Chapter 22: By Imperial Edict, Comforting the People

Duke of Cheng Zhu Chunchen's memorial stirred some discussion among the civil and military officials, though the voices were not loud.

Minister of Rites Jiang Fengyuan coughed once and stepped forward from the ranks, saying: "Your Majesty, I believe this cannot be done. His Highness the Crown Prince is still young and should not come into contact with the displaced masses."

Minister of Personnel Xie Sheng also stepped forward to second the objection, deeming it inadvisable. Jiang Fengyuan and Xie Sheng were both Zhu Cilang's tutors and counted as men of the Eastern Palace, so naturally they had to consider Zhu Cilang's interests.

Chongzhen stood up, furrowed his brow, and paced slowly, thinking to himself, "This realm is ultimately my Zhu family's, yet I cannot bear to watch my subjects suffer at the feet of the Son of Heaven."

Wen Tiren, the Chief Grand Secretary who had remained silent all along, gave a heavy cough, as if a breath had gotten stuck and he was about to keel over.

After recovering his breath, Wen Tiren gripped his hu tablet and stepped forward, saying: "Your Majesty, I believe that His Highness the Crown Prince, as the realm's heir apparent, might do well to leave the palace and witness the people's hardships firsthand. In the future, he too could become a benevolent sovereign like Your Majesty."

Wen Tiren was indeed a seasoned hand at officialdom—this little bit of flattery left the Chongzhen Emperor feeling quite pleased.

Jiang Fengyuan continued forward and memorialized: "His Highness the Crown Prince would be perfectly safe within the Imperial City walls, but if he goes to the outer city, where the crowds are mixed and tens of thousands of displaced persons gather, I fear it might startle His Highness."

Minister of Rites Jiang Fengyuan had a fine literary hand and was full of talent, yet he had no great ability in politics and rarely clashed with others. That he now dared to openly oppose Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren surprised many and moved Zhu Cilang deeply.

Wen Tiren shot Jiang Fengyuan a glance and said: "His Highness the Crown Prince currently commands five thousand troops of the Yongwei Camp—his safety is naturally assured."

Duke of Cheng Zhu Chunchen immediately jumped out to second the motion, and several other ministers followed suit in voicing their agreement.

Minister of Rites Xie Sheng, seeing that Wen Tiren was already showing anger, dared not speak up to support Jiang Fengyuan. Though Xie Sheng was diligent in his work, he was cautious by nature and went with the prevailing winds. In the twenty-seven years since he had come to the capital to serve as an official, he had always been careful in word and deed.

It was only the year before last, when the Chongzhen Emperor reorganized the court and promoted loyal ministers, that Xie Sheng—known for his rigorous work and outstanding results—was appointed Minister of Personnel.

Zhu Cilang narrowed his eyes and stared at Wen Tiren, pondering what scheme that old goods and the Duke of Cheng were cooking up, that they would so insistently push him out of the palace to comfort the people.

The Chongzhen Emperor stopped pacing and finally made up his mind, issuing an edict on the spot for Zhu Cilang to leave the palace and comfort the people in the near future. Upon hearing the result, Wen Tiren, the Duke of Cheng, and the others all exchanged meaningful smiles.

Another hour passed, and after the morning court memorials were concluded, the Censors and the Court of State Ceremonial stepped forward in turn to report on breaches of decorum committed by officials during the session.

Officials who had committed minor errors were recorded and docked merit points; for those whose offenses were more substantial, the light punishment was a black mark on their record and a fine, while the severe punishment was an immediate beating with boards.

At that point, the morning court proceedings were essentially finished. The Court of State Ceremonial officials "sang out" that business was concluded, and the eunuchs cracked their whips as the imperial carriage departed.

Once the Chongzhen Emperor's carriage had left the Gate of Imperial Supremacy and returned to Qianqing Palace, the assembled officials dispersed one by one, each returning to their own yamen to work.

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Back in Zhongcui Palace, Zhu Cilang was so exhausted he collapsed onto the bed. No wonder his imperial father had specially added a seat for him—with his small frame, standing for several hours would likely have worn him out completely.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang felt all the more that this convenient father of his was quite considerate.

Zhu Cilang could not understand why Wen Tiren and Zhu Chunchen insisted on sending him out to pacify the displaced masses, while Ministers of Rites Jiang Fengyuan and Xie Sheng opposed it—what exactly was the reason?

Zhu Cilang knew that Jiang Fengyuan and Xie Sheng were certainly acting in his best interest, for both had been conferred the title of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, appointed by Chongzhen's own edict to serve directly as state officials holding Eastern Palace posts.

Zhu Cilang very much wanted to ask the two of them, but he could not—for the Ming had an ancestral rule that the Crown Prince and Princes could not have private dealings with outside officials. If Jiang Fengyuan and Xie Sheng were to lose their heads and come rushing to the Eastern Palace seeking an audience, they would face Censor impeachment within a day.

Even summoning the two of them was a troublesome process for Zhu Cilang; he could only wait for the next lecture at Wenhua Hall to inquire. However, he was to leave the palace by imperial edict to comfort the people within the next couple of days, so he feared he would not see them for some time.

Summoning Luo Yangxing was no problem for Zhu Cilang, for the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot were the imperial family's household servants, not counted as outside officials.

"Damn it! Those two old bastards are truly sinister!"

After a long moment, Zhu Cilang cursed aloud. He had finally understood—Zhu Chunchen, whose enormous profits from the Armory Bureau had been cut off, bore a grudge against him. Should he fail in pacifying the people, his prestige as Crown Prince would plummet in the eyes of the populace.

The Ming dynasty at this time placed the greatest weight on reputation; many people regarded their good name as more important than life itself. Of course, those dog-hearted traitors who turned coat and became collaborators naturally had no sense of shame.

Zhu Cilang had not expected that the Duke of Cheng and Wen Tiren would be cut from the same cloth—one wielding civil power, the other military. Were they not afraid of arousing the Chongzhen Emperor's suspicion?

That old thing Wen Tiren was no simple character. A jinshi by examination, he was slippery in manner, deep in scheming, and calculating, especially skilled at sniffing out political winds. Back then, he had used the Sun Yuanhua affair of the Denglai Mutiny to topple his old superior Zhou Yanru and climbed his way to the position of Chief Grand Secretary.

Unfortunately, the man only knew how to play at intrigue and was utterly shameless. During his tenure as Chief Grand Secretary, whether regarding resisting the Jianzhou barbarians' southward push in Liaodong or dealing with the roving bandits in the Central Plains, he had never offered a single strategy.

The men he recommended to the court were for the most part mediocrities who merely filled their posts. On the court he purged those who differed from him, flaunting his personal authority, and stirred the already riddled-with-holes late-Ming political situation into ever greater chaos.

Lying on the bed, gazing up at the green ceiling panels carved with artistic patterns, Zhu Cilang's mind churned over how to make trouble for this Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren, as well as the matter of leaving the palace to comfort the people.

After resting for an hour, Zhu Cilang left the palace and went to the Catholic church, where he picked up Adam Schall and Sun Heding and installed them in the Armory Bureau, first getting a firm grip on the bureau that had come into his hands.

According to plan, Zhu Cilang established a research institute under the Armory Bureau's Gunpowder Division, with Adam Schall in charge of the institute while also serving as the division's director. Zhu Cilang also appointed Sun Heding as superintendent of the weapons arsenal, while having him serve as second-in-command of the research institute.

As for the post of seal-holding eunuch, Zhu Cilang had originally wanted to abolish it, but as the Armory Bureau was one of the Twenty-Four Yamen, he apparently did not have that authority. So he could only have his personal eunuch Wu Zhong hold the title in name, with Wu Zhong remaining by Zhu Cilang's side as usual.

In the final analysis, the actual responsibility for firearms research and production at the Armory Bureau now rested with Adam Schall and Sun Heding.

Fearing that the two newcomers might not be able to keep the Armory Bureau's former managers, secretaries, supervisors, and overseers in line, Zhu Cilang personally appeared to address them, reformed the bureau, and established a new manufacturing system.

For example, he implemented a responsibility system: every arquebus a craftsman produced had to be stamped with his own name. If one arquebus burst its barrel, a month's wages would be docked by ten percent; if three or more arquebuses burst in a single month, the craftsman would be executed outright.

If no firearms produced in a month burst their barrels, wages would be raised by ten percent, accumulating each month. Zhu Cilang also tripled the craftsmen's base pay, in order to facilitate recruiting more artisans.

The Armory Bureau craftsmen's wages had always been low, barely enough to feed their families, which had led to a severe drain of skilled workers. Zhu Cilang's reward-and-punishment system greatly boosted the craftsmen's production enthusiasm—work hard and you get a raise.

The reason so many defective products had been turned out before was not poor skill on their part, but rather that their superiors, in order to embezzle funds, had cut corners on materials and set improper production ratios, which was what caused so many firearms to burst.

Zhu Cilang also drew up management regulations for the Anmin Factory's gunpowder depot under the Armory Bureau, first requiring that no open flames be allowed within a hundred meters of the depot. Additionally, iron implements were forbidden from coming into contact with the gunpowder—only wooden tools were to be used in the depot. He had no desire to see the gunpowder he had worked so hard to produce blown to nothing.

Zhu Cilang also dispatched a hundred Yongwei Camp soldiers in rotating shifts to patrol the Anmin Factory's gunpowder depot day and night. Anyone violating the management regulations would be given thirty strokes of the rod, and if they died from it, so be it.

After making these detailed arrangements, Zhu Cilang finally returned to the palace to prepare for the matter of going out to comfort the people.

Thanks to readers: Chen Yu Shu Jian, Jue Ming Gu Lang, Meng Huan Tian Kong WEN, Zhu Guang Zhi Lian, for their recommendation votes. Many thanks for the support!