Chapter 173: Fear of Oars and Rudders Failing

In early April, early summer, at the Wendé Hall, the first grand court assembly after the emperor’s return to the Eastern Capital was in chaotic disorder.

This disorder stemmed mainly from three sources:

One was that, lacking the transfer of grain and funds from the southeast, many things that should have proceeded smoothly were now difficult to carry out, prompting widespread complaints.

Another was the chaos in Guanzhong. With no possibility of a counteroffensive in northern Shaanxi, the debate over how to handle Qu Duan, Wang Xie, and Wang Shu had reached an extreme…

Wang Shu was a pro-war civil official with an impeccable stance, the absolute leader of the civil officials before Yuwen Xuzhong entered Guanzhong, and the Great Song’s representative there. This time, he had personally led a large army to confront the Jin army, but suffered a complete defeat, losing troops and territory.

Wang Xie, on the other hand, came from a background of bandits or, rather, righteous army. He had fled at the first sign of trouble before, but this time he obeyed orders and went into battle, only to also suffer a complete defeat. Moreover, after that defeat, he fled all the way from northern Shaanxi to Fengxiang, clearly a useless waste who could ruin things but never accomplish them—except that this waste was superficially obedient.

As for Qu Duan, he was the most controversial figure. His arrogance and domineering nature had become the consensus of the entire court. In this campaign, he first refused the summons of his direct superior, Wang Shu, on the grounds that defeat was inevitable, and then did not participate in the battle at all. Yet, after the defeat, with Wang Shu’s entire army annihilated and Wang Xie having fled, he single-handedly held the defensive line, confining the Jin army’s offensive to northern Shaanxi, preventing Wanyan Loushi from exploiting his gains, and ultimately waiting for the central plains’ Talan to withdraw northward… In other words, it now seemed that he might have been the one who grasped the truth, misunderstood by everyone.

Under these circumstances, it was no wonder that the entire court was locked in endless debate, unsure how to handle these three men.

The first two matters were manageable—at least they were discussed on their own merits. What truly caused the situation to spiral out of control was undoubtedly the violent reaction of civil and military officials to Liu Yu’s proclamation of himself as emperor.

And to make matters worse, the Zhao emperor sitting on the throne was, relatively speaking, far too indifferent.

To be honest, watching the ministers in the hall who clearly knew his attitude yet still fumed with righteous indignation, the Zhao emperor had, at some point, let his mind wander. He simply kept pondering: what exactly was the situation before him?

The problem was actually very simple: why had he felt so constrained in Nanyang before, yet not this sense of powerlessness? And now, after risking his life to secure a victory, making the country at least superficially look like a proper state, why did everything feel like a complete mess instead?

But from another perspective, he had unknowingly been the Zhao Song emperor for nearly two years. From initially wanting to flee, to wanting to jump into a well and commit suicide to ‘return to his place,’ to now worrying that he couldn’t control the situation—it could only be said that time truly was a butcher’s knife.

Yet, thinking this way, compared not to Nanyang but to two years ago, where exactly was the current situation worse?

And how much worse could it get?

Back then, the Zhao Song court was nothing but a small exiled court, with the danger of national subjugation right at hand.

Back then, he himself was nothing but a useless waste who knew nothing, could only play the part of a wooden statue, and had to seek out Li Gang… Of course, he wasn’t much better now… but he had improved.

But all in all, some things—whether the so-called ‘old affairs of Hebei’ or personal issues like Pan Fei—since he had ‘acknowledged’ them as unforgettable in front of Zong Ze that day, there was no need to hide them any longer… What had to be faced, would be faced. Some things needed a resolution.

“Your Majesty… Your Imperial Majesty!”

Zhu Shengfei, the newly appointed Minister of Rites recommended by Lü Yihao, had spoken at great length but received no response from the Zhao emperor for a long time. The good-tempered Zhu Shengfei remained silent, but this drew Xu Jingheng’s open displeasure in the hall. “A minister of the court is speaking to Your Majesty!”

“I am guilty.” Zhao Jiu, who had been like a statue all day, finally spoke.

Xu Jingheng froze on the spot, then grew awkward: “That is not what I meant…”

“How does that saying go?” Zhao Jiu continued. “I am guilty, but not toward the myriad states? If the myriad states are guilty, the guilt lies with me alone?”

“If I am guilty, let it not be toward the myriad states. If the myriad states are guilty, the guilt lies with me alone… from the Analects, Yao Yue chapter.” Xu Jingheng, out of instinct as a Confucian master, corrected the Zhao emperor, but quickly realized that although this emperor had long refused the classics lectures, this was hardly the time for a lesson. Moreover, the emperor suddenly saying such a thing was enough to make anyone uneasy. “But the meaning is the same—‘gong’ means oneself—Your Majesty need not dwell on it… And what we were just discussing was how to refute the rebel Liu and set the record straight. How does that involve the Son of Heaven’s guilt?”

“Good, I didn’t make a fool of myself.” Zhao Jiu’s face was expressionless, his tone calm, which inexplicably filled the high officials at the front of the hall—those who had followed this emperor for as little as half a year or as long as two years—with a strange dread. “But I was indeed speaking of the matter of the rebel Liu… He issued a manifesto, and we just debate back and forth in this hall—what’s the point?”

“That is precisely my view.” Someone from the back, clearly unaware of the shift in atmosphere, couldn’t help but interject. “To deal with the rebel Liu, we should use a large army to annihilate him, capture him alive, and execute him publicly to set the record straight. What use are mere words?”

“That is not what I meant.” Zhao Jiu raised his voice slightly, but his tone remained calm. “I think, since Liu Yu issued a manifesto listing my past faults, why shouldn’t I issue an edict of self-blame to clarify things and set the record straight?”

With Lü Yihao absent, and this being the first ‘regular court session’ in the Eastern Capital in almost years, the number of attendees was large, and everyone’s desire to express themselves was strong, so order momentarily spiraled out of control.

Amid the uproar, some hastily knelt to apologize, some paled in fear, some rushed to refute… Even Xu Jingheng was momentarily stunned. He stood there, strongly suspecting that the Zhao emperor was still angry with him over the earlier matter and was using this to embarrass the officials present.

After all, an edict of self-blame was almost the lowest political posture an emperor could take. How could he issue one just because someone sent a manifesto cursing him?

If he did that, wouldn’t it be an admission of guilt?

Even the phrase ‘admission of guilt’ wasn’t quite right, because this emperor had just repelled a Jin invasion and returned to the old capital, enjoying some political prestige. There was no reason to issue an edict of self-blame at this time, was there?

So if the Son of Heaven issued an edict of self-blame, how were the civil and military officials supposed to conduct themselves? If it came to assigning responsibility, Liu Yu—a proper jinshi and elite civil official of the Great Song—had become a rebel and a puppet emperor. How were these scholars supposed to handle that? In truth, everyone’s vehemence today—how much was genuine concern over Liu Yu, and how much was an attempt to prove their own political stance—was hard to say.

But soon, Xu Jingheng, Lü Haowen, and Wang Boyan all immediately realized a serious problem: regardless of whether this emperor was joking or acting out of anger, if they didn’t stop him, he might actually have Academician Lin draft an edict of self-blame! And he could even send it directly to the armies through his own channels… That would truly be a case of ‘better to go home and sell lotus roots,’ like Lord Bao!

“Silence!”

In panic, Xu Jingheng suddenly turned around and barked sternly. “Where is the Censor-in-Court? Immediately record those who have lost decorum! Where are Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan? Quickly summon the Imperial Guard to restore order!”

The hall erupted in noise, then fell abruptly silent.

“Your Majesty.”

In that silence, Lü Haowen took the lead, along with the other two chief councilors, to perform a formal grand bow, speaking gravely. “The rebel Liu’s words are absurd and not worth a laugh. His puppet Qi state is not only a vassal state established by the Jin, but also merely a territory of seven prefectures, divided and occupied by the likes of Li Cheng and Kong Yanzhou—its form is laughable… Why issue an edict of self-blame over this?”

You all know it’s not worth a laugh? You know its form is laughable?

Zhao Jiu felt powerless inside but showed nothing on his face: “Say no more. My mind is made up!”

“Your Majesty!”

Lü Haowen was almost in despair. “The rebel Liu’s words truly are not worth refuting…”

“I think they still need to be refuted.” Zhao Jiu sat calmly on the throne and replied. “Liu Yu’s manifesto probably curses me on two levels: one is ‘accepting the mission to negotiate peace, only to scheme for escape; leading troops to defend the capital, only to protect oneself,’ and the other is ‘enduring the sight of father and elder brother.’ The former is his forced speculation about my state of mind before ascending the throne, certainly not worth mentioning. But the latter is a fact known to all under heaven, and I must give an explanation to the people.”

From Lü Haowen downward, these elite bureaucrats of the Great Song almost immediately understood, but their reactions varied.

The middle and lower ranks—or relatively lower ranks—and most of the newly arrived officials generally breathed a sigh of relief… According to their understanding, the Zhao emperor was employing a clever tactic of avoiding the substantive and focusing on the trivial. By first ignoring the most severe moral accusation (that is, ‘accepting the mission to negotiate peace, only to scheme for escape; leading troops to defend the capital, only to protect oneself’) and focusing the issue on filial piety, he could appeal to the people’s sympathy, thereby gaining public support… After all, everyone knew that the ‘northern hunt of the two sages’ was an objective reality, and the Zhao emperor’s ‘enduring the sight of father and elder brother’ was a very helpless objective difficulty.

But a portion of people, especially those who had been in close contact with Zhao Jiu for a long time—from the chief councilors to Hu Yin—almost immediately realized the truth and then collectively paled. Because they understood better than anyone this emperor’s true attitude toward his ‘father and elder brother.’

For one thing, a few days ago, when he spoke about the matter of the imperial heir at the site of the Genyue ruins, while it might have been an attempt to win people over, the disgust and resentment in his words toward the two sages were unmistakably genuine.

In other words, once this emperor issued an edict of self-blame to explain the ‘enduring the sight of father and elder brother’ issue, given his personality and the vengeful mindset after losing his wife and son, he would almost certainly use the edict to thoroughly settle the accounts of the Jingkang Incident, formally and publicly shifting the blame for the Jingkang Incident onto the ‘two sages’!

Of course, the word ‘shifting’ seemed somewhat inappropriate.

After hesitating for a moment, Hu Yin gritted his teeth, stepped forward, knelt, and spoke tremblingly: “Your Majesty… I… I…”

“How is it, Minister Hu?” Zhao Jiu calmly looked at this young Confucian master, who had followed him for a time second only to Lü Haowen and Zhang Jun.

“I… I beg Your Majesty to withdraw the decree.” Hu Yin was almost in tears.

“My mind is made up.” Zhao Jiu sighed. “Minister Hu, you have followed me for nearly two years. You should understand that some things cannot be avoided.”

Hu Yin was utterly helpless and burst into tears.

Most of those around still thought that Censor-in-Chief Hu was loyally unwilling to see the emperor damage his own reputation… But the chief councilors, Academician Lin, and others knew full well that Hu Mingzhong, this young master who had profound attainments in Confucian principle and Daoism, had been backed into a corner by the emperor.

Earlier, when Liu Yu proclaimed himself emperor, Hu Yin’s reaction had been the most intense, because it was a subject betraying his sovereign, a serious affront to his beliefs. Now, the emperor wanted to publicly assign blame, even through an ‘edict of self-blame,’ but it would inevitably touch upon the ‘two sages’—a son judging his father, a younger brother judging his elder brother… This was also unbearable for Hu Yin.

After all, the ‘cardinal principles’ were precisely the theoretical basis for Hu Yin and his ilk to insist on fierce resistance against the Jin.

Because of these principles, the abduction of ‘father, elder brother, and the two sages’ created a tremendous hatred, which justified the most aggressive stance against the Jin.

But now, the Zhao emperor had used this method of self-blame, superficially bypassing the cardinal principles by including himself in the category of ‘guilt,’ giving most Confucian officials a passable explanation. So it was hard to say he was purely ‘a son judging his father, a younger brother judging his elder brother’… And besides, those two were sovereigns—wasn’t the one before them also a sovereign? Given all this, what more could be demanded? So, many in the hall understood, but none reacted as vehemently as Hu Yin.

Only one Hu Yin was truly too straightforward, unable to get past this twist for a moment.