Chapter 119: Does the Land Overcome, or Do the People

Ni Yuanlu finally recounted the entire course of the two Daily Lectures to the two of them, exactly as it had happened.

For a moment, silence fell over the great hall; Zhang Zhiji and Luo Yangxing felt their hearts surge with waves they could not easily calm.

After a brief pause, Zhu Youjian's gentle voice rose again, breaking the stillness.

"We grew up deep within the palace. With idle time and nothing to do, We could only read — yet in those days We had no renowned teacher to guide Us, and so there were always points We could not fully grasp."

"You gentlemen are either jinshi degree-holders well-versed in the classics, or sons of official families thoroughly acquainted with current affairs. Perhaps you can resolve Our doubts."

Ni Yuanlu and the others, hearing this, hurriedly bowed and murmured, "We dare not presume."

Zhu Youjian waved his hand, motioning them to dispense with ceremony, and continued speaking as if to himself:

"In Our idle moments, We once read The Book of Lord Shang."

At these words, Ni Yuanlu's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

The laws of Lord Shang, in the eyes of Confucian scholar-officials, were no different from the arts of tigers and wolves — filled with heretical doctrines that "defied human ethics" and were "harsh and devoid of grace."

For an emperor to read such a book was normal enough, but to speak of it openly still made him uncomfortable.

Zhu Youjian, utterly unconcerned, went on: "The book contains many harsh and severe pronouncements, which We also do not endorse. Yet there is one argument in it that We find rather intriguing."

He paused, cleared his throat, and slowly recited from memory:

"Thus, where the land is narrow and the people are many, the people overcome the land; where the land is broad and the people are few, the land overcomes the people. Where the people overcome the land, devote effort to opening up new land; where the land overcomes the people, devote effort to attracting immigrants."

Zhu Youjian swept his gaze across them: "Do any of you recall this passage?"

Qi Xinxiao pondered for a moment, then was the first to step forward and reply: "Your Majesty, this passage comes from the chapter 'Attracting the People' in The Book of Lord Shang."

"It means that, during the Warring States period, a state with a dense population but scant land should devote itself to expanding its territory outward; whereas a state with broad land but sparse population should devote itself to attracting people from other states."

Ni Yuanlu immediately followed, stepping forward and cupping his hands: "Your Majesty, what Lord Shang spoke of was a strategy for the Warring States. Now that the realm is settled and all within the four seas are united, does this method not seem inapplicable to the present age?"

His words were tactful, but in truth he was reminding the Emperor that the statecraft of Lord Shang was not suited to the present time.

"Mm, Minister Ni speaks truly. We see it the same way."

Zhu Youjian took no offense; instead he nodded in agreement — then abruptly shifted tack.

"Only, this argument about the contest between 'people' and 'land' is genuinely intriguing. And from it, a question arose in Our mind…"

He looked at the five men below the dais, his gaze deep and searching.

"In the Great Ming of today — are we a state where the people overcome, or a state where the land overcomes?"

The moment this question was posed, the several men looked at one another in blank dismay.

The question was far too vast; they were merely young men in officialdom — how could they possibly answer a question that required surveying the entire situation?

Just as everyone remained silent, Wu Kongjia, who had kept his head lowered without speaking, seemed to have figured something out.

He drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and said:

"Your Majesty, this subject does not know the full picture of the Great Ming. May I venture to take my hometown as an example, and offer Your Majesty a glimpse through a tube?"

"Speak," Zhu Youjian nodded in assent.

"This subject hails from She County in Huizhou," Wu Kongjia's voice was steady and clear. "The land of Huizhou is hemmed in on all sides by mountains. Many years ago, it was already a place of many people and little land, where the common folk could hardly survive on farming alone."

"For this reason, many from my hometown went abroad as merchants, using the profits of trade to support their native place. If judged by this argument, my hometown of Huizhou would count as a place where the people overcome."

Zhu Youjian, having heard this, turned his gaze toward Qi Xinxiao and Ni Yuanlu.

Qi Xinxiao understood, stepped forward, and said: "This subject hails from Tongcheng County in Anqing Prefecture."

"Anqing Prefecture lies between the Yangtze and the Huai, its terrain flat, with relatively abundant farmland. In its fundamental character, one might call it a place where the land overcomes."

"However, Anqing has enjoyed peace for a long time, and many migrants from elsewhere have flooded in — among them, people from Jiangxi are the most numerous."

"Over years and months, they have multiplied and flourished, so that now… it has in fact also become a place where the people overcome."

Ni Yuanlu continued: "This subject hails from Shangyu in Zhejiang. The local saying goes, 'five parts mountain, one part water, four parts field' — much like Huizhou, it too is a place where the people overcome. Thus, aside from farming, many of the people engage in trade, and some… go out to sea as well."

Go out to sea…

Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes and silently filed this piece of information away in his mind.

His gaze finally settled on Zhang Zhiji and Luo Yangxing.

Zhang Zhiji was a scion of the merit-nobility, long resident in the capital. He thought for a moment, then replied: "This subject grew up in the metropolitan region, and what I have seen differs from these gentlemen."

"In the environs of the capital, one often sees fields lying waste and villages in ruin; it is no rare thing for the population to have scattered and fled. If we speak solely of the Northern Metropolitan Region, it seems… the land is somewhat more, and the people somewhat fewer."

Luo Yangxing deliberated a moment, then said cautiously: "The Northern Metropolitan Region is indeed as Zhang Zhiji describes."

"However, this subject's ancestral home is in Huguang. I once accompanied my father back to our ancestral village to pay respects. What I saw along the way — the scenes in the north and the south were vastly different."

"There were places desolate and decayed, and there were places bustling and prosperous. By my impression, the flourishing places seemed to be the majority. Yet this was merely what this subject observed while traveling — superficial glimpses, fit only as a reference."

Having heard all five men, Zhu Youjian slowly nodded.

"So it appears that in Our Great Ming realm, some places are already lands where the people overcome, while others are still lands where the land overcomes."

His finger tapped lightly in Qi Xinxiao's direction.

"Yet even a place where the land overcomes will, through the migration and multiplication of people, one day become a place where the people overcome — just as the example of Anqing shows."

He sighed faintly, and his voice took on a trace of inexplicable desolation.

"In that case… how much longer does Our Great Ming have, before the entire realm becomes a place where the people overcome, and not a single inch of land-overcoming territory remains?"

At these words, the air in the warm pavilion seemed to freeze solid in an instant.

The five men present were all outstanding talents, the sharpest minds of this age.

With the conversation having reached this point, they understood almost simultaneously what the Emperor truly meant to say.

A chill crept silently up their spines.

Zhu Youjian gave them no time to ponder. He threw out a second question — a still sharper blade.

"We have also read the Han Feizi, and there too a single sentence seized Our mind."

He looked at them and recited, enunciating each word:

"Now, a man with five sons is not considered to have many; each son in turn has five sons, so that before the grandfather dies, there are twenty-five grandsons."

He paused deliberately, letting the words ferment in their minds, then asked softly:

"After all, We have never fathered a child, so Our view of this argument is not firsthand. We venture to ask you gentlemen — among the common people... is it truly so? Five sons, and then five more?"

The men felt their scalps prickle as a fear unlike any they had known seized them.

This was no classical exegesis, no policy essay — it was a cold, hard arithmetic problem that could be extended without end.

After a moment, it was still Zhang Zhiji who steeled himself and stepped forward. His voice somewhat dry, he said: "In reply... in reply to Your Majesty, among the common people, many children die young. Even if there are five sons, those who survive to adulthood may be only four or five in ten. Perhaps... perhaps it is not so dire."

"Is that so?" Zhu Youjian sighed. "Even if a couple raises only two sons to adulthood, is it no longer dire?"

He extended his fingers and began to reckon.

"At twenty, a couple has two sons. By forty, the two sons have married and there are four grandsons. By sixty, the four grandsons marry in turn and there are eight great-grandsons."

"If this couple lives to sixty, they leave behind two sons, four grandsons, and eight great-grandsons — fourteen persons in all. A household of two, after two generations, becomes fourteen. Is that truly not dire?"

Zhang Zhiji stammered, unable to utter a single word.

The rest of them were likewise speechless.

The reckoning was too simple — so simple it was terrifying.

Another deathly silence fell.

Ni Yuanlu stepped forward again, his face already somewhat pale. "Your Majesty... yet after all there are famines, there are epidemics, there are bandits, there are wars... population growth may be... far slower than imagined."

"Of course." Zhu Youjian nodded, conceding his point — but then came an inescapable counter-question.

"Yet however slow — will it come to a halt?"

"When the dynasty was first founded, the Great Ancestor, the August Emperor, settled the realm's registered households at over sixty million. Now, more than two hundred years later, the registered households are still over sixty million. Do you gentlemen... believe that?"

They were utterly dumbfounded.

The fraud of the Yellow Registers had long been an enormous unspoken lie, tacitly acknowledged throughout the Ming court.

Everyone knew the population had long since surpassed that figure; even men of insight had submitted memorials requesting a new cadastral survey and a true census of able-bodied males — but in the end, it always came to nothing.

Because the matter touched too many interests, and the resistance was too great.

Zhu Youjian's voice grew deeper and more somber.

"As Zhiji and Yangxing said just now, in this present age, our Great Ming still has regions where land surpasses the people."

"But the people multiply, and never cease. Perhaps ten years, perhaps twenty, perhaps forty... a day will surely come when across the ten thousand li of our Great Ming, there will no longer be a single place where land surpasses the people."

"When that day comes — what then?"

Question after question, like heavy hammers, struck hard upon each man's heart.

They felt only cold sweat soaking through their inner garments, yet not one could answer.

Zhu Youjian let out a long sigh and at last rose from behind the imperial desk, slowly pacing down the steps.

He walked before the five men, his gaze like a torch sweeping across their pale faces.

"We have observed the rise and fall of the Han and the Tang. In every case, at the dynasty's founding the population was depleted, and a hundred undertakings awaited revival."

"Then the founding sovereign was wise and able, the people rested and recovered, and the population gradually reached its peak."

"And after that peak came decline — whether through famine and popular revolt, or foreign invasion, or regional insurrection."

"And so a glorious dynasty, with a thunderous crash, toppled into ruin."

"When the new dynasty was established, the realm was again nine houses in ten standing empty, the population once more depleted. Nurtured for several centuries, it entered this cycle anew..."

His speech grew faster and faster, his gaze sharper and sharper.

"Then is the decline of a dynasty truly a matter of official corruption? Of foreign tribes grown powerful? Of regional insurrection?"

"Or is its root, in fact, this very struggle between the people and the land?!"

"If it truly is..."

His voice dropped abruptly low, yet carried the weight of a thousand jun, as he asked, pausing between each word:

"This struggle between the people and the land in our Great Ming — to what stage has it come?"

"This Great Ming... how far, in truth, is it from the ruin of the state?!"

"On the day the state falls, how many of the realm's countless millions must die before the next cycle of flourishing can begin?!"

Within the great hall, a deathlike silence.

Wu Kongjia's lips trembled. He hesitated a long while, then finally stepped forward and spoke, his voice hoarse.

"Your Majesty... perhaps... perhaps the matter is not so dreadful. The principle of people and land is indeed so, yet... yet the common people have their own methods..."

As if he had exhausted all his strength, he rasped: "Only... such methods wound the harmony of Heaven..."

Zhu Youjian's gaze rested calmly upon him. "You speak of... abandoning infants?"

At these words, the other four men's eyes flew wide open, and they stared at Wu Kongjia in disbelief.

Wu Kongjia's body shuddered violently. He nodded with difficulty.

"Precisely... precisely so."

He cupped his hands and said: "This subject resides in She County. A river runs through the county seat."

"In every year of famine, infants come floating downstream... in great numbers. Though now and then a kind-hearted household fishes them out and raises them, that is no more than saving one in a hundred."

"If it is so..." He raised his head, his eyes full of anguish. "If the common people use such means to dissolve the problem themselves... perhaps... perhaps it may not reach the stage Your Majesty speaks of."

The men felt a chill surge from the soles of their feet straight to the crowns of their heads. They looked together at Zhu Youjian, searching that young emperor's face for the faintest trace of emotion.

In Ni Yuanlu's eyes, there was even a hint of entreaty.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian only slowly, firmly shook his head.

His voice carried a note of pity — and of finality.

"But if a nation must rely on its own people drowning their own infants with their own hands, merely to sustain a so-called eternal reign of ten thousand autumns and ten thousand generations —"

"Does such a nation truly deserve an eternal reign of ten thousand autumns and ten thousand generations?"

"Does such a nation truly deserve to speak of 'establishing the heart for Heaven and Earth, securing the destiny for the common people' — does it still deserve to speak of the Way of Confucius and Mencius?"

Wu Kongjia, hearing this, also let out a long, deep breath, as if a thousand-jin weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He bowed low, his voice choked with emotion: "Your Majesty is sagely wise. This petty subject… this petty subject spoke out of turn."

At that moment, Qi Xinxiao, who had been silent for a while, suddenly raised his head, a startling brilliance bursting from his eyes. He stepped forward and asked urgently:

"Your Majesty! This 'dispute between the people and the land' — does Your Majesty already have a solution in mind?!"

Everyone's hearts tightened, and all gazes instantly converged on Zhu Youjian.

Faced with his ministers' expectant looks, Zhu Youjian, however, smiled wryly and shook his head.

He looked at the people before him and said slowly:

"We have also said that when We were at the Prince Xin Residence, We merely read books from time to time, without the guidance of renowned masters."

"So, why did We read these things that you all find so strange and peculiar?"

The few men held their breath and focused intently, listening.

Zhu Youjian enunciated each word: "It was nothing more than the four words 'seek truth from facts.'"

"Therefore, Minister Qi, this question of yours is truly premature."

"To ask whether this matter has a solution, one must first ask whether this matter is true."

"This, then, is the real reason We summoned you all here today."

As his words fell, he turned his head and signaled to Gao Shiming, who stood waiting at one side.

Gao Shiming bowed in acknowledgment of the order and, from a tray at his side, handed several pre-prepared booklets to the five men.

The five men hurriedly received them and lowered their eyes to look.

On the cover of the booklet, in proper regular script, was written a line of bold, eye-catching characters—

An Investigation into the Rate of Population Growth — Using the Capital Region as an Example

Zhu Youjian's voice rang out again, carrying an authority that brooked no doubt.

"Go, examine these carefully, and discuss them thoroughly. Our requirements are all written within the booklet."

"In ten days, the Daily Lecture will reconvene. What We hope to see is a solid, substantial result that can tell Us the truth."

His tone grew deep and drawn out.

"Do this well…"

"Perhaps, in the process of clarifying the problem, you yourselves may also glimpse the answer to this difficult question?"

Having said this, he spoke no more.

He turned, and swept his sleeve.

"You are dismissed. We await your good results."

The men exchanged glances, seeing deep shock and bewilderment reflected in each other's eyes.

Not daring to ask further, they could only bow in salute and slowly withdraw.

By the time the five men stepped out of the warm pavilion, the sky outside the hall had already grown dusky.

The palace attendants had long since lit the lanterns beneath the corridors one by one, casting a warm and hazy light in the twilight.

Ni Yuanlu was the most impatient of the five.

The moment he stepped out of the hall doors, he could not wait to open the booklet in his hands.

By the light of the lanterns, he skimmed through it rapidly, taking in ten lines at a glance.

Very soon, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt, and his whole body froze on the spot.

He drew a sharp breath and cried out involuntarily:

"Hiss—?! This… this… how could this possibly be done?!"