Top Scholar

Chapter 203 National Affairs
Because Su Lu has early classes, he always eats breakfast in advance. Only Tian Tian gets up early to eat with him.

It must have been tough on Steward Tian, ​​who had to get up before dawn every day to deliver meals, yet he never tired of it.

After breakfast, Su Lu handed the book bag to Tian Tian and said, "Your sister Huang needs this book urgently, so take it to her when you have some free time today."

“Yes, yes, I was going to go and learn how to embroider sachets anyway.” Tian Tian readily accepted the order.

"You child, why did you take after your uncle?" Su Youcai yawned as he entered the hall and scolded Su Lu, "Miss Huang didn't want to teach your sister for a single penny, so why didn't you give her the whole set of books? You're just borrowing them one by one, how stingy."

"Father, haven't you heard that books are only truly read when borrowed, and that things are valued for their rarity?" Su Lu, feeling guilty, didn't dare to argue with Su Youcai and simply smiled and said, "I borrowed them one by one so that Miss Huang could enjoy reading them more."

"Nonsense and fallacy," Su Youcai said irritably. "I've thought about it. Let's all go back for the Dragon Boat Festival. Your uncle said that if we don't go back to see the new house, your aunt won't let us in."

"Okay, okay, we'll do whatever Dad says." Su Lu swallowed the last bite of rice, picked up a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and said, "I'm full, I'm going to school now. Goodbye, little sister."

"Goodbye, brother." Xiaotian got up and saw him to the door, whispering to him, "There'll be a surprise when you come back tonight."

"Haha, okay!" Su Lu nodded happily and said, "I'll bring you something delicious when I come back."

When Xiaotian turned back, Su Youcai looked at her scrutinizingly. "Are you all hiding something from me? You all seem so guilty."

"No," Xiaotian quickly shook her head and said, "Uncle, I've finished eating and I'm going to read a book."

"Go ahead." Su Youcai stroked his chin and said to the landlady, "Could it be that Xiaotian is acting as a matchmaker, constantly trying to set Qiu-ge'er and Miss Huang up?"

"Pfft..." The proprietress laughed out loud, "What are you thinking? Although our Qiu-ge is top-notch, Miss Huang is the daughter of a high-ranking official in the province and the number one talented woman in Sichuan."

"So what!" Su Youcai said confidently, "My Qiu-ge'er is good enough for any girl!"

"No..." The landlady paused, thinking Su Youcai was going to break up the couple again, which was why she said that. She asked, "Now that you're with Qiu-ge'er, you don't object anymore?"

"Why should I object? If it's true, I'd be overjoyed," Su Youcai said smugly.

"When my son grows up, he'll find his own wife. And he'll find one of the best girls in Sichuan! I'm so happy I could stand on the Bell and Drum Tower and let the whole of Luzhou know!"

"Hmph, that's not fair!" A muffled groan came from outside the door, but it was unclear who said it.

"You're acting all aggrieved!" Su Youcai cursed towards the door, "When She Saihua arrests you and buries you, I won't be the one digging you up!"

There was no sound from outside the door.

~~
Su Lu was unaware that he had already aroused Su Youcai's suspicion; Su Youcai was now only concerned with the fate of everyone in the world...

Upon meeting the old abbot, he presented the star map drawn by Huang E and said softly, "This is what a friend of mine observed at night. It has caused her great anxiety, and she begs the old abbot to enlighten her."

Without even looking, Pang Shanzhang squinted and said, "Is it 'The Emperor Star shines like nine tassels falling,' 'Mars is entrenched among the three stars of the Heavenly Vessel,' or 'Venus transforms into a white rainbow that pierces through the canopy'?"

"Yes." Su Lu nodded; this was indeed the constellation drawn by Huang E.

"Hey, how did you know without even looking?" Zhu Zihe asked in surprise.

"I'm not blind." The old abbot glanced at the child helplessly, feeling that he was almost stupid from studying the Book of Rites.

“That’s true. The stars are high in the sky, everyone can see them.” Zhu Zihe scratched his head sheepishly, then asked, “These three celestial phenomena don’t seem very auspicious, do they?”

"It's not just unlucky, it's downright ominous." The old man sighed and said, "I have been observing the celestial phenomena for several days and nights in a row. My friend Hongzhi is absolutely right. It is indeed a triple ominous sign."

As he spoke, he explained to his students: "The central palace is the residence of the Heavenly Emperor, and the imperial star symbolizes the ruler. The imperial star, swaying like a crown tassel falling, is an omen of the demise of a sage's virtue!"

"Huh?" Not only Zhu Zihe, but even Zhou Shanchang standing beside him was startled. "Impossible! His Majesty is only thirty-six, in the prime of his life. He just presided over the palace examination and the announcement of the results last month, and he also held a lecture on the classics!" "Yes, I also find it strange." Pang Shanchang said with a wry smile, "However, during the reign of Yao, ten suns appeared at once, yet Yao was a sage ruler; during the reign of Jie, the celestial phenomena were normal, yet Jie was a tyrant. It can be seen that the theory of celestial phenomena is not always reliable; the key is still human affairs."

"Yes, your disciples will remember your teachings." Su Lu and Zhu Zihe hurriedly replied in soft voices.

Despite this, the old abbot continued to interpret the second celestial phenomenon for them, saying: "Mars belongs to the fire element, which signifies death, loss, war, and chaos. The three stars of the Heavenly Zun constellation are in the Jing constellation, which govern banquets and pleasures. Mars's crimson flames devour the Heavenly Zun, which is an omen of a ruler indulging in desires and inviting disaster."

"It seems the celestial signs are really unreliable. No one would indulge in debauchery like the current emperor. He is the only emperor in history to have only one wife!" Zhu Zihe laughed.

"Hehe..." The old mountain chief chuckled loudly without speaking, then continued:
"Venus governs warfare. The Canopy Star protects the Purple Palace Imperial Court, symbolizing imperial majesty. When Venus tears the Canopy Star, it is an omen of treacherous stars usurping power and the collapse of heavenly authority!"

As he spoke, he sighed deeply and said, "These three stars in succession bring calamity, which perfectly matches the prophecy in the Book of Celestial Offices: 'The treacherous stars flatter the Dipper, and will lead jackals and tigers to steal the cauldron!' Fortunately, the Emperor has received the Mandate of Heaven with his sagacious virtue, reveres Heaven and his ancestors, cherishes the virtuous and loves the people, and has remained steadfast in this for eighteen years. I hope that he can use the Mandate of Heaven to resolve the calamity in the world..."

"What the headmaster says is true. The Holy Emperor is of great virtue and good fortune, and can turn misfortune into good fortune. Let's not worry about this unfounded worry." Headmaster Zhou said with a smile, and then took out the official documents that had just arrived yesterday and handed them to the two of them, saying, "Today's homework is to read the newspaper."

Since the announcement of the results in the Zhu Liujin Hall, Headmaster Zhou has become much more peaceful and no longer has a stern face all the time.

"Yes." The two hurriedly took the official records and quickly began to browse through them.

The *Dichao* was the official newspaper published by the imperial court, containing imperial edicts, ministerial memorials, official appointments and removals, and military and diplomatic developments. After rigorous screening by the Office of Transmission, it was distributed to various levels of government offices, enabling officials at all levels to access the latest imperial edicts, laws, and important military and political news.

However, its circulation was strictly limited to within the bureaucratic system. Even the official records seen at the provincial and county levels differed, because information equals power!
As for the parts that could be made public to the general public, they would be posted at the entrance of the government office and announced widely, called a public notice.

Basically, once you get to the level of official announcements, all that's left are some major news that has to be mentioned, followed by official jargon, platitudes, and even nonsense...

Therefore, in this era, ordinary people had no way of knowing about national affairs and the dynamics of the imperial court. What they heard were extremely important matters, and they would have to wait a year or two to get them...

However, even in the preliminary examinations for children, military and political affairs were tested through written essays and policy discussions. Furthermore, the Grand Masters would also examine current affairs. Scholars from impoverished families were completely ignorant of these matters; how could they not become a laughingstock?

The information gap between the children of officials and gentry and those from poor families is enough to draw a chasm between them.

Although it would take a full month for this official document to be delivered from the capital to the province and then copied to Luzhou before Su Lu and his companion saw it, it was already the most timely and authoritative political information available at the moment…

Even the son of the Sichuan governor learned about important court affairs through the same official records. At most, he saw them a few days earlier than Su Lu and his group. It could be said that, at the level of national affairs, there was no longer any information gap between the two sides.

Su Lu noticed that the official document was printed on high-quality Lian San paper, folded into a book shape. The first page was printed with the words "Official Document of the Court of State Ceremonial," and the publication date was also noted next to it: the 28th day of the third month of the 18th year of the Hongzhi reign.

The bottom page also reads, "Readers should keep this confidential; those who violate this rule will be severely punished according to the law."

Once opened, the text is arranged chronologically, with ten lines per half-page and twenty-three characters per line. It is divided into monthly events, with each event followed by a character below the next line. It may contain full texts of memorials and imperial edicts, or a summary of the main points.

Su Lu quickly glanced through the list. Aside from the appointments and removals of officials he didn't recognize, and the most important event of March—the selection of 303 new Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examination) including Gu Dingchen—there were three other major events in this month's official records.

One is that the Little Prince has finally temporarily withdrawn his troops. This Little Prince is not the alien one, nor is he a single person, but rather the Ming court's title for the successor to the Mongol Khan.

The young prince in question is Dayan Khan Batu Mongke, born in the tenth year of the Chenghua reign. This scoundrel is a few years younger than the current Ming emperor, in his prime, and exceptionally troublesome. Since coming of age, he has become the number one border threat of the Hongzhi reign, invading the capital annually and withdrawing just as scheduled, causing the court considerable distress.

However, he only operated in the Ningxia and Gansu areas and was not a particularly deadly enemy, so the court never made up its mind to fight him with all its might... Isn't that obvious? Don't the emperor and his ministers know what the result of the last all-out battle was?
A full-scale battle? That'll never happen again in eight lifetimes...

And so it went on year after year, back and forth, until even the people of Sichuan had heard of the Little Prince.

The second major event was that, at the request of the Ministry of Revenue, the Emperor ordered He Jian, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, to go to the Jingxiang region. As a result, Vice Minister He conducted a detailed household registration check in the border area of ​​Henan, Huguang, and Shaanxi provinces and found more than 225,000 new households, totaling more than 739,000 people!
So he submitted a memorial outlining the drawbacks of the hidden households, which finally resolved the question in Emperor Hongzhi's mind—why, after a long period of peace and prosperity and a growing population, the country's population and army were decreasing day by day?
Turns out they don't even register their household registration...

The third incident may not have had as much impact as the first two, but for scholars preparing for the imperial examinations, it was nothing short of an earthquake—the Hongzhi Emperor, who was usually lenient with his ministers, actually imprisoned Li Mengyang, the leader of the literary world!
The reason was that Li Mengyang submitted a memorial entitled "Responding to the Imperial Edict's Critique," outlining numerous ills of the state. In his final discussion of the problems caused by powerful relatives of the emperor, he denounced the emperor's brother-in-law, Zhang Heling, for "recruiting scoundrels, exploiting thieves, seizing land, demolishing houses, abducting children, intercepting merchants, monopolizing salt tax, running rampant along rivers, and waving yellow flags—his power is like a winged tiger!"

Zhang Heling was also a master. In his self-defense, he extracted the phrase "His Majesty treats Lady Zhang well" from Li Mengyang's memorial and insisted that it was an insult to the Empress, a crime deserving death!
The emperor's mother-in-law, Lady Jin, also wept before the emperor, so the emperor issued an edict to dismiss Li Mengyang from his post and punish him. Zhang Heling ordered the Northern Garrison to torture him severely, and the nobles were also eager to kill Li Mengyang as soon as possible!
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(End of this chapter)