Chapter 107: With Thunderous Force
The silence of the Ministers only lasted for a moment.
It was like a wave retreating fiercely, only to crash onto the beach again. Several officials looked at each other, their answers in perfect unison.
“This matter is of great importance; we subjects do not dare to act arbitrarily.”
“We believe we should listen extensively to the opinions of all the court officials. We ask Your Majesty to convene a court assembly.”
“This subject seconds the motion.”
“I also second the motion.”
“…”
The tug-of-war had no smoke, and the answers were smooth and rounded.
Ying Xi leaned on his cheek and glanced at the ministers below, filled with emotion.
He wanted to use a sharp knife to cut through the mess and settle the matter.
They could collectively delay. Whether young or old, they were all like foxes that had become spirits.
Ying Xi couldn’t pry their mouths open. He proposed a plan, which led to a silent stalemate. Several pairs of eyes looked at the Emperor without speaking.
The list was held back and not issued. Ying Xi waved his hand. “I will find an opportunity to discuss this matter again. You may withdraw.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Ministers backed out of the door.
He had thought this matter would end for now. Ying Xi wanted to take a breath in the study. He only peeked at a few pages of a storybook, and that stifled breath was barely calmed.
Yu Lianjing reported from outside the study, “Your Majesty, the Tutor is here.”
Since the bandit suppression incident, Zhu Zhao had not only behaved himself but had also performed small merits. Moreover, after the defeat of Li Yilong, Ying Xi hadn’t found any evidence in the Xindu Palace that Zhu Zhao was still colluding with the Jiangnan rebels.
In terms of reason and logic, he shouldn’t cold-shoulder Zhu Zhao any longer, so he resumed the lectures right after returning to court.
Zhu Zhao was still wearing his crane-patterned official robe today, his hair bound in a jade crown. He approached with slow, gentle steps, and teacher and student exchanged greetings.
“It’s been a long time, Your Majesty,” Zhu Zhao said, unable to hide his excitement. “Your Majesty led the army to reclaim the lost lands of Jiangnan. Your wish is fulfilled, and the mountains and rivers are complete. Your Majesty is truly a wise ruler; I am sincerely happy for the people.”
“The Tutor overpraises me.”
After the routine greetings.
Zhu Zhao took a copy of The Art of War by Sima and Huainanzi from his bag, as well as a navy-blue notebook. These were the items needed for today’s lecture.
He began to speak eloquently about these two books.
Ying Xi listened attentively, secretly hiding the storybook a bit deeper.
The Art of War by Sima was a military book.
Huainanzi was a comprehensive encyclopedic work.
Both books were long-renowned, but Ying Xi’s time was limited. Compared to reading obscure ancient texts, he preferred reading storybooks in his spare time, or reading business wars in CEO novels to understand the future human world.
So Zhu Zhao’s erudition happened to make up for Ying Xi’s lack of time.
Zhu Zhao would introduce the main ideas to Ying Xi and even circle the brilliant chapters in the original text, leaving them in the palace.
After finishing the two books, Zhu Zhao began to talk about the notebook he’d brought, which recorded all the interesting events in the capital.
For instance, reclaiming Jiangnan actually caused the rouge in Chang’an to sell out, but it wasn’t because the Jiangnan women were brighter than the northern ones or that the girls were competing in beauty; rather, the war had caused prices to rise slightly.
“The higher the prices, the more expensive it is to buy ready-made clothes.”
“A box of rouge costs anywhere from a few dozen coins to a few taels. Compared to gold, silver, and jewelry, it’s presentable and affordable.”
Another example: a while ago in the city, many sons of officials had been causing trouble while drunk and violating the curfew.
They were in a pathetic state when drunk and repeatedly broke the rules despite bans.
The city guards came up with an idea: several monkey cages were set up in the city, and whenever they encountered a drunkard, they were driven there.
They were monkeys at night and admired as people during the day. When arrested, the guards swarmed them, so the young masters couldn’t even find someone to take revenge on.
They could only howl in rage, looking even more like monkeys.
Additionally.
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the lantern market had already opened…
Zhu Zhao described his sights and sounds to Ying Xi, as if giving Ying Xi an extra pair of eyes to observe Chang’an.
Compared to the stories recorded in ancient texts, these small things around him were more vivid and interesting.
Sweetie System: [Praise, truly intentional.]
Time passed quickly. Zhu Zhao had finished telling everything he’d prepared, and it was nearly time for lunch.
Zhu Zhao didn’t mention eating in the palace, so the meeting came to an end.
Before leaving, Zhu Zhao asked Ying Xi as if casually, “I heard Your Majesty gathered the ministers today and announced an interesting matter.”
Ying Xi’s brow twitched.
That stifled feeling had just dissipated, and displeasure immediately surfaced.
Ying Xi raised an eyebrow. “I once saw Li Yilong gradually lose the hearts of the people, and now I am truly feeling that the prestigious families and nobility are not only fighting with me for power but also fighting with the people for profit.”
“I don’t believe their becoming officials is to realize an ambition. If they have the ability, let them compete in the examination hall.”
“Is the Tutor here to be a lobbyist?”
Ying Xi raised his guard.
Zhu Zhao, however, smiled and shook his head. “As your teacher, I will only persuade them to obey you.”
Ying Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhu Zhao asked, “Why have the Imperial Examination and the recommendation system run parallel for so many years? Has Your Majesty considered it?”
Ying Xi hadn’t considered it, but he immediately understood.
“Because of compromise.”
Zhu Zhao said happily, “Exactly. Initially, implementing the Imperial Examination also met with difficulties. Those in power didn’t want to be blocked, so a portion of the benefits was yielded. Public Recommendation was thus preserved and also became a custom.”
“This kind of slow reform is like a spring breeze and rain.”
It had been raining for hundreds of years.
Ying Xi gave a private sneer.
Zhu Zhao said, “Its advantage lies in stability. If you want to break the balance, it will be unstable.”
Ying Xi raised his voice and asked, “Has word of me wanting to cancel the recommendations already spread like wildfire in the city?”
Zhu Zhao nodded slightly.
And this was less than two hours after Ying Xi had released the news.
Ying Xi’s brow furrowed.
Zhu Zhao added, “There is another way of reform, which I have also mentioned to Your Majesty.”
“Shang Yang’s reform—moving the wood to establish trust.”
“Sun Wu training troops—establishing authority by executing the King of Wu’s favorite concubines.”
“The Xiongnu once had a Shanyu who trained his troops. Once the whistling arrow was fired, those who dared not obey would die.”
Despite talking about harsh examples, Zhu Zhao was still calm as he guided him. “This kind of reform is thunderous.”
“It is the most rapidly effective way of reform, but there is one basic prerequisite: the one advocating the reform must possess absolute authority.”
People always say the student surpasses the teacher. That young Emperor who once said he would lead the court out of the long night… he had indeed done it.
Zhu Zhao masked his momentary dejection, his gaze filled with Ying Xi’s pensive face.
He encouraged him warmly: “Your teacher is someone who is good at reading. What I do can only be like handing you a tool, bringing the knowledge from books to Your Majesty.”
“But as for which kind of reform is more suitable for Great Qin, no one knows. Even I have no answer.”
“Your Majesty, do you intend to be the spring breeze and rain, or the thunderous force?”
He was asking if his wrist was soft or hard.
Ying Xi didn’t think much. “Spring breeze and rain.”
Zhu Zhao suddenly laughed, reading a deep calculation behind Ying Xi’s beautiful face.
Zhu Zhao wasn’t a fool; how could he not hear that his student simply didn’t intend to reveal anything to him?
He even wanted to use him to make a false move, temporarily calming the boiling public opinion outside.
“Your Majesty, you have truly matured,” Zhu Zhao said.
The secret Prince of Fanlan Hall in the past… his voice and face remained.
Ten years ago, when Ying Xi first entered the palace, he still showed a bit of childishness, like a little porcelain doll.
The little porcelain doll would do his lessons seriously, lifting the pages with a milky voice to show his teacher that his dictation of the classics was all correct.
He would also make conditions: “Tutor, please help me keep a small secret. I’ve made a good friend.”
“Management at my good friend’s manor is very strict. I can’t involve him, so I have to go secretly.”
“Then the two of you are truly a pair of fellow sufferers.”
Now the Emperor was carved from frost and snow.
“Tutor, I intend to be the spring breeze and rain.”
Zhu Zhao felt he was inferior.
Zhu Zhao thought that this should be the time he was most gratified; as a teacher, his student’s achievements would surely leave a mark in history.
But he felt it was a pity. Ying Xi wasn’t very happy.
It was hard for someone who excelled at calculation to be happy.
Not long after Zhu Zhao left, because of the false information he’d carried out about the “spring breeze and rain,” the ministers were temporarily a bit more behaved.
Until the afternoon, Ying Xi had some peace, still thinking about how to push forward the cancellation of the recommendation system.
But in the evening, a censor asked for an audience.
Censors had little power but a loud voice.
Because ancient people had the realization that “those who can point out my faults to my face receive the highest reward,” when an emperor received them, his attitude was usually not bad.
The censor who came for the audience was very young, perhaps just appointed, eager to perform or truly concerned for the court.
The young censor fell to his knees before Ying Xi with a thud.
—“I ask Your Majesty to withdraw the order!!!”
He… said what?
Ying Xi suppressed his look of disbelief, sized him up as calmly as possible, and stared at this fool who was looking up at him.
Ying Xi could choose not to argue with him over the weight of an emperor’s words.
But someone who immediately makes demands upon arriving—even if they weren’t ruler and subject, but just friends—was hard to tolerate.
Ying Xi asked coldly, “Which order?”
If the other person were normal, they could at least hear that his tone was unpleasant, and they could have reduced a few words of friction between them.
But he had happened to run into a stubborn donkey!
The young censor said, “Public recommendation into the court and recruiting through the Imperial Examination have run parallel for a hundred years without conflict; it naturally has its logic.”
“If whether one becomes an official or not in the world is entirely decided by the examination, the students of this age will surely stare deathly at that examination paper.”
“Hearing nothing of world affairs and only seeking fame and merit.”
“By then, many virtuous people will be rejected, and those bookworms who only know how to read… won’t they all enter the court?”
“If the mountains and rivers are handed to them to lead, how terrifying that would be!”
The censor took a step forward. The Weiyang Palace study was filled with this young man’s voice, making one’s ears ring.
The Sweetie System said: [He seems to be making a lot of sense.]
The Sweetie System occasionally chimed in on Ying Xi’s official business, but it truly wasn’t material for governing a state.
Ying Xi said, “He’s wrong.”
The Sweetie System was stunned: [Where is he wrong???]
“Is it that those recommended are surely virtuous and talented, and students who enter office through examinations are all bookworms?”
The Sweetie System thought about it; it seemed His Majesty was even more right.
This bad censor had secretly swapped concepts!
The Sweetie System was indignant: [Your Majesty, punish him (▼ヘ▼#)]
Ying Xi shook his head. “No need.”
“No need?”
The young censor was still kowtowing. “This subject is advising for the stability of the foundation of Great Qin. I ask Your Majesty to withdraw the order to prevent the court from collapsing from within. With a heart of red loyalty, I implore heaven and earth to witness!”
The Emperor didn’t take a stance. “Understood. What is your name?”
The censor didn’t expect the Emperor to ask this.
The young censor had just taken office and hadn’t had a private audience with the Emperor before; he thought Ying Xi had approved of his suggestion.
The young censor said excitedly, “This subject, this subject is Chen Wanjing.”
Ying Xi nodded. “I’ve remembered it.”
“Allow me to consider. You may withdraw.”
“Yes…”
Little Censor Chen backed out.
The Sweetie System didn’t quite understand.
Sometimes, His Majesty’s imperial majesty was overwhelming; when he said he would lose his temper, he did, scaring a whole room of ministers until they were trembling.
And sometimes, His Majesty was profound and mysterious. Why didn’t he punish the official who said the wrong thing?
In the Sweetie System’s vision, Ying Xi’s gaze was focused on a certain part of the study, thinking about those things that were hard to understand—and which His Majesty had to face every day—where a slight lapse would result in a massive loss to the government.
The Little Sweetie System wanted to hug His Majesty again.
“Xie…” Ying Xi caught the syllable just in time. “Lang Xun.”
After returning to court, the one guarding the door was naturally the Captain of the Guard.
The slip of the tongue was corrected in time, so it didn’t catch anyone’s attention.
However, Ying Xi unexpectedly discovered that when he uttered the word “Xie,” a shallow sound would be produced, as if it were wrapped around the tip of his tongue.
Ying Xi felt it was interesting, his heartbeat thrown into chaos for a second.
He thought of Xie Qianli and unconsciously curled his lips.
The wandering thoughts were suppressed, and his tone turned flat: “Lang Xun, investigate who Chen Wanjing saw before he saw me.”
Captain Lang was completely dazed by the Emperor’s smile, his dark skin glowing as he said happily, “This subject obeys the edict!”
Lang Xun left.
Sweetie System: [The little wolf dog is quite cute too~ ship it, ship it~]
Whether the system was eating big or just having a light taste, Ying Xi didn’t control it; he didn’t care anymore.
Ying Xi said, “There must be a mastermind behind Chen Wanjing.”
The Sweetie System only then belatedly realized that if a workplace newcomer dared to challenge the big boss, someone must have egged on this blockhead.
The Sweetie System said sadly, “Your Majesty is so great, but being an emperor is truly so tiring.”
“Your Majesty,” Yu Lianjing knocked on the door and entered, “The Barbarian King heard you’ve returned to court and has sent envoys to visit and ask about the Princess’s recent situation. The envoys have reached the Honglu Temple again. Will you receive the envoys again?”
It was reasonably suspected that Yu Lianjing had intentionally used the word “again” three times.
The Sweetie System pfft-ed.
Ying Xi pinched his brow with difficulty. “I won’t see them.”
Yu Lianjing looked troubled. “This…”
Directly refusing was likely inappropriate. Although the Barbarian King was the ruler of a vassal state, the court shouldn’t be too arrogant.
Ying Xi stood up. “I’m going out.”
The envoys can look wherever they like.
“Where is Your Majesty going?” Yu Lianjing quickly caught up.
He had stayed in the study for a whole day and dealt with many people; Ying Xi had long since been unable to sit still.
Ying Xi thought about it, looking out at the layers of palace halls beyond the study. He unintentionally thought of the prosperity of Chang’an that Tutor Zhu had mention
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