Chapter 126: Liu Ruoyu, Your Name Shall Be Engraved in History (Today's Update: 7k

Inside the duty room of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the atmosphere grew heavy for a moment.

The Emperor's reprimand of Zheng Zhihui and his kill-order against anyone leaking palace secrets were still ringing in their ears.

The matter had been settled, yet the Emperor still had not risen to leave.

No one could guess what the Emperor was thinking at that moment.

Zhu Youjian took in every expression before him, but did not speak at once.

His gaze wandered, as if by chance, between Cao Huachun and Liu Ruoyu.

In truth, there was still one task he had not yet assigned.

In a sense, it was also an enormous reward.

To whom should he give it?

Zhu Youjian stroked the short whiskers on his chin, his eyes unconsciously settling on the bluish stubble of Liu Ruoyu.

Forget it, forget it — I'll give it to you after all.

In this life, you probably won't have the chance to write that blood-and-tear-stained "Zhuozhong Zhi" again.

So I shall make it up to you with something sufficient to ensure your name is engraved in history.

His mind made up, Zhu Youjian spoke directly.

"Cao Huachun."

Zhu Youjian called Cao Huachun's name first.

Cao Huachun tensed and hurriedly bowed. "This slave is here."

"It was just decided that the eunuch corps and the palace attendants must all undertake crash courses in literacy and numeracy over these three months," Zhu Youjian said, his tone quite flat. "All told, there must be over ten thousand of them. Among that number, those who cannot recognize a single character are likely not few."

"To teach them, we certainly cannot have instructors teach them one by one. For efficiency's sake, we can only group them into classes of a hundred, or even two hundred. But if we do that, the effectiveness of instruction will likely be barely satisfactory."

Listening to the Emperor's words, Cao Huachun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had thought of this the moment he received the order, but had not dared to open his mouth and refute His Majesty's command.

Now that His Majesty himself recognized the difficulty of the matter, things were much easier.

He was just about to follow up with a few polite remarks when he saw the Emperor's finger point at another person.

"Liu Ruoyu."

"This slave is here!" Liu Ruoyu's heart leapt, and he hurriedly answered.

"I have a method that may resolve this predicament."

"I shall leave this matter to you."

As he spoke, Zhu Youjian took up brush and ink from the desk and wrote four characters on the paper.

"One, because, at, want."

He beckoned, signaling the three men to come closer.

"Come, take a look. Do these characters share any similarities?"

Gao Shiming, Cao Huachun, and Liu Ruoyu hurriedly crowded forward, their eyes all falling upon that sheet of paper.

The shape of the characters? The strokes?

No.

The matters they referred to?

Even less related.

All three sank into thought, and the duty room fell silent save for their cautious breathing.

Gao Shiming, being the seal-holder of the Directorate of Ceremonial after all, had the sharpest mind. He silently recited the four characters several times, then suddenly let out an "Oh!"

"Your Majesty... their pronunciation..."

Zhu Youjian nodded approvingly. "Correct — it is precisely their pronunciation."

He extended a finger and tapped the four characters.

"In the Great Ming today, to determine a character's pronunciation, one uses the fanqie method."

"For example, '一' is '于悉切' — taking '于' as the upper character (the initial consonant) and '悉' as the lower character (the final and tone)."

"Yet this method is, in the end, inconvenient. Four hundred upper characters, one thousand lower characters — to distinguish a sound, one must first learn fourteen hundred characters. How inconvenient that is!"

"Why not simply split this pronunciation into three parts: initial, final, and tone?"

Zhu Youjian's voice was not loud, but to the three men's ears, it was no less than a sudden clap of thunder on level ground.

"Of all the characters under heaven, the initials number only a few dozen, the finals only a few dozen. As for tones, they are merely the eight yin and yang tones of level, rising, departing, and entering."

"The Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, three gives birth to the ten thousand things. These initials, finals, and tones — they are that 'three.' The pronunciation of every character under heaven can be born from them!"

The three men were all stunned for a moment, as if countless fireworks had exploded within their minds.

Gao Shiming was the first to react. The shock on his face was impossible to conceal, and he exclaimed in admiration, "Your Majesty is divinely wise! This method... this method is truly unheard of, yet so brilliantly concise! If it can truly be realized, a student need only first learn these mere hundred-odd initial and final categories, and then every character in the realm can be read aloud by its sound!"

Zhu Youjian inclined his head slightly. This was precisely the effect he wanted.

"Liu Ruoyu." He looked at Liu Ruoyu again. "Go and systematize this method, compile it into a volume. Then select one thousand characters of daily, common use, and annotate each one with its sound using this method."

"In this way, once one has mastered this method of initials and finals, a student can even teach themselves to read. The matter of literacy and numeracy within the palace will achieve twice the result with half the effort."

He paused, and his tone grew weightier.

"Set about doing it. For the first edition, do not seek exhaustive perfection — so long as it is usable, that will suffice. It can be gradually improved later."

"When it is finally settled, I shall personally issue an edict to have it engraved and printed throughout the realm. Even the title... I have already thought of it."

Zhu Youjian looked at Liu Ruoyu and spoke, enunciating each word. "It shall be called the 'Yongchang Pinyin.'"

"And you, Liu Ruoyu, shall be the chief editor of this work."

Liu Ruoyu felt his head buzz, his entire mind going blank.

Chief editor? The "Yongchang Pinyin"? Engraved and printed throughout the realm?

Those few words struck him like a thunderbolt, making the world spin around him until he could barely stand.

What kind of achievement was this? This was a deed that would make one's name resound through the ages!

He dropped to his knees with a thud, his voice shaking violently with agitation: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! This is a heaven-spanning, earth-weaving undertaking — this slave... this slave has rendered nothing more than the labor of a dog or a horse. What virtue or ability does he possess to shoulder such a great charge! The chief editorship of this book belongs to Your Majesty alone!"

Zhu Youjian shook his head and spoke.

"If I tell you to do it, then do it. I possess all within the four seas — must I still covet the merit of a subject?"

At these words, not only Liu Ruoyu, but even Cao Huachun and Gao Shiming beside him felt their hearts quake violently.

Only in this moment did they truly realize exactly what kind of epoch-making, immortal achievement the Emperor had just laid before them — one sufficient to drive any scholar to madness.

Even with Gao Shiming's detached and indifferent temperament, the look he now directed at Liu Ruoyu could not suppress a trace of envy that was difficult to conceal — even jealousy.

Zhu Youjian took it all in, but said nothing more.

This was precisely the effect he wanted.

"Since the matter is settled, let each of you go and set to work with all speed."

Zhu Youjian rose to his feet and flicked his sleeves. "I am weary. Return to the palace."

With that, he strode toward the door.

Cao Huachun and Liu Ruoyu hurried after him, escorting him all the way to the gate of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Zhu Youjian swung himself onto his horse. Behind him, the eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Inner Palace School, high and low alike, knelt covering the ground — a dense, dark mass.

He did not spur his horse at once, but reined in the bridle and raised his head to gaze at the sky.

After a long silence, Zhu Youjian suddenly smiled.

He turned in the saddle and looked down upon the kneeling crowd below.

"When I ascended the throne, I said to you: be loyal, let nothing be kept from your sovereign; obey the law, keep scrupulously to your stipends, and do not stretch out your hands where they do not belong."

His voice drifted somewhat in the wind.

"Then, in turn, what shall I give you? Those words — it seems I forgot to speak them then."

Before the gate of the Directorate of Ceremonial, a deathly silence reigned. Every ear pricked up.

Zhu Youjian swept his gaze over the crowd, his eyes blazing like torches, and slowly spoke.

"The first: authority."

"Those who can do the work, who do it earnestly, who do it steadfastly — a future naturally awaits you. The seats of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the seats of the Twelve Directorates of the Inner Court — they all sit there, plain to see."

Below, the eyes of the attendant eunuchs and brush-holding eunuchs instantly turned fervent.

Zhu Youjian continued.

"The second: wealth."

"The dynasty is now in decline, and money is needed everywhere. For the moment, I cannot produce lavish rewards. But once the national situation improves, increased salaries and greater bounties will not be stinted. I dare not say I can make you as rich as princes and marquises, but I can certainly ensure you enjoy your later years in comfort. And should you truly render service beyond all measure — a hundred gold, a thousand gold, even ten thousand gold — why would I begrudge such rewards?"

Among the crowd, those young eunuchs who had only recently entered the palace and still harbored dreams of the future felt fire kindle in their eyes.

"And the third..."

Zhu Youjian's voice paused. He raised his riding crop and pointed it, lightly and vaguely, in the direction of Liu Ruoyu and Cao Huachun.

"... is this: renown."

"The Yongchang Pinyin is only a beginning. Within my breast, there are still countless great undertakings to accomplish. So long as you apply your hearts to the work and keep pace closely, even if not every man among you can leave his name in the histories, you will surely not have lived this life in vain."

He drew back his riding crop and swept his gaze one last time over the faces below — some agitated, some fanatical, some awestruck.

"Do your work well."

"And do not let yourselves be left behind by me!"

The instant the words fell, Zhu Youjian lashed out fiercely with his riding crop.

"Hyah!"

The fine horse gave a long neigh, its four hooves churning, and shot forth like a black bolt of lightning toward the direction of Qianqing Palace.

His personal attendants and guards immediately spurred their horses to follow. The thunder of hoofbeats boomed and swiftly faded into the distance.

Left behind before the gate of the Directorate of Ceremonial were only the eunuchs kneeling upon the ground, and the sky — heavy, about to fall, yet never once letting fall a single drop of rain.