Chapter 69: Deadline Is the Mother of Productivity

A few days ago an autumn rain passed through, and the weather turned cold all at once.

But the capital after that rain was hardly a sight to be proud of.

The dirt roads, rutted by countless cartwheels, had been soaked by the rainwater into a patchwork of muddy wallows, some deep, some shallow.

Now, under the early-autumn sun, a rank stench — a blend of animal dung, rotting vegetable leaves, and mud — rose up in a rowdy haze and thrust itself straight into people's nostrils.

Xue Guoguan, Chief Supervising Secretary of the Office of Justice, and Ni Yuanlu, Junior Compiler of the Hanlin Academy, stood side by side, both brows faintly furrowed.

Their brand-new official robes were now spattered with specks of mud up to the cuffs — which, set against this surroundings, could fairly be called "mutually enhancing."

Neither spoke; they merely listened in silence.

Across from them, a figure spraying spittle was gesticulating animatedly as he spoke.

This man was none other than Sun Zhixie, Expositor-in-Waiting of the Hanlin Academy.

"…You have no idea! In the single month and more you've been away presiding over the provincial examinations in Jiangxi, the capital — no, the very heavens of this Great Ming — have changed!"

Sun Zhixie spoke with dancing brows and animated features, as though he had witnessed it all with his own eyes.

"On the very second day after the new Emperor ascended the throne, that traitor Wei died… no, rather… hanged himself!"

"Two days later, His Majesty, right there in the hall before the entire civil and military court, burned three registers of corrupt officials, declaring that he would let bygones be bygones and open a new road forward…"

"After that, His Majesty personally bestowed a plaque reading 'My Wei Zheng' upon Grand Secretary Li Guopu — and the procession, in full pomp, stretched all the way from the imperial city to the Li residence!"

Xue Guoguan and Ni Yuanlu listened, utterly dumbstruck.

They exchanged a glance, and each saw in the other's eyes deep shock and sheer disbelief.

On their return journey after the Jiangxi examinations concluded, they had suddenly learned that the late Emperor had already passed away.

The two dared not delay; they whipped their horses onward, traveling day and night, eating and sleeping in the open, and only just managed to reach the outskirts of the city last night.

But the city gates were shut, forcing them to spend the night outside the walls. They had only entered the capital together this morning, and had simply had no time to inquire into the stories circulating in the capital.

Decisive and resolute in killing, burning the registers to establish trust, combining grace with severity… could this truly be the work of that young Emperor who had long dwelled deep within the palace and only just ascended the throne?

Sun Zhixie swallowed a mouthful of spittle and lowered his voice, making it all the more mysterious.

"The best part is still to come!"

"Just a few days ago, His Majesty summoned the court for an audience at Wuying Hall. Grand Secretary Zhang Ruitu knew nothing of any matter and shirked every difficulty."

"His Majesty rebuked the Second Grand Secretary Zhang Ruitu to his face as a 'Three-Know-Nothing Grand Secretary,' stripped him of his registry on the spot, and took away all his degrees and official rank! Zhang Ruitu was a Grand Secretary! And just like that… gone!"

Having finished, Sun Zhixie let out a long breath, like a storyteller who had reached the most thrilling passage and was waiting for the audience's roaring applause.

But Xue Guoguan and Ni Yuanlu sank into a long silence.

For a moment, they felt almost dazed.

They felt as though they had been dreaming.

They had merely gone to Jiangxi to supervise the provincial examinations — how could it feel as though they had returned to a different world?

"His Majesty… His Majesty is sagacious indeed!"

Only after a long while did Ni Yuanlu force these words from his throat, his tone tinged with excitement.

"Such an enlightened sovereign is a blessing to our Great Ming, a blessing to the altars of state!"

He hesitated a moment, then added:

"Only, this matter of Grand Secretary Zhang…"

"Well, never mind. His Majesty has ascended the throne and acts with thunderous vigor; it is only natural that he cannot abide such a flowery-essay minister."

Xue Guoguan nodded slowly and chimed in offhandedly: "Quite so. As ministers, we ought to rouse our spirits and put affairs first; we must not emulate this 'poetry-forest chancellor.'"

So he said, but in his heart he was far less stirred than Ni Yuanlu.

The three chatted idly a while longer — mostly Sun Zhixie talking while Xue and Ni listened.

At last, feeling he had heard enough, Xue Guoguan cupped his hands and took his leave.

"Yuanlu, I shall return to the Six Offices of Scrutiny first."

"Very well. We shall talk again another day."

Xue Guoguan turned and walked away; behind him, Ni Yuanlu's still-excited voice drifted faintly back.

"Brother Sun, tell me quickly — when His Majesty bestowed that plaque upon Grand Secretary Li, did the procession truly pass right before our Hanlin Academy?"

"I saw it with my own eyes! Brother Ni, now that you have returned, with your past reputation for integrity, you will surely be valued by His Majesty… In the future, I shall have to…"

Listening to the voices behind him gradually fade, Xue Guoguan walked silently toward the duty rooms of the Six Offices of Scrutiny, sinking into deep thought along the way.

A sage sovereign?

Perhaps.

But for some reason, he could not shake the feeling that this new sovereign's manner of conducting affairs was unlike that of any sage sovereign recorded in the histories.

He lacked the gentleness of Emperor Wen of Han, the magnanimity of Emperor Renzong of Song, and certainly not the sheer overbearing force of Taizu or Chengzu.

It was a… very strange feeling.

There was the thunderbolt's force, yet also the spring wind melting the ice.

There was destruction of established structures, yet also the rebuilding of rules.

It seemed not so much a pure sage sovereign as a strange ruler who blended… the kingly way with the art of hegemony.

How could the Zhu family produce such an Emperor?

Had he not been reading in the palace all along, leaving the Forbidden City for the Prince Xin Residence only a little over a year ago?

Was there someone behind the scenes instructing him?

If so, who was this person?

If not, then how deep must this young monarch's mind run?

And, after the fall of the traitor Wei, which direction would the wind at court ultimately blow?

Would the Donglin faction fill the court? Or would the path of the Tianqi era continue, merely swapping Wei Zhongxian for Wang Tiqian or Gao Shiming?

Or perhaps... like the Emperor Shizong, would there emerge another "Yan Song"?

And who would that Yan Song be? Li Guopu? Or Yang Jingchen, who stepped over Zhang Ruitu to rise?

Questions sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, ceaselessly welling up in Xue Guoguan's mind, leaving his thoughts in tangled disarray.

"Brother Xue! Brother Xue!"

A call pulled him back from his reverie.

Xue Guoguan jerked his head up and saw Guo Xingyan, the Chief Supervising Secretary of the Office of Works, waving a hand before his face.

"Brother Xue, what are you thinking about? So lost in thought?"

Xue Guoguan came back to himself and gave a slightly embarrassed smile. "Nothing. I was just pondering something and my mind wandered for a moment. I didn't notice you, Brother Guo."

He looked around and realized he had unconsciously walked into the duty room of the Six Offices of Scrutiny.

The government office, usually idle and even somewhat desolate, was today uncharacteristically noisy and bustling. The supervising secretaries were gathered in twos and threes, discussing animatedly, every face tinged with excitement and tension.

Xue Guoguan cocked an ear to listen, but only vaguely caught words like "Capital Camps," "corruption," "official discipline," "penal cases," and the like — indistinct and unclear, leaving him none the wiser.

Guo Xingyan tugged at him and asked urgently, "Brother Xue, did you only return from Jiangxi yesterday? I thought you wouldn't make it! Quickly, submit your policy paper — Eunuch Gao has already sent someone to press us twice!"

"Policy paper?"

Xue Guoguan was utterly bewildered. He looked at Guo Xingyan with a face full of blank confusion.

"I traveled day and night, but when I reached the capital yesterday the city gates were already shut, so I had to rest outside the walls for the night. I only entered the city this morning and was delayed at the Hanlin Academy... I have no idea what policy paper Brother Guo is referring to."

"What?"

Guo Xingyan was greatly startled, his eyes going wide.

"Then you weren't notified?"

He pulled Xue Guoguan into a corner and said, in a tone that mixed sympathy with schadenfreude, "His Majesty issued a decree yesterday, ordering the four Grand Secretaries, the six Ministers, the Nine Chief Ministers, and us Chief Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices — over twenty people in all — to submit a memorial in itemized form, titled..."

He paused, as if trying to recall the somewhat awkward name.

"... A Solicitation of Proposals for Elevating the Governance Standards of the Capital!"

Xue Guoguan turned this strange title over in his mind, snapping out of his bewilderment in an instant.

"And when must this policy paper be submitted?"

"When? Before noon today! His Majesty will hold another Platform Summons at Wuying Hall later, in the shen hour."

"Brother Xue, as Chief Supervising Secretary of the Office of Justice, you are required to attend. You'd best start writing at once."

Xue Guoguan couldn't help glancing instinctively out the window.

The sun hung slanting in the sky, soon to cross the meridian.

Time... is running short.