the fight. A reprimand would have sufficed, yet the court had fined Wuqing four thousand taels and Chengshan eight thousand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Wuqing household had welcomed a new child; as aunt, Empress Dowager Li gifted them four thousand taels. All petitions from nobles and relatives seeking silver were stamped with a red X and returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The matter concluded, circling back to yield a modest resolution: no one else would now demand money for house repairs, for who else had such a close relative as Empress Dowager Li?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not a precedent—only this once,” Zhu Yijun affixed his seal, making clear this favor was exceptional—no future requests would be funded by the outer court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Empress Dowager Li had walked into a dead end. She didn’t truly need the four thousand taels for her father—she was merely angry at court ministers, believing they lacked proper deference. Even when the inner court offered to pay, she refused. Her stubbornness had made everyone look foolish—luckily, Zhang Juzheng had stepped in to resolve it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone retained dignity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some realize they’ve gone too far, recognize their errors, and correct themselves. Others know they’re wrong—but refuse to change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Xu Jie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good advice cannot persuade a man doomed to die; mercy cannot save one who chooses self-destruction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Dayou said Xu Jie was unwilling to yield; Zhang Juzheng feared Xu Jie would secretly conspire and struck hard. Hai Rui, however, knew Xu Jie would continue causing trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, south of the river, inside Xu Jie’s ancestral home—once accustomed to the spacious Jinze Garden villa, Xu Jie now lived in a cramped ancestral house, furious and desperate. He was already plotting a way to reclaim those twenty-three thousand mu of land!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Master’s Tower at Jinze Garden was his life’s greatest achievement—now taken from him without cause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Utterly despicable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father, you must not go!” Xu Pan knelt, clutching Xu Jie’s leg, his voice filled with anguish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie planned to attend a fellow townsman’s poetry gathering—but Xu Pan had confirmed it was no mere poetry event. It was a secret assembly of southern elites resisting the court’s land restitution order. The court demanded the return of seven million mu of illegally seized land—this wouldn’t just destroy Xu Jie; it would destroy fourteen prefectures’ wealthy families.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The official overseeing the land restitution in the southern prefectures was Song Yangshan, Zhang Juzheng’s direct protégé.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Xu Jie attended, he would be placing his entire family on the pyre. If they escaped execution, it would be called “the Emperor’s mercy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let go!” Xu Jie tried to leave, but Xu Pan held fast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan, strong and vigorous, clung to his father’s leg, shouting: “Father, Father—they’re not discussing strategy, they’re plotting rebellion! The Emperor is young, the state uncertain—if we defy the court, disaster will strike! Father, you must not go!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie roared: “Let go! Or I’ll break your legs!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I won’t let go! Kill me if you must—I won’t release you!” Xu Pan didn’t care—he’d rather die trying to stop his father’s suicide than live to face ruin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie raised his cane high—but did not strike. He slumped: “Fine, fine—I won’t go. Let go.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His son’s desperate pleas had finally softened Xu Jie’s hardened heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan helped his father sit, poured him tea, then knelt and kowtowed: “Father, I dare not speak of your faults, but I am unfilial for blocking you. If you go, our entire Xu family is finished.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In Jiajing forty-one, Yan Shifan was sentenced to exile. He refused to go, returned to his hometown to indulge in wine, women, and revelry—and only after a censor reported him was he executed in Jiajing forty-four.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father, the court has ordered us to return the land—and granted us dignity. If we refuse this final dignity, we’ll have nothing left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie tapped his cane on Xu Pan’s shoulder: “Stand up and speak.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie sighed heavily, his eyes gleaming with resentment. He gripped his cane: “Son, my greatest skill in life has been patience. I endured for over twenty years in court—bit by bit, I plotted, persuaded, slowly shaped the Emperor’s view of Yan Song as a villain. After twenty years, I finally seized my chance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan rose cautiously and whispered: “Father, wasn’t it Yan Shifan’s bribe to the Prince’s Mansion that exposed Yan’s corruption? Without that, wouldn’t the Yan faction have survived?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems, in every way, that Yan Song and Yan Shifan brought their own ruin upon themselves.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You! Traitorous son! Kneel!” Xu Jie’s fury surged—he couldn’t believe he’d fathered such a son!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled his own achievements—and this traitor kept undermining them!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father, the Yan faction’s fall wasn’t solely your doing. Credit belongs to Yan Shifan’s own arrogance—that’s the truth. Father, the past is past. You’re not as powerful as you think.” Xu Pan did not kneel; his tone was grave, his words heavier: he had served in court—he knew the facts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had to shatter his father’s illusion of invincibility—otherwise, Xu Jie would drag the entire Xu family straight to hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie no longer governed. Power was gone. One thing remained: the silver seized from Yan Song and Yan Shifan’s corruption—still unreturned to the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Emperor Jiajing questioned Xu Jie about the confiscated wealth, Xu Jie claimed it had been used for border supplies. But where did the money truly go? If the court pressed the matter, could Xu Jie withstand interrogation?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially now—the young Emperor was completely under Zhang Juzheng’s influence!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie was furious—his own son compared him to Yan Song, calling him the villain!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was his own son, his eldest. He couldn’t kill him. Xu Jie waved his hand: “Do you know why I’m desperate? I’m sixty-seven. Zhang Juzheng is forty-eight. I can’t outlive him. I outlasted Yan Song—can I outlast Zhang Juzheng?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My greatest talent has been patience. Why am I desperate now? Isn’t it for you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan fell silent, offering no rebuttal. Xu Jie truly acted for the family—ten thousand mu of fertile land was more than enough for their needs. But sons beget grandsons, grandsons beget sons—endlessly. Would it still be enough?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m not great. Zhang Juzheng isn’t either. Governing isn’t easy. I governed once. Governing isn’t empty talk or endless rhetoric—it’s about rice, oil, salt, and firewood.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If it were easy, I’d have done it already. Why leave it to him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie returned to governance—he believed Zhang Juzheng’s rule was all grand architecture, reckless haste, doomed to collapse without broad support, mere mirage and illusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan fell silent for a moment, then whispered: “Father, who is truly the one lost in abstraction, lacking practical grounding?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If Zhang Juzheng had no practical grounding, merely theorizing, he’d have fallen long ago. Take our family: if he hadn’t understood our methods through practice, how could he have seized the moral high ground and handled this so efficiently? He couldn’t have…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s the current situation? Zhang Juzheng has laid a vast net across court, ready to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys—we’re that chicken. The blood splattered from our slaughter will frighten the monkeys, not provoke rebellion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were many such examples: suppressing the Jin Party’s Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei, hunting down the Xinzhen faction, clearing illegal landholdings in the south, implementing the Kaocheng Law to break the culture of leniency—all were Zhang Juzheng’s practical actions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve read his ‘Theory of Contradictions’?!” Xu Jie’s eyes widened—he sensed his son’s tone was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie studied under Nie Bao, a disciple of Wang Yangming’s school—his entire family followed Mind Learning. To Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng’s “Theory of Contradictions” was worthless nonsense, heretical blasphemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Xu Jie had read every word of it—and afterward, he became even more certain: Zhang Juzheng was a heretic of Confucianism.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He abandoned mutual argumentation, conflated noble and base, ignored distinctions, and even cast Xu Jie himself as a negative example—utterly intolerable!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan’s expression turned strange: “That was written by the Emperor.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since its publication, the “Theory of Contradictions” had printed over four thousand copies, distributed nationwide. Officials, seeing the Emperor’s name, had copies made for circulating news sheets. Bookshops sold a few copies—but sales stalled, and no one printed it again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until a genius bookseller from the Southern Court published it under the title “Imperial Tutor’s Lectures at the Wenhua Hall,” featuring transcripts of the Imperial Tutor teaching the Emperor—this book instantly became a sensation!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It became wildly popular, uncontrollably popular; within days, every bookseller in the Southern Court rushed to carve woodblocks, and nearly every major publisher had its own copy of the “Contradiction Discourse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Emperor was distant, secluded behind nine layers of palace walls; even his plowshare was made of gold. What did it look like to teach the Emperor? This sparked intense curiosity, much of it coming from parents desperate to see their sons become dragons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The genius bookseller fully unleashed the terrifying spending power of these parents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The manuscript of the Grand Secretary and Imperial Tutor lecturing the Emperor—how precious it must be! One simply had to read it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially the finely carved editions printed by the Southern Court’s Imperial Estate were of the highest quality and sold the most widely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the Southern Court’s Imperial Estate held an advantage no other publisher possessed: information asymmetry. By adding amusing anecdotes from imperial audiences to their printed copies, they instantly outshone all other publishers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The genius bookseller who promoted the “Imperial Tutor’s Wenhua Hall Lectures” was Zhang Jin, the adopted son of Feng Bao, dispatched to the Southern Court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The same Zhang Jin who had failed to act boldly at Yuegang and lost the prestigious land-return assignment in Songjiang under Xu Jie—now he had secured another post: eunuch supervisor of military preparedness in Nanjing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eunuchs don’t play by rules. The “Contradiction Discourse” was printed by imperial decree; they dared not seize it. But they would rage if another publisher dared to insert anecdotes found only in the Imperial Estate’s version.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To casually publish interpretations of His Majesty’s words and deeds—what are you trying to do?! Rebel?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Southern Court was the place with the most literati. In just a few months, Zhang Jin made a fortune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan said to his father: “Father, you’ve read the ‘Contradiction Discourse.’ You know it wasn’t written solely by Zhang Juzheng. From the lines themselves, one can see the Emperor is reasonable—he, with the purity of a newborn’s heart and unblemished essence, shattered the confusion of the Grand Secretary and Minister of Personnel, and synthesized these insights.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A newborn’s heart, unblemished essence”—these were the highest moral states Confucianism revered: the innate goodness of human nature at birth, the purest, most untainted essence described in “Nature is similar, habits diverge.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie was a jinshi; he could instantly tell who truly dominated the text. That Zhang Juzheng, as Imperial Tutor, answered questions rooted in “newborn’s heart, unblemished essence” so perfectly proved his scholarly brilliance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, Zhang Juzheng is a genius!” Xu Jie gritted his teeth and admitted Zhang Juzheng’s scholarly achievement!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan continued: “Father, a gentleman is defined by position—he who governs others is a gentleman; he is also defined by virtue—he who possesses virtue is a gentleman. In truth, they mean the same thing: one who governs himself is a gentleman; one who governs others is a gentleman. Clearly, Zhang Juzheng is a gentleman by both position and virtue.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So you’re saying I’m a villain!” Xu Jie raised his cane and struck Xu Pan once—not hard, but he was furious. Xu Pan was speaking in sarcasm, indirectly accusing Xu Jie of being a villain—by position and by virtue, a villain!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The worst part? Xu Jie had no rebuttal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie pounded his cane repeatedly, enraged: “So what if he’s talented? So what if he’s a gentleman!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even if he’s brilliant, by alienating the gentry and powerful, he’s made them his enemies. What does Zhang Juzheng have to fight them with? The gentry and powerful need only act—say, by inciting unrest among tenant farmers and vagrants. Once rebellion erupts, the court will hold Zhang Juzheng accountable. Can he, no matter how capable, clean up this mess?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He cannot!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan paused, then said: “Father, I am unfilial, but how can you think you’ve seen what Zhang Juzheng hasn’t? Could it be that Zhang Juzheng is waiting—for us to cause chaos?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father, don’t strike! Let me explain!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Xu Jie raise his cane again, Xu Pan leapt back, gripping a chair: “Father, let me begin with the Single Whip Law. It consolidates all land taxes and corvée labor across prefectures and counties into one system, levied according to land area—who owns the land, pays the tax.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why, then, do the gentry and powerful not further squeeze the lower classes to fill their own deficits? Why let the court plunder them so openly?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because the powerful gentry know they’ve squeezed to the extreme—to the point of draining the pond dry. They’ve squeezed until fields lie fallow, until tenant farmers and vagrants prefer the lowest trades. Further squeezing will break the common people.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If we squeeze further and rebellion truly breaks out, I don’t know when the Emperor will punish Zhang Juzheng—but the starving peasants will storm our homes and smash our skulls with their hoes!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhang Juzheng is probably waiting for rebellion—so the people can kill those he cannot kill himself!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhang Juzheng has done every evil deed! He is treacherous and cunning, Father—we are no match for him!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Jie stared at Xu Pan in disbelief, then roared: “Never read the ‘Contradiction Discourse’ again! Look at the nonsense you’ve drawn from it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan did not retreat—he grew even more urgent: “If the gentry are the spear, the common people are the shield. We’ve nearly drained the shield dry. If we finally break it, the gentry become the shield—and the common people become the sharpest spear in the world, tearing everything apart and starting anew.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Carrying yin while embracing yang, carrying yang while embracing yin—through the blending of qi, harmony arises. Yin is yang, yang is yin; the spear is the shield, the shield is the spear. Father, you are a man of reason. Is not the endless principle of all things under heaven precisely this cycle of reversal?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Han replaced Qin, Tang succeeded Sui, Yuan destroyed Song, Ming supplanted Yuan—these are the great contradictions, inevitable outcomes of irreconcilable tension—and also the necessary resolutions of that tension!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan argued with Xu Jie, holding the “Contradiction Discourse”—and truly left Xu Jie stunned. Zhang Juzheng’s “Contradiction Discourse” was a farce of cosmic proportions; it seemed to explain everything!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng even sought to overturn the Mandate of Heaven’s cycle, constructing an entirely new explanatory framework.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhang Juzheng deserves to die!” Xu Jie could bear no more. He rose abruptly, unable to argue further, and strode toward the inner chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan exhaled, brushed his sleeves, and pulled out a copy of the “Contradiction Discourse.” He said with relief: “Master Zhang has truly saved our family.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without this book, Xu Pan might never have persuaded his stubborn father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan walked toward his courtyard, while Xu Jie peeked from behind a screen. Once Xu Pan was gone, he took several servants and headed to the poetry gathering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan could hold him back for now—but for life? Xu Jie was his father. He would go. How could Xu Pan stop him? Chain his own father in his room?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master! Young Master had barely left when Master took a sedan and headed straight for the poetry gathering!” A servant rushed in, panicked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan’s vision darkened—he nearly fainted. He’d said everything! His father had no reply—why was he so stubborn?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Pan immediately chased after him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This poetry gathering was not about poetry—it was a meeting to strategize.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Xu Jie arrived, everyone rose instantly to greet him. Many had assumed he wouldn’t come—Zhang Juzheng had already been generous to the Xu family, granting them every courtesy and dignity. For Xu Jie to stir trouble now would seem ungrateful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Xu Jie had come—and now the gathering had its anchor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Grand Secretary Xu! You’ve finally arrived! Without you, this gathering is like a necklace without its central pearl—how can we proceed?” Shen Changming bowed deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sit, sit, everyone—sit! I’m no longer in office. No need for formality.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Huating Shen clan, also called the Great Stone Shen, was a family steeped in poetry, books, rites, and music. During the Yongle reign, Shen Du and Shen Can, ancestors of the clan, successively became jinshi. Their “Taige style” calligraphy was so exquisite it became the official examination script of the Great Ming—a form of regular script characterized by jet-black ink, square, uniform strokes, and even size, as if printed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Shen family had served as officials for generations. Three generations back, for example, Shen Huai, a clerk in the Yunnan Surveillance Commission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also attending were the Kunshan Gu clan—a family of ancient wealth and luxury in Suzhou, masters of painting and brushwork, with deep scholarly roots. The Gu clan was one of the great eastern Jiang families, tracing lineage to Gu Yong, Chancellor of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms. Alongside the Zhu, Zhang, and Lu clans, they were one of the Four Great Families of Jiangdong, with profound heritage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Generations of officials: Gu Ji, jinshi of the 12th year of Zhengde, Censor of the Criminal Department; Gu Qin, jinshi of the 16th year of Zhengde, Assistant Surveillance Commissioner of Guangzhou; Gu Zhangzhi, jinshi of the 32nd year of Jiajing, now Minister of the Nanjing Imperial Sacrificial Bureau and concurrently Prefect of Yingtian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhangzhi’s son, Gu Shaofang, had already passed the provincial examination. After this gathering, he would travel to the capital to sit for the jinshi exam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Huating Xu, Great Stone Shen, and Kunshan Gu clans were intermarried: Xu Jie had married a Shen woman; his biological mother was from the Kunshan Gu clan; his daughter had married Gu Jiuxi of the Gu clan. This was an intimate, deeply entwined kinship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking around, most of the gentry shared this background: ancestors who served, relatives still in office. Together, this alliance was a force that even the Emperor had to respect. What right did Zhang Juzheng have to suppress these gentry, force them to return the land they’d seized?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What was Zhang Juzheng? A military household man whose boots still had mud on them. How dare he fight them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What irritated Xu Jie was that the most discussed topics at the gathering were Yu Dayou’s three-day conquest of eighteen fortresses—glorious—and Zhang Juzheng’s “Contradiction Discourse”—profoundly insightful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neither topic was one Xu Jie wished to hear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Changming rose, signaling silence, and spoke: “Gentlemen, let’s speak plainly. The court has resolved to investigate land encroachment—and has even listed the exact plots: 700,000 mu! This is cutting out our hearts, digging up our kidneys, trying to kill us!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Zhangzhi, Prefect of Yingtian, had leaked the official confirmation to Kunshan, sparking this gathering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Constantly praising Yu Dayou’s victories and Zhang Juzheng’s “Contradiction Discourse” was demoralizing—it only emboldened the enemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The assembled gentry understood the court’s strength clearly—but they would defend their means of production. Those 700,000 mu were their lives, their ancestral wealth. How could they surrender them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng wanted to seize their land. They would never agree so easily!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shen Changming corrected the gathering’s dangerous tone—refocusing it on the real issue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What solutions do you propose?” Shen Changming asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Shaofang, son of Prefect Gu Zhangzhi and a juren, spoke: “This matter is simple. What does the Suzhou-Songjiang region lack most?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the saying goes: “Good words cannot save a man doomed to die; mercy cannot rescue one who chooses self-destruction. *Slap!* To know what happens next, listen to the next chapter. Thank you to ‘19-year-old Middle School Syndrome’ for 1500 points of support. Thank you for your recognition. Please vote for monthly tickets! Awooooo!!!”\u003C\u002Fp>",4563,"2026-06-21T07:55:54.218Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","77296d22bfbc85fac57c3b5a074cd3e2be399ee6cf8f420058790d0eb5f2faf9","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-94","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-92",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-cover.jpg"]