Chapter 138
Hong Ji reached the entrance of the Eastern Pavilion only to remember that Minister Gu had not left yet. Just as he was about to turn back, a palace eunuch waiting under the corridor took the rattan case holding his memorials from his hands. "Compiler Hong, you may go right in, it is no trouble at all." He then led Hong Ji into the Eastern Pavilion.
Hong Ji could not stop him in time. There was no place for a low-ranking official like him to stand before all six chief ministers, so he held his breath and stood quietly in the corner, trying his best to make himself as unnoticeable as possible.
Minister Gu still spotted him, and asked with a smile, "Old Jiang certainly knows how to take it easy, passing all his work on to you."
Hong Ji knew full well why Minister Gu was being so amiable, so he was even more determined not to come off as frivolous. He replied respectfully, "I am still far too inexperienced in my post, there is no other important work I could possibly help with."
"Compiler Hong, there is no need to be so restrained." Cui Lanyin pointed to the chair at the foot of Minister Gu's seat. "Sit and wait a while."
Minister Gu quickly added, "I will not be much longer, Compiler Hong, do not be in a rush."
Hong Ji did not dare to overstay his welcome, and carefully took a seat on the lowest-ranked chair.
Over on the other side, Minister Gu continued to make his report. "Your Majesty, what shall we do about the jiansheng students admitted through the contribution system?"
Cui Lanyin said straightforwardly, "Most of the jiansheng students admitted through paying contributions have no real learning or skill, and they have poisoned the academic atmosphere in the Imperial College. If this continues, none of the graduates from the Imperial College will be fit for public office. We shall abolish this practice entirely."
Minister Gu responded respectfully, "Your Majesty speaks most wisely. I will inform Chief Libationer Yan of this at once."
Cui Lanyin added, "But we should not close all doors entirely. Every year, any merchant who pays a certain amount of tax, say, one hundred thousand taels in commercial tax in a year, may be granted a spot for one of their sons to become a jiansheng. However, three months after they enter the college, they must pass an assessment. Those who fail will have to be dismissed, no exceptions. We must also verify that they have not evaded any tax payments before granting them this privilege."
Minister Gu was quick on the uptake. "Does that also include the salt merchants who bought imperial-made goods during this recent period, who have already been assigned a top-tier classification?"
Cui Lanyin flicked her finger lightly on the surface of her desk. "Minister Gu, you see exactly what I mean."
The empress's expression when she flicked her fingers was exactly the same as the emperor's, and all court officials could not help but tense up when they saw it. Minister Gu was no exception at this moment. "This subject knows that Your Majesty acts entirely for the good of the country. There must be far-reaching purpose behind the sale of imperial-made goods to the public."
"Indeed." Cui Lanyin nodded. "When the time is right, you will all understand the full reasoning behind this."
"This subject understands." Minister Gu stood up. "Then this subject will take his leave?"
"You may go."
Hong Ji had been sitting there for a short while, but his mind had gone through countless waves of shock. He had still been thinking of ways to build up Cui Lanyin's political capital, only to find that she was already fully in charge of state affairs. She was not only reviewing official memorials, but even the chief ministers of the six departments were conducting government business according to her directives.
In just a few short exchanges, she had abolished the old system of purchasing jiansheng status through contributions, yet kept a narrow opening that allowed merchants who paid over one hundred thousand taels in tax a year to send one son to the Imperial College. Just for the sake of this single coveted jiansheng spot, all the wealthy great merchants would have every reason not to evade their tax payments.
After Minister Gu left the Eastern Pavilion, Cui Lanyin waved Hong Ji to come sit closer, and said with a smile, "In front of court officials, we cannot use the informal titles we had in private, so I have to address you as Compiler Hong here."
"That is only proper. Your Majesty may give this subject any instructions as you see fit." Hong Ji replied with a bow.
Cui Lanyin waved her hand. "The titles must follow official rules, but you do not have to be so constrained in your actions."
Buyan stepped forward to help lift the rattan case of memorials onto the large desk, and Hong Ji quickly took out all the memorials and arranged them in proper order on the table.
Cui Lanyin picked them up and started reading with great familiarity. She set aside the ones that were approved, and for those that needed revisions or additions, she dictated her comments to Hong Ji, who jotted down every point to attach to the memorials and copy over neatly later.
In the space of one hour, all the memorials that had been brought in were reviewed. Hong Ji neatly packed them back into the rattan case, and Buyan called over palace eunuchs to help him carry the case back.
After returning to his own quarters, Hong Ji could not calm his mind for a long time. Cui Lanyin handled government affairs with such ease and deftness, it was clear that she had been managing matters in the Yanhua Palace for quite some time.
Moreover, the perspectives she used to examine and resolve issues were things no ordinary court official could have thought up, which could only mean the emperor had personally taught her all of this. The emperor's ways of doing things truly defied common understanding.
Hong Ji copied down all the notes he had taken onto the memorials when he got back, showed them to Academician Jiang, who checked them over and praised him, "Truly worthy of being the top scholar in the imperial examination, you have picked up all this work in no time at all."
Hong Ji could not help but ask, "The matters going on in the Yanhua Palace... how come no word of this has spread outside?"
Academician Jiang spoke his mind freely, "Everyone is too ashamed to talk about it."
Academician Zou cut in, "Compiler Hong, you will see for yourself after a few more days."
After that, Hong Ji spoke little and focused on his work. Two days later, he had a fairly clear picture of how things stood.
There were still court officials who thought the empress could not make proper decisions, or could not accept the idea of the empress handling state affairs, so they went directly to the Western Pavilion to request an audience with the emperor.
Having experienced it firsthand, Hong Ji realized that the experience was far more than most people could bear.
Without a mind as sharp as the emperor's, it was nearly impossible to follow his train of thought. The emperor only spoke one or two words at a time, and every official who went to see him ended up fumbling over their words, only to meet the emperor's gaze that looked at them as if they were simpletons. No one wanted to go through that experience a second time.
As a result, more and more court officials chose to go to the Eastern Pavilion by the day, and the stubborn holdouts grew fewer and fewer.
The emperor did not completely wash his hands of affairs either. He would go through all the memorials the empress had reviewed one last time. If he found any oversights, he would summon the empress over and break down the issues bit by bit to explain them thoroughly to her.
Besides that, when the empress received court officials and encountered a matter she could not resolve on her own, she would tell the official to go to the Western Pavilion to ask the emperor. That was the most exasperating part of all: if an official went directly to the emperor on their own, the emperor would treat them with nothing but impatience. But if an official came at the empress's direction, while the emperor was not exactly overflowing with kindness, he would give clear and actionable instructions, and the matter would be resolved smoothly.
With the emperor handling affairs this way, the old rule that imperial concubines must not interfere in government affairs had to be set aside for the time being. Not a single official in the entire court dared to speak up against this practice directly. Everyone just let the emperor do as he pleased, and it would be far too humiliating for any of them if word got out to the public. For that reason, all court officials kept tight-lipped about the whole situation, tacitly accepting that they should go in and out of the Eastern Pavilion for their business.
When he fully understood the whole situation, Hong Ji did not know how to properly describe what he was seeing. The emperor truly did not play by any of the conventional rules. Other emperors lived in fear of having their power divided and taken away, but this one was personally teaching the empress how to take full control of state affairs. One could search through all the history books and never find another emperor like him.
Hong Ji put his whole heart into his work, and Academician Jiang and the other two scholars were happy to teach him. After three days, he could handle almost all the routine duties in the Western Pavilion.
One day, the emperor summoned several key civil and military officials for an audience. Since Chief Minister Li still held the concurrent post of Minister of War, the Ministry of War was represented by its Left Vice Minister Zhou Heng, who arrived in a great rush and was the last to enter the Western Pavilion.
After paying his respects, Zhou Heng presented the official document in his hands. "This is an urgent dispatch the Ministry of War just received, sent eight hundred li express from Commander Meng."
The emperor flicked his finger, gesturing for him to speak directly.
Zhou Heng swallowed nervously, and forced out his words. "It is about Wumuhan, the Great Khan of the Tartars. He sent a message to Commander Meng, saying that his new youngest son was just born, and he dotes on the child greatly. He has heard that Your Majesty is soon to have a little princess, and... Wumuhan wishes to form a marital alliance with Your Majesty. In return, he promises not to harass the borders of Great Ying for ten years..."
Crack! The emperor struck out with his hand and split the large desk in front of him clean in two. All the documents and objects on the desk clattered and scattered across the floor. Still furious, he swung his arm backwards, and the large cabinet behind him that was packed with books came crashing down. The heavy bound volumes fell like bricks, and in an instant, the entire Western Pavilion was in complete disarray.
Luckily, Xu Xian was quick on his feet. He blocked Grand Secretary Shen and the others, and they all stepped back in time, so none of them got hit by the flying debris.
It was clear that the Emperor was taking his anger out on others. His face looked as dark as a storm about to break, yet the corners of his lips tugged into a smile that sent a chill straight to the bottom of everyone's heart.
"Cat got your tongues? What fine officials my Great Ying Dynasty has raised..." He called Hong Ji over. "Draft the edict. Strip Meng Zhen of his post as Commander Meng, and send the order down via the 800-li express courier route at once."
"Your Majesty, you cannot do this!" Grand Secretary Shen and the others hurried forward to remonstrate. "These are critical times when we need every able man at his post. If you remove Meng Zhen, there will be no one competent to guard Shanxi! We are just as furious about this matter as you are, but this needs to be discussed carefully. Please, Your Majesty, hold your temper for a few days, and you can vent all your anger at once when the time is right."
But Xu Xian stepped forward and said, "I can go to Shanxi to oversee things for a while."
"I have already made my decision," the Emperor said, staring hard at Hong Ji. "Draft the edict."
Hong Ji did not dare to delay. He was also seething with anger, so he immediately went to the small side table to write out the imperial decree.
After saying that, the Emperor lifted his foot and gave the large scroll vat beside him a hard kick. The heavy vat went flying straight into the wall, and shattered into pieces in the blink of an eye.
All the ministers then realized that the Emperor had a violent temper, and that the calm, detached demeanor he had shown before was the result of years of meditation practice.
Though his face had already returned to its usual indifferent look, no one present dared to let their guard down.
The Emperor's gaze then turned to Zhou Heng. At that moment, the Emperor looked like a fierce beast coiling to pounce, and Zhou Heng began to tremble uncontrollably.
If the Emperor had ordered Zhou Heng to be given twenty or forty beatings, that would have been manageable. Grand Secretary Shen was genuinely afraid that the Emperor, in his fit of rage, would not be able to stop himself and tear Zhou Heng apart with his bare hands.
Seeing no other way out, Grand Secretary Shen quickly called over a palace attendant and said, "Hurry, go invite the Empress here."
The attendant knew full well that no one else present could calm the situation down. He ran as fast as he could toward the Eastern Pavilion.
Cui Lanyin was in the middle of discussing matters with Song Zhang and Jiang Shi when the attendant burst in, his voice shaking so badly that his words came out muddled. "Your Majesty, please come quickly! The Emperor has smashed up the entire Western Pavilion. Minister Shen sent me to ask you to go over and talk some sense into His Majesty..."
The Emperor was the sort of man who would not even raise an eyebrow if Mount Tai collapsed right in front of him. What on earth could have made him smash up the Western Pavilion?
Cui Lanyin knew this was no trivial matter. She stood up at once and headed out, with Song Zhang and Jiang Shi trailing close behind, too worried to stay back.
The palace attendants waiting outside the Western Pavilion rushed to open the doors for her. Faced with the total wreckage strewn across the room, Cui Lanyin did not know for a second where to set foot.
The Emperor strode over in a few quick steps and tried to steer her back out. "There's nothing wrong here. Go back to your chambers and rest. I'll come find you later."
The moment the Empress showed up, the Emperor seemed to return to his usual self. Grand Secretary Shen and the other ministers could not let Cui Lanyin leave, so they all bowed to her and said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor wants to remove Meng Zhen from his post. This is no small matter. We beg you to persuade His Majesty to think this through carefully."
Meng Zhen was a senior official in charge of border defense. Even when the Emperor had planned to march north earlier, he had never intended to remove Meng Zhen from his position.
Cui Lanyin pushed the Emperor aside and stepped into the room. "You could have just talked things out," she said, looking regretfully at the pile of shattered fragments on the ground. "All these things could have been sold for so much silver."
Seeing that he could not coax her into leaving, the Emperor lifted his feet and swept all the scattered obstacles out of the way, then escorted her carefully inside.
Buyan and Gufeng finally dared to move. They fetched brooms and quickly cleared a rough path through the mess on the floor.
The Emperor led her to sit down on the large main seat. Once she was settled, Cui Lanyin asked, "What is all this about?"
The Emperor tried to brush her off. "It's nothing..." But Cui Lanyin raised her hand to cover his mouth. She turned to Grand Secretary Shen and said, "Lord Shen, you tell me. I can't very well persuade anyone if I don't know what's going on."
Grand Secretary Shen thought that made perfect sense. The Empress had handled all state affairs with steady, level-headed judgment lately, so he said, "The thing is, Wumuhan, the Great Khan of the Tartars, has got a wild idea. He wants to arrange a marriage between his newborn son and the little princess that Your Majesty is carrying..."
Before Grand Secretary Shen could even finish his sentence, the Empress shoved the Emperor away so hard that he stumbled back. She started pacing around the room, and when the Emperor tried to follow her, she snapped at him, "Get out of my way."
As she spoke, she walked over to the corner, reached for a decorative gu vase on the side table, and hurled it across the room. There was a sharp crash, and the vase shattered into a thousand pieces of broken porcelain.
She kept walking and smashing everything in her path, until not a single valuable object was left intact in the Western Pavilion.
The Emperor and the Empress really were a match made in heaven. When they got angry, they went around smashing things side by side. Grand Secretary Shen finally understood why the Emperor had tried to stop the Empress from coming inside in the first place.
Here I am [let me take a look]
Give me a few more days to get back on track, and I will update on schedule once I've adjusted [kiss kiss]
