Chapter 353: The Palace Examination, the Interview

The Donglin Grand Assembly in the spring of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen unfolded exactly as Zhu Cilang had envisioned—amid an atmosphere of unity, progress, and harmony, it opened in triumph, closed in triumph, and opened a new era leading toward victory!

The "Gentlemen's League" of the Donglin General Assembly, headed by the "Three Lords and Seven Masters," was duly elected by public acclaim. Though it was public acclaim, it was public acclaim entirely under Zhu Cilang's control. Every "gentleman" elected had been decided in advance.

The Three Lords were Wei Zaode, Qian Qianyi, and Hou Xun.

The Seven Masters were Huang Zongxi, Luo Dagong, Zheng Sen, Gong Dingzi, Wu Meicun, Bi Jiucheng, and Su Ziwen.

Zhu Cilang himself was not listed among the Three Lords and Seven Masters, but everyone knew that the Donglin Faction was now entirely under this Crown Prince's control. Of the so-called Three Lords and Seven Masters, more than half were figures Zhu Cilang could completely command—for instance, among the Three Lords, Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode was Zhu Cilang's rubber stamp. And among the Seven Masters, Gong Dingzi, Wu Meicun, Bi Jiucheng, and Su Ziwen were either Hanlin or chief clerks, all close ministers of Zhu Cilang. Zheng Sen was Zhu Cilang's eldest senior fellow apprentice and brother-in-law. In other words, six of the ten men in the "Gentlemen's League" were Zhu Cilang's own people.

As for the remaining four, Hou Xun was from Henan, had no interests in the southeast, and had long since been bound to Zhu Cilang. Qian Qianyi, who feared cold water, was not worth mentioning. Luo Dagong cared only about office and was plainly a petty man. Huang Zongxi loved both office and fame—a classic hypocrite.

Because the power structure of this Donglin Faction organized by Zhu Cilang ran from the top down—the ten-man Gentlemen's League elected by the Donglin Grand Assembly led the entire party, while all local Donglin branches were appointed by the Gentlemen's League rather than elected by local Donglin members themselves.

Thus, by controlling the ten-man Gentlemen's League, the Donglin Faction was under Zhu Cilang's control! And by controlling the Donglin Faction, the voice of the southeastern literati—if not entirely in Zhu Cilang's hands—was at least half in his grasp.

As for the other half, it depended on whether His Highness the Crown Prince could find a few southeastern scholars skilled at shaping public opinion and capable of solid, practical work.

In Zhu Cilang's plan, the Donglin Faction had two main functions. The first was propaganda—helping Zhu Cilang control the literati's public discourse and popular opinion in the southeast.

The second was transmitting conditions from below upward—Zhu Cilang had boldly stripped the censors and remonstrance offices of most of their power in order to raise administrative efficiency, not because he did not need to hear a wide range of opinions. Therefore, once the situation had stabilized somewhat, Zhu Cilang needed to establish an "advisory system" independent of the existing bureaucracy, and the Donglin Faction was one part of it.

The imperial palace in Nanjing, built as the residence of the Son of Heaven after Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming dynasty, was in fact more magnificent than the Forbidden City in Beijing.

In area alone it was nearly a third larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing! Moreover, the surroundings of the Nanjing palace were more open—after all, the city walls of Nanjing at this time were far larger than those of Beijing. If everything within the outer wall of Nanjing were counted as the city proper, then this city was undoubtedly the largest walled city in the world!

The Nanjing palace was situated at the center of Nanjing, and at the same time on the eastern salient of the inner city. Thus the north, east, and south sides of the palace's perimeter were guarded by the towering, majestic inner walls of Nanjing, giving it an air of tremendous grandeur. To the west of the palace ran a broad, straight avenue called Taiping Street, which separated the bustling commercial districts from the awe-inspiring residence of the Son of Heaven and the offices of the various government ministries.

However, this spacious and imposing residence of the Son of Heaven had fallen into disrepair after more than two hundred years of disuse. The high outer walls looked fine, but within them only a few dilapidated halls remained, hardly fit for the Son of Heaven to dwell in.

Therefore, when Zhu Cilang first entered Nanjing, he did not take up residence in the palace together with the Chongzhen Emperor, but instead used the West Garden and the Dagong Workshop as temporary palaces.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang ordered the Ministry of Works to begin the palace restoration project.

Unlike previous great construction projects, this palace restoration adopted a method of open bidding to merchants. It did not over-pursue grandeur, seeking only comfort, speed, and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, the project funds were very ample and could be disbursed promptly according to progress. And with famous gardens everywhere in Nanjing, there was naturally no shortage of craftsmen and merchants skilled in garden construction.

Therefore, the great palace restoration project progressed quickly, and by the spring of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, the Hall of Literary Splendor and the Hall of Martial Valor had been restored to the required standard.

In the Ming imperial palace, the Hall of Literary Splendor was located in the southeastern corner of the palace complex and had originally been the site of the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace, only becoming an auxiliary hall of the emperor during the Jiajing era. The newly restored Hall of Literary Splendor in the Nanjing palace had now reverted to being the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace—the residence and regency seat of the Army-Supervising Crown Prince Zhu Cilang. Zhu Cilang's four selected consorts also lived with him in the Hall of Literary Splendor.

The Hall of Martial Valor stood opposite the Hall of Literary Splendor, in the southwestern corner of the palace complex. Originally a hall for enshrining portraits of Zhu Yuanzhang, it had now become the residence of the Chongzhen Emperor, Empress Zhou, the other consorts, and the two princesses.

Between the Hall of Literary Splendor and the Hall of Martial Valor stood the three great halls: the Hall of Serving Heaven, the Hall of the Canopy, and the Hall of Prudent Conduct. Of these, the Hall of Serving Heaven had been destroyed by fire during the Jingnan Campaign, and the Hall of the Canopy and the Hall of Prudent Conduct had been struck by lightning and caught fire during the Zhengtong era. Though not completely destroyed, they were too ruined to repair and had to be rebuilt.

The reconstruction of the three great halls was an enormous project that could not be completed in a short time. Therefore, in the spring of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, only the Hall of Literary Splendor and the Hall of Martial Valor were put into use.

These two halls were not only the residences of Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang, but also the venues for the grand morning audience and the midday audience.

Of these, the grand morning audiences on the first and fifteenth of each month were held in the plaza before the Hall of Martial Valor, where the Crown Prince, in attendance upon the Chongzhen Emperor, received the obeisance of all officials beneath the eaves outside the hall.

The daily midday audiences were held in the Hall of Literary Splendor. If the Chongzhen Emperor was unwilling to condescend to come to his son's quarters and play the puppet, then he need not attend the midday audience. With a filial Crown Prince managing the government, he could thoroughly enjoy the good life. How enviable!

That afternoon, the Chongzhen Emperor was already enjoying life, while Zhu Cilang still sat upright in the great hall of the Hall of Literary Splendor, interviewing a jinshi-to-be who was about to see his name on the golden list.

Yes, an interview—it could also be called a palace examination. But it was not a written test; it was a question-and-answer session. Zhu Cilang posed the questions, and the tribute scholars who had passed the Ministry of Rites examination answered. If the interview was passed, the tribute scholar became a jinshi and could take office.

If the interview was not passed, then the tribute scholar who had toiled so hard would be "struck off"!

Unlike the previous convention whereby the palace examination only set rankings and never actually struck off tribute scholars, this interview presided over by Zhu Cilang had already set a "strike-off" quota—ten percent of tribute scholars would be eliminated in the interview, falling from the clouds straight down to the mortal world, and quite possibly dropping two levels at once.

Because Zhu Cilang had already decided to abolish the juren degree when the time was ripe!

The Ming dynasty established the two degrees of juren and xiucai, and granted certain privileges to juren and xiucai living in their home districts—this was absolutely one of the important causes of the late Ming fiscal collapse, almost as heavy a burden as that of the imperial princes and the imperial clan.

Compared with the Ming, in that Song dynasty which was said to have been so happy for scholars, one only obtained a degree—and with it the privilege of tax exemption—after becoming an official. But the number of officials was ultimately limited! A few tens of thousands at most. Yet the number of xiucai and juren was beyond counting—there were hundreds of thousands! With hundreds of thousands of people sharing in the court's tax revenues, how could the Chongzhen Emperor not be impoverished to death?

This evil policy had to be abolished, so the tribute scholars eliminated in this interview would absolutely weep themselves unconscious!

And the Tianjin tribute scholar Lei Shao'an, now sitting on an embroidered stool and speaking with eloquence, was a man of genuine talent and substance who could be put to use.

"Your Highness, that there is no tiger in the marketplace is clear, yet when three men speak of a tiger, it becomes real. When people speak, tigers are made; people's words are also to be feared! And in our dynasty, the talk of the pure-stream critics is especially fearsome. If it can be guided according to circumstances and put to use, then it can serve the state—and then what need be feared are the traitors to the nation and enemies of the court. But to make people's words useful, blocking them alone will not do; there must also be mouths and pens that can serve the court! Only thus can righteous spirit be upheld."

(End of Chapter)