Chapter 121: The New Calendar

While waiting, the Chongzhen Emperor suddenly felt that if only the loyalist faction were deliberating, wouldn't he be treating those court officials with too little regard?

Moreover, if only the loyalists came, it would be far too dull — better to summon the Donglin Faction officials as well. That would make things more exciting, and give him a proper sense of satisfaction in showing off.

With that thought, the Chongzhen Emperor issued several more handwritten edicts, summoning Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode and a number of other court officials to join the discussion.

When these men received the news at home, they were all greatly alarmed, and it was only after much dawdling that they hurried to the Winter Warm Pavilion with the depot and guard escorts. The first thing they did upon arriving was, to a man, kneel in terror-stricken confession of their faults.

The Chongzhen Emperor found the scene both amusing and exasperating, and waved his hand, saying: "This time I have summoned you because there are several matters I find difficult to resolve, and I wish to deliberate and arrive at a plan."

"Today happens to be the Start of Autumn, yet according to reports from the depot and guard, fewer than three in ten commoners in the capital know the exact date of this solar term. This will not do — what exactly is going on?"

The Chongzhen Emperor set the memorials at his side aside, and the first matter he raised was the solar terms and calendar — something many found hard to fathom.

Still, those present were mostly members of the loyalist faction, so they spoke without much hesitation. After everyone had freely exchanged a few words, it was Wang Cheng'en who stepped forward and said:

"I report to Your Majesty: what our dynasty currently promulgates among the people is the 'Season-Granting Calendar' compiled by Guo Shoujing and others of the former Yuan dynasty, now renamed the 'Grand Concordance Calendar.' This almanac has been in use for three hundred and forty-eight years, so naturally its errors have grown progressively larger."

"... Moreover, our dynasty's 'Grand Concordance Calendar' has gone many years without revision or reissue. Among the people, not even five or six households in ten possess it, so the common folk naturally grow ever more confused."

Hearing this, the Chongzhen Emperor gave an "Mm," for in truth Wang Cheng'en's estimate of five or six households in ten was already the optimistic view.

In these times, refugees did not even own their own land, so they certainly had no almanacs in hand. The reach of the old calendar had likely already fallen below four in ten.

In the second year of Chongzhen, the Directorate of Astronomy's prediction of the solar eclipse on the yiyou day of the fifth month was clearly wrong, while Xu Guangqi, then Vice Minister of Rites, whose prediction followed Western methods, matched the celestial phenomena.

After a bout of factional strife, Xu Guangqi and others ultimately pressed for calendar reform on the strength of circumstances and received the approval of the then-Chongzhen Emperor. In the seventh month of that same year, the Ministry of Rites established a Calendar Bureau at the Shoushan Academy inside Xuanwu Gate, with Xu Guangqi again supervising the compilation of the calendar.

During the compilation process, the Calendar Bureau engaged the Italian Jesuit Longobardi, the Portuguese Rho, and the Swiss Terrentius, all missionaries who had come to China, to handle short-term compilation work, and also engaged the Holy Roman Empire missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell to oversee the translation of texts throughout the entire process.

At a time when the Great Ming dynasty was buffeted by storms, a group of Chinese and Western officials worked with one heart, and by imperial decree in the capital strove to translate in condensed form the works of famous European astronomers such as Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler.

From the second year of Chongzhen to the seventh year of Chongzhen, the 'Chongzhen Calendar' was ultimately completed after five years of effort, and was successively compiled into book form, awaiting only a single edict from the Chongzhen Emperor to be promulgated throughout the realm.

Yet in the seventh year of Chongzhen, the new calendar was not immediately promulgated. The Donglin Faction at court, unable to stomach the achievements of Xu Guangqi and his associates, immediately stirred up a protracted and far-reaching 'dispute over the merits of the new calendar.'

Historically, this factional dispute lasted a full ten years, persisting even into this seventeenth year of Chongzhen, encompassing heated arguments over solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and the movements of all the various discovered celestial bodies.

What should have been a fairly simple matter of promulgating the new calendar was made tortuous by the sectarian prejudices of the Donglin Faction, and in the end, even by the time Xu Guangqi died of illness and the Great Ming fell, it had still never been issued.

What happened next is quite amusing — what the Great Ming had produced was once again conveniently picked up ready-made by our world-dominating Qing bastards.

In the second year of Shunzhi, those Qing bastards thought it was a fine thing, but were too embarrassed to copy it outright. What to do?

The little Shunzhi Emperor thought this way and that — ah, a fine idea came to him!

The Qing bastards first changed the name of the 'Chongzhen Calendar' to the 'New Book of Western Calendrical Methods,' then made a few trifling alterations here and there, and once promulgated, it became our Qing bastards' calendar.

At this thought, the Chongzhen Emperor felt a profound contempt for the shamelessness of the Qing bastards, and was all the more resolved to promulgate the thing himself — of course one must do one's own showing off. He nodded immediately and said:

"The new calendar has been complete for seven years, and I have already thoroughly mastered the subtleties of Western learning. Convey my edict: this time the Grand Secretariat shall take the lead, the Ministry of Revenue shall assist, and the depot and guard shall supervise. This calendar shall be promulgated throughout the realm before the ninth month. Before its release, have Schall von Bell and the officials of the Calendar Bureau carefully organize it."

"This old servant obeys the edict."

As the Chongzhen Emperor spoke, he was also keeping an eye on the Donglin officials around him. According to history, the dispute between the old and new calendars that had begun in the seventh year of Chongzhen had yet to conclude even now, so someone ought to have jumped out seeking death.

Yet unexpectedly, the Donglin officials around him were perfectly well-behaved, huddled together without uttering a sound. The Chongzhen Emperor found it profoundly dull, and was just about to say something when a man stepped forward and spoke with righteous indignation:

"I report to Your Majesty: our dynasty's 'Grand Concordance Calendar' has been promulgated for over three hundred years, and the people are thoroughly familiar with the old calendar. To promulgate a new calendar in haste would inevitably cause upheaval among the populace and instability for the state."

"And though Western learning is precise, it is but crafty tricks and cunning devices, ultimately unable to ascend to the hall of proper refinement." As he spoke, Li Banghua, Chief Censor of the Left of the Censorate, bowed and said respectfully:

"Your minister proposes that the Calendar Bureau be charged with recompiling the 'Grand Concordance Calendar,' and that once the compilation is completed into book form, it be reissued throughout the realm. In this way, the people of the empire will surely be moved by Your Majesty's sage grace."

No sooner had Li Banghua finished than Shi Kefa, recently appointed Right Assistant Censor, also stepped forward and declared in a loud voice: "I report to Your Majesty: what Censor Li has said is reasonable — your minister seconds the motion!"

So it was these two. Though the Chongzhen Emperor was displeased, he felt no murderous intent in his heart. Stubborn and pedantic as the two of them were, they were still far better than their Donglin colleagues.

Besides, this Chongzhen Calendar was the distilled essence of the divine Xu Guangqi's life's work, capturing all the subtlety of both Chinese and Western methods. And they wanted me to keep using a calendar from the Yuan dynasty over three hundred years old — was the Great Ming not dying fast enough for them?

Seeing the Chongzhen Emperor's expression shift unpredictably, the Donglin officials around him also had wandering thoughts. Li Banghua, of course, was best off dead — a man of his sort was an insult to the reputation of all the scholars of the realm.

But regarding Shi Kefa, the Donglin Faction's view was different. They all considered the fellow a sage, and privately even addressed him as 'Master Shi.'

If Shi Kefa and Li Banghua were both killed together by this benighted sovereign, would that not be a pity? Just as the assembled ministers were lost in wild speculation, the Chongzhen Emperor gave a cold chuckle and said:

"On this matter, my two ministers need not speak further. My resolve to promulgate the new calendar is already absolute."

Shi Kefa knew when to stop and promptly took the opportunity to step back into place, but the single-minded Li Banghua would not yield, and by the look of it seemed intent on offering a death remonstrance there in court.

"But Your Majesty, the new calendar—"

The Chongzhen Emperor, fully prepared for this, had no hesitation at all. He turned and shot a few meaningful glances at Fang Zhenghua, and this servant, quick-witted as he was, immediately signaled to the depot agents outside.

Li Banghua had barely gotten out the opening of his sentence when several agents strode heavily through the doorway, and without any regard for ceremony, hoisted him up by his four limbs and carried him straight out.

"Your Majesty, please hear your minister's words—Your Majesty!"

Whatever the fellow shouted after that, the Chongzhen Emperor simply refused to see or hear it, and so was untroubled. He let out a breath, picked up the topmost memorial on the desk to change the subject, and said:

"This is a memorial from Ni Yuanlu, Minister of Revenue, requesting merit for Wu Youke and Yuan Ban, the two Bureau Secretaries who treated the plague. What do my ministers think?"

"I report to Your Majesty: to possess men of such ability is truly a blessing for the altars of the Great Ming, truly a blessing for the people of the realm!" Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode hastily stepped out of the ranks, bowed, and proclaimed.

"Grand Secretary Wei speaks most truly. Wu Youke and Yuan Ban treated the plague, and now the pestilence in the capital has been eradicated, while the surrounding capital region is also improving. The people sing their praises on every tongue. Your minister seconds the memorial submitted by Minister Ni."

The next to step forward and express his sentiments was Feng Quan, Minister of Works and Grand Secretary.