Chapter 118: The Original Core of the Secretariat

The three men stood beneath the side eaves of Qianqing Palace, quietly awaiting their summons.

Qi Xinxiao had a keen mind; with only a moment's reflection, he understood why His Majesty had summoned all three of them together today.

Ni Yuanlu wished to reconcile the School of Mind and the School of Principle.

Wu Kongjia was clearly the one who had proposed the Yongjia School.

And he himself had put forward the theory of Lord Wang's Jing Learning.

It seemed that during the Daily Lecture, though His Majesty had said he would not judge right or wrong, his inner inclination was already plain to see.

The School of Principle, the School of Mind… His Majesty likely looked favorably on neither.

So it truly was the Legalist School?

At this thought, Qi Xinxiao's brow furrowed involuntarily. Pushing Legalism now would probably meet with considerable resistance.

The bronze bells at the palace eaves hung motionless in the breeze; only the distant, sporadic shrilling of autumn cicadas reached them, making this place feel all the more solemn and austere.

It was only then that Qi Xinxiao noticed Wu Kongjia beside him seemed somewhat ill at ease.

He then realized that faint sounds of deliberation were drifting out from within the hall, though too indistinct to make out clearly.

So Brother Yuanhui has been eavesdropping at the wall.

But before he could concentrate and listen further, the young eunuch who had led them in earlier hurried back out of the hall, bowed, and said, "My lords, His Majesty bids you enter at once."

All three felt a jolt of apprehension. Not daring to delay, they hastily straightened their robes and caps and followed the young eunuch over the high threshold.

This was the first time in their lives they had set foot in the Emperor's bedchamber.

Yet the moment they entered the hall, the sight before them made them freeze.

Standing in the hall was an odd assemblage.

A tall, broad-shouldered Han General, who should have been on guard outside the hall, now stood solemnly within in full martial attire, his phoenix-crested helmet clamped under his left arm.

Beside him was a scholar wearing a Confucian kerchief and a blue round-collared gown — whether a juren or an Imperial Academy student was unclear — who was speaking to the Emperor upon the throne, his face flushed with fervor.

Upon the throne, Zhu Youjian merely nodded slightly at their entrance, motioning for them to stand to one side, while he himself continued listening attentively to the scholar.

The scholar seemed utterly oblivious to the three additional men in the hall, still impassioned, his voice echoing through the empty chamber.

"Your Majesty! The vogue for gambling and extravagance is therefore nothing but a surface symptom!"

"The root cause of the ennobled houses' decline lies precisely in having no hope of advancement and nothing to occupy them day to day — thus they take horse-racing, cock-fighting, and squandering fortunes as marks of gallantry!"

"Therefore, to curb gambling, one must first regulate the ennobled houses! To regulate the ennobled houses, one must give them tasks to do, let them establish merit, and select them through performance — promoting the capable and demoting the incapable!"

"For any who remain dissolute and debauched, or who are corrupt and harm the people, strip their titles and revoke their patents without the slightest mercy!"

Zhu Youjian listened, nodded noncommittally, and asked further, "But among the ennobled houses today, are there truly any men still fit for use?"

The scholar lifted his head, a surge of spirited vigor radiating from him: "Your Majesty, if the heir by the principal wife is unusable, use a younger son; if the younger son is unusable, use a distant cadet! If even the distant cadets are unusable, then grant noble titles anew for military merit, replacing the old nobility with the new!"

"In all the splendor of the Great Ming, can there truly be any shortage of men willing to fight and lay down their lives?"

Qi Xinxiao and the other two listened with inward astonishment — such talk could hardly be called anything but audacious — and each privately wondered who this man was, to dare speak so boldly before His Majesty.

Zhu Youjian, having heard him out, pondered for a moment, and finally shook his head with a rueful laugh.

"Shouzhong, your temperament is truly too unlike your father's."

At this, the scholar called Shouzhong hesitated, his expression wavering, but in the end he stiffened his neck and said, "That is because he is old, and looks fore and aft before every step! If one wishes to purge the ills of the age, how can one be so timid and hesitant!"

"Ha ha ha ha…" Zhu Youjian let out a peal of bright laughter, but did not pursue the point, merely beckoning to Qi Xinxiao and the other two.

"Come over. You will be working together from now on; you may first exchange names."

He then pointed at the scholar and the Han General and said to Qi Xinxiao's group, "You may also recount the question from today's Daily Lecture to these two gentlemen. What I shall have you do shortly is connected to it."

The several men looked at one another, all somewhat bewildered, but they complied, stepping forward and exchanging names.

The Han General turned first, offered a brief clasped-hand salute to the three, and said in a steady voice, "I am Luo Yangxing, Centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, courtesy name Taihe."

The scholar also turned, cupped his hands toward the three, his expression still tinged with excitement: "I am Zhang Zhiji, courtesy name Shouzhong, currently studying at the Imperial Academy."

Qi Xinxiao and the other two all felt a stir in their hearts.

Luo Yangxing — son of Luo Sigong, Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhang Zhiji — son of Zhang Weixian, the Duke of Ying.

Well, well — so they were two deeply rooted "second-generation officials" of the capital.

Qi Xinxiao likewise cupped his hands in return: "I am Qi Xinxiao, Junior Compiler of the Hanlin Academy."

"I am… Ni Yuanlu."

"I am… Wu Kongjia."

Once the introductions were done, Qi Xinxiao and the other two proceeded to recount the events of the Daily Lecture.

From the debate over "loving the people" versus "renovating the people" in the Great Learning, all the way through "why Confucius chose benevolence," and finally how it all converged on the question "What is the Great Ming's problem today?" — they laid it out in full for the two men.

Zhu Youjian sat to one side, his gaze deep and distant, saying nothing, only quietly observing each man's reaction.

This morning he had been pressed to finish the Daily Lecture, leaving only a hurried glance at the two routine memorials — the Memorial Requesting the Suppression of Bandits in the Capital and the Memorial Requesting the Abolition of Gambling.

Only in the afternoon did he have the time to summon their authors for questioning.

Those two men were precisely Luo Yangxing and Zhang Zhiji.

On closer examination, it was indeed a case of specialized skill and deep family learning.

Luo Yangxing, born of an Embroidered Uniform Guard lineage, knew the affairs of bandits and outlaws in and around the capital like the back of his hand, analyzing them with perfect clarity, down to the exact number of missing men in the Patrol Battalion and where the embezzled monthly pay and provisions flowed.

Zhang Zhiji, son of the Duke of Ying, was no less impressive, laying out with equal clarity the gambling networks and the causes of the prevailing culture within ennobled circles.

One could only say that when such sons of official families set their minds to doing something, they indeed possessed natural advantages that others could scarcely match.

Whether they had the ability to drive reform was yet to be seen, but when it came to gathering and feeding back information, no one indeed knew the lay of the land better than these "local snakes."

Then he looked again at the Hanlin Academy trio.

Breaking free of the old scholastic rut was one aspect; the composition of the team was another consideration.

Ni Yuanlu was close to the Donglin faction, Wu Kongjia was a former adherent of the eunuch faction, and Qi Xinxiao came from commoner stock.

Add Zhang Zhiji's noble lineage and Luo Yangxing's Embroidered Uniform Guard connections, and you basically have a small team with fairly diverse backgrounds.

Later on, gradually bring in more people, balance out the regional and class representation, and slowly it will become his full secretariat staff.

Yes — a secretariat!

Everything succeeds when prepared and fails when left unprepared.

You cannot really wait until affairs pile up before you start building it — regulations, systems, and the selection and training of personnel all require time to prepare.

But before these five can enter this secretariat, they still have to show how well they handle this first little task he has assigned them.

While Zhu Youjian's thoughts raced, the five men in the hall had already reached the most spirited part of their discussion.

Qi Xinxiao was brimming with enthusiasm, though the mask on his face made his voice sound muffled and dull.

Ni Yuanlu had taken over the burden of explanation, spittle flying as he spoke.

Zhang Zhiji listened with intense excitement, clapping his hands in admiration and constantly pressing for details, regretting only that he had not been present at the Daily Lecture.

Wu Kongjia and Luo Yangxing were somewhat alike — both remained silent, merely nodding from time to time.