Chapter 75: A Man's Heart Is Iron to the Death (Seeking First Subscription)

The sky had not yet fully brightened; only a streak of fish-belly white glimmered at the edge of the horizon.

Inside Qianqing Palace, candlelight blazed bright, slightly dispelling the early-morning chill.

The exalted Emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Youjian, was brushing his teeth in person.

Since transmigrating here, he had gradually grown accustomed to this imperial life of having others dress him and feed him — even to the point of...

But brushing his teeth was the one thing he insisted on doing himself.

For no other reason than that he did not wish to repeat his grandfather's misfortune.

That Wanli Emperor's toothache had dogged him through nearly the entire latter half of his life, and had even, to a certain degree, affected the national destiny of the Great Ming.

He rinsed the foam from his mouth with a mouthful of warm water and let out a long, deep breath.

Gao Shiming, the seal-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, seized the moment to step forward. Bowing low, his posture deeply deferential, he said in a steady voice, "Your Majesty, this slave has completed the daily schedule you instructed me to compile yesterday."

Zhu Youjian took the personal memorial Gao Shiming presented and opened it.

On the memorial, in neat, tiny regular script, a dense grid recorded every item awaiting attention.

Lu Xiangsheng has been summoned to the capital by imperial decree to take over the matter of converting horse fodder levies to silver; estimated arrival in the capital on the fifteenth day of the ninth month.

Sun Chengzong has been summoned to the capital by imperial decree; estimated arrival on the fifth day of the ninth month.

Valiant Guard Camp drill; previously resolved to inspect in person every day at the hour of the dragon.

Memorials awaiting review and approval today: one hundred and seventy-three in total.

A vast array, from personnel appointments and dismissals to major military and state affairs — a full twenty-five items, and that was without even unfolding those one hundred and seventy-three memorials.

Watching Zhu Youjian's focused expression, Gao Shiming could not help but sigh with admiration. "Your Majesty has been on the throne but a short time, yet your diligence already rivals that of the Great Ancestor, the August Emperor."

At these words, Zhu Youjian raised his head from the memorial and glanced at Gao Shiming, a trace of amusement in his eyes.

Diligence?

It was only twenty-five matters. Compared to the daily schedules of later ages, it was not even in the same league.

Still, he had to admit, this running-ledger style of recording did look rather daunting.

Everything was jumbled together, a tangled mess, utterly devoid of emphasis or sequence.

"The Great Ancestor's diligence is something We could never hope to match," Zhu Youjian said with a faint smile, and casually tore the memorial apart page by page.

"Your Majesty!"

Gao Shiming turned pale with shock. He had never imagined the Emperor would do such a thing. Was His Majesty... displeased?

He opened his mouth, but did not know how to beg forgiveness.

Zhu Youjian saw his unease, smiled, and reassured him. "Do not panic, Companion Gao. We merely think we can use a clearer method."

With that, he took those torn pages and, one by one, tore each item on them into long strips.

Gao Shiming stood to the side, staring dumbfounded at the Emperor's actions, his mind full of bewilderment, yet he dared not speak.

Zhu Youjian spread those paper strips out one by one across the imperial desk, then took a fresh, large sheet of white paper and drew a simple grid on it with his brush.

The top row of the grid held the dates from the first day of the ninth month to the tenth.

The leftmost column held the two-hour periods of each day, from the hour of the rabbit (5–7 a. m.) to the hour of the dog (7–9 p. m.).

A crude yet instantly clear daily schedule chart appeared before Gao Shiming's eyes.

"Look," Zhu Youjian said, pointing at the paper strips and addressing Gao Shiming. "These matters can be roughly sorted into categories."

He picked up a few strips and continued, "Later, have someone divide these items into four major categories: fiscal and tax affairs, personnel, military affairs, and administration. Write each category on a different-colored paper strip."

"If a matter does not fall under these four, use a white strip."

Gao Shiming understood at once. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty's ingenuity! With everything sorted by category like this, it is indeed clear at a glance. This slave... is humbled by the lesson!"

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, then picked up a few more strips and said, "Next, simply paste them into this chart according to the date each matter is to be handled."

As he spoke, he personally demonstrated, murmuring to himself, "Let Us see, today is the first day of the month..."

From among the twenty-odd paper strips, he swiftly picked out a few.

Inspect the Valiant Guard Camp

Review and approve today's memorials

Summon the personnel responsible for distributing the enthronement reward silver to the Nine Garrisons

He placed these few strips, one by one, into the corresponding time-slot squares under the column for "First Day of the Ninth Month."

"You see, although there are twenty-five matters, the ones that must be dealt with today are, in truth, only these three."

"As for the rest," he pointed at the remaining strips, "those with fixed dates, place them on their corresponding days. Those without fixed dates, leave them here to the side for now. We and you can keep them in mind together."

"Later, have someone make a large screen, mount this chart onto it, and set it up right here in Qianqing Palace. Every morning, you and We, sovereign and minister, shall update the schedule here."

Once Zhu Youjian had finished sorting and categorizing all the paper strips, the twenty-five originally chaotic and disordered matters instantly became orderly and well-arranged, with clear priorities.

He looked with satisfaction at his own handiwork and felt a private amusement. In later ages, he had grown used to electronic task lists; now, here in the Great Ming, using this paper version was not much different.

After all, he had underlings to do all the maintenance and updating for him; he only needed to use it.

Suddenly, his gaze fell upon a few white paper strips set aside separately — items with no completion date marked.

His brow arched slightly, and he picked one up. On it was written: "Li Guopu secret memorial on corruption and malfeasance."

"Has Li Guopu's secret memorial on corruption not yet been submitted?" Zhu Youjian asked.

Gao Shiming bowed and replied, "In answer to Your Majesty, it has not yet been submitted. Shall this slave send someone to urge him?"

Zhu Youjian did not answer at once. His slender fingers gently rubbed the paper strip as he sank into thought.

Judging by the list of Donglin Faction members he had submitted that day, this Li Guopu could not be called anything but proactive in his conduct.

So, was the reason this matter had made no progress that he was still gathering evidence, striving for exhaustive detail?

Or was it... that from the bottom of his heart, he was unwilling to walk this path of the "solitary minister serving through secret memorials"?

Would the secret memorial system that had flourished so mightily in the Kangxi era prove ill-adapted to the soil of this age?

After a moment, he raised his eyes and asked, "When We handed Our warrant tablet to Grand Secretary Li at that time, what was his reaction?"

Gao Shiming searched his memory and replied, "The palace attendant who relayed the message that day reported that Grand Secretary Li had just received the plaque Your Majesty bestowed — 'My Wei Zheng' — and his expression was deeply moved. But looking at it now, it truly is impossible to tell what his attitude toward the secret memorials actually is."

At these words, Zhu Youjian's index finger tapped lightly against the tabletop, producing a steady *duk duk duk*.

The secret memorial was a trial balloon he had released.

He wanted to see whether the Kangxi Emperor's methods could actually work here in the Great Ming.

If it proved workable, then outside the Depot and the Guard, outside the remonstrance channels of the civil officials, he could open up an entirely new intelligence pathway.

The transparency of information across all the realm's affairs could then rise another step.

It was just that the political ecology of the Great Ming and the Great Qing might not be the same.

He thought for a moment, then spoke. "On Grand Secretary Li's side, do not press him for now."

"But hasn't Minister of Personnel Yang Jingchen just taken office?"

"Here is what you will do. Have someone make a box, fitted with two keys. One key stays here with me. The other key, together with the box, is to be delivered personally into Yang Jingchen's hands."

"Have him also write a policy essay on the matter of corruption — setting out the abuses and the methods for governing them. When he has finished, he is to place the essay in the box, lock it with his own hand, and then send it directly into the palace, delivered before me."

Gao Shiming's heart tightened. He understood the Emperor's intent at once.

This was distrust of Li Guopu — adding another man to test the waters.

His Majesty's methods were truly masterful!

"This subject obeys the decree." Without the slightest hesitation, Gao Shiming immediately accepted the order, turned, and went to instruct a junior eunuch to carry out the matter.

Zhu Youjian watched Gao Shiming's back as he spoke with the junior eunuch, his gaze growing distant.

Did corruption matter?

It mattered, and it didn't.

The Anglo-American hegemons of later ages were rife with corruption — did that stop them from dominating the world for two eras?

The key was this: after the graft was taken, the work had to get done.

Could corruption be cured at the root? Frankly, it was most likely impossible.

Water too pure holds no fish; absolute incorruptibility exists only in the imaginings of sages.

But governing corruption must be an attitude maintained with perseverance, unflagging over the long term.

It was a posture — and even more, a deterrent.

Flowing water never stagnates; a door-hinge never gets worm-eaten.

The work of fighting corruption does not lie in the effort of a single morning or evening, but in a sustained state over the long haul.

Even if it only made those borers rein in their greed a little, the state treasury would gain a measure more revenue, and the common people would bear a measure less burden.

Still, none of these were the most important thing at present.

What he needed to do now was not to launch a grand, thunderous anti-corruption campaign.

The time was not yet ripe; acting in haste would only yield an answer sheet covered in slapdash patchwork.

He merely wanted to use this matter — the one that seemed hardest, the one most certain to give offense — to pick out those who were truly willing to stand with him, willing to walk this path beside him.

The art of managing men lies in profit, and also in righteousness. Yet before great profit and great righteousness, it lies even more in observing their hearts and examining their resolve.

Best to test their sincerity with small matters, and test their ability with difficult ones.

What he wanted to see was attitude, was loyalty — it had nothing to do with loyalist or villain.

And, of course, to incidentally probe a little further into how receptive the scholar-officials of the Great Ming were to the matter of "secret memorials."

He could almost picture it: if he handed this box to a sage like Liu Zongzhou —

That old master would probably smash the box to pieces on the spot, then jab a finger at his nose, spray his face with spittle, and furiously denounce him for walking the path of treachery, for dishonoring the civil officials, for failing to uphold the ancestral system.

This age, and the Manchu Qing of a hundred-odd years later — perhaps they were ultimately not the same.

The backbones of the scholar-officials had not yet been thoroughly broken; they were not yet the servile lackeys of later times.

In their hearts still dwelled a pride in "governing all under Heaven together with the sovereign."

That was a good thing, and also a bad thing — it all came down to how he guided them according to the circumstances.

Gao Shiming returned very quickly, bowed, and reported: "Your Majesty, it has been arranged. Before the noon hour, that box will reach the residence of Minister Yang Jingchen."

Zhu Youjian nodded and set the matter aside in his mind.

The piece had been placed; now he would watch how the board reacted.

He glanced back at the crude daily schedule on the table, where today's arrangements were clearly marked.

"Let's go," he said to Gao Shiming. "We've already been delayed a while today. Any later and the Valiant Guard Camp's morning drill will be over."

Gao Shiming hurriedly responded, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhu Youjian strode toward the hall's outer doors. The morning light streamed through the doorway, casting a long shadow behind him.

The moment he stepped out of the hall, the vast Forbidden City lay silent and deserted; a gust of chill morning wind struck his face.

Those civil officials — with no court session to attend today, they were probably all still lying abed, weren't they?

And in the end, I'm the only one who has to get up at the crack of dawn and eat the northwest wind!

A loneliness born of being understood by no one quietly welled up in Zhu Youjian's heart.

All that he was doing — who could truly understand it?

The Duke of Ying had first taken him for a Wanli Emperor; in a few more days he would probably decide he was a Zhengde Emperor.

Gao Shiming had made his master's will his own, yet in his heart he surely still saw him as merely a ruthless sovereign who manipulated men's minds.

Even ministers bound to him by rank and title, like Li Guopu and Yang Jingchen, probably could not see through to his true intent.

Among the full civil and military ranks of the court, some saw him as a heroic sovereign, some as a tyrant, some as a callow youth on the throne — yet none could know what kind of future it was that he bore upon his shoulders.

Those who know me see my heart's sorrow; those who know me not ask what it is I seek.

Zhu Youjian drew a deep breath of the damp, cold air, and a cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

But so what?

Just roll over them one by one, that's all!