The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 117 Sword Pointing at Xianmu
A procession of carriages traveled from the East Palace to the Hall of Literary Glory. Along the way, eunuchs and palace maids knelt on the ground. Zhu Gaochi appeared to be lying lazily on the carriage, but in reality, his back was tense the whole time.

Li Xianmu followed behind the carriage, sizing up Yang Shiqi and other officials of the Eastern Palace who were also cabinet ministers, his eyes revealing a cold glint.

From afar, several dark figures could be seen entering through the palace gates. As they drew closer, they became clear that these were the high-ranking officials from various departments, dressed in bright red robes, exuding an air of authority.

When the high-ranking officials of the second and third ranks saw the Crown Prince, they all stepped forward to pay their respects. Most of these civil officials supported the Crown Prince, so Zhu Gaochi also returned the greeting with a smile. These days, the Prince of Han has been dispatched to Beijing to pave the way, and the people in the capital are quite relieved.

Several people glanced at Li Xianmu behind the carriage with surprise, seemingly not expecting him to be there, but after looking at the Crown Prince, they ultimately did not ask.

The group headed towards the Huagai Hall. One of the eunuchs on duty outside the hall went inside to report, while another eunuch slowly pushed open the hall door without making a sound.

Upon entering the hall, one naturally sees the emperor's throne in the center, flanked by towering vermilion pillars that support the magnificent palace. Behind these pillars, palace servants tend to the candles and incense burners, from which wisps of smoke rise gently, creating a hazy, ethereal atmosphere.

Zhu Gaochi, surrounded by the crowd, sat down on the sandalwood chair to the lower left. This was arranged by the emperor out of pity for his obesity. The other officials were arranged on both sides of the hall, with the Nine Ministers in front, the Grand Secretaries behind the Ministers, and Li Xianmu hidden behind the Crown Prince, remaining silent.

Not long after, Zhu Di, dressed in a bright yellow wide-sleeved robe, walked out from behind the hall, put his hand on his belt, and sat down.

The assembled officials stepped forward and shouted "Long live the Emperor!" three times.

Zhu Di waved his hand casually, "Since all of you have arrived, let's begin. I have summoned you to the palace today for the matter concerning the Duke of Yansheng."

These are the proposed solutions from Zheng Qing and Chen Qing. Please take a look.

The expressions of the people in the hall varied. After silently reading through the cause and effect, they roughly guessed that the emperor was probably unwilling to make a big fuss.

Otherwise, Chen Ying's handling of the situation would have been quite perfect.

"If a lawsuit is filed for a long time, and the higher authorities impeach him, he will immediately retaliate. Such a treacherous person is not trustworthy. This trend must not be allowed to continue. Therefore, the lawsuit filed by Kong Chenglin, the magistrate of Qufu, should not be accepted. The matter filed by the Duke of Yansheng should be handed over to the relevant authorities for a direct judgment according to the law."

The ministers unanimously agreed on the proposed solution, finding no major problems, and Zhu Di's expression eased slightly.

“But the accusations made by Kong Chenglin may not be false.” Minister of Rites Hu Ying suddenly spoke up. His voice was slow and carried a sense of maturity and composure. “Over the years, we have also heard some rumors about the illegal activities of the Duke Yansheng.”

Your Majesty, please reprimand him, urging him to cultivate his character, manage his family affairs, abide by etiquette and law, and set a sage's example for the Duke of Yansheng's mansion and for all scholars in the land, so as not to fail Your Majesty's teachings.

The atmosphere in the hall changed again. Everyone squinted at Hu Ying. In this kind of occasion, proposing to reprimand the Duke Yansheng was itself a statement.

Hu Ying, the Minister of Rites, was dissatisfied with the Duke Yansheng!

Hu Ying was from Southern Zhili and became a Jinshi in the 24th year of the Hongwu reign. He was not the same person as Hu Ying, who searched for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen for Zhu Di in history.

In the fourth year of the Yongle reign, there was contact with the Southern Branch of the Confucius family.

In the case of the relocation of the capital, the literati of Southern Zhili were once attacked. Li Xianmu was unsure whether Hu Ying's relatives and friends had been implicated, and thus pushed for the matter.

After glancing at him twice, Li Xianmu turned his gaze to another man from Southern Zhili in the hall.

Chen Ying, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

This person is narrow-minded and vindictive; you can see something more about him from his character.

Chen Ying spoke without hesitation, saying in a stern voice, "Minister Hu is right. As the head of the Censorate, I am responsible for maintaining good morals. If the Duke of Yansheng cannot uphold morals, then what I have done will become a joke."

The atmosphere in the hall was even more tense than after Hu Ying finished speaking, because Chen Ying's words were much more serious than Hu Ying's. Hu Ying only suggested reprimanding the Duke Yansheng, but Chen Ying raised it to the level of social atmosphere.

All the officials in the hall glanced at the emperor out of the corner of their eyes, for only the emperor could reprimand the Duke Yansheng.

Zhu Di looked conflicted, turning the memorial and proposed solutions over and over in his hands, unable to reach a conclusion. "What do you all think?"

If the emperor cannot make a decision, the final outcome will be decided by debate in court, depending on who can persuade the emperor.

"Your humble servant suggests abolishing the hereditary system of the Qufu magistrate position held by the Confucius family and replacing it with a rotating system. The Qufu magistrate position could be replaced with a hereditary honorary title as an exchange."

Chen Ying put forward a more radical suggestion: "All prefectures and counties in the country use appointed officials, but only Qufu uses the hereditary position of the Confucius family, which is quite inappropriate."

Following Chen Ying's words, the suggestion, which should have been met with widespread opposition, strangely fell silent, with no one refuting it.

Li Xianmu frowned deeply. The atmosphere in the hall was very unfavorable, and Chen Ying's suggestion was unlikely to be implemented.

"No!"

Seeing that no one spoke, Chen Ying, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and Song Li, the Minister of Works, immediately spoke up at the same time.

Former Minister of Works Huang Fu is now in charge of government affairs at the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration Commission.

Song Li, a native of Henan, glared angrily and said in a deep voice, "Qufu is a place where the descendants of sages gather. How can we allow others to rule it?"

"Why not?"

"This is the imperial court's preferential treatment of the descendants of a sage; how can the system be changed?"

Once the topic turned to institutions, Zhu Di immediately came to his senses: "The system of the Duke of Yansheng must not be changed."

The Ming Dynasty and the Tang and Song Dynasties had one very different situation.

The Tang Dynasty revered Buddhism.

The Song Dynasty, however, did not experience rule by a foreign ethnic group.

The Ming Dynasty was ruled by a foreign ethnic group, so after its establishment, it took a great deal of effort to restore Han Chinese clothing, language, writing, and etiquette.

Confucianism represents the Han people.

Zhu Yuanzhang's elevation of the Duke Yansheng was essentially an attempt to elevate the tablet of Confucius in order to promote Confucianism.

The establishment of the Duke Yansheng system was one of Zhu Yuanzhang's efforts to bridge the divide between the North and the South. He wanted to prove to the South that the North was also Han territory, not barbarian land.

Li Qi's actions to reconcile the North and South were essentially the same: using his reputation as a contemporary sage to endorse the Northerners, saying that Northerners and Southerners were the same, both being cultured people who had read the classics.

The Yuan History Case and other similar incidents were essentially aimed at undermining the excessive self-confidence and cultural arrogance of scholars in Jiangnan.

As soon as the emperor finished speaking, Huang Huai immediately said, "Your Majesty, the system of the Duke of Yansheng should not be changed, and it is also quite inappropriate to appoint officials from outside the capital. I think it would be better to appoint the Kong family of Quzhou as the magistrate of Qufu."

Li Xianmu stared wide-eyed at Huang Huai, and the two met eyes. Huang Huai nodded slightly without any hesitation.

This immediately confirmed to Li Xianmu that the matter was indeed driven by Zhejiang literati, who then contacted literati in Southern Zhili.

Their goal was quite simple: to replace the Kong family of Quzhou with the magistrate of Qufu, which would cause the Northern School to lose face and the Southern School to rise in status.

So that's how it is; the real intention wasn't in the wine.

No wonder the Left Censor-in-Chief Chen Ying proposed such an outrageous and impossible suggestion earlier—it turns out it was all for this proposal.

Li Xianmu's reaction to Huang Huai's suggestion was not significant, even though Huang Huai had sided with him on many issues, including the relocation of the capital. However, even allies cannot always be of one mind.

Huang Huai was a scholar from Zhejiang. The Kong family of Quzhou was from Zhejiang. Since the Yuan History Case, Zhejiang scholars had been in a low period in the literary world. There was not a single official from Zhejiang among the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers.

He was just a minor fifth-rank Grand Secretary, but because of his proximity to the emperor, he became a prominent official.

Therefore, both morally and logically, he had to use this incident to boost the morale of the scholars in Zhejiang.

Li Xianmu sighed slightly, "What a pity, it won't work!"
His eyes gradually sharpened.

Zhao Juren, the Commissioner of the Court of Jurisdiction who came from Yingtian Prefecture, solemnly said: "I believe that what Scholar Huang said is reasonable."

It is inappropriate to appoint a visiting official as the magistrate of Qufu County; instead, the Confucian school should govern itself, which is a way of respecting the supreme sage of Confucius.

However, as Kong Chenglin said, the selection of a member of the Confucius family from Qufu as the county magistrate was due to the power of the Duke Yansheng, and the fact that the county was full of relatives and friends, making it difficult to enforce the law impartially.

The selection of a descendant of the Confucius family from Quzhou to serve as the magistrate of Qufu is a logical choice. As a descendant of Confucius and a direct descendant of the main lineage after the tracing of ancestry, and having no relatives or property in Qufu, the magistrate can be ordered not to establish any marriage ties or acquire any property in Qufu. This will ensure that he can enforce the law impartially.

Furthermore, it allows the Northern and Southern factions to check and balance each other. Currently, the Northern faction has dozens of hereditary titles and official positions, while the Southern faction is struggling to make ends meet, which is quite inappropriate.

Please, Your Majesty, make a wise judgment.

Zhu Di nodded slightly, agreeing with what these people said. He then looked at his trusted advisors, whose ministers generally agreed with Zhao Juren's assessment.

This unanimous opinion, however, made Zhu Di hesitate.

Then he noticed Li Xianmu deep in thought behind the Crown Prince. He pointed at him and said to the assembled officials, “My nephew became the top scholar at the age of twelve. When Li Jinghe was alive, he once told me, ‘Mu’er has the appearance of a sage.’ He made great contributions to the recent proposal to move the capital. Let’s hear what he has to say today.”

"Although these are the words of a child, Your Majesty should listen to them, and there is nothing wrong with them."

Left Censor-in-Chief Chen Ying responded with a smile, and everyone's expressions changed slightly. Hu Guang also smiled and said, "What Lord Chen said is correct."

Because of his contributions to the proposal to move the capital, Hu Guang has returned to the cabinet, but he is being ostracized by Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong.

As soon as these two men uttered their disdainful words, most of the people in the hall smiled slightly, even Yang Shiqi and others who were also officials under the Crown Prince.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi frowned slightly.

Li Xianmu's age has always been a problem, especially in such important national occasions before the emperor, where his prestige and seniority are too shallow.

Wang Gen, who was also a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, immediately retorted sharply: "What Imperial Censor Chen and Academician Hu said is wrong. Gan Luo became prime minister at the age of twelve, and Cao Chong was able to weigh an elephant at a young age. Since ancient times, those with extraordinary talents must be different from ordinary people."

Li Mingda, at the age of twelve, dominated three hundred prefectures and was personally selected by His Majesty as the top scholar. This shows that His Majesty believes Li Mingda is capable of being a minister of the state. You two, speaking of him as a mere child, are you not questioning His Majesty?

Chen Ying and Hu Guang immediately apologized, and were about to retort when Yang Shiqi said gently, "Jingzhi and Mingda are fellow disciples, hence their indignant expression."

But Imperial Censor Chen was merely trying to exonerate Mingda because he was young and worried that he might say something inappropriate. This was a sign of his sincere concern, and we must not let such concern cause us any trouble.

Li Xianmu suddenly looked at Yang Shiqi, his eyes now filled with coldness. These words were truly spoken lightly.

Zhu Di was also quite shocked. Now that things had come to this, he realized that the matter of the Duke of Yansheng was not so simple.

Wang Gen was even more indignant and was about to speak again when he saw Li Xianmu walk out from behind the Crown Prince.

His face was solemn and cold.

Li Xianmu's expression caused everyone in the hall to pause. From the grand court assembly discussing the relocation of the capital, one could get a glimpse of his personality.

Zhu Gaochi gently tugged at the corner of his clothes.

This is in the hope that he won't take it too seriously.

Li Xianmu paused and glanced in Yang Shiqi's direction. This man was indeed as his father had said, sparing no effort in suppressing political enemies. He had only just entered the Eastern Palace and was already on Yang Shiqi's list.

Li Xianmu bowed to the emperor and said loudly, "Your Majesty."

I have heard it said that when three people walk together, there must be one who can teach me. I will choose the good qualities of that person and follow them, and correct my own bad qualities.

This is the teaching of the sages.

Whether it's the words of a child or something else, it's ultimately up to Your Majesty to judge. Since all of you ministers are so curious about me, I'll offer a few words to demonstrate your knowledge.

"Xianmu, please speak freely. If you make a mistake, I will not correct you."

Li Xianmu turned to the ministers again and said indifferently, "I have heard everything you ministers said just now. Whether it is the matter of appointing officials by the Left Censor-in-Chief Chen, or the proposal by Scholar Huang to have the Kong family of Quzhou take charge of the magistrate of Qufu, they are all absurd and unworkable!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was filled with unwavering determination, a resolute opposition.

This statement immediately stirred up endless waves.

Jian Yi, the Minister of Personnel who was from Sichuan, and the Minister of War who was from Huguang, both remained indifferent, as if it were none of their business.

The three officials who reacted most strongly were Hu Ying, Minister of Rites; Chen Ying, Left Censor-in-Chief; and Zhao Juren, Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, all of whom came from Southern Zhili.

Even Huang Huai, the person involved, only had some doubts. He had expected Li Xianmu to have some objections, but he did not expect Li Xianmu to be so opposed, not even giving him any face.

Wasn't Li Xianmu adhering to the philosophy of mind?

Logically speaking, he shouldn't be too concerned about matters concerning the Confucian school.

Deep doubts lingered in his heart, leaving him somewhat bewildered and confused. He even decided to find Li Xianmu after the meeting to get some answers.

Zhu Gaochi breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw that Li Xianmu had not targeted Yang Shiqi, and then gave Yang Shiqi a wink.

He sat calmly and composedly, exuding an air of authority without being angry.

Yang Shiqi was immediately alarmed, realizing that he had been too hasty and had aroused the Crown Prince's dissatisfaction.

"Insanity!"

Left Censor-in-Chief Chen Ying replied angrily.

He was a cruel official like Lai Junchen, a representative of evil under the emperor's rule. As long as the emperor wanted to circumvent certain things, he had no choice but to use him.

Both he and Ji Gang were favored ministers of Zhu Di, and even the crown prince Zhu Gaochi could not do anything to him, so naturally they were not afraid of Li Xianmu.

He said sternly, "You ignorant brat, a lowly person, how dare you speak of a second-rank official of the court! How arrogant you are!"

(End of this chapter)