All Under Heaven

The steamed bun shows his incredible might to upend Heaven and Earth1

Jiajing Emperor started to feel his rage boiling up inside when he looked at his son who had an appearance of a poor mistreated punching bag2.

When he had ascended to the throne, he had faced off with all those powerful officials such as Yang Tinghe and the others. He had fought one against a hundred to drive all those who opposed him out of the imperial court. In the end, no one ever dared to go up against him again. This courage was unheard of, not only through out the Ming Dynasty, but even during the Tang or Song Dynasties. This was also something that Jiajing was quite proud of.

Who knew that he, a wise Emperor of his generation, had ended up with two good-for-nothing sons.
 

This was exactly like a shiny sheet of perfectly white paper which had been sullied with splashes of ink, it was enough to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

“You came into the palace just to ask if I’ve3 eaten yet?” He stared at his son, his tone was unfriendly.

“Urm no, I, I….4” The Prince of Yu was nervous, his mind went blank, and he completely forgot what he wanted to say.

“Royal grandpa, Jun-er missed you!” Father and son gaze at each other in speechless dismay. Zhu Yijun went up closer, his little chubby legs walked closer to Jiajing, he opened his arms, indicating that he wanted to be picked up.

Jiajing’s face softened up a bit, seeing Zhu Yijun’s soft figure leaping towards him, he subconsciously stretched out his hands and hugged him.

Zhu Yijun giggled. He liked to play this game with Zhao Su the most. He’d rushed over, let Zhao Su catch him, and then they’d roll about in each other’s arms, as if the two of them became one. Now he is doing the same to Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing was slightly taken aback.

The Emperor had had eight sons in total, which was in fact no small number. But sadly, most of these sons never made it to adulthood, one after the other they all died in adolescence. Even his favourite, the crown prince, Zhu Zaihe, also passed away in the 31st year of Jiajing. As if fulfilling the Daoist Master’s prediction that: Two dragons cannot co-exist5.

After that, he rarely invested much affection towards his sons, not to mention his little grandson.

When Zhu Yijun was born, he was still very happy, since that little boy was still his only grandson. Not only did he personally bestow a name upon him, he had also offered a bundle of gifts to the Prince of Yu manor. However, the grandfather and grandson hardly had any opportunities to see each other, in fact Zhu Yijun could only remember seeing him twice when he had entered the palace for Lunar New Year.

However, looking at him from a distance and holding him in his arms was still very different. Perhaps it was because they were blood-related, or maybe it had been such a long time since he had held a baby. Jiajing felt a softness in his heart, as if something had melted, he couldn’t help but smile and squeezed the child’s cheek.

“You will be five years old this year right?” He asked casually.

Zhu Yijun held out four fingers in front of him very seriously: “This year, I only just turned four.”

His actions made Jiajing laugh: “Have you started studying?”

The Prince of Yu quickly responded: “He has already started to recite a bit of from the 《Three Character Classic》and the《Thousand Character Classic》 but we have yet to recruit an official teacher for him.”

Jiajing was annoyed: “I didn’t ask you, let him speak.”

The Prince of Yu hurriedly agreed, and did not dare to open his mouth again, simply sticking to one side pretending to be dumb.

The Emperor didn’t like his son. Even Gao Gong and Chen Yiqin had only entered the Prince of Yu manor a few years ago, so the Emperor wouldn’t expect that the Prince of Yu and Consort Li had already set their hearts on waiting for Zhao Su to receive his official position before asking Gao Gong to invite him to enter the Prince of Yu manor as the official teacher of the little princely heir.

But who could have imagined that the plan could not keep up with the changes. Before the court examination had even taken place, something like this happened, and even the entire Prince of Yu manor was dragged under water with it making the Prince Yu almost ripped all his hair out with worry.

It should be known that this Prince would rather stay in his own manor and live his little life happily in peace than to come here to see his father’s cold face.

The Prince of Yu was very much worried, Jiajing Emperor seemed to be very interested in his grandson’s education and asked him a few questions in a row.

Ordinary people would be delighted to spend time with their grandchildren. When it came to Jiajing, all the interests of normal people were replaced by his interest in the search for immortality, but this did not mean that he did not have a desire for family affection. At this moment, seeing the smart Zhu Yijun, this kind of delight naturally arose.

“Looking at you right now, you must be a little monkey usually causing trouble?”

“Your grandson, I am very well behaved!” Zhu Yijun twisted around in the Emperor’s arms.

Under Jiajing’s playful and mocking gaze. he lowered his head diffidently, “I just like to play every now and then…”

In reality, grandfather and grandson had almost never spoken so closely. At Zhu Yijun’s age, he should be quite fearful of strangers and reserved, but instead he was very friendly, and his attitude towards Jiajing was just like an ordinary grandson who acts like a spoiled kid in front of his grandfather. Jiajing was quite indifferent to his two sons but he suddenly felt that it was rather nice to have such a grandson.

Jiajing laughed loudly: “Then tell me, usually what are you learning about?”

Zhu Yijun began to recount one thing after another: “Susu tells stories to your grandson such as Mencius’s mother moving homes three times6, loyalty to the country7, to start practicing at the first crow of the cock8. He also taught me about the rise and fall of the Qin Dynasty, how the Han Dynasty was revived, and that there were many heroes in the Three Kingdoms. Western Jin and Eastern Jin were forced to concede ground and the Northern and Southern Dynasties were in chaos!”

Jiajing laughed out loudly: “So many dynasties, how many years have risen and fallen, why have you turned it into one sloppy phrase? Who taught you all this? There is still a bit of knowledge there, at least this person is not blindly making you recite from books.”

Regardless of the fact that Emperor Jiajing was now cultivating immortality all day long. He was actually only fourteen years old when he inherited the throne and at that time he was already reading Scriptures and Historical Annals. Emperor Jiajing’s father, the Prince of Xing was very knowledgeable and talented. Under his father’s influence, Jiajing learning and education was also naturally of great calibre. So after being so disappointed with his own two sons, Jiajing saw the shadow of himself at a young age in his grandson, and he couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised.

Zhu Yijun happily replied: “Everything was taught by Susu!”

Prince of Yu thought to himself – this isn’t good.

Jiajing said curiously: “Who is Susu?”

“Zhao Su? The one who has just been arrested.”

Zhu Yijun blinked innocently, “Royal grandpa, let Susu go, he is a good man!”

Jiajing’s face darkened: “You’re talking about Zhao Su, that Zhao Su who cheated in the metropolitan exam?”

Prince of Yu hastily knelt down: “Jun’er is still young and does not understand, so he is talking nonsense, please restrain your anger, Father!”

Jiajing coldly grunted: “Nonsense, this is indeed absolute nonsense. If he was not taught by someone to say these words, would he be able to understand at such a young age?”

Prince of Yu had no rebuttal, so he could only kowtow repeatedly.

Zhu Yijun was not frightened or afraid, and his voice was still clear: “Royal grandpa, father said, you must always repay other’s kindness and Susu was kind to me, so I came to plead for him.”

Jiajing didn’t get angry but smiled: “Oh? What kind of favour did he do for you?”

“That day, your grandson, I was playing outside and got lost, in the end it was Susu who took me home, and he even taught me a lot of things.”

Jiajing was not discernibly joyful nor angry, but he did not say anything either.

Zhu Yijun was unwilling to be ignored, and shook the Emperor’s arm: “Your grandson, I must ask royal grandpa a question first!”

“Go ahead.” Jiajing laughed angrily. He didn’t expect that the guest would turn into the host, but his anger was diminished by curiosity.

“Father’s teacher once said that scholars who love money are not real scholars. Is that correct?”

Jiajing’s heart was moved, but his expression did not change. “In the first instance, it seems to make some sense.”

“But Susu said that as long as it is obtained by fair means, then one is still a gentleman. Real scholars must think more about how to make more money for the country, for the people, and for royal grandpa.”

The last “for royal grandpa” was purely added by Zhu Yijun himself. What was even more miraculous was that he could still remember the majority of what Zhao Su had told him, although he was coming out with it quite incoherently, Jiajing could roughly understand.

Jiajing remained silent: “What else did he say?”

Zhu Yijun racked his brains and tried hard to recall: “He also said that… Only if one has money can one eat delicious wontons and let everyone live a good life. Everyone will not freeze to death nor starve to death, there is also no need to fight over a piece of cake, and the world will be at peace.”

“The world will be at peace,” Jiajing sneered slightly: “Well said, even a juren understands this principle, but somehow my civil and military officials do not!”

His words were not in response to Zhu Yijun, instead he was merely venting off his own anger.

The Prince of Yu and Huang Jin who were standing at the side understood his anxiety, so they did not dare to say anything.

At the heart of the matter, the Emperor was actually very worried about money.

Last year, there was the flood of Lake Tai9, peasants had been revolting, and the Wukou had invaded Zhejiang.

This year’s Spring, the news of the Fujian plague had been brought to his attention again, nine out of ten households over there had succumbed to the disease.

In the 36th year of Jiajing, three major palaces had been destroyed by a great fire. Last year, Wan Shou Palace10 fell into disrepair. Due to the lack of funds, these palaces had still not been repaired.

Elsewhere, funds were also needed for the worship of deities and to pay for auspicious offerings and incense, not to mention the funds needed to feed the Daoist masters who concoct the Emperor’s immortality elixirs and prayed for him, was there anything that didn’t require money?

Jiajing had always been a ruler who would rather wrong others than wrong himself, the last two items on the list made him someone who was particularly unbearable.

Don’t I just want to live more comfortably? Don’t I just want to be more pious to the gods? Can’t you even satisfy this little wish?

The state treasury was empty, so he could only ask the Ministry of Revenue to allocate more funds, but the Ministry of Revenue would only beat around the bush: Your Majesty, there are not even enough funds for the Military of the North, and down South, they are starving and crying pitifully for relief. The officials are really unable to press for any additional funds.

Therefore, Jiajing felt that he was a very unfortunate Emperor. He lived frugally and worked hard for his country. But he didn’t even have a better place to live. The taxes collected each year were divided by the Six Ministries, just like the flowing water, just like that it came and went.

The lack of money was the largest worry for Emperor Jiajing.

In Jiajing’s mind, most of those scholars would just talk and talk, saying that they wanted to serve the country and serve the people. But in reality when they took up their official post, there were few truly capable officials who were like Yan Song and Xu Jie. The latter who could not only write Qingci11, but who also had a tacit understanding with him, these kind of officials were truly as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns12.

So when he calmed down and thought about what Zhu Yijun said, he was a little moved.

“This person, he really said that?”

Zhu Yijun nodded like his head was pounding garlic, his eyes widened to show his sincerity.

“Then did he say anything about how to make money?” Jiajing asked casually, the arm that was holding Zhu Yijun was getting a little sore. Huang Jin could read his body language and understood immediately and quickly came to take the child from the Emperor, the little steamed bun was obedient and did not struggle.

This question was too difficult, Zhu Yijun thought for half a day, anxiously sweaty, but could not answer, so finally the Prince of Yu came forth to answer, he stammered: “In response to father, your son, I and Zhao Su have also developed a friendship. At first it was down to the favour of him bringing Yijun home that day. Later your son, I found out that this person really had some talent, so I have also discussed with him about some of the country’s financial problems.”

“I remember, I remember him saying ……” The Prince of Yu wiped the sweat on his forehead, in fact, at that time it was actually Gao Gong and the others who had discussed with Zhao Su, he had actually been daydreaming a little during that particular conversation, so trying to dig out anything from his memory was in fact now quite an arduous task.

“Remove the sea ban13 …… Yes, to remove the sea ban!”

The Prince of Yu suddenly remembered and his next words flowed out much more fluidly.

“Rather than control the flow, why not expand one’s financial resources. The country needs money everywhere, the justification of living frugally is broken, only by earning more money can the country sustain itself. The sea ban is a prime example. Hongwu Emperor14 abolished the Shi Bo Si15, all because at that time Zhang Shicheng and the others had not yet been caught and were colluding with the Wukou to create the problems with our seas and finally forcing the imperial court to take action.

However, the times have changed, now with the situation of the Wukou in the Southeast, there have been instances of despotic merchants who are colluding with the Wukou, conducting illegal trade for enormous profits and gains, and the root of all of this lies in the Sea Ban. So as long as the Sea Ban is in place, even if we are able to momentarily hold back the Wukou, they will continue to keep coming back, and the imperial court in turn will have to continue to expend large amounts of money upon this issue.”

It was unknown as to whether the Prince of Yu was able to speak not only eloquently but so uncharacteristically. But in this moment, he had lost his usual cowardly demeanour, and exhibiting fully the characteristics of a real Prince.

Jiajing did not express an opinion, and only asked: “According to your opinion, as long as the sea ban is opened, there would be no need to fight the Wukou. They will retreat by themselves?”

“Of course not, what your son, I mean is, we must paint holding two brushes16, on the one hand, we must continue to push back the Wukou, and to do it fiercely at that, and with the other, we must remove the Sea Ban.”

He then remembered what Consort Li had said before he had left the manor, and he quickly added: “When the state treasury is full, it will also relieve some stress for your Majesty. Your son, I came to pay my respects but I see that you have perhaps lost a bit of weight…”

Getting to this point, his voice was becoming hoarse, and the Prince of Yu lowered his head, raised his sleeves and wiped the corners of his eyes. “Father had worked hard for the affairs of the country and became thinner day by day, but your son, I did not come to visit often. I am really unfilial. My heart, my heart is filled with regret…..”

This sentence was taught to him by Consort Li.

In fact, the Prince of Yu hadn’t been able to enter the palace to see his father because Jiajing did not want to see him, but he said that it was he who was not filial and didn’t come to visit his father. The same meaning but in the ears of Jiajing Emperor was received with much difference.

Sure enough, Jiajing’s heart softened. And the way that he felt about this son also began to warm up. After so many years, although he hadn’t taken his son seriously, after all, the nature of the relationship between father and son was indeed indelible, and his son still cared about his old dad.

“How old are you, still acting so childish? What a scandal!” He was stern, but there was not much reprimand in his tone.

The Prince’s flattery seemed to have hit the spot, and his old dad’s anger seemed to have been almost relieved, there seemed to be room to turn things around.

The Prince of Yu gave a meaningful glance, then quickly wiped away his tears with a smile: “Your son, I have not seen father for such a long time, I was spouting nonsense for a while!”

“You are truly useless!” Jiajing scolded him with a smile.

Huang Jin blinked a few times, almost suspecting that he was imagining things. His Majesty, who acted like a stepfather to his son, was still smiling at the Prince of Yu. This was indeed a great rarity.

Zhu Yijun did not forget his mission, and seized the opportunity to act coquettishly: “Royal Grandpa, Royal Grandpa, can you let Susu out, he is a good man, he absolutely did not cheat, someone must have wrongly accused him!”

“One may know a person for a long time without understanding his true nature17, are you so certain?” Jiajing cast a sidelong glance at him.

Zhu Yijun skipped over the words that were too profound, but understood the latter part, and nodded quickly: “Yes, Susu is a student of Dai gonggong18. Teacher Gao said Dai gonggong is a righteous official, so Susu must also be a good person!”

Jiajing was confused: “Dai gonggong?” Prince of Yu forced out a laugh: “In response to father, it is Dai Gongwang. This little child couldn’t remember his name.”

“Dai Gongwang,”

Emperor Jiajing pondered for a moment, “Is he the jinshi from the 26th year of Jiajing, Dai Gongwang?”

“Exactly, does father remember this person?” The Prince of Yu was a little surprised.

Emperor Jiajing made a noise of agreement: “After Yang Jisheng was imprisoned, I seem to remember that Dai Gongwang had presented a memorial to me several times.”

He saw that his son’s face was a little uneasy, but he didn’t want to focus on this. He only said indifferently: “This person did shrink or flinch from no difficulty or danger to complete his work. As Gao Gong said, he is a righteous official. If Zhao Su was able to become his student, this person must also have some capabilities.”

Upon hearing this, the Prince of Yu was overjoyed, thinking that the matter could finally be resolved.

“Fine, when the day of the court examination comes, I will have to personally examine him to see if he is really worthy of my son and grandson to plead for him.” Jiajing had finally said the words they wanted to hear, his face was showing signs of fatigue.

“I’m tired, you can both go back now.”

The Prince of Yu asked his father to pay more attention to his health, and then took Zhu Yijun to leave.

Emperor Jiajing rubbed his eyebrows: “Bring me my medicinal elixir.”

Huang Jin hurriedly offered up an imperial blue plate, Jiajing picked up an elixir and poured it into his mouth, swallowing it with the water, he was relieved and exasperated.

“I guess you are curious right? I clearly ordered Yan Song to investigate thoroughly the matter but then why would I turn around and let this person off so easily with just one word from the Prince of Yu?”

“Your Majesty must already have a position in your heart. Your servant, I am unworthy of offering an opinion!” Huang Jin smiled, but he was indeed a little curious.

“Look at this.” Jiajing looked indifferently, as he passed him a folded document.

Huang Jin was not certain of what it was, so he took it and opened it. After reading a few lines, he was surprised.

“Your Majesty, this is…?!”

———

The pain caused by the thirty lashes in addition to the broken fingers was just too much. Before that person was able to explain to him what “combing” was, his vision had already turned black and he’d passed out.

In his unconscious state, his body seemed to have been moved many times, being flipped back and forth. He could also hear a lot of noise and voices, but he couldn’t tell who was talking. Zhao Su only felt that it was incredibly noisy and couldn’t help thinking that he wanted to shut them up, but he couldn’t even move a finger.

The noise was incessant and he was starting to get so annoyed that he had to use his best efforts to open his heavy eyelids.

“Shut…..” up.

“Susu!” A dark shadow appeared out of the blue and rushed towards him.

Zhao Su hadn’t even been able to spit out his words, when he was squished to the point of vomiting another mouthful of blood.

Translator Notes:

Lol there were quite a lot of notes and links in this chapter – I don’t know how useful they are to you guys…

There’s also a fairly long-ish author note at the end of this chapter all about ancient torture yay… I’ll probably tack that on to the next chapter because this chapter was really labour intensive….