Chapter 331: The Same Scholarly Air, a Different Flavor

Lu Xiangsheng began:

"The assessment is actually tied to the probationary period."

"This probationary period was a provision just added in the second edition of the regulations. Starting from the first year of Yongchang, all newly inducted secretaries undergo a one-month probationary period. And how one passes this probationary period depends, first, on the assessment results."

"In your case, His Majesty has already set the assessment objectives."

"Namely, to examine your work output in areas such as silver-flow matched trading, bank regulation design, auction preparations, and public-opinion groundwork. The final assessment date is the twentieth day of the second month."

"As for the other—"

Lu Xiangsheng gave Wu Cheng'en a deep look. "—it is to see how well you grasp the spirit of the New Policies."

He paused, then suddenly asked:

"At the first-month Grand Court session, His Majesty uniformly issued 'Comrade Plaques' to New Policies officials. Are you aware of this?"

Wu Cheng'en hurriedly replied, "Though this humble official was among the common folk, I did hear of it. I understand it derives from the saying, 'Shared virtue yields shared hearts; shared hearts yield comrades.'"

Lu Xiangsheng's expression grew complicated, and he could not help repeating the phrase in a low murmur.

"'Shared virtue yields shared hearts; shared hearts yield comrades…'"

Every time he heard this term, he could not help recalling that afternoon.

That afternoon when the Son of Heaven first expounded to him the "Three Deaths of Man" and the "Three Deaths of the State."

That afternoon when the Son of Heaven first claimed him as a "comrade."

Lu Xiangsheng gathered his thoughts, looked at Wu Cheng'en, and spoke with the utmost gravity:

"The performance assessment is only the first hurdle."

"But grasping the spirit of the New Policies is the more critical hurdle."

"Your policy essays, your conduct, your goals…"

"Only if you stand on the side of the Great Ming, on the side of the common people of the realm, can you truly be called a 'comrade.'"

"If you betray this, even if your name is inscribed on the Altar of Soil and Grain's stele and you receive the Comrade Gold Plaque, the day will still come when your inscription is ground away and your name struck off! I urge you to be prudent in word and deed, and never join the ranks of those black crows."

Wu Cheng'en felt the crushing pressure wash over him. He drew a deep breath and replied solemnly:

"Yes!"

"This humble official will certainly work diligently, and will assuredly not disappoint my superiors, nor disappoint the realm, and still less disappoint His Majesty!"

Seeing Wu Cheng'en's tense expression, Lu Xiangsheng smiled gently to ease the somewhat chilly atmosphere:

"Do not call me 'superior,' and do not refer to yourself as 'this humble official.'"

"Address me by my courtesy name, Jiandou. Here in the Secretariat, we do not observe those stale, antiquated bureaucratic formalities."

Wu Cheng'en would never dare take such casual license. After weighing his options, he chose a safe form of address:

"Yes, Mentor Lu. I understand."

Lu Xiangsheng shook his head, letting the young man's newcomer caution be, and continued assigning work:

"The bank matters, though pressing, already have a framework in place. There is ample time before the auction in the third month, so you need not plunge into them immediately."

"Your most urgent task is to adapt to the Secretariat's working style as quickly as possible."

He stood, sliced roughly a quarter from the stack of volumes piled mountain-high at his elbow, and placed it forward.

The volumes landed on the desk with a dull thud.

"These are some Secretariat official documents I selected."

"Some are still under revision, including those concerning the bank."

"Others are already in effect, such as the classified fixed-tax method from the capital's Tax Office."

"You must study these documents carefully—their format, their prose style, and how data tables and the like are constructed."

Wu Cheng'en quickly reached out and pulled the stack toward himself.

"Yes, Mentor. I will certainly study them closely and use these documents as references to rewrite the silver-flow matched-trading proposal properly."

Lu Xiangsheng nodded, then pulled another batch from the remaining volumes and pushed them over.

"These are review summaries of projects already underway. They include the capital's fundraising road-paving project, and the Northern Zhili New Policies examination preparation project."

"From these, you must gain a thorough feel for the gap between a proposal on paper and its actual execution."

Wu Cheng'en again reached out and gathered them in.

"Understood, Mentor. Past events not forgotten serve as teachers for the future. I will certainly absorb the lessons well."

Finally, Lu Xiangsheng pushed the remaining large pile of volumes over in one go.

"As for the rest, most are rejected proposals, or ones that were halted or shelved after discussion."

"For example, the paper-currency law, or the sale of official ranks."

"For these proposals, you must read His Majesty's vermilion endorsements carefully."

"Why they were rejected, why they were halted, why they were shelved."

"In most cases, His Majesty gave explicit reasons."

"For the few where His Majesty gave no explicit reason, the matter involves confidential intelligence unsuitable for committing to paper. In such cases, you may ask me, and I will tell you what circumstances permit."

Wu Cheng'en once more gathered this pile of volumes to himself.

"Yes! Mentor, I will most certainly discern His Majesty's intent thoroughly and grasp the spirit of the New Policies!"

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Wu Cheng'en, nearly buried in official documents, nodded with satisfaction, and rose to his feet.

"You have come at a good time. In the past, new secretaries had nowhere near this many documents to read."

"Come."

"I will first take you to your workstation and introduce you to your colleagues."

"Then I will show you around so you can familiarize yourself with a few places you will frequent often."

Lu Xiangsheng first led Wu Cheng'en back to their section's duty room to temporarily set down the towering stacks of official documents.

He also introduced himself to several colleagues in the Policy Group.

After that, he led him around to each of the other groups within the Secretariat, dropping in one by one.

Northern Zhili New Governance, Military Affairs, Shaanxi, Official Administration, Personnel Management, Policy.

These were the groups established in the early phase of the New Governance; each had its own defined function and their operations were already quite mature.

Besides these, there were also the four groups recently set up and formally inaugurated: Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Ji-Liao.

Of these, the first three groups, together with the Shaanxi Group, were conducting preliminary groundwork and preparations for the "Second Phase of the Yongchang New Governance." Personnel were still being transferred in batches, so the offices felt somewhat empty.

The Ji-Liao Group, however, was rather special, leaning more toward a coordination role.

Its main responsibility was to liaise and push matters forward between the Ji-Liao front lines and the various central ministries, with the focus on preparing for a potential war that might break out in the first year of Yongchang. After making the full round, Wu Cheng'en had now thoroughly witnessed Lu Xiangsheng's standing within this Secretariat.

This Secretary Lu, whom he had known as a completely obscure figure, seemed to be a person of considerable consequence here.

No matter which group they visited, whether the members were in heated debate or bent over their desks writing furiously, the moment they saw Lu Xiangsheng enter, their faces would immediately light up with unmistakable warmth.

Throughout the entire process, he did not catch the slightest whisper of disapproval regarding his own merchant background.

After all, even if one does not defer to the monk, one defers to the Buddha.

Everyone knew exactly how dazzlingly bright the prospects were for Lu Xiangsheng, who had been issued "Comrade Badge No. 001."

"This is the Logistics Office."

After winding their way around, Lu Xiangsheng finally brought him to a duty room closest to the Emperor's "Hall of Earnest Application."

The two leaned in, and only then did Wu Cheng'en realize that the person seated inside was none other than the young Eunuch Wang who had guided him here earlier.

"Eunuch Wang, this is the newly arrived Secretary Wu Cheng'en. I've brought him to get acquainted with the place."

Wang Cheng'en, who had been at his seat holding a brush and carefully cross-checking several forms, hurriedly rose and offered a very courteous bow.

"Greetings, Secretary Wu."

"In the future, matters such as collecting your salary, changing meal services, applying for leave, or drawing office supplies can all be handled here."

"Matters like reserving a meeting room or applying for electricity access privileges can also be submitted to me by slip."

"The Inner Palace School dispatches personnel to stand duty here every day; the official business of the secretaries will never be delayed."

Wu Cheng'en listened to these utterly novel terms — "reserving a meeting room," "applying for electricity access privileges" — only half-comprehending, and simply nodded honestly.

Lu Xiangsheng led Wu Cheng'en over to the wall. There stood a large wooden screen, plastered all over with various slips of paper.

"This is the current contact list for the various department liaisons of the New Governance."

"The Six Ministries, the various courts, and every major project advancing under the New Governance — each has a designated responsible person listed here."

"In the future, if you need to liaise or schedule a meeting to advance a proposal and you're not sure whom to approach, you can come here to check, then go find the person on the list and ask."

"Even if that person is not the direct contact, they will follow the thread and find the right person to handle the matter for you."

Wu Cheng'en swept his gaze over it with curiosity.

All he saw was a densely packed tree diagram covered with all sorts of branches.

Although it was divided into the various ministries and courts, the contact names filled in were mostly not the chief officials of the court that he was familiar with. For example, under the Ministry of Revenue, the current Minister of Revenue was obviously Guo Yunhou.

But in the contact column, it read: "Liu Yingyu — Bureau Director, Former Governance Finance and Tax Division."

Lu Xiangsheng, however, did not give him time to study it closely. He clapped him on the shoulder and led him back outside:

"You'll be coming back to Eunuch Wang here later to collect all sorts of office supplies; you can look more closely then."

"I happen to have a meeting with the Ministry of Revenue. I'll take you along the way to familiarize you with the locations of the Six Ministries and the procedures for reserving meeting rooms along the Thousand-Step Corridor. On the way, I can just tell you about the Secretariat's structure."

Half an hour later.

Wu Cheng'en had finally completed the formal "onboarding process" and returned to the Western Park.

Only now did he gain a clear understanding of this "Policy Group" he was about to serve.

The entire Policy Group, not counting him as the new addition or those interns still doing odd jobs, actually had only four secretaries in total. Lu Xiangsheng, responsible for fiscal and tax system reform.

Liu Kongjing, responsible for legal system reform.

Jiang Yueguang, responsible for military guard system reform.

Yang Sichang, responsible for local administrative structure reform.

Although their titles were all prefixed with the word "reform," at present, it was not really large-scale reform in the true sense.

These four reported uniformly to Grand Secretary Li Banghua of the Grand Secretariat.

And the complex, interlocking plans they had been polishing for a long time were, in fact, all preparations for a single objective:

Tianjin Guard was to begin transitioning from a Guard to a prefecture in the first year of Yongchang, and formally implement the change in the second year of Yongchang.

As for why the matter of the bank had fallen onto Lu Xiangsheng's shoulders, and why it was handed over to the Policy Group to coordinate,

that touched upon the designated role of the city of Tianjin Guard.

This place lay along the Grand Canal and was the maritime transport nexus of North China.

To its north were Ji-Liao and the various border garrisons beyond the passes; to its west were the capital, Shanxi, and other hubs of goods and currency circulation; to its south were Shandong and Henan, the two great agricultural provinces.

This place was destined to be the absolute hub where the empire's goods converged and the silver flows of north and south intermingled.

Therefore, the Emperor's positioning of Tianjin was also extremely clear.

The Great Ming's first port city focused on finance and trade!

As for why this place was not Huating (Shanghai), which had an even more advantageous geographical position,

that had to be credited to the Yongchang Emperor's unspoken wariness toward the Southern Metropolitan Region.

Of course, as the Policy Group's "old newbie," Wu Cheng'en could not yet reach such profound strategic background.

He had just collected tea leaves, a water cup, brush, ink, paper, inkstone, and all the other office items from the Logistics Office, and after carefully filling in his meal preferences with Eunuch Wang, he finally returned to the Policy Group's office.

At this moment, Yang Sichang was away on field duty, having gone to Zhangjiawan to investigate the actual operations of the customs station.

This was investigative preparation for the subsequent tax-barrier reform.

Liu Kongjing and Jiang Yueguang were also not in the room.

Probably gone off to some meeting or other.

For a moment, Wu Cheng'en was alone in the slightly cramped office.

Carefully cradling his belongings, he skirted past several colleagues' desks and arrived at his own seat.

He sat down.

He opened a brand-new notebook.

He dripped water into the inkstone and slowly ground the ink stick. Wu Cheng'en drew a deep breath, inhaling the calming scent of paper and ink. In a daze, he felt as though he had returned to his childhood, when he had first begun his schooling — the smell was exactly the same as it had been back then.

And yet utterly different.

Back then, smelling the ink, he had dreamed of passing the civil examinations and bringing glory to his ancestors. Now, smelling this ink, what he held in his hands was the very pulse of the realm's taxes and grain.

He was seven then; he is forty-seven now.

In a man's life, how many forty-year spans can there be?

Wu Cheng'en gathered his thoughts and sorted the documents Lu Xiangsheng had assigned him into three piles on his desk, by category.

He rubbed his hands together and began to scan the titles on the covers one by one.

"Draft Detailed Rules on Establishing Customs Houses and Maritime Customs at Tianjin"

"An Analysis of the Merits of Taxing by Vessel versus Taxing by Cargo after the Opening of Tianjin's Port"

"Preliminary Plan for Redrawing the Administrative Framework of the Surrounding Eleven Counties and Two Subprefectures after Tianjin's Elevation to a Prefecture"

"Explanation of the Significance and Feasibility Analysis of Incorporating the Changlu Salt Pans into Tianjin Prefecture"

He looked through them one after another; most were proposals centered on Tianjin Prefecture.

Halfway through, Wu Cheng'en's finger stopped on one proposal.

"Proposal on Restoring the Credibility of the Treasure Note (Halted)"

Treasure notes? Halted by His Majesty?

He hesitated a moment, but in the end could not resist his curiosity. Skipping the documents behind it, he opened this one first and began to read it carefully. Judging by the signature, this proposal had been written by Lu Xiangsheng. It was extremely long, and the measures listed within were exceedingly detailed.

From how to recall old treasure notes, how to rigorously enforce the law against private minting and counterfeiting, to using salt certificates and specie as backing for the redemption of treasure notes, and on to various concepts for allowing the common people to pay agricultural taxes with treasure notes.

Many were measures Wu Cheng'en had intuitively thought of before opening it; many more were strategies he had never even conceived of.

In all fairness, it was written with extraordinary care.

The entire policy essay was divided into several phases, spanning a full decade.

If it could be carried out, it was not impossible that the treasure notes' credibility could be restored.

— Provided, of course, that it could be carried out.

He flipped through it all the way to the very last page of the booklet.

There, at last, he saw the reigning Son of Heaven's imperial rescript.

"Building credibility requires honoring one's word a thousand times over."

"Destroying credibility requires only a single 'this time will be an exception.'"

"Henceforth, direct your energies toward banks and remittance notes, laying the groundwork for issuing paper currency. Do not attempt to save an object that has long been dead." Wu Cheng'en stared at these three lines of red characters and remained silent for a long time.

Then, with great care, he closed the discarded proposal and placed it neatly at the corner of his desk.

He then picked up his brush, dipped it full of ink, and, with the utmost seriousness, transcribed those first two sentences word for word into his own notebook. Having done that, he gently set the brush down and raised his head once more.

He looked around, surveying this room once again — a room so small, and so crammed with documents, that it felt stifling.

His eyes swept over the bookshelves against the wall, stuffed to bursting with case files.

They swept over the screen covered with gaudy charts plastered with all manner of paper slips.

They swept over his colleagues' desks, so cluttered there was scarcely room left for a teacup.

This room was truly cramped, truly chaotic.

Compared to the spacious study in his Wu family home, fragrant with the finest aloeswood incense, this place was shabby as a storehouse.

Yet Wu Cheng'en's body trembled uncontrollably.

With wine before us, let us sing — for how long can a man's life be?

Like the morning dew, our days of suffering are many.

If one does not gallop across the realm from here, must one spend one's days toiling over an abacus, keeping company with the stench of copper coin?

Wu Cheng'en slowly closed his eyes.

In this cramped little room, he drew a deep breath.

This was indeed a scent utterly different from the one he had known when he first began his schooling.

For this was, unmistakably… the scent of power!