Chapter 45: A Court Session Like No Other

Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji led the assembled Grand Secretaries and ministers, following behind a junior eunuch, each man's thoughts churning in a different direction.

By dynastic custom, regular court was held on the third, sixth, and ninth days, but since the reigns of Shizong and Shenzong it had been little more than a dead letter.

Even the late Emperor had merely held court about four days a month at most.

Just as expected — when every emperor first ascends the throne, his heart is set on cleansing the realm and letting his radiance shine to the four corners of the world.

Yet no one knows how long that resolve will actually last.

In the blink of an eye, they had reached Wuying Hall.

The moment Huang Liji stepped through the hall doors, he froze, his stride halting with him.

Was this… the same Wuying Hall he had visited last time?

On the left and right sides of the hall, two rows of desks and chairs had been set out in perfect order.

On every desk lay three items: a stack of paper, a writing brush, and a cup of clear tea still rising with steam.

Even more baffling, on each desk stood a small, finely crafted wooden placard.

Upon them, in beautiful Guange script, their official titles and names were written out with perfect clarity.

"Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat — Huang Liji."

"Second Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat — Shi Fenglai."

"Minister of the Ministry of Revenue — Guo Yunhou."

The scene, however baffling, was instantly comprehensible at a single glance.

Was this not exactly like the schoolrooms where they had once toiled over their studies?

Only now the desks and chairs were arranged facing sideways to the teacher rather than straight on — could it be…

Was the Emperor planning to give them a lesson today?

As the remaining Grand Secretaries and ministers behind him caught up, every one of them stopped in his tracks.

They looked at one another, utterly at a loss for what to do.

"My lords, please take your seats."

Gao Shiming, standing in the hall, wore a genial smile and extended his hand toward the ministers in a gesture of invitation.

The men looked at each other; no one dared make the first move.

Could one simply sit in such seats as one pleased?

What of the ancestral institutions? What of decorum? What of the distinction between sovereign and subject?

In the end, it was Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji who steeled himself and took the first step forward.

He walked to the desk bearing his own name, but even then he did not dare sit — he merely stood behind the desk.

The others immediately followed suit, each finding the desk with his nameplate and taking his place behind it.

Seeing this, Gao Shiming did not press them, merely saying, "His Majesty will arrive in a moment. You may first look over the matters to be discussed today."

The men picked up the papers and examined them, all finding them a great novelty.

The page was ruled with lines into a grid; at the top were written topic, responsible person, and item, while inside were entries such as frontier stipends and the commutation of horse fodder into silver.

Everything was in perfect order, and compared to the usual style of official documents, it was indeed far clearer.

Gao Shiming added with a smile, "This is something His Majesty devised after reading the Records of the Grand Historian, modeled on the Grand Historian's 'method of chronological tables.'"

"Applied to the planning of affairs, it makes things clearer and more distinct."

"To distinguish it from the hereditary-house chronological tables used by historians, His Majesty has specially bestowed upon it the name — biaoge."

No sooner had he spoken than a long, drawn-out announcement rang out from behind the hall.

"His Majesty ascends the throne —!"

A chill ran through the assembled men's hearts. With no time left to study this so-called biaoge more carefully, they hurriedly turned and fell to their knees in a rustling wave.

"Your subjects pay homage to Your Majesty! May His Majesty live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten-thousand years!"

Zhu Youjian, dressed in a bright yellow informal robe, emerged slowly from behind the hall, his calm gaze sweeping over the ministers kneeling on the floor.

But he did not seat himself upon the dragon throne as he had the previous time; instead, he walked to the slightly raised "emperor's exclusive" work desk below the dais and stood behind it.

"Ministers, rise. All of you, be seated."

After rising to their feet, the assembled officials looked at one another; no one dared be the first to sit.

Zhu Youjian smiled faintly — he had fully anticipated this.

"Why do none of you sit?"

Still no one moved.

After a moment of silence, Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji stepped forward from the ranks, his face twisted with conflict, and said:

"Your Majesty… ever since the August Emperor Taizu laid down the regulations, when deliberating affairs in court, we your subjects have all knelt to report and knelt to reply. To grant collective seating in this manner… this seems to violate the ancestral institutions!"

Yes — being able to sit while deliberating affairs was certainly a fine thing.

After all, none of them were born with cheap bones; given the choice of comfort, they would of course choose comfort.

But "ritual" was the civil officials' most powerful weapon for restraining the emperor.

Even though the influence of the School of Mind had by now penetrated to the very marrow of court and countryside alike,

and even though most civil officials tossed the Four Books and Five Classics aside the moment they took office,

this weapon of critique — the emperor might break it, the barbarians might break it, but they themselves could not break it.

Who could have guessed that after hearing this, Zhu Youjian would merely give a soft laugh.

"The ancestral institutions?"

He shot back, "However great the ancestral institutions may be, how can they be greater than the ancient rites?"

"In the Spring and Autumn period and the Qin and Han, when sovereign and subject conversed, each sat in his own seat and deliberated at ease."

"How is it that in our Great Ming, my stout-hearted ministers must instead stand until their backs ache and their legs throb before they can share the burdens of the realm?"

He paused briefly, then pressed his counter-question.

"And if we truly speak of ancestral institutions, corruption was punished by flaying and stuffing the skin with straw. Surely you gentlemen do not wish me to revive that ancestral institution as well?"

With that, he looked no more at the assembled officials. Lifting the front of his robe, he calmly took his own seat.

Well, there it was — flaying and straw-stuffing, brought right out into the open.

This was practically dipping the assembled ministers' stains in ink and flinging them across the court.

The various Grand Secretaries immediately dared not respond and one after another obediently sat down.

Seeing this, the great stone in Zhu Youjian's heart finally dropped, replaced by a satisfaction that rose from deep within.

Why had he kept the court full of the eunuch faction without purging them?

A benevolent sage sovereign, burning the memorials in the great hall — these were mere pretexts. Even harvesting prestige was only incidental.

The real reasons were three:

First, he feared destabilizing the court. After all, in the first year of Chongzhen, Shaanxi would suffer a great drought. If personnel were thrown into large-scale turmoil for months, the summer tax and autumn grain would not be collected, and that would be the end.

Second, he did not want the Donglin faction and opportunists, under the banner of opposing the eunuchs, to seize the authority the Tianqi Emperor had concentrated.

These civil officials might not all belong to one faction, but eroding imperial power was practically the consensus and instinct of every civil official.

Though it was not beyond recovery — in the second year of Chongzhen, the Chongzhen Emperor had expelled all the Donglin and reinstated the eunuch faction and the Depot and Guard — but how much time would that waste?

Third — it was for this very scene today!

These spineless, stained civil officials, at least until the Donglin were fully restored, would be unable to forcefully obstruct his actions.

And once the Donglin were restored, it would be even more entertaining — they would have to cling even more tightly to his side than they did today.

Reduce resistance, increase assistance — only then could he freely and thoroughly adjust the entire realm according to his own will.

Instead of spending all day discussing with these civil officials some broken nonsense about ancestral institutions, ritual institutions, and established regulations.

In the matter of saving the nation from ruin and seeking survival, how could one not cast aside the old and establish the new?!

Today I've opened a small window. Watch me later smash this broken house of yours to utter splinters!

"Very well. Since you are all seated, let us begin deliberations."

Zhu Youjian's voice pulled everyone's thoughts back.

He picked up the "form" on his own desk and tapped it lightly against the table.

"The first item today: clearing the arrears in pay along the Nine Border Garrisons."

"Chief Grand Secretary, you took charge of this matter three days ago. What progress has been made?"

Huang Liji had barely settled his rear on the seat when he hurriedly rose again.

Minister of Revenue Guo Yunhou also hastily stood and cupped his hands.

"Your Majesty, this subject and Minister of Revenue Guo Yunhou have, within these three days, exerted ourselves to the utmost and have now fully clarified all arrears in pay along the Nine Border Garrisons from the first year of Tianqi to the present."

So saying, he produced a thick stack of booklets from his sleeve and handed them to Gao Shiming to present.

Zhu Youjian took them and looked — densely packed characters in vertical columns. After reading two pages, he lost patience.

Today, I am no longer the same. You think you can make me suffer the same frustration I felt three days ago reading the Inner Revenue Treasury ledgers?

Absolutely impossible!

"Gao Shiming, reorganize this using the tabular method and paste it onto the screen."

"This matter is temporarily set aside. We will discuss it once the reorganization is complete. Now, the second matter."

Zhu Youjian finished and looked toward Shi Fenglai.

Shi Fenglai and Left Chief Censor Fang Zhuangli hurriedly rose to their feet.

Huang Liji and Guo Yunhou hesitated a moment before finally sitting down.

"In reply to Your Majesty, regarding the investigation of the Shandong flood disaster, this subject has consulted with the Left Chief Censor and has already appointed Shandong Circuit Censor Jin Lan to proceed with the inspection."

Zhu Youjian's fingers tapped lightly on the desk. He did not speak, merely signaling with his eyes.

Shi Fenglai continued.

"This matter was received as an order on the twenty-sixth. The candidate was decided that very day, and on the twenty-seventh, Jin Lan set out."

"Alternating between cart and boat along the way, he is expected to reach Shandong within ten days. After five days of inspection, an urgent report will be sent up via the postal relay stations, expected to arrive within three days."

"Allowing two more days' leeway, the first report is estimated to arrive by the seventeenth of the ninth month."

Zhu Youjian nodded, a trace of helplessness in his heart.

Such was the communication speed of the ancient world. Northern Zhili and Shandong were neighboring provinces, yet to truly accomplish one task, the time spent merely on the road took ten days to half a month.

No wonder efficiency was so low at this time; the cycle of most matters was measured in months.

For the moment, he could think of no solution. He nodded, had Gao Shiming update the task chart, then looked toward Zhang Ruitu.

"Next matter: the commutation of fodder to silver. What progress has been made on this?"