Chapter 1558: Merit Must Be Rewarded

Chen Sheng was indeed deeply moved. When he was in Shenyang, all the civil and military officials around him who had come from the capital said the Crown Prince had a mild temper, but erred on the side of softness and excessive benevolence. Seeing him today, he was after all His Majesty's own flesh and blood — deep in his bones he still possessed His Majesty's fierce and bold spirit; it was just that on the surface, he had added a few more flourishes.

His Majesty should be able to rest easy now as well... he thought to himself.

"Wonderful! Many thanks, Marshal." Seeing that Marshal Chen approved of his handling plan, the Crown Prince was overjoyed. He was still a youth, after all, and placed great importance on the evaluations of his elders. "Then... after I reach Goryeo, can I simply act according to this approach?"

"For those who govern, the most important thing is steadfastness. Whatever decision is made, one must see it through to the end. Since Your Highness the Crown Prince has already settled on a plan, then do not waver any further — simply act according to your own ideas." Chen Sheng put away his smile and said to the Crown Prince with the utmost respect, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is brilliant beyond compare, benevolent and upright — truly a blessing for our dynasty."

"State Duke, please don't flatter me any more, I might actually take it seriously..." Praised in this way, the Crown Prince became somewhat embarrassed.

The two men burst into laughter at the same time, and for a moment, a cheerful atmosphere unrestrained by the status of their respective positions unexpectedly reappeared in the room.

…………………………

It was another clear morning. The sky had only just begun to brighten, and the residents of Jinzhou City began rising one after another, starting a new day of bustling life.

Jinzhou had always been a prosperous and lively city. Over the years, its scale had grown larger and larger, with merchants from all regions gathering here. Recently, because the Crown Prince was touring Liaodong and had made Jinzhou his temporary residence, more and more residents from the surrounding areas, drawn by his fame and wishing to catch a glimpse of the imperial presence, had come, making Jinzhou City even more crowded and flourishing.

However, the Crown Prince was extremely busy with affairs — either he was away on inspections, or he remained secluded within the relay station. Thus, the chances of seeing him on the streets were exceedingly rare. Over time, the common folk gathered outside the relay station gates grew fewer and fewer. Jinzhou City and its residents had gradually grown accustomed to the Crown Prince's presence.

Nevertheless, the security around the relay station did not slacken because of this. The guards stationed around the perimeter still rotated shifts around the clock, guarding the place day and night without pause.

When a horse-drawn carriage approached the relay station along the main road outside, it was quickly intercepted by the guards. Soon, guards entered the carriage compartment, verifying the identity of the carriage's owner while simultaneously checking whether there were any suspicious items inside.

After a lengthy ordeal, the carriage's identity was finally confirmed and it was allowed to pass.

Inside this carriage was Shi Gaoyi, head of the Great Han diplomatic mission stationed in Goryeo. He had arrived in Jinzhou City by ship from Goryeo the previous night. The moment he disembarked, he had sought out the local government office overnight to declare his identity, and then immediately submitted a request for an audience with the Crown Prince.

Speaking of which, although he had been serving in Goryeo all these years, he had in fact always relied on seagoing vessels to travel between the capital and Goryeo. This was his first time coming to Liaodong. Seeing this bustling scene, no less impressive than the cities of the interior, he privately felt that the new dynasty was indeed profoundly blessed by fortune.

Earlier, he had received a secret message passed along from his old colleagues in the Foreign Affairs Department in the capital — just after he had submitted a report to the capital accusing the Goryeo king of disrespect toward the Great Han, the Goryeo king had also lodged a complaint against him through Goryeo's envoy stationed in the Great Han, bitterly detailing the mission's arrogance, overbearing behavior, and lawless misconduct. Thus, the matter had become a case of no small significance. At the same time, he had also heard that His Majesty had already delegated full authority over Goryeo affairs to His Highness the Crown Prince, who was on an inspection tour of Liaodong.

Upon receiving this news, the hatred in his heart toward the Goryeo king could not help but intensify further. He immediately requested permission from the home country to go to Liaodong ahead of time to welcome the Crown Prince, and once he received approval, he immediately embarked on the journey to Liaodong.

His reasoning was simple: since this had become a formal case, and the Crown Prince appeared to be the final arbiter, he should go before His Highness the Crown Prince and do his utmost to leave a favorable impression in his mind. As long as the Crown Prince had a good impression of him, extricating himself from the situation would be much simpler.

And so, carrying the equally fervent hopes of his colleagues, Shi Gaoyi directly boarded a ship bound for Jinzhou.

After arriving in Jinzhou, he had originally assumed that the Crown Prince was swamped with affairs and would, at the very least, make him wait for some time before granting an audience. But to his surprise, early this very morning, he received a notification that the Crown Prince intended to receive him today.

Although the notification contained no other information, Shi Gaoyi, seasoned by the ways of the world and having navigated the ups and downs of officialdom for many years, still sensed that something was amiss, relying on the instincts he had honed over many years.

Although he was the Great Han's ambassador to Goryeo, compared to His Highness the Crown Prince, he was merely a minor official. Moreover, Liaodong was a place where high-ranking military and political officials gathered. The fact that the Crown Prince was receiving him so quickly could only prove that he attached great importance to the Goryeo issue and had already taken notice of him.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been very pleased by this, but now all he could feel was an inescapable pressure.

There could, of course, be only one reason the Crown Prince was paying such close attention to him: the dispute between the Great Han mission and the Goryeo royal court had already reached the ears of the capital and the imperial family, and the higher-ups held certain views about him as well.

This was hardly a good omen...

This world-weary official felt an indescribable unease and anxiety in his heart at this moment.

Led by an attendant within the station, he arrived at a side chamber of the relay station. He had not waited long before the door opened again, and a young man dressed in plain clothes strode quickly inside.

"Your servant Shi Gaoyi, head of the mission stationed in Goryeo, pays respects to His Highness the Crown Prince!" Shi Gaoyi immediately bowed deeply.

"Chief Shi, please sit." The Crown Prince first seated himself upon the main seat, then gestured for him to sit as well.

Shi Gaoyi slowly sat down. His expression grew increasingly grave. He could discern the Crown Prince's attitude — polite yet maintaining a distance — and thus grew even more worried.

"Chief Shi, you have traveled a long way and must be weary. For so many years, Chief Shi has labored heart and soul in Goryeo, rendering no small service to the nation — you can truly be called a bulwark of the state." Although the Crown Prince spoke these words of praise, his expression remained utterly composed, revealing no warmth, and betraying his true attitude.

"Serving the nation is this servant's bounden duty; how dare I claim any merit! Not only have I rendered no merit, but I have stirred up trouble — that is rather a fault." Shi Gaoyi immediately bowed at the waist again. "I beseech Your Highness to forgive my offenses!"

"Trouble? What trouble?" the Crown Prince asked, as if very curious, directly countering with a question. "I must ask Chief Shi to explain it to me in detail."

Shi Gaoyi's expression froze for a moment. He understood that the Crown Prince was evidently somewhat displeased with the trouble he had stirred up, and was using this method to warn him.

"Your servant is guilty, I beseech His Highness the Crown Prince to forgive my offenses!" This time, he directly stood up, then bowed at the waist once more. "As head of the Great Han mission, your servant failed to make Goryeo submit to Heaven's majesty and govern with harmony; instead, I provoked the Goryeo king into coming to lodge a complaint. I have betrayed the trust of His Majesty and the Prime Minister, and truly failed the nation's grace!"

"Enough, Chief Shi, sit down. There is no need for this." Seeing the other party's demeanor, the Crown Prince's heart softened slightly. "The Goryeo king was previously overthrown by a domestic coup and then reinstated by our dynasty. By all rights, having received such an immense favor from our dynasty, he ought to be overflowing with gratitude. How is it that he has instead come to lodge a complaint? Why exactly is this?"

Although he straightened his clothes as he sat down, Shi Gaoyi still looked somewhat disheveled. In his heart, he knew that the Crown Prince was not someone easily fooled. After pondering for a long while, he finally reorganized his phrasing.

"The Goryeo king, Li Hun, can be said to be a man with the fierce gaze of a hawk and the furtive glance of a wolf. He is cruel and harsh by nature, frequently subjecting his subjects to severe punishments or outright executions. Thus, during his previous reign, he provoked immense hatred within the country. His overthrow by coup was, of course, partly due to rebellious ministers and traitors stirring up chaos, but it is also a fact that the king's tyrannical misrule provoked the hatred of his subjects. After our dynasty, in order to uphold order and moral principles, reinstated him, we also established a mission to assist him — on one hand to protect his personal safety, and on the other to prevent him from continuing his tyrannical misrule and provoking civil unrest. Who would have known... that after all these years of us exhausting our hearts and minds to assist the king, the king would instead blame us for restraining him too much, saying we are excessively overbearing. Sigh..."

As he spoke, he shook his head and sighed, appearing utterly chilled and disheartened.

He deliberately sidestepped the question of his own side's responsibility, first launching an attack on the Goryeo king, Li Hun, bringing up his past record of misdeeds. This was to first plant a bad impression of the Goryeo king in the Crown Prince's mind, minimizing his own side's culpability as much as possible.

"When I was studying in the academy before, I heard about the deeds of the Goryeo king. My teacher even used him as a negative example, reminding me that in governing a country, one must not be too harsh and cruel toward one's subjects. Thinking about it, that king indeed had many moral failings..." The Crown Prince nodded, and did not actually oppose this statement. "He is the legitimate sovereign of Goryeo, and Goryeo is a vassal state of our dynasty. When he was deposed by his subjects' rebellion, our dynasty naturally could not stand idly by. However, when our dynasty reinstated him previously, we also explicitly told him that he could not continue his tyrannical misrule..."

The Great Han itself had risen from rebellion within the Great Ming. The Zhao Battalion had spent many years building up, and in the end overthrew them and seized the realm. For them to speak of "legitimacy" and "order and moral principles" sounded, on the face of it, quite laughable. Reinstating Li Hun was never truly for the sake of legitimacy or moral principles, but rather to seize the opportunity to control Goryeo. Yet, although everyone from top to bottom knew this was merely a fig leaf for interfering in Goryeo's state affairs, a signboard was still a signboard, and could not go unmentioned.

This signboard was very useful; it could serve as a pretext for the Great Han's future interference in nearly all surrounding countries. For instance, this expedition against Japan could be carried out under the banner of "restoring order and moral principles to Japan and punishing ministers who have misgoverned." In the future, the same could be done to even more countries.

"Indeed, we have been constantly remonstrating with the king, saying that water can carry a boat but also capsize it, and that he absolutely must not repeat past mistakes. But... it is easy to change rivers and mountains, but hard to change one's nature. That king, after all, still has the nature of a tiger or a wolf..." Shi Gaoyi let out another long sigh. "Although the king had his eyes blinded due to the earlier incident, his suspicious, jealous, and venomous nature has never changed. He only thinks of monopolizing power and reliving the prestige of his former days. He now hates us to the bone — how could he still remember how much we helped him back then? Such ingratitude, when I think about it, truly makes one's heart ache with indignation."

He sighed and lamented at great length, appearing both deeply pained and resentful, utterly aggrieved.

"So, Chief Shi, your meaning is that the reason such disputes have arisen is that the Goryeo king is suspicious, jealous, and harsh, has forgotten the favor our dynasty showed him back then, and feels that the mission restrains him too much?" The Crown Prince slightly lowered his gaze, unmoved by Shi Gaoyi's sighs and laments. "Then... the Goryeo envoy says the mission acts overbearingly, never regards the Goryeo king and the Goryeo court with any respect, and forcibly compels Goryeo from top to bottom to comply in all matters, to the point that both the king and his court officials are furious but dare not speak out. Is this true?"

The Crown Prince's extremely composed demeanor once again made Shi Gaoyi's heart quail. He discovered that although he was merely a youth, His Highness the Crown Prince was far more intelligent and astute than he had imagined, and also far more calm and steady — hardly like a youth at all.

He had heard before that the Crown Prince had been receiving instruction from all sorts of meticulously selected teachers in the academy, and that his nature was exceedingly intelligent and he studied very well. Judging from what he saw today, those rumors were indeed well-founded.

That the Crown Prince could learn so well was, of course, a good thing for the realm, but for Shi Gaoyi right now, it was a bad thing. A superior who is not easily fooled is what every subordinate fears most.

"... To say that there have been absolutely no such incidents would, of course, be going too far..." After pondering for a moment, Shi Gaoyi, his forehead already faintly beaded with sweat, replied in a low voice.

Matters having reached this point, completely denying everything and pushing it all onto that old man Li Hun was, of course, no longer feasible. But he could still dwell on the trivial while avoiding the serious. "After the Goryeo king was reinstated, because he was already a cripple and had previously lost the people's hearts so thoroughly, in order to allow him to govern smoothly and avoid the misfortune of being rebelled against again, we followed the wishes of the Prime Minister and Director Kong and exhausted our hearts and minds in assisting the Goryeo king. However... however, the king's nature, as Your Highness the Crown Prince is also aware, sometimes... sometimes we were too impatient, and it was unavoidable that we would invite criticism of overstepping our bounds..."

"Merely overstepping your bounds? Judging from the situation as reported by Goryeo, it has already reached the point of disregarding the Goryeo sovereign and court entirely, has it not? They say our mission openly issues orders directly to Goryeo court officials and local officials without consulting the sovereign or the assisting ministers," the Crown Prince slightly shook his head, not quite believing his words. "Has such a thing occurred?"

"That... that... sometimes, perhaps, it has happened... After all, many matters were quite urgent, and there was no time to consult the king or the Goryeo assisting ministers..." The sweat on Shi Gaoyi's forehead grew increasingly thick. "We did not wish to act in such a manner either; it was just that we were under strict orders from the Prime Minister and Director Kong to ensure that Goryeo and our dynasty's actions were in step, so sometimes we had no choice but to be a bit impatient..."

"You mean it was all because the Prime Minister pressed too urgently, and thus you had no choice but to forcibly pressure the Goryeo sovereign and his ministers?" The Crown Prince remained impassive.

The Crown Prince's calm attitude invisibly made Shi Gaoyi feel the pressure mounting ever more, to the point that he unexpectedly felt the same sense of constraint he had experienced when facing the Prime Minister in years past.

He had invoked the names of the Prime Minister and Director Kong originally to use them as a shield for himself, but the Crown Prince seemed to not buy it at all and still pressed forward, which made his heart even more flustered.

He naturally did not dare to continue using them as shields. Those two were both major figures in the court; responsibility would never fall upon their shoulders no matter what. The more he said, the more he would incur their displeasure. It would be better to shoulder it all himself.

"Your servant absolutely has no intention of shirking responsibility, and I beseech Your Highness to see this clearly!" He raised his head. "The Prime Minister and Director Kong both acted with the Great Han's interests in mind; they had no intention of deliberately bullying the Goryeo sovereign and his ministers. Their original intent was, on the contrary, to allow our dynasty and Goryeo to share in a peaceful and well-governed age. It was we, the people below, who, after comprehending the higher-ups' intentions, failed to execute them properly. In the beginning, we still showed the Goryeo king some courtesy, but as time went on, your servants grew accustomed to issuing orders and decrees in Goryeo, becoming increasingly unrestrained, to the point that later on, we frequently overstepped our authority, completely... This is your servants' own responsibility, and I beseech Your Highness to forgive our offenses!"

Seeing the other party's attitude grow increasingly humble, and that he had finally admitted to wrongdoing and begged his forgiveness, the Crown Prince's expression finally softened considerably. He was young, and this was his first time handling affairs on behalf of his imperial father. What he hated most was others not respecting him, treating him like a child, and only thinking of fooling him. That was why, when Shi Gaoyi had spoken evasively to him earlier, he could not help but rap him on the knuckles. Now, it seemed the effect had been quite good.

"At least you're honest… Father Emperor has repeatedly taught me to seek truth from facts in all matters, never to think of covering things up — in the end that only harms both others and yourself. He has always demanded the same of his ministers, and I deeply agree. When you've done something wrong, just honestly admit it. If you keep dodging and refusing to own up, others will only assume you've done everything wrong." The Crown Prince's face turned stern as he unconsciously adopted the tone of his own tutors. "The Goryeo mission has been stationed in Goryeo for many years. There have been many achievements. Making some mistakes is nothing to be condemned — why must you use empty words to gloss over them? That only makes people think you've accomplished nothing in all those years in Goryeo, and instead leaves a bad impression…"

There have been many achievements? In the Crown Prince's words, Shi Gaoyi caught that phrase. Like a man in the desert coming upon a sweet spring, he instantly felt his whole body relax and soften.

Judging by the implication in His Highness's words, he was not blanketly dismissing everything the Goryeo mission had done — rather, he held a positive view of it.

"The day before yesterday, the Duke of Ji came to see me personally and spoke specifically about your Goryeo mission." Before the other could reply, the Crown Prince continued. "He said that over all these years, although your Goryeo mission has at times acted domineeringly and arrogantly, you have consistently safeguarded the Great Han's interests in Goryeo, and at root it has all been for the Great Han. In recent years, the volume of trade between our dynasty and Goryeo has grown ever larger, and more and more merchants have taken part in business there and built their fortunes — this is, of course, your achievement."

"The Duke of Ji… My thanks to the Duke of Ji!" Shi Gaoyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, silently thanking the Goryeo garrison officers who had been putting in good words for him with the Duke of Ji all along. For so many years, he had gone out of his way to ingratiate himself with these military officers and won their favor — now it seemed that had indeed been foresight.

One watch, one section.