Chapter 1262: What? There's Still the White Lotus Sect!

"Your Majesty, this is a memorial from His Highness the Prince of Fu, sent from Guangzhou." Huang Xiaobao, the seal-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, stood behind Zhu Cilang and handed over a memorial that had been delivered to East Lake Palace early that morning to Zhu Cilang, who was eating breakfast.

Sitting across the table was Empress Wu Sanmei. The Zhu Emperor had spent the previous night in Wu Sanmei's Kunming Hall, and now the couple were having breakfast together in the dining room of Kunming Hall. At thirty-eight sui this year, having already borne Zhu Cilang two sons and three daughters, Wu Sanmei's position in the inner palace and in her husband's heart remained unshakable. Although Zhu Cilang was somewhat dissatisfied with her "silly-sweet" nature, that "silly-sweetness" had many endearing qualities too. For instance, after bearing five children she could still keep the figure of a mature woman brimming with charm. This was the result of long-term exercise — who knew how much sweat Wu Sanmei had shed and how much hardship she had endured!

Another example: she hardly ever fought over jealousy. Apart from a cold relationship with Zheng Chagu, she got along very well with all the other consorts.

Yet another example: Wu Sanmei rarely voiced opinions on government affairs, unless serving as regent — unlike rulers before the Ming, Zhu Cilang did not oppose the inner palace participating in politics. He allowed empresses and consorts to voice opinions on government affairs, and would even take the initiative to seek their opinions in certain situations.

Of course, these "certain situations" usually carried a particular specificity. For example, Zhu Cilang would seek Tokugawa Takako's opinion when handling matters related to Japan, would seek Zheng Chagu's opinion when handling matters related to the Southern Seas and maritime affairs, and would seek Jin Dongzhu's opinion when handling matters related to Joseon and the Manchu. And Wu Sanmei, as Empress, could offer suggestions to Zhu Cilang on all matters!

But that Wu Sanmei could do so did not mean Zhu Cilang truly wished her to.

This was in fact a "precedent" Zhu Cilang was preparing for future monarchs: the Ming emperor and the rulers of the imperial feudatories needed one or several spouses capable of participating in governance (limited to the empress, the mother of the crown prince, and the mother of a feudatory ruler), so that if the monarch died young, they could shoulder the responsibility of regency.

Therefore, in Zhu Cilang's inner palace, the empresses and consorts permitted to participate in politics to a certain degree were all women who had the chance to become regents. If Zhu Cilang unfortunately died young, his Great Ming Empire and those feudatories that should be ruled by his sons would need these women to take power.

If Zhu Cilang lived until his sons grew up, then this system of inner-palace political participation would also be passed down, and sooner or later it would come into play. Considering the pace of human medical progress and the number of crowns the Zhu Ming dynasty possessed, the situation of a child ascending the throne would certainly occur — and it would not be a low-probability event!

And Wu Sanmei's performance on the matter of political participation satisfied Zhu Cilang greatly: she always asked questions and almost never voiced opinions, just like a humble student.

Another aspect that satisfied the Zhu Emperor was that Wu Sanmei never sought economic benefits for her brothers, who had no business sense whatsoever.

While the Zhu Emperor lowered his head to read the memorial, Wu Sanmei took a news digest from Huang Xiaobao's hands and began reading it aloud. This digest had been sent over by the Hanlin Academy, and it gathered the important news published in the local newspapers of Wuhan Prefecture and out-of-prefecture newspapers (newspapers from other prefectures were not same-day) delivered that morning.

Zhu Cilang, who handled a myriad of affairs daily, usually did not read the digest himself; instead, the woman who had shared his bed would read it aloud to him while he ate breakfast. Sometimes Zhu Cilang would divide his attention several ways — listening to the digest, eating breakfast, and reading memorials all at once. Being an emperor was truly exhausting: twelve double-hours a day, apart from when he was asleep, were basically all working hours. Even holding hands with an empress or consort was for the sake of producing an heir for the Great Ming!

But Zhu Cilang never complained. People in his line of work were not afraid of hardship; they were all people who genuinely regarded endless toil as a blessing.

That Prince of Fu, Zhu Cixuan, was also a younger brother who did not know how to be considerate of his elder brother's hard work, and had added a bit more work pressure to the already frantically busy Zhu Cilang — an Indian princess who possessed both beauty and wisdom!

Princess Nisha had already followed Zhu Cixuan to Guangzhou, and was now on her way north to Wuhan Prefecture.

In addition, the cash portion of the dowry and personal assets that Princess Nisha had brought had all been deposited in the Guangzhou branches of the two banks. It was roughly several million taels of silver!

Just as Zhu Cilang was about to discuss with Wu Sanmei holding a wedding for himself and Nisha, as well as building two Indian-style mansions for Princess Nisha, one in East Lake Palace and one in Laoshan Palace, he saw the chief guard Wu Yingxiong appear hurriedly at the dining room door.

Besides being responsible for Zhu Cilang's security, the chief guard was also one of his military aides-de-camp, responsible for liaison between the Grand Marshal's Office and the Embroidered Uniform Guard on one side and Zhu Cilang on the other.

Zhu Cilang quickly beckoned to Wu Yingxiong, who immediately strode to his side, performed a bow with clasped hands, and then reported: "Your Majesty, Guard Commander Zhu of the Embroidered Uniform Guard requests an audience."

Zhu Cilang nodded and instructed: "Arrange it. See him before the midday court session."

"This subject receives the decree." Wu Yingxiong then handed a wax-sealed envelope to Huang Xiaobao before turning and leaving.

Huang Xiaobao immediately tore off the wax seal, took out the memorial inside, and handed it to Zhu Cilang with both hands. This memorial was a secret report from Zhu Chunjie, reporting exactly what would be discussed at the audience shortly.

Zhu Cilang opened the memorial and began reading, his brow gradually furrowing. After reading for a while, he closed the memorial, handed it to Huang Xiaobao, and instructed: "File it in the secret archives, then summon Pan Yuchen, Superintendent of the Eastern Depot, to an audience together with Zhu Chunjie."

"This slave receives the decree." Huang Xiaobao put the memorial away properly, acknowledged the order, and turned to convey the Zhu Emperor's verbal edict.

The Eastern Investigation Depot had once been reduced to serving as Zhu Cilang's internal guard, but after the older generation of hardship-enduring eunuchs gradually aged and could no longer shoulder internal guard duties, it began transforming once again into a secret service organ. It had now become a small secret service organ directly subordinate to the court — not comparable to the massive Embroidered Uniform Guard, but still very important. Moreover, this organ and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were two lines that did not intersect. The Embroidered Uniform Guard belonged to the Grand Marshal's Office establishment and was a military department; its members basically all came from the army and were mainly responsible for gathering military intelligence, as well as for purging destabilizing elements within the army.

The members of the Eastern Investigation Depot, on the other hand, all came from the civilian world — that is, the jianghu — and were mainly responsible for apprehending rebels among the people. Their work focus was Yingtian Prefecture and Wuhan Prefecture!

On the morning of September 28, the heads of the two great secret service organs appeared simultaneously in a large study on the second floor of the Hall of Diligent Governance — this was Zhu Cilang's office.

"Your Majesty, in Sichuan, Hanzhong in Shaanxi, and the Yunyang area of Huguang, White Lotus Sect activity has existed all along. During the great chaos of the Chongzhen years, quite a few White Lotus heretics there joined in the uproar and answered the roving bandits. So after the roving bandits seized Sichuan, Hanzhong and Gongchang in Shaanxi, and Yunyang in Hubei, a portion of the White Lotus heretics from Sichuan, Huguang, and southern Shaanxi received rewards and became puppet officials of the roving bandits. The White Lotus Sect was thereby able to spread openly within the roving bandits' territory, and its followers grew ever more numerous. Yet the White Lotus believers were rarely from fubing households; most were impoverished Sichuanese of the lowest strata."

The one currently briefing Zhu Cilang on the development of the White Lotus Sect within the Shun domain was Zhu Chunjie, who had requested the audience on his own initiative.

"Why are there so few fubing households who believe in the White Lotus Sect?" Zhu Cilang asked. "Didn't the White Lotus Sect in Shanxi and Shaanxi also stir up plenty of trouble?"

"Your Majesty," Zhu Chunjie said, "the White Lotus doctrine holds little appeal for those in the upper strata, but it easily attracts the suffering people at the bottom. Therefore the fubing households on the roving bandits' side mostly do not believe in the White Lotus Sect, while the impoverished Sichuanese dream of Maitreya descending to the world and all the people being turned over. The suffering people on the roving bandits' side have almost no path to turn their lives around, and with orthodox Confucian learning in decline, those who believe in the White Lotus Sect are especially numerous. In recent years, White Lotus believers have gathered crowds to make trouble from time to time. So the White Lotus Sect's situation on the roving bandits' side has grown increasingly difficult, and it is nearly on the verge of being banned. If the court could appropriately fan the flames of the White Lotus Sect within the roving bandits' territory, perhaps it could erupt on a grand scale."

(End of Chapter)