Chapter 227: You Have No Idea What His Majesty Actually Said

Wu Cheng'en asked the question, and Wu Jiye also looked over with a puzzled expression.

A trace of worry lingered in both their eyes.

In the Wu family's present situation, it was truly hard to say whether they were safe or in danger; any change at all forced them to be cautious.

"Father, there's no need to worry so much," Wu Yanzuo said with a smile. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened today. Since it was the first day of duty, the masters simply went over the subsequent regulations and then dismissed us."

With that, he recounted everything he had experienced that day in full detail — Master Liu's question about aspirations, the training, the grand examination, probationary tenure, promotion, salary, the year-end bonus, and all the rest.

Wu Jiye listened quietly at the side, and understanding gradually dawned on him.

Once Wu Yanzuo had finished speaking, he said, "No wonder — no wonder you were able to think of that word 'profit' —"

"If we say the struggle over people and land, 'together turning back the heavens' is the momentum, then everything you saw today is the 'profit.'"

"In that case, this is the method of guiding things according to their momentum and advantage."

"Elder Brother is absolutely right!" Wu Yanzuo responded at once, his face alight with excitement.

"If it weren't so, I wouldn't have made an immediate decision on the spot and stepped forward on my own."

"At that moment, I felt that these new-policy clerks truly had something worth pursuing."

He paused briefly, then added, "And that year-end bonus in particular — that was the most brilliant stroke!"

"In the past, annual rewards were either spread evenly like rain and dew, with everyone getting a share regardless of merit, or they were entirely at the discretion of the chief official's favor. Though there was so-called reward for merit, it was ultimately vague, and distinctions of closeness and distance were unavoidable."

"Now, with it set so clearly at a fixed number of months' salary and tied to performance evaluations, it is truly uniform and consistent, clear at a single glance, leaving no room in anyone's heart for wishful thinking — all one can do is think about how to handle one's duties well!"

Wu Yanzuo paused, then said gravely, "Father, your son believes that although this method is currently only being implemented among the new-policy clerks, in the future, I fear all clerks under heaven will be subject to it. Even — the hundred officials at court, the military officers on the frontiers, perhaps all will come under this system!"

Wu Jiye, listening beside him, nodded repeatedly. "This is precisely what His Majesty often calls the way of self-cultivation, family regulation, state governance, and bringing peace to all under heaven. It seems this applies not only to the overt new policies in the capital and the Northern Metropolitan Region, but also in these minute details."

As he spoke, he suddenly turned to Wu Cheng'en and said, "Father, this method — perhaps we could also implement it in our Wu family's shops."

Wu Cheng'en had been listening to his two sons' conversation in silence, and now a trace of gratified relief finally showed on his face.

He nodded approvingly. "We can. Jiye, I leave this matter to you. First pick a shop and try it out."

"Yes, Father." Wu Jiye respectfully acknowledged the order.

The atmosphere in the study, having talked through several matters thoroughly, finally relaxed a little.

Wu Yanzuo exchanged a glance with his elder brother Wu Jiye, and at last could not hold back any longer. He voiced the doubt in his heart.

"Father, today I personally attended this clerk training and witnessed these methods of driving men like oxen and horses. Only then did I understand that His Majesty deeply grasps the essence of 'profit,' and I therefore dare to conclude that the new policies are certain to succeed."

"But — what your son and Elder Brother do not understand is this: back then, how did you arrive at that judgment?"

"When the new policies first arose and the winds had not yet clearly shifted, how did you have such boldness of vision to cast Elder Brother, myself, and even our youngest brother, barely fourteen — all three of us brothers — entirely into these new policies?"

He paused, hesitated a moment, then still spoke: "This move seems inconsistent with Father's usual teachings."

"Our Wu family, in truth, had no need to sit down at this gambling table."

As soon as Wu Yanzuo finished, Wu Jiye at his side pressed the question as well: "Yes, Father! That day you entered the palace alone for an audience with His Majesty, and after you returned, you have kept your counsel and remained deeply reticent."

"What exactly did you and His Majesty discuss? What made you resolve so decisively?"

The smile on Wu Cheng'en's face gradually faded. He was silent for a moment, and then it finally turned into a bitter laugh.

"What divine foresight? It was all forced upon me."

He waved a hand, gesturing for his two sons to sit down.

"I didn't tell you before because I feared you would be terrified in your hearts, and that your actions would go astray as a result."

"Now — one of you has become an attendant, the other a new-policy clerk, and the new policies clearly show great promise. I suppose I can indeed tell you now."

Wu Jiye and Wu Yanzuo exchanged a look, and both focused their attention to listen carefully.

Wu Cheng'en's voice grew somewhat low and somber.

"Your father's original name was Wu Huaixiao. Later, because I had climbed onto connections with the palace eunuchs, I changed it to this ingratiating name to avoid the taboo of the late emperor's personal name."

"That was the opportunity by which the Wu family rose, and it is also the source of our present peril."

"Those we were once close with — Li Yongzhen, Cui Chengxiu, and the rest — were all seized in a single stroke."

"As for that Eunuch Wei — that traitor Wei — how much did we donate to his living shrines and Buddhist statues? How much did we contribute? We cannot even count it."

"Now that the winds and clouds have shifted, how could we escape entirely unscathed?"

As he spoke, he looked at Wu Jiye and said, "You manage the family account books. You are also aware of some of the recent troubles in our business."

"A new sovereign brings his own ministers. Your father was driven to the end of his rope, and that was why I thought to donate those twenty thousand taels of silver — to buy a measure of safety."

"After all, if I didn't buy it, who knows — one day the constables from Shuntian Prefecture might come knocking at our door."

"Commercial taxes, commercial taxes — of all the merchants under heaven, whose backside is truly clean? If they really start investigating, wouldn't we be at their mercy, kneaded and molded as they please?"

Both brothers nodded in unison. All this they understood.

It was not that the Wu family had not thought of rebuilding connections, but when it came to sending money, at the Wu family's scale, it was not simply a matter of having money and being able to deliver it.

The new sovereign's purge of part of the eunuch faction, and the definition of those in the new policies as "white crows," had both made the act of sending money exceptionally difficult.

At the very least, this would be the case for these next several months.

Yet, as it happened, these several months were precisely what the Wu family could least afford to lose.

The Wu family had truly reached a dead end, and that was why they personally took the path of donating silver to build roads.

But —

Wu Jiye spoke first. As the eldest son, and moreover the drafter of that fateful official document, the pressure in his heart was the heaviest.

He looked at his father and asked, his voice hoarse, "Father, my brother and I both understand that when you donated silver to build roads, it was truly an act of desperation."

"But — donating silver is one thing. Why did it have to go this far?"

He drew a deep breath and poured out all the confusion and fear in his heart: "You had me write that commercial tax document, laying out all its abuses completely, insisting that every word carry the weight of a thousand jun. Yet the slightest misstep in such a thing could bring calamity as vast as the heavens."

Wu Yanzuo took up his elder brother's thread, his gaze locked just as tightly on his father: "Yes, Father. Elder Brother treads as if on thin ice, and I myself have personally entered the arena, taking the examination for the lowliest clerk and thus stepping into the thick of the new policies' disputes."

"Even — even Jizu, barely fourteen, you have dispatched to Fujian to recruit some sort of barbarian interpreter for His Majesty!"

A tremor crept into his voice as he laid bare the most perilous part of this chess game: "Father, in the past, when we attached ourselves to meritorious nobles and high ministers, even if something went wrong, there was always room to maneuver. It was merely a matter of losing some wealth; we could always find a new patron."

"In this world, there are no officials who don't love money, and no eunuchs who don't covet wealth!"

"If it truly comes to it, abandoning the business and returning to the countryside to live — that would not be impossible either."

"But as things stand now, we have staked the entire Wu family's lives and fortunes upon His Majesty alone! This is clinging to the coattails of the Son of Heaven!"

Wu Jiye hesitated a moment, then finally voiced the deepest fear shared by the two brothers: "Should the imperial will shift one morning, it would be utter ruin beyond redemption — the calamity of a shattered house and an extinguished line!"

Wu Cheng'en sighed deeply and shook his head. "Do you think I, your father, do not know what you are saying? But you do not know what His Majesty actually said to me that day."

He paused, could not resist lifting his teacup for a sip, and steadied his emotions.

"That day, His Majesty summoned me. At first we spoke of business matters — he inquired with extraordinary thoroughness into the sources of various goods, the quantities entering the capital, the categories of taxes,

and even the points where corruption took its cut. That much was manageable; I answered each question in turn."

"Later, His Majesty suddenly brought up the matter of the 780,000 taels of silver the inner court owed our family for the construction of the Three Great Halls during the Tianqi reign."

"Do you know what His Majesty said?"

The two brothers felt their hearts clench. In unison they pressed: "What did he say?"

Even though more than a month had passed, a flash of fear still flickered uncontrollably in Wu Cheng'en's eyes.

"His Majesty said that he would certainly repay this sum — only that he must ask… ask me to wait."

At these words, Wu Jiye and Wu Yanzuo both turned pale with shock!

Wu Jiye, even more agitated, burst out: "Father! You — you did not agree to it, did you?!"

Throughout the Ming dynasty, being renowned for vast wealth had never been a good thing.

The Wu family, unfortunate enough to be famed in the capital for its gold-leaf business, was in an even more perilous position.

Under the Tianqi Emperor it had been manageable, but now a new sovereign had taken the throne, and to dare hold a debt over him — that was simply a path to certain death.

In the Hongzhi reign there was Feng Qian and Wang Tong; in the Wanli reign, Yao Qing; in the Tianqi reign, Wu Yangchun — case after case, every one of them a blood-drenched end!

The Emperor says he will repay the money? Was that truly repayment?

Compared to pulling real gold and silver out of the state treasury to settle a debt, was confiscating a household's property not far quicker!

Once the creditor disappeared, the debt naturally disappeared as well!

"Of course I did not agree!" Wu Cheng'en shook his head, his face full of lingering dread. "I said at once that the state coffers were strained and there was no need to hurry over such a debt. Then on the spot I donated another fifty thousand taels, and I deliberately did not specify its use — that way His Majesty could take it into the privy purse if he wished, or allocate it to the public accounts and treasuries."

Only then did the two brothers exhale in relief together.

But at that moment Wu Cheng'en gave a long, faint sigh, his tone brimming with helplessness.

"However —"

"His Majesty refused it!"

The brothers' hearts rose again. Wu Yanzuo pressed: "His Majesty — did he say why he refused?"

Wu Cheng'en fell silent, for a moment at a loss for how to convey it.

After a pause, he simply rose to his feet, slowly extended one finger, and pointed into empty air — actually imitating on the spot the expression and tone of the Son of Heaven.

"Old Wu, Old Wu — this is you thinking too little of me!"

"What use is wealth? It is but silt and sand that comes, and to silt and sand it returns! Only the hearts of men — that is the true principle!"

"When hearts are united, even Mount Tai can be moved; when hearts are divided, though you possess millions upon millions, it is no more than sand in your palm.

"Watch from now on. If you can trust me, then trust me; if you cannot trust me, then simply go your own way."

Wu Cheng'en finished his performance, let out a long sigh, and slumped back into his chair.

"And then — nothing more. His Majesty would not say another word beyond that, and simply waved his hand to dismiss me."

"Afterwards, that assignment to draft a memorandum on current abuses — that was Eunuch Gao chasing after me to convey it separately."

In the study, a deathly silence fell.

Wu Jiye murmured: "No wonder — no wonder — no wonder Father made such a decisive choice. This truly is being forced to the brink —"

Wu Yanzuo, thinking more deeply, pressed urgently: "So Father, is this the reason you sent Jizu to Fujian?"

"It is." Wu Cheng'en's voice was heavy with exhaustion. "Once His Majesty spoke those words, what else could I do? I could only throw myself in with full force — and gamble!"

"Gamblers, gamblers — nine out of ten bets are lost. Entangling oneself with the imperial house is even more so: the slightest misstep, and it is the calamity of a shattered house and an extinguished line."

"I, Wu Cheng'en, after all these years, am left with only you three sons. Unless driven to the last extreme, how would I ever place you on the gambling table!"

"But whatever happens, the Wu family's incense must never be cut off."

"Jizu is far away in Fujian — on the surface, working for His Majesty; in secret, should the worst —"

He paused, and in the end swallowed the ill-omened words.

Wu Jiye and Wu Yanzuo were silent. Only today did they truly realize the crushing pressure their father had been bearing these past two months.

Wu Cheng'en looked at the two brothers and sighed again. "Be merchants, be merchants — in the end it is no match for being officials. It is a pity that neither of you succeeded in the examinations; otherwise, why would our Wu family face such anxieties today."

The two brothers had no words in reply. Together they rose and bowed deeply to their father, their faces full of shame: "Your unfilial sons."

"Enough. What is done is done; recrimination is useless." Wu Cheng'en waved his hand.

Having learned the terror behind all this, the atmosphere in the room was indeed deeply somber.

This was also why Wu Cheng'en had been unwilling to recount the matter in detail before.

To speak too much of it, when nothing could be changed — more words brought no benefit.

But now that he was willing to speak openly, it was naturally because the situation was gradually becoming clearer.

Wu Cheng'en said: "As for this matter, there is no need to be overly anxious now."

"Watching this new sovereign's conduct all along, the more I observe, the more I feel there is great promise here!"

"Looking at it this way, being forced onto Mount Liang back then may turn out to have been a fortunate misstep!"

"Since we have already stepped up to the gambling table, then let us go all in!"

"Life and death are fated; wealth and rank lie with Heaven. If we do well, perhaps even a Tao Zhugong is within reach!"

Speaking words he himself did not believe, Wu Cheng'en walked over to the desk and spread open a copy of the Great Ming Times.

"This Great Ming Times — the last two issues have produced something rather remarkable. Come, take a look together."

"See if there is any angle in this matter."

The two brothers leaned in close.

What they saw their father pointing at was a newly opened column, titled "Questions of Science," now only in its second issue.

The first issue's question was simple enough — merely asking why a wine sack collapses after the liquid is drained, and why it bulges back up when you blow hard into it.

And by this second issue, it came with a so-called "experiment."

It said to take a porcelain bottle, place a peeled hard-boiled egg at the mouth — the egg will stick at the opening, unable to enter.

But if you light a scrap of paper, drop it into the bottle, then place the egg at the mouth, after a moment the egg will actually be "sucked" into the bottle bit by bit.

So then, why is that? And could it be connected to the matter of the wine sack?

Wu Jiye said hesitantly, "Father, this experiment has been performed quite often in the capital these past few days, and it truly is as the paper says."

"Only — we were just discussing great family affairs. Why suddenly turn to this?"

"The word 'science,' novel as it is, clearly does not belong to the proper path of the examinations. It seems merely some marginal trickery, nothing particularly remarkable."

"Muddle-headed!" Wu Cheng'en shook his head.

"Think carefully — when was the last time His Majesty posed a question in person?"

"It was during the three Daily Lectures! It was the question of the mind! The question of the age!"

"And what came of those questions in the end? They brought forth the struggle between man and land! They brought forth the Yongchang New Policies of self-cultivation, family order, state governance, and world peace!"

"This 'Questions of Science,' using a similar name and printed on the front page of the Great Ming Times — how could it be ordinary child's play! There must be profound meaning in this!"

"Quickly, tell me your thoughts!"

These three men surnamed Wu, sharp and clear-headed in commerce and able to speak passably on the examinations, stared at the two issues of the paper for a long while, yet in the end could not puzzle out a damn thing.

Finally, the three of them were ravenously hungry, their stomachs rumbling like drums, and they had no choice but to give up.

Wu Jiye spoke up: "Father, if we cannot think of it, perhaps others can?"

"Why not post a reward, and let the managers and clerks of every shop in the family have a try? Whoever can solve this question shall be rewarded ten taels of silver."

Wu Cheng'en sighed, then rose helplessly. "Ah, that is all we can do. Come, let us eat first. After the meal, you may issue the reward."

The two brothers rose together and walked with Wu Cheng'en toward the door.

Yet after only a few steps, Wu Yanzuo suddenly halted.

A moment later, he finally seized that flash of inspiration!

"Father! Elder Brother! We have all been thinking about this wrong!"

Wu Cheng'en and Wu Jiye turned back together, their faces full of puzzlement.

Wu Yanzuo's tone was urgent.

"Since we have sat down at the gambling table, we must stake everything!"

"Why must we think of the answer ourselves?"

"Given His Majesty's methods, the moment this question was posed, the answer already exists!"

"What this science is, how the egg falls in — the important thing is not the answer! It is the question itself!"

Wu Yanzuo hurried forward a few steps and caught up with his father and brother.

"What is more important is that His Majesty is interested in this matter!"

"Then what our Wu family must do is not to solve this riddle, but to let His Majesty, let everyone under heaven, see that we are willing to pour all our strength into making His Majesty's 'interest' a reality!"

"In this way, if His Majesty truly values the hearts of men as he has said, how could he ever ignore such a fervent heart hereafter!"

"Excellent!" Wu Cheng'en understood in an instant. He first froze, then burst into a peal of hearty, unrestrained laughter, clapping his hands. "Exactly! Exactly! Yanzuo's words have woken this dreamer with a single cry!"

Wu Jiye too was suddenly enlightened, his face full of excitement. "This attitude — we must show it not only to His Majesty, but to all under heaven! This is the very best strategy to preserve the Wu family!"

Father and sons exchanged a glance. All their anxiety and bewilderment were swept clean away, leaving only the thrill of having found a path to survival.

Wu Jiye stepped forward, his voice trembling with excitement. He looked at his father and spoke: "Father! Since that is so, we must make the greatest show of it! Send word out — post a reward throughout the capital. Say that for whoever can solve this question for His Majesty, our Wu family is willing to reward — one thousand taels of silver!"

As he spoke the words "one thousand taels," even he felt his heart surge.

This was already a sum enormous enough to shake the entire capital!

"No!"

Wu Cheng'en, however, swept his hand sharply and flatly rejected it.

In his eyes burned a flame both mad and lucid.

The force of character forged through decades of rising and falling in the sea of commerce, fighting his way to the present, had returned to him.

"Too small! Your breadth of vision — still too small!"

Wu Cheng'en's gaze blazed like a torch as it swept over his two sons.

"If we are to gamble, then gamble big! Let His Majesty, let the whole court of civil and military officials, let everyone under heaven see just how great the sincerity of our Wu family truly is!"

He drew a deep breath and slowly uttered two words.

"Ten thousand taels!"

"Send my order down!"

"Proclaim it throughout the capital! Whoever can solve this 'Questions of Science' and relieve His Majesty's cares —"

He paused, then spoke word by word, his voice carrying through the courtyard.

"Our Wu family shall reward — ten thousand taels of silver!"