Chapter 59: Infinite Joy!

Inside the inner chamber of the Hall of Wuyi.

A lengthy and fiercely contested imperial audience had just drawn to a close.

Huang Jin promptly brought in a fresh pine bucket filled with Langjiu liquor, knelt to remove the emperor's boots and socks, and immersed his feet into the fragrant spirit.

Today, however, he refrained from massaging the emperor's feet.

Noticing the emperor's greatly improved complexion, Huang Jin very tactfully presented a plate of pastries for both the emperor and the crown prince.

Jiajing sat serenely upon the Daoist dais, his feet resting in the wooden tub, leaning back lazily as he looked toward his son, who sat on a soft stool holding the small porcelain plate.

"You've certainly made enemies today."

"At least half of the officials in the court will be harboring resentment toward our Crown Prince."

The edict regarding the Method of Scrutiny had already been drafted in public by Huang Jin on the spot, passed through the Grand Secretariat, dispatched to the Six Offices to be proclaimed to the central government, and sent in writing to Shandong.

Simultaneously, the imperial decree proposed by Zhu Zaiyi—allocating ten percent of the future maritime trade revenues from Laizhou Prefecture to reward the officials of Shandong and Laizhou who had successfully managed the opening of the seas—was likewise promulgated.

Once the edict was issued.

The imperial will stood exposed for all to see.

Jiajing was eager to witness how his son would react upon realizing that, while still merely the heir apparent, he had already alienated half of the court's officialdom.

Would he remain utterly indifferent?

Or would he be filled with anxiety and unease?

Yet.

Zhu Zaiyi neither acted with reckless abandon nor felt unsettled about his future merely because he had offended half the officials.

He merely offered a calm and composed smile, then spoke slowly and methodically: "Your Imperial Father, Zhang Guaiya of the former Song dynasty once said: 'A coin a day, a thousand coins in a thousand days; dripping water pierces stone, rope-saw cuts wood.' Within a nation, there is also the saying that a harsh government is fiercer than a tiger. Yet whence comes a harsh government? It arises from none other than men themselves."

"At present, our Great Ming has roughly twenty thousand civil officials and eighty thousand military generals."

"If each man takes a single coin in bribes, in a single day that amounts to one hundred thousand coins, and in a hundred days to ten million coins."

"During the reign of the Founding Emperor, the Taizu Gao Emperor, anyone who embezzled eighty strings of cash was sentenced to hanging."

"Worse still, their skins were stripped and stuffed with straw."

"Yet, are there no longer corrupt officials and wicked magistrates in our Great Ming?"

Jiajing raised an eyebrow. What this boy was saying actually carried a bit of depth.

He immediately lifted his chin and remarked, "Aren't you afraid of losing the support of the officials in the future?"

As soon as the words left his mouth.

He realized the element of transgression such a question held for his son.

Jiajing waved his hand dismissively: "Today is merely a casual conversation between the two of us, father and son. There is no need for restraint. Forget the rigid protocols and speak your mind freely."

Zhu Zaiyi nodded slightly.

He put down the plate of pastries and slowly stood up.

After making a respectful obeisance with cupped hands toward the old Daoist ruler on the dais.

Zhu Zaiyi spoke once more: "Your Imperial Father, the Method of Scrutiny is currently only being test-run among the offices and petty clerks of Shandong and Laizhou who participated in the opening of maritime trade. Yet, just like the trial run of opening the seas in Laizhou Prefecture, it will inevitably be extended in the future to all two capitals and thirteen provinces of our Great Ming, reaching all civil and military officials both within the court and across the realm."

"If our Great Ming desires prosperity and strength, and if the common people are to attain peace and abundance, the only paths lie in the profits of opening the seas and the rigorous scrutiny of official governance."

"Your Imperial Father asked your son if I fear offending half the officials in the court, and if I fear losing the support of all officials in the days to come."

At this point.

Zhu Zaiyi gently flicked the sleeve of his robe, a gesture seemingly imbued with boundless strength.

He threw back his shoulders and lifted his head, presenting a magnificent, awe-inspiring demeanor of unyielding determination.

"Your Imperial Father, your son believes otherwise."

"Better that one man weeps than ten thousand people weep!"

"Better that a single household weeps than ten thousand households weep!"

"Better that the hundred officials weep than the common people suffer!"

"Your son is Your Imperial Father's son, and furthermore, the Crown Prince of the Great Ming. As Your Imperial Father's son and the Crown Prince of the Great Ming, your son bears an unshirkable duty!"

"The governance of a state lies with the officials."

"When the officials are corrupt, the realm knows no peace."

"When official governance is pristine and clear, the common people are prosperous and content."

"Therefore, your son believes even more firmly..."

"To correct a malformation, one must inevitably overcorrect!"

"When matters are urgent, one cannot shy away from exercising extraordinary authority!"

"In chaotic times, heavy codes must be employed! To renew the state, even stricter laws are essential!"

"Without codes, a nation cannot stand; without laws, a country cannot grow strong!"

Inside the Hall of Wuyi at this moment.

The young heir apparent's resounding declarations echoed with deafening clarity.

There was not a trace of retreat on his face, not a shred of timidity; he maintained a pure, stubborn adherence to his own convictions.

Huang Jin, who stood guard nearby serving this imperial father and son, wore a look of profound astonishment, the light in his eyes flickering unceasingly.

As a loyal servant devoted entirely to the imperial house, his eye sockets were nearly brimming with tears of agitation.

Upon the dais.

Jiajing had also fallen utterly and speechlessly silent.

This shrewd emperor, wise throughout his entire life, suddenly found himself unable to fully fathom the son standing before him.

Nor could he articulate any praise grand enough to match the moment.

Indeed.

At this very instant.

Jiajing simply longed to praise his own son.

Yet Zhu Zaiyi's expression remained completely unchanged. After exhaling a breath of stale air from his chest, he once again spoke in a deep, resolute voice: "Your Imperial Father, Wen Yanbo of the former Song dynasty once told Emperor Shenzong of the Song that the emperor rules the realm together with the scholar-bureaucrats, not with the common people. For a time, this was taken as a model by the scholars and gentry of the world and revered as a classic."

"Yet, in your son's eyes, Wen Yanbo was nothing more than a petty villain!"

"The governance of a state indeed rests upon the scholar-bureaucrats and officials, but the foundation of a state is by no means these people who read the scriptures of the sages yet know only how to serve as officials while raking in tens of thousands of taels of silver!"

"Your son believes that the foundation of the state is precisely the common people of the world whom the likes of Wen Yanbo disdain!"

"If scholar-bureaucrats govern the realm, how did the Qin dynasty perish in its second generation? How did the two Han dynasties fall? How did the Sui and Tang collapse after three hundred years?"

"And how did Wen Yanbo's own imperial house of the Great Song end up drowning in the waters beneath Mount Yamen?"

"When our Great Ming's Founding Emperor, the Taizu Gao Emperor, established this dynastic foundation, it was likewise not achieved through the purported strength of scholar-bureaucrats and gentry. It was built because the countless impoverished common people of the world had suffered under the tyranny of the former Yuan for too long!"

"It was because the countless impoverished common people of the world risked life and death, enlisted in the armies of the Taizu Emperor, and followed him in his campaigns of conquest from south to north!"

"Across the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Great Ming, the crops are grown by the common people! The fabrics are woven by the women! The salt and iron are smelted and boiled by miners and salt laborers!"

"They are not produced by the scholar-bureaucrats reading their sage books!"

"Therefore!"

"Your son believes that whatever is opposed by officials acting out of selfish motives is precisely what our Great Ming ought to carry out."

"The more they oppose something, the more it proves that what we are doing is right!"

"Your son has only ever heard of common people starving to death, but has never heard of scholar-bureaucrats or officials starving to death."

"Your son has heard of the common people rising in revolt during turbulent times, but has never heard of scholar-bureaucrats raising flags of rebellion!"

"The rivers and mountains, the ancestral foundation of our Great Ming, cannot be defended by those scholar-bureaucrats and officials."

"They are guarded by the hundreds of millions of ordinary souls across the vast and boundless earth of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of our Great Ming!"

"A single general's success is built upon ten thousand withered bones. The Nine Garrisons of our Great Ming stand firm to this day not because of meritorious ministers and martial generals, but because they are piled high from the corpses of a million soldiers who lay fallen along those frontiers!"

Having said this.

Zhu Zaiyi gave his robe a sharp flick and, amidst Jiajing's look of astonishment and Huang Jin's exclamation of shock, dropped straight down onto his knees.

He held his head proudly high, his gaze pure and unblemished.

"Your Imperial Father asked your son today whether I fear these officials?"

"Your son is afraid!"

"Your son is truly afraid!"

"Your son fears that offending them will intensify national conflicts, fears that offending them will deny the country peace."

"But your son fears even more that if we compromise with them by a single fraction today, we will compromise with them by ten fractions tomorrow."

"Your son fears even more that a single fraction of compromise today will allow them to devour a fraction more of the people's flesh and blood, and ten fractions of compromise tomorrow will enable them to strip the flesh and gnourish the bones of our Great Ming's common people down to nothing!"

"Your son is fourteen this year, and has already reached his capping ceremony and stepped out of the Eastern Palace."

"Your son is the son of the Jiajing Emperor of our Great Ming, and the crown prince to the hundreds of millions of common folk across the two capitals and thirteen provinces of our Great Ming."

"Furthermore, your son is the bloodline of the Founding Emperor and the Yongle Emperor of our Great Ming!"

"Born into such a family, your son can never fail to do what must be done simply out of fear of them!"

"Your son has not been reading for long, yet he has already formed his resolve."

"To struggle against the heavens, the joy is boundless."

"To struggle against the earth, the joy is boundless."

"To struggle against men, the joy is boundless."

"Your son intends to have a thorough and proper struggle against them!"