Chapter 60: The Mighty Pass Lies Yet Unconquered!

"Your Highness!"

After a startled gasp, Huang Jin cried out with a face full of deep emotion.

The loyal servant's eyes were filled with worry at this moment.

He gazed at the Crown Prince with a mixture of exasperation and incomprehension, then turned his anxious, unsettled gaze toward the Emperor.

As an eunuch who served the Imperial Family in the Inner Court, he knew all too well what the words spoken today by the young Crown Prince truly represented.

He knew even better that once a single word uttered here today leaked out, it would whip up monstrous storms in the imperial court and ignite the most ferocious struggles.

Worry and terror, unease and timidity, intertwined within this grand secretary of the empire, causing his legs to tremble uncontrollably.

He still clearly remembered twenty years ago, how much controversy and bloodshed the Great Rites Controversy, personally instigated by the Emperor, had stirred up across the Great Ming.

He remembered how many storms had arisen all along the road when the Emperor traveled south to Anlu to bury the Grand Empress Dowager, and how many times fires had broken out.

He remembered even more how many people had died in the palace that night.

Last year, when Yan Song—*correction: Xia Yan*—died in the bustling vegetable market of the capital, he had watched it all silently from not far away.

Political struggles kill people!

Conflicts shed blood!

The Great Ming Dynasty had already shed too much blood and lost too many lives.

Therefore, the Emperor had retreated into the Western Park—partly for self-preservation, and partly to suppress that boundless, unending strife.

Jiajing’s gaze, meanwhile, kept shifting.

The son before his eyes suddenly seemed somewhat unfamiliar to him.

Yet this current demeanor of his son also seemed to stir something deep within the Emperor's heart, something surging and swelling, demanding to burst forth.

He resembles him!

Resembles him too much!

Just like himself back then!

That younger version of himself who originally only wanted to be a contented imperial vassal prince, yet was forced step by step to walk from Anlu in the south all the way to Beijing.

Back then, as he looked at this towering city of Beijing, looked at the magnificent Forbidden City, and looked at those civil and military officials whose faces were plastered with smiles, he had found every single one of those smiling faces so fake as to be nauseating and repulsive.

So he had fought.

He had fought for a full twenty years.

And in return, the Great Ming Dynasty had experienced twenty years of the Jiajing Restoration.

A soft sigh escaped the lips of the aged emperor.

He pressed his lips together, furrowed his brows, his temples streaked with white and beard slightly trembling, his expression desolate yet tinged with a trace of unyielding defiance.

"You—"

*Clang.*

Zhu Zaiqi—*correction: Zhu Zaiju*—*correction: Zhu Zaiwei* already knelt and kowtowed to the ground.

Then he straightened his torso.

His expression had never wavered.

"Imperial Father, this son knows that a ruler cannot be too fierce, nor can he be weak."

"What this son says today is entirely fierce language; if I were to become ruler, it would surely bring disaster to the country and the people."

"However, this son is Imperial Father's son, the Crown Prince of our Great Ming Emperor. This son must never show the slightest weakness, nor can he fear officials like tigers and fawn upon them!"

"Not a single word of what this son says today is false!"

"Not a single word of what this son says today will be changed!"

"This son is simply such a person, such a son, such an imperial prince, and such a Crown Prince!"

"If Imperial Father cannot bear this son's fierce nature, stirring up trouble and plaguing the court—"

"Then this son will simply be Imperial Father's imperial prince."

"Simply be Imperial Father's son."

"I will not be the Crown Prince of Great Ming!"

As these words fell, another dull thump echoed.

Huang Jin had also collapsed to his knees, his eyes brimming with tears as he wailed, "Your Highness! Your Highness, please say no more!"

"Do not say another word!"

Then he crawled repeatedly toward the raised platform, looking through tear-blurred eyes at the Emperor seated above.

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, calm your wrath!"

"The Crown Prince did not mean it this way; the Crown Prince harbors no intention whatsoever of casting aside his position."

"The Crown Prince..."

"The Crown Prince simply..."

Zhu Zaiwei looked at Huang Jin with a touch of warmth in his heart.

He smiled and shook his head. "Grand Eunuch Huang, say no more. This is entirely my own will."

Refusing to listen, Huang Jin shook his head unceasingly. "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince must have suffered a momentary madness today! Yes, that must be it."

"Your Majesty must on no account punish the Crown Prince."

"The eldest imperial prince died young back then, and Your Majesty grieved for months."

"When the Crown Prince was born, Your Majesty wept tears of joy, hailing him as the primordial heir and placing the highest hopes upon him."

"Today, the Crown Prince..."

*Boom!*

It was like the roar of a dragon erupting from the raised platform, cutting short Huang Jin's pleas.

Jiajing had already kicked over the pine-wood bucket, his eyes locked dead onto Zhu Zaiwei. "Let him speak! Let him keep speaking!"

Zhu Zaiwei was direct as well; he lowered his head and kowtowed once more.

Then he straightened up again.

Seeing the old Daoist priest react thus, Zhu Zaiwei felt greatly reassured in his heart.

Finally.

He had finally managed to stir Jiajing's memories, to awaken that unyielding imperial heart, and to ignite his competitive desire to fight the whole world!

At this moment, Zhu Zaiwei appeared even more composed.

"If I am still the Crown Prince of Great Ming—"

"As long as I remain the Crown Prince of Great Ming for a single day, I will never alter my ambition!"

"Not only am I going to fight them!"

"I will also reform the *Kaizhong* salt-certificate system, so that the soldiers of our Great Ming border garrisons will never again lack clothes and food!"

"I will also overhaul the grain-tribute transport canals, so that our Great Ming's three thousand li of waterways, north and south, remain smooth and unobstructed!"

"I will also strictly investigate salt administration, so that the salt fields of our Great Ming, east and west, yield millions in tax revenue!"

"I will also vigorously promote maritime trade, so that our Great Ming's commerce reaches all seas and increases profits by tens of millions!"

"I will also pacify the Southwest, so that our Great Ming will no longer distinguish between native chieftains and imperial officials, and ten thousand li of mountains and rivers will be forged into one whole!"

"Furthermore, this son shall personally lead the troops out beyond the Great Wall, holding high the dragon banner, leading the majestic armies of our Great Ming to trample the grasslands and water our horses in the vast northern sea!"

"I shall make our Great Ming Dynasty the sovereign of all under heaven, drawing tribute from the four corners of the earth and ten thousand nations!"

"Wherever the sun and moon shine, all is Ming territory!"

"Wherever the sun and moon reach, all are Ming subjects!"

"I shall end the three-hundred-year reign of the 'family-owned realm', so that from now on, the two capitals and thirteen provinces shall be ruled by a single set of laws and history!"

The oaths and ambitions of the youth echoed within the empty great hall.

Huang Jin was by now sobbing uncontrollably.

He truly dared not imagine what kind of thunderous rage such words from the Crown Prince would provoke in the Emperor.

Would he depose the Crown Prince and imprison him deep within the palace?

Or strip him of his title and banish him to the provinces?

Yet, upon the raised platform, Jiajing suddenly abandoned his previous demeanor and burst out laughing.

Gradually, he began to laugh without restraint, laughing with unbridled audacity.

The cascade of laughter drowned out the Crown Prince's oaths and ambitions.

He strode forward, stepping over footprints until he reached Zhu Zaiwei, and hoisted him up with a single grasp.

Then, with a grave expression, Jiajing said, "The Great Ming has endured for two hundred years through ten reigns of sovereigns. The times have been arduous, and all past emperors failed to accomplish this. How could you, a mere child, succeed?"

With that, Jiajing shook his head repeatedly.

"Difficult!"

"Difficult!"

"Difficult!"

"Harder than ascending to the blue sky!"

Zhu Zaiwei, however, held his head high and chest out, gazing silently at Jiajing's back.

A faint smile graced his lips.

"Imperial Father says that our ten generations of Ming sovereigns echo Li Taibai's *The Road to Shu is Hard*, and this son also has a poem to offer."

Jiajing suddenly turned around, staring straight at his son.

Zhu Zaiwei once again thought of that person.

Thought of that high ridge bathed in the scorching sun.

"The west wind blows fiercely, geese cry in the frost-laden morning sky over the vast vault of heaven."

"Frost-laden morning sky, the sound of horse hooves shattering the quiet, the horns wailing mournfully."

"The mighty passes are as iron as of old; now we step firmly to cross them anew."

"Cross them anew."

"The blue mountains are like a vast sea, the setting sun like blood!"