Chapter 1658: A New Sovereign Takes the Throne, Lethargic and Listless

The Gate of Imperial Supremacy.

Three cracks of the ceremonial whip; incense smoke curled through the air.

Zhu Youjian had finally returned to the throne at the Gate of Imperial Supremacy. How many years had he waited! At last the dream had come true — once again, at the break of dawn, he sat on the platform outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy, waiting for the court's full assembly of civil and military traitors to come kowtow to him!

It was now the ninth month of the seventh year of Tianqi. The twenty-seven-day mourning period had ended, and the late Emperor's coffin had been carried out of Qianqing Palace and taken to the Hall of Imperial Longevity at the foot of Prospect Hill for temporary placement — the Tianqi Emperor had died too young and too suddenly, and his imperial tomb had not even begun construction! So there was nowhere to bury him yet, and the coffin could only be placed in the Hall of Imperial Longevity, the hall reserved for the long-term lying-in-state of deceased emperors.

Worried that his brother would be lonely in the Hall of Imperial Longevity, Zhu Youjian had specially instructed the eunuchs under him to place the ashes of Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke in jars and send them along to the Hall of Imperial Longevity to keep Tianqi company — especially Madam Ke, who, by Empress Zhang's decree, had been sliced with 3,600 cuts, carved into tiny pieces, then picked up piece by piece and burned together into ash. Oh, and it was still those seventy "fat sheep" who had watched the execution who were responsible for picking up the pieces. Presumably not a single piece was missing, so at last a complete Madam Ke could be returned to Tianqi.

The Tianqi Emperor's spirit in heaven should have been satisfied — only those seventy "fat sheep" were frightened out of their wits, and several fainted on the spot. Though who knew whether, after such a fright, they might suddenly see the light and become "good treacherous ministers" from now on?

"Long live Our Emperor, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!"

The court's full assembly of civil and military traitors were kowtowing toward Zhu Youjian and shouting "ten thousand years" in unison. Zhu Youjian glanced down. Quite a crowd had turned out — a dark mass below, if not a thousand then at least eight hundred!

The scene was far grander than the great court assemblies of the middle and late years of Zhu Youjian's previous reign. Back then, the court's civil and military traitors had long since lost their drive; every one of them was thinking only of lining his pockets and coasting through the days, lacking even the energy to attend dawn court, dodging it whenever they could.

Of course, most of those who still managed to attend court every day were no good either! No good ideas, but plenty of rotten ones — and what was more hateful, they loved to argue with the Emperor or impeach those officials who could still barely get things done. Later, when the unfilial son took power, he simply wouldn't let these "upright gentlemen" submit impeachment memorials — he even abolished the Offices of Scrutiny and the Circuits — and in the end he still became a sage ruler!

Though inwardly he looked down on this pack of traitorous ministers, Zhu Youjian's face was still wreathed in smiles as he waved cheerfully: "Rise, rise!"

Everyone scrambled to their feet and stole a glance upward. They saw that Zhu Youjian had already shed his mourning garments and changed into court robes, seated on the imperial throne, beaming as he looked out at them all. Seeing that the assembled ministers had risen and taken their places, he said with a smile: "Today the state mourning has passed, and the late Emperor's coffin has been carried to the Hall of Imperial Longevity. We have now completely taken up the realm of the Great Ming. That is why We summoned you all here at dawn — to explain the rules for court attendance from now on. We ascended the throne in Our youth, and had not previously left the palace to study; Our talents are truly meager and Our learning shallow, hardly sufficient to cope with the chaos now afflicting the realm. Therefore a great assembly such as today's is, for Us, of very little significance. Our ancestors established the rules for these great assemblies mainly so that they could see more officials and learn more of outside affairs. Our ancestors rose from humble beginnings, endured great hardship, and won the realm through a hundred battles. Naturally they possessed the ability to perceive the finest details and distinguish the loyal from the treacherous, and the more matters deliberated at court, the better. But We grew up deep within the palace, ignorant of the perils of the outside world, and have read few of the books of the sages — how could We possibly handle a myriad of affairs each day? Therefore, a great assembly such as today's need only be held on the first and fifteenth of each month from now on."

Zhu Youjian's words once again shocked the traitorous ministers!

How could this be the speech of a seventeen-year-old boy emperor? He was clearly an old fox!

Zhu Youjian's tone remained light and brisk as he spoke at length, unhurried and composed, as though everything were under his control. He continued: "We hold great assemblies only on the first and fifteenth, not merely because Our talents are meager and Our learning shallow and We cannot manage too many affairs of state, but also because We need to set aside more time for study. Henceforth, except on the first and fifteenth, We shall go to the Hall of Literary Splendor every morning to study, continuing until the noon meal. After the noon meal, the Grand Secretaries, the heads of the Six Ministries, the Commander of the Capital Camps, the commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the supervising secretaries and censors, and other senior officials shall come to the Hall of Literary Splendor to memorialize and deliberate on governance. After deliberations, We shall grant individual audiences to officials.

As for the first and fifteenth of each month, apart from the great assembly, no other business shall be conducted — We must also rest a little.

What do you all think?"

The business about studying was nothing but an excuse. In his previous life, Zhu Youjian had been the Retired Emperor for more than fifty years, and apart from playing with the young ladies and learning from the unfilial son how to be an emperor, he had spent his time reading! And not only the traditional Confucian classics — he had also read the works of the new Confucian school that had developed from the "Zilun Gewu Pian," and had even read many Western scholarly works, usually in Latin and French editions!

His learning was immense!

Compared with him, the civil officials at court were all semi-literate; they were utterly unqualified to serve as his lecturers. They would be better off listening to him lecture!

So Zhu Youjian was certainly not going to spend half a day reading. What he wanted was to free up time to handle the affairs of the inner court and his personal guard.

Besides, he was not really going to attend the great assemblies on the first and fifteenth on time either — he would dodge them whenever he could!

In his view, the affairs of the outer court were too deep and murky; they would have to be set aside for now. His main energy had to go into managing the inner court and his personal guard.

But no one should think the inner court and the personal guard are easy to manage — both were full of trouble! The inner court comprised twelve directorates, four offices, and eight bureaus — twenty agencies in all! Tens of thousands of eunuchs and palace maids — and few of them were any good!

And Zhu Youjian absolutely had to get these twenty-four agencies in order!

Because the economic foundation of his personal guard was the inner treasury, the private treasury, the imperial estates, and so on, all managed by the inner court.

If the inner court was not run properly, the money Zhu Youjian had gathered through confiscating the rebel faction's assets and selling indulgences would all be squandered before long.

So Zhu Youjian would have to continue reorganizing the inner court — and carry out massive layoffs!

Because having more people was useless. How many people were in Zhu Youjian's own household? Did they need tens of thousands of eunuchs and palace maids? All those people were consuming the Great Ming's limited financial resources!

If he did not dismiss most of them, what would Zhu Youjian use to support his personal guard?

And establishing the personal guard required Zhu Youjian's personal involvement even more than reorganizing the inner court. Only a guard force that he personally supervised and trained could be wielded like his own arm, responsive and effortless. Only then could he truly be at ease!

Therefore, in the next few years, Zhu Youjian would simply have no time to deal with the traitorous ministers of the outer court. Nor did he expect to rely on those traitors to revive the Great Ming dynasty. If those fellows could just keep the situation from collapsing, he would be thanking heaven and earth.

So unlike the previous life's vigorous, enterprising, and industrious model of a wise ruler, this life's Chongzhen Emperor, from the moment he took the throne, appeared lethargic and indolent, not diligent in governance, thinking only of "slacking off."

The people below probably never imagined Zhu Youjian would say such a thing. Couldn't you at least pretend to be diligent for a few days? So they were all stunned, and the atmosphere turned awkward. Seeing that no one was speaking, Zhu Youjian grew a little impatient. He quickly signaled with his eyes to the Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji — you're the chief minister of the eunuch faction, the best at currying favor; get out here and flatter me!

Huang Liji, caught by Zhu Youjian's glare, reacted at once and was about to step out of line to memorialize — when someone actually beat him to it. The man threw himself to his knees with a thud: "Your Majesty is sagely and wise! Though Your Majesty is a young talent, you should still read more of the books of the sages. However, the principles in the sages' books are broad and profound, and require a great scholar as lecturer to resolve Your Majesty's doubts and questions."

Zhu Youjian looked closely — it was Kong Zhenyun, the sixty-second-generation descendant of Confucius and currently Left Instructor of the Left Secretariat of the Heir Apparent.

Seeing him, Zhu Youjian thought of the "Zilun Gewu Pian" — that was the sage's book Dorgon had dug out of a tomb in Qufu! This time Dorgon would certainly never break through the Great Wall, so he could not possibly go tomb-robbing in Qufu. Then how would the "Zilun Gewu Pian" ever come to light?

Why not bring Kong Zhenyun to his side and sound him out? Go dig it up ourselves?

At that thought, Zhu Youjian pointed at Kong Zhenyun and said: "We think you look quite like a great scholar. Why not serve as a lecturer?"

(End of Chapter)