Chapter 251: Zhu Youjian Forced to Take a Holiday (Monthly Tickets, Come On~)

Most of the time, Zhu Youjian cared a great deal about his credibility.

But at certain moments, he did not care in the slightest.

It was, admittedly, a touch of the unconstrained hero.

But no matter — if he did not care, there were others who would care on his behalf.

After the twenty-fourth, when Zhu Youjian deployed the "last time" gambit for the eighth time, his credit with Gao Shiming finally went completely bankrupt.

The sky was barely light, and the early-morning chill of the capital bit to the bone.

Zhu Youjian rose early as usual, washed and dressed, and prepared to head to the Valiant Guard Camp to inspect it.

The Collected Statutes of the Great Ming stipulated that in the depths of winter, all drill and training matters were to proceed only through the end of the eleventh month.

Once the eleventh month had passed, troops were mustered only once every ten days, and drilling ceased.

Which meant that in just a few more days, the Valiant Guard Camp would collectively go on winter break.

But a winter break had its own ways of being grueling, and all of that needed Zhu Youjian to arrange it step by step.

At the officer level, they had to try out the embryonic version of the wargame that Sun Chuanting had tinkered together, and see how to advance and refine it.

The Platoon Officers and File Leaders at the bottom would be made to follow the embryonic version of the Yongchang Pinyin that Liu Ruoyu had compiled, to further strengthen their literacy studies, and along the way, also memorize a bit of the embryonic version of the military drill manual.

Right — everything above was an embryonic version… This Valiant Guard Camp was the guinea pig.

In short, either the body or the brain had to be on the march.

As Zhu Youjian turned these many matters to be arranged over in his mind, he hurried toward the long corridor on the west side.

Yet just as he emerged from this corridor, he halted his steps.

There he saw the Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji, already braving the biting wind, standing silently at the intersection where the Hall of Earnestness led to the Valiant Guard Camp.

The old Chief Grand Secretary's crimson official robe stirred faintly in the dawn breeze, his whole figure like a silent stone statue, utterly out of place against the gray-white morning. Zhu Youjian, being a man of the keenest perception, understood the reason almost at once.

He felt a bit helpless, and also a bit amused.

Before he could speak, Huang Liji had already spotted him, meticulously adjusted his robes and cap, and performed a grand salute toward him.

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Zhu Youjian hurried forward two steps and caught him by the arm to raise him up.

"Why must the Chief Grand Secretary do this?" he said. "The morning wind is strong and the dew is heavy — take care you do not catch a chill."

Huang Liji rose with the motion, but that mature, seasoned face remained stern, without the slightest warmth. The moment he opened his mouth, it was the stratagem of a Political Strategist. "Your Majesty — do you intend to betray the trust of all under Heaven?"

Zhu Youjian's urge to debate flared up at once. He was just about to open his mouth and refute with a few classical allusions when, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a thin layer of dew condensed on the wing of Huang Liji's official cap.

In this dry northern winter, for dew to condense at all showed just how long he must have been standing here.

The words he was about to say all jammed up in his throat at once.

Zhu Youjian was silent for a long moment, then asked softly, "At what hour did the Chief Grand Secretary begin waiting here?"

This simple, heartfelt concern threw Huang Liji's rhythm completely into disarray.

Even though he had long grown accustomed to this sage sovereign's mastery of the human heart, Huang Liji still felt a warmth in his chest, and that stern face he had worked so hard to hold rigid nearly crumbled.

Hold it… he absolutely had to hold it…

He struggled to calm the surge of emotion inside him, drew a deep breath of the icy air, and forced himself to keep playing the role of the solitary minister boldly remonstrating to his sovereign's face. He pressed on with his remonstrance. "Your Majesty, do you know…"

Before he could finish, Zhu Youjian did something he had not anticipated in the slightest.

The Emperor directly reached out and lifted the official cap from his head.

Huang Liji's heart jolted in alarm.

Surely not?!

How could the new sovereign's tolerance be so small! The thought had not even finished turning in his mind.

When he saw Zhu Youjian use the cuff of his own dragon robe, with the utmost care, to gently wipe the dew from his official cap clean.

Then, with his own hands, place it back upon his head and straighten it.

"There now, Chief Grand Secretary, say no more."

"With worthy ministers such as this, why must I drive myself so relentlessly? It is I who have been too attached to form."

"Very well. I shall take a day of rest today, then."

The words, flowing like clouds and water. The actions, intimate and natural.

The momentum Huang Liji had accumulated over an entire night was shattered completely in an instant.

He could hold it no longer. That habitual smile could not help but surface on his face again, yet his eyes were filled with nothing but bewilderment.

This is not right…

When sovereign and minister engage in remonstrance, either the persuasion fails, or it goes back and forth for several rounds.

How was it that he had spoken barely a sentence and a half, and the matter was already settled?

He steadied himself, subconsciously adjusted the official cap on his head, and cast a suspicious glance toward Gao Shiming behind the Emperor.

Gao Shiming coughed lightly at just the right moment, stepped forward, and added,

"Your Majesty, betraying the trust of this slave is not the same as betraying the trust of your great ministers…"

Zhu Youjian burst into hearty laughter, his mood seemingly excellent. He simply stretched out both arms, seized the shoulders of the two old men, Huang Liji and Gao Shiming, and pulled them forcefully together into an embrace.

"All right, all right, I understand! I absolutely will not approve a single memorial today, nor arrange a single interview!"

"Unless the sky itself falls, I shall not handle a single matter of governance today — satisfied?"

"Rest! Rest! I am taking a day of rest, all right!"

His tone was light and brisk. Once he finished speaking, he released the two men, turned, and headed back the way he had come.

As he walked, he raised his voice and gave instructions.

"Companion Gao, send word: I will not be going to the Valiant Guard Camp or the Secretariat today."

"That patch of spinach on Rabbit Hill — please ask Old Uncle Gu to look after it for me today."

"Also, all meetings are to be postponed by one day."

A string of crisp, unambiguous orders fell, and only then did Huang Liji and Gao Shiming fully believe that the remonstrance had truly succeeded.

The two men looked at each other, still unable to grasp, for the moment, how the matter had been so simple.

But then they saw Zhu Youjian take a few steps, turn back around, and bow lightly to Huang Liji with clasped hands.

"Chief Grand Secretary, the Great Ming of today I entrust to you."

Huang Liji felt another jolt in his heart — these were words he dared not accept.

He hastily sidestepped to evade the gesture, bowed deeply in return, and his reply was perfectly watertight.

"This subject, together with all the ministers of the Grand Secretariat, all the ministers of the commissions, all the secretaries of the secretariat, and the four hundred and twenty-seven White Crows of the new policies, reverently awaits His Majesty's sacred instructions." Zhu Youjian let out a hearty laugh, unsurprised by the old fox's slippery words.

He shook his head, said nothing more, and walked straight back into the Hall of Earnest Reflection.

Huang Liji stood rooted to the spot for a moment before he fully came back to himself.

This new sovereign's art of winning hearts and minds was growing ever more traceless and effortless, so much so that even a man like him, who had long bobbed upon the waves of officialdom, could not help but feel somewhat shaken.

In any case, the matter was now settled.

He let out a breath of relief, turned to Gao Shiming, and said in a low voice,

"Then shall we proceed according to the protocol we discussed last month? Unless the four Grand Secretaries unanimously deem a matter an urgent necessity requiring His Majesty's attention, everything else is to be deferred until tomorrow?" Gao Shiming nodded and said, "No problem. This protocol was set by His Majesty himself in the first place. Let us do it that way."

Huang Liji hesitated a moment, then added,

"One more thing. I only arrived here to wait just after the beginning of the mao hour; by my reckoning, I stood for barely a little over two ke. But His Majesty seemed to think I had been standing for a very long time." These were words he had no choice but to say.

If he did not make this clear, and the new sovereign later thought he had been deceived, the consequences were more than he could bear.

Gao Shiming shook his head and said, "Rest assured, I will explain."

Only then did Huang Liji set his mind at ease. He cupped his hands in salute, turned, and departed.

On this side, after Gao Shiming entered the great hall, he quietly relayed what Huang Liji had said.

Zhu Youjian, having heard it, merely asked in retort with indifference, "Is two ke not enough?"

That single sentence silenced even Gao Shiming.

In the past, when interviews or meetings ran over, causing the next batch of people to wait two ke or even a full shichen, Zhu Youjian had never thought anything of it. Work was work, after all; enduring a little hardship was simply one's duty.

But now, Huang Liji, nearing sixty, braving the bone-chilling wind and arriving so early to wait, all just to urge him to rest — that had truly touched him somewhat. Only after today's events did he seem to faintly, vaguely sense the flavor of what the ancients called the bond between sovereign and minister.

Under the Confucian system, this thing could not even be adequately summed up by the single word "loyalty."

It was something that mingled one's outlook on life, one's worldview, one's values — something impossible to articulate clearly.

It was also something that he, as a modern man, could understand intellectually, yet could never truly grasp from within.

But this thread of emotion lasted only a moment.

Before long, Zhu Youjian could not help but step back into the emperor's perspective and begin to ponder.

There were still… rather too many old men in the Great Ming court at present.

After the thirteenth year of the Hongwu reign, the rule was set: those above sixty were to be retired from office.

But once power is in hand, how easy is it to let go?

This year, with so many matters just beginning, it could only be left as it was for now.

But starting next year, the old men in the court would still need to be gradually cleared out.

And it could not be done ambiguously; clear lines must be drawn.

This matter, come to think of it, should not meet with too much resistance, because the young always outnumber the old.

Still, it would not hurt to start floating some trial balloons for this in advance.

After a moment of deliberation, he spoke.

"Due to the Wanli era's neglect of governance and the factional strife, many officials in the dynasty today have rather thin service experience. Those with extensive experience in various posts are often quite advanced in years. Sixty is no surprise, seventy is not rare, and there are even those in their eighties or nineties…"

"They toil so hard; We cannot help but feel some distress in Our heart."

"Companion Gao, compile a list and see how many officials above sixty there are at present."

"Then have the Grand Secretariat deliberate: how many extra days of leave per month for those over sixty, how many for those over seventy, and how many for those over eighty or ninety. This matter need not distinguish between new-policy and old-policy officials; so long as one reaches the age, one may enjoy it. Once they have finished deliberating, present it to Us for review."

Granting extra leave seemed like preferential treatment, but in truth it starkly highlighted everyone's age.

This year it would be fine, but as time went on, this leave system would increasingly make the old men stand out, and when the moment came, it would be easy for him to smoothly enforce a strict retirement system.

This was the principle of today's grace becoming tomorrow's blade.

Yet after Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he did not immediately hear a reply.

He raised his head and saw the complicated expression on Gao Shiming's face, and immediately gave an embarrassed laugh.

"Ahem, We could not help but think of state affairs again. Well then, let us discuss this matter tomorrow, haha."

Gao Shiming, however, faced him, bowed deeply with clasped hands, and said, "Your Majesty, there is no need. This verbal decree I shall transmit shortly." Zhu Youjian now grew curious. "What, does this not count as violating the rest order?"

Gao Shiming raised his head and said with a solemn expression, "Your Majesty, when ministers remonstrate to urge rest, it is not to shackle the Son of Heaven, but only to wish that Your Majesty would cherish the dragon body more."

"To the Great Ming, a thousand new policies, ten thousand reforms — none are as important as Your Majesty's dragon body."

"Moreover… in all under Heaven, aside from Your Majesty yourself, who could, and who would dare, confine Your Majesty?"

Hearing these words, Zhu Youjian could barely restrain himself from applauding aloud.

This remonstrance could truly be recorded in the history books.

He shook his head with a smile, did not argue, and simply admitted his fault candidly.

"We are not yet accustomed to it. After resting more often in the future, it will become normal."

"Here is what you shall do: summon all those from the secretariat, the Hanlin Academy, the interns, and the Valiant Guard Camp who are off duty today."

"This afternoon We shall hold a banquet and properly relax."

Zhu Youjian winked and added,

"Rest assured, absolutely no state affairs will be discussed — purely feasting and drinking, haha."

Gao Shiming looked at the mischievous smile on the emperor's face, his heart full of suspicion, but in the end he would not truly oppose this Son of Heaven's command. So he bowed with clasped hands, withdrew, and went to compile the leave rosters from each department.

Zhu Youjian watched him withdraw, stretched comfortably, and for a moment felt a touch of boredom again.

He paced slowly, surveying this "Hall of Earnest Diligence," which could be called cramped even among the many palace halls.

To the left of the throne stood a dozen-odd rows of bookshelves reaching to the rafters, packed densely with official personnel dossiers and critical historical memorials. To the right of the throne were various screens—provincial tax tables for the entire realm, organizational charts that could be shown to outer ministers, and screens displaying all manner of maps. By the walls to the left and right of the entrance, several dozen folding chairs were stacked and leaned against the doorframe, intended for those who came for interviews.

The whole great hall looked chaotic, yet Gao Shiming had put it in perfect order.

Zhu Youjian sighed with satisfaction, feeling a sense of security and comfort in being submerged by documents.

Come to think of it, how did the former Ming emperors dare to make decisions relying solely on memorials, personal audiences, and the scant intelligence from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot?

That was truly rather terrifying.

Zhu Youjian looked around, felt a moment of smug satisfaction, but soon grew bored again.

These documents were still not enough.

Once the investigation of local conditions expanded further, every prefecture and county in the realm ought to have its own separate dossier.

By then, this shabby little hall of his would no longer hold them all.

Forget it—might as well go and play with Changqiu, who was still asleep.

Zhu Youjian turned and walked into the rear hall.

The hour of wei, the Hall of Untiring Ease.

A crowd of secretaries, interns, and military officers who had the day off stood in the hall whispering to one another, their faces full of bewilderment.

They were all off duty today.

But in the bitter cold, there was truly nowhere to go, and most had still been reading at home—either reviewing official documents they had brought back, or drafting and revising proposals in their residences.

They had suddenly received an edict summoning them from their homes to the palace, saying only that the Emperor wished to hold a banquet.

Yet upon arriving in this hall, there were no tables or desks, only a dozen-odd prayer mats scattered haphazardly about. They had no idea what sort of banquet protocol this was supposed to be.

Surely they weren't all going to practice Daoist cultivation together? The crowd muttered inwardly, but judging from the Son of Heaven's habits, he ought to have no interest in arcane cultivation matters—indeed, he seemed to detest them. They whispered among themselves, trading what information they had.

"Do you have any news?"

"I don't know either. I was lounging comfortably at home when I was suddenly summoned."

"Ahem, same here. It's my day off, and with nothing to do, I was at home teaching my son to read."

"Indeed—on a rest day, how pleasant it is to read a little, play a game of chess, visit a friend or two. Surely no one would be working on their day off?"

In any case, after all the asking around, not a single person knew what this was really about.

But every one of them also resolutely avoided mentioning that they had been silently studying at home.

Don't ask—if asked, they were sleeping; if asked, they were amusing themselves. In short, working was absolutely out of the question.