Chapter 71: Huang Liji's Advance!

The audience in Wuying Hall was drawing to a close.

Zhu Youjian was already calculating in his mind whether, once he returned to Qianqing Palace, he should wash his hands first before beginning his final "card draw."

This time it was a genuine military commander card!

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out within the hall.

"Your Majesty, this subject... has a memorial to present."

Zhu Youjian followed the voice and saw that the speaker was the Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, Huang Liji.

He stood there, his figure slightly bowed, his bearing reverent.

Zhu Youjian checked the motion of rising to his feet, settled back into a more upright posture, and his face assumed a perfectly measured, genial smile.

"Chief Grand Secretary, please speak."

Huang Liji stepped forward and declared in a clear voice, "Your Majesty's accession delights both Heaven and man, and all within the four seas turn their hearts to you. This subject beseeches Your Majesty to open the Classics Colloquium at the earliest opportunity, to illuminate sagely learning and to set the court's principles aright."

He paused, then continued, "According to our Great Ming's established institutions, the autumn session of the Classics Colloquium begins on the twelfth day of the eighth month and concludes on the second day of the tenth month. Today is already the thirtieth of the eighth month, precisely the season for the autumn lectures. This subject hopes Your Majesty will open the Classics Colloquium without delay, to set at ease the empire's hearts that yearn for learning."

The Classics Colloquium?

Zhu Youjian's smile did not alter in the slightest, but his thoughts, like unbridled horses, began galloping through his mind.

He had located the original host's corresponding memory!

The so-called Classics Colloquium, to put it plainly, was a "Great Ming public lecture" staged for the entire realm to witness.

Three times a month, as unyielding as thunder.

The venue was Wenhua Hall; the sole student attending the lecture was the Emperor himself, but the "parents" auditing the class comprised half the court.

The academicians of the Grand Secretariat would fix the lecture texts in advance — nothing more than selected passages from the Four Books and the Five Classics — and then specially appointed expositors, under the gaze of a multitude, would lecture the Emperor on them.

The entire process was saturated with ritual, the red tape and formalities so numerous as to make one's hair stand on end.

The expositors had to perform obeisances before the lecture, sit rigidly upright while lecturing, and even for turning the pages of the Emperor's book, a dedicated post called "Book Exhibitor" had been established.

It was less a class than a piece of political theater.

The expositors would parrot the texts, reciting word for word the essays they had long since prepared, while the Emperor was obliged to sit stiffly upright, listening with an expression of "rapt enjoyment."

What difference was there between this and the most tedious public demonstration classes of later eras?

A nameless fire of irritation flared in Zhu Youjian's heart.

I am a noble transmigrator!

My goal is to battle the heavens and shake the earth — the drought and refugee crisis in Shaanxi are about to erupt, and the Mongols to the north will soon submit beneath the iron hooves of the Later Jin.

I wish each day had forty-eight hours; where would I find the leisure to play house with you in this kind of formalism?

His heart was roaring, but his face still wore that mask-like smile of the sage-king mode.

No, I must think of a reason to decline.

A perfect reason, one that these old foxes could find no fault with.

Say that state affairs are too pressing? They would say, "Sharpening the axe does not delay the woodcutting; sagely learning is the root of statecraft."

Say that I am in mourning for my imperial brother? They would say, "To console the late Emperor's spirit with learning is the greatest filial piety."

Zhu Youjian's mind raced at high speed; countless notions flashed past, each rejected one by one.

In no more than a moment, a superb reason surfaced in his mind.

He polished the phrasing in his thoughts; the smile on his face gradually faded, replaced by an expression of solemnity and self-deprecation.

He began to speak slowly, his voice not loud, yet sufficient for every person in the hall to hear with perfect clarity.

"We received instruction at Our father's knee in youth and possess a rough knowledge of the classics' meaning. Now bearing the weight of the altars of state, each day, after reviewing routine memorials, We invariably peruse one or two chapters of the Comprehensive Mirror, not daring to slacken morning or night."

"Yet the path of learning is vast and profound; what We know is but a single drop in the boundless sea. We feel Our learning is not yet refined, and We fear that at the Classics Colloquium We might lose Our composure in discourse, making a laughingstock of Ourself."

"Thus, far from illuminating sagely learning, it would instead damage the dignity of the court."

"In Our view, it would be better thus: you, Our ministers, may first compile abridgements of the Four Books and Five Classics, or the Comprehensive Mirror and the Ancestral Instructions, and present them. We shall study them in detail within the palace, and once We feel We have gained some insight, We may then discuss the matter of the Classics Colloquium. How say you?"

As his words fell, silence filled the hall.

Zhu Youjian's speech had been utterly watertight.

He had adopted an exceedingly humble posture, demonstrating both his diligence and love of learning, while using the irrefutable excuse of "learning not yet refined" to tactfully decline the proposal to open the Classics Colloquium immediately.

Moreover, he had proactively requested that the civil officials submit abridgements of the classics' meaning or the Comprehensive Mirror, striking the pose of "I shall study in secret, then astonish everyone."

Surely now you can hardly force me.

I am genuinely devoted to learning; I merely fear losing face due to my meager virtue and shallow learning.

Huang Liji cupped his hands, his face revealing a gratified smile. "Your Majesty, amidst the press of state affairs, still remembers to read the classics and their meaning — this is truly a blessing for the nation, a fortune for the altars of state!"

He delivered this flattery first, then immediately shifted tack.

"However, since Your Majesty feels Your learning is not yet refined, it is precisely fitting that we, your subjects, should resolve the classics and answer Your doubts, to aid the advancement of sagely learning. The matter of the Classics Colloquium, touching as it does upon the state's dignity, may indeed be slightly postponed; to defer it until the spring lectures next year would not be too late."

"But Your Majesty may just seize this opportunity to first open the Daily Lecture. Let the Daily Lecturers expound for Your Majesty day by day; thus, in no more than a few months, Your Majesty's learning will surely see great progress. To then open the Classics Colloquium at that time — would that not be splendid?"

The smile on Zhu Youjian's face stiffened.

It was over.

After all his calculations, he had not reckoned that this old fox still had such a move up his sleeve.

He himself had said his learning was inadequate and therefore wished to defer; the other party simply followed his logic — if your learning is inadequate, then all the more must you urgently catch up on your lessons!

The Classics Colloquium was a public lecture and could be deferred.

But the Daily Lecture was a "private tutoring session," perfectly suited to give you remedial instruction!

The logic was flawless, unassailable.

He could even sense that the other civil officials in the hall, as they looked toward Huang Liji, now bore a trace of admiration in their eyes.

The older the ginger, the hotter the spice.

Zhu Youjian felt like a schoolboy trying to skip class, who had come up with the excuse "my stomach hurts," only to have the head teacher say with kindly concern, "Oh, then let's go to the infirmary first and have the school nurse take a look at you; after the examination, you can come back to class."

What could he do?

He could only stall.

"That... does have its logic." Zhu Youjian's voice carried a trace of dryness, barely perceptible.

He forced himself to calm down swiftly, his mind racing again, searching for a new opening.

There!

"However," he shifted tack, seizing back the initiative, "since we are to hold the Daily Lecture, the roster of Daily Lecturers must also be filled by supplementary selection."

"Do this: first draw up a list of candidates for Daily Lecturer and submit it. Once We have personally selected them, We will then set the date for the lectures to commence."

With that, he gave Huang Liji no further chance to speak. His gaze swept across the assembled ministers in the hall, and he asked in a deep voice:

"My ministers, is there any further business to memorialize?"

Silence filled the hall.

Everyone could see that His Majesty the Emperor, having been checkmated at the last moment by the Chief Grand Secretary, was in a rather foul mood.

In any case, the major matters had all been settled, and minor issues could be submitted via routine memorial. This was not the moment to go asking for trouble.

Still, this Zhu family emperor's aversion to study truly ran in the blood...

Seeing no one respond, Zhu Youjian rose to his feet and said flatly, "If there is no further business, then we shall conclude here for today. We will return to Qianqing Palace first."

"We respectfully see Your Majesty off!"

The assembled ministers bowed in unison, their mountain-roar of a salute echoing through Wuying Hall.