Chapter 60: The Great Ming's Stars Shine Bright!

Once his thoughts were settled, Zhu Youjian felt a surge of clarity and ease.

With the strategy clear in his mind, what remained was simply a matter of execution.

The Classics Colloquium, newspapers, imperial edicts, official schools, the Imperial Academy — as the Emperor, he had more than enough tools to break the deadlock.

Zhu Youjian put that whole wretched business out of his mind, pushed the rumpled draft memorials aside to clear a space on the imperial desk, and began drawing cards in earnest.

Names fell steadily from the tip of his brush, the list growing longer and longer:

"Yuan Keli, sixty-five, the legendary figure they say the Manchus refused to write a biography for."

"Xu Guangqi, sixty-five, the leading figure of the Western learning's eastward transmission."

These two are a year older than Sun Chengzong — but they should still have a few good years left in them, right?

"Yang Sichang, thirty-nine. Four fronts and six corners, the ten-sided net. The Ming-dynasty version of 'pacify within before resisting without.' Feels usable, but I'll have to watch out for his silver tongue."

"Yuan Chonghuan, forty-three. All I can say is, had he died then and there, who would ever know the truth of his life? Let me see whether you dare say those words 'recover Liaodong in five years' to my face again!"

"Sun Chuanting, thirty-four. An SSR-tier figure on par with Lu Xiangsheng! Use him, no further words needed!"

"Mao Yuanyi, thirty-three. Supposedly the foremost military scholar of the late Ming... I don't care if that's true or not, but I am very interested in that Zheng He nautical chart you're holding!"

"Bi Maokang, fifty-six. Said to have invented the flintlock!"

Among these, Sun Chuanting and Xu Guangqi were indisputably SSR!

One maxed out in military strategy, the other maxed out in science and technology!

Yuan Chonghuan, Yuan Keli, and Yang Sichang were the subject of much later debate — some said they were brilliant, others said they weren't — but they should still count as SR.

As for Mao Yuanyi and Bi Maokang, those were entirely thanks to short videos.

"The Foremost Military Scholar of the Late Ming!" "The Inventor of the Great Ming Flintlock!" — each title more sensational than the last.

Zhu Youjian didn't overthink it. Whether they had real substance or not, he'd find out once he summoned them for a chat.

In excellent spirits, he blew gently on the list and set it carefully aside.

Zhu Youjian's gaze finally fell upon the last stack, and the thickest one — the roster of all civil and military officials in the two capitals and all serving civil officials of the seventh rank and above in the provinces.

This was a massive list of over 3,500 people — 3,500 draws!

Let's see just how many talents I can fish out of this!

Some unknown time later, Gao Shiming entered the hall with several junior eunuchs, carrying the final batch of rosters.

Zhou Yu had returned at some point and was sitting quietly to one side.

Zhu Youjian remained utterly oblivious to all of this.

He was going through this last roster of over three thousand names, one by one.

But his pace was much quicker than before — basically just scanning the names, and copying down any that struck him as vaguely familiar.

At last, Zhu Youjian tossed his brush onto the imperial desk, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long breath.

"I'm exhausted!"

Rubbing his sore eyes, he looked at the fruits of his labor before him.

That sheet of paper, together with the two earlier lists, was now densely covered with names.

In Zhu Youjian's eyes, they were like gleaming general cards, each radiating a dazzling brilliance!

Hong Chengchou, Right Administration Vice Commissioner of the Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission, thirty-four. The ace among treacherous ministers — I can hold my nose and use him if I must.

Zhou Yanru, Junior Supervisor of Instruction managing the Nanjing Hanlin Academy, thirty-four. Another treacherous minister, but being a treacherous minister must take some ability, right? Surely better than a pure moral purist?

Wen Tiren, Minister of Rites in Nanjing, fifty-three. Same as above.

Sun Yuanhua, Bureau Secretary of the Ministry of War serving as Army Staff Advisor in Liaodong, forty-five. A budget version of Xu Guangqi.

Ni Yuanlu, Junior Compiler at the Hanlin Academy, thirty-three. I vaguely recall he was a moral purist? He seemed quite active in the late Chongzhen years — jot him down first and worry about it later!

Fu Zonglong, Regional Inspector of Guizhou, thirty-five. I can't remember a single thing he did, but the name is very familiar — jot him down, jot him down!

Bi Zisu, Supervising Secretary of the Ningqian Circuit and Vice Surveillance Commissioner of the Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commission, fifty-eight. This is Bi Ziyan's elder brother — purely a case of love me, love my dog...

Together with those found earlier, twenty-seven names in all, filling the page to the brim.

This was every talent he could dredge up, having racked his brains and exhausted all his memories from the later age.

Of course, there were some "non-talents" he remembered — the likes of Ruan Dacheng and Dong Qichang — whom he had simply and decisively ignored.

He stretched, and only then noticed Zhou Yu and Gao Shiming both waiting nearby, and that candles had been lit in the hall at some point.

He gave Zhou Yu a gentle smile, then turned to Gao Shiming and asked:

"I have finished reviewing these rosters, but there are several people I could not find. Do you know why?"

"The four are Bi Ziyan, Zhu Xieyuan, Xiong Wencan, and Song Yingxing."

Gao Shiming bowed, thought for a moment, and replied:

"In reply to Your Majesty, the two gentlemen Xiong Wencan and Zhu Xieyuan are currently in their home villages observing mourning."

"His Excellency Zhu Xieyuan entered mourning in the fourth year of Tianqi, so his term should be nearing its end."

"As for His Excellency Bi Ziyan, he has been at home recuperating from illness since the sixth year of Tianqi."

"Regarding the last, Song Yingxing, this slave truly has no recollection and will need to go back and look through the records before I can reply."

Mourning leave, recuperating from illness...

Zhu Youjian fell silent for a moment, his fingers tapping lightly on the desk.

Bi Ziyan's illness was likely nothing serious — he could be recalled to office as normal, and put in charge of cleaning up the Great Ming's fiscal mess.

Historically, he was known for the Memorials on Revenue and Expenditure, a budget version of the Wanli Accounting Records, but I don't recall any particularly striking highlights in statecraft or finance.

As for Xiong Wencan, the only reason he remembered the man was because he had pacified and recruited Zheng Zhilong.

Zhu Youjian hesitated for a moment.

Was he absolutely necessary for the task of pacifying and recruiting Zheng Zhilong?

Didn't I vaguely recall that this fellow later went to Guanzhong to pacify the peasant rebel armies and made a complete mess of things?

And what exactly is Zheng Zhilong thinking right now?

Judging from his later surrender to the Qing, appealing to loyalty to sovereign and country probably won't work — if we want to talk, we'll have to talk interests.

But right now I know far too little about him.

How large has his fleet grown? What exactly is the situation with the various powers — the Southern Ocean states, the foreign fleets, the Chinese pirates, the Japanese shogunate?

What does the Ming dynasty have that can constrain him, check him, or make use of him?

After all, to truly accomplish this, we must grasp the "substance" — not content ourselves with the hollow name of so-called "peace across the four seas."

The silver from tariffs, the silver from overseas trade, the possibility of opening sea transport, the possibility of squeezing grain out of Southeast Asia — every one of these offers enormous returns.

Never mind. First, haul in some of the maritime merchants, hereditary military households, and bandits from Fujian and Guangdong for a chat. After all, without investigation, one has no right to speak.

That being the case, there's no rush with Xiong Wencan — let him remain at home observing mourning for now.

As for Zhu Xieyuan…

The She-An rebellion in Sichuan needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. Guo Yunhou was just speaking of it this morning.

Of the Liaodong levy's fixed quota of 5.2 million taels, 1.56 million are being poured into that bottomless pit in Sichuan and Guizhou.

At such a distance, the reins are simply too long to reach. Though the war was won in the end, no one could control — or even know — how much coin and grain was wasted along the way.

Rather than that, skip the intermediate steps and directly restore the man who ultimately won the campaign, Zhu Xieyuan. Perhaps we can lose a little less.

Wait! The reins are too long to reach?

Zhu Youjian suddenly realized something. He jerked his head up and asked:

"Companion Gao, how long does it take for an edict to travel from Beijing to places like the Southern Metropolitan Region, Fujian, Sichuan, and Guizhou?"