All Under Heaven

Xu Manor.

Zhang Juzheng clutched the memorial written by Lin Run, the Imperial Censor of Nanjing and Shandong and read over it with much seriousness, his hand trembling slightly, and he unconsciously revealed the excitement that had arisen within him.

Xu Jie was watching him and smiled: “What is it, are you happy?”

Zhang Juzheng breathed in deeply, followed by a smile: “Of course I’m happy, this student has still not congratulated you, teacher. As soon as his Majesty’s health improved, our opportunity arose, and with the addition of this memorial, this time, it’s a sure win.” 

“Oh, why do you think that?”

“His Majesty has never liked Yan Shifan, it was just that because of his close relationship with Yan Song, he let them off time and time again. This time, the person that we sent to investigate the Yan family in Jiangxi has found evidence that can prove what has been written in Lin Ruoyu’s1 memorial – Taking advantage of the lofty python upon his robes2, Yan Shifan has nefarious intentions that goes against the morals of an official of the imperial court, defaming the imperial court day and night with the help of Luo Longwen3, trying to confuse the will of the people4…… Every word will touch upon His Majesty’s sore spot, so do we really have to worry about the Yan faction any more?”

He had a solemn expression on his face, he turned towards Xu Jie and cupped his hands together respectfully and said: “Teacher, this is a once in a blue moon opportunity, please do not hesitate.” 

Xu Jie looked at the student that he had trained up with his own two hands and felt another added layer of appreciation towards him: “To be able to make prompt decisions is the key to success. To have such boldness is a good thing…. But, before we have already failed so many times, so this time the arrow must hit the bullseye, we cannot miss.”

Zhang Juzheng was slightly taken aback: “What teacher means is…?”

Xu Jie slowly said: “In a few days, it will be the third month of the lunar calendar. Yan Song has some problems with his leg, at this time of year, because of the changing weather, he will most probably fall ill, and will inevitably have to take some time off. Without him hanging around His Majesty, only then will the memorial be able to be used to its full effect, so we can wait a few days before submitting this memorial.”

Only those who had been in battle with each other for decades could know each other’s weaknesses like the backs of their hands.

Xu Jie understood very well that Yan Song was of an advanced age, so there were many weak points in his actions and speech, plus Yan Shifan was not there to support him, giving Xu Jie the perfect opportunity to strike. If Yan Song had been ten years younger perhaps it would have been harder to know who would be victorious.

Zhang Juzheng had no qualms about his teacher’s plans and was completely convinced, and didn’t say another word about it.

Just as Xu Jie had predicted, a few days later, Yan Song had asked for time off to recover from an old illness. To be at his age and still go into the Grand Secretariat every day was already applaudable, so the Emperor naturally agreed.

The Emperor’s health had just improved but for fear of losing his authority, he was impatient to handle the backlog of the day to day management of government affairs. Xu Jie had correctly predicted the Emperor’s actions and way of thinking and he submitted Lin Run’s memorial.

As expected, Emperor Jiajing was furious and ordered Lin Run to arrest Yan Shifan in Jiangxi and bring him back to the Capital for questioning. The head of the Ministry of Justice, Huang Guangsheng personally presided over the case. After three days and three nights of interrogation, he laid out Yan Shifan’s crimes including the illegal fabrication of weapons, colluding with the Wukou leader, Wang Zhi, setting up an illegal residence, associating with the vassal prince, Zhu Dianying5, assembling known criminals, scheming to revolt etc. The ten major crimes to be judged.

The Emperor had ordered the three judicial chief ministries6 to work together to interrogate and find out the truth before presenting a memorial of their verdict back to the Emperor.

This was the normal process to trial a criminal, but Xu Jie was incredibly quick to act, he knew that if he didn’t use this rare opportunity to take down Yan Shifan, once the Yan faction recovered their senses, they would immediately fight back, so he made everyone work overtime, and within two days, a result had been reached: Yan Shifan has been found guilty of colluding with the Wukou and plotting to revolt with clear evidence as proof. Please immediately order capital punishment to avoid indignation from the heavens.

This time, Yan Song didn’t even get the chance to enter the palace to save his own son. Yan Song had not even had the chance to react yet when Emperor Jiajing had already agreed to the sentencing.

Yan Song and his son had been in power for almost twenty years, but the judicial proceedings did not take more than a year from the third month to the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, from the impeachment through to the arrest, then the interrogation and conviction, all the proceedings flew by at lighting speed and before one knew it all the dust settled. The Yan faction were not only made up of the Yan family’s father and son, their henchmen, their spies and their followers throughout the imperial court and all that were connected to them suffered the same fate. With the Emperor’s resolution and Xu Jie’s encouragement, everyone else just had to just sit back and look on helplessly as Yan Song was demoted to a commoner, and sent back to his hometown. Yan Shifan, having been convicted of trying to incite a revolt, was temporarily held in the Imperial Prison, waiting to be publicly executed next Spring.

Although, there were many large events during the forty-third year of Jiajing, nothing had been able to overshadow this case. In other words, even though there are many other things, the focus of everyone’s attention was only on this.

The Yan Faction was deeply rooted, there were not that many officials who had not been attached to them in some way. Even high-ranking local officials like the Governor-General, Hu Zongxian had to also offer up gold and silver to show his respect, let alone the other lower ranking officials. So the impact of the fall of Yan Song and Yan Shifan was huge. Not only did the Yan Faction disintegrate, but there were also many people who had old grievances with the Yan Faction, as well as those who wanted revenge or to hold on to their misjustice, whilst there were others who had nothing to do with the Yan Faction but still took the opportunity to settle accounts.

In the eyes of common citizens, this was heaven’s will, finally dealing the corrupt officials their comeuppance, but in reality, even if Yan Shifan was killed, their daily lives would not improve either.

In the eyes of officials, the defeat of the Yan Faction was simply a reshuffling of power. From then on, Xu Jie would replace Yan Song and become the new Senior Grand Secretary, the most powerful person in the imperial Grand Secretariat.

There were those who were pleased and those who were worried.

Just like the Prince of Yu who was currently standing in the personal quarters of Emperor Jiajing, he was not entirely free from worry at this moment.

He secretly glanced over at his younger brother, the Prince of Jing, but saw that the latter was frowning, and a rigid face.

The defeat of the Yan faction did not bring much substantial benefits to the Prince of Yu. He was still the same man who lived day to day with his tail tucked behind his legs, still afraid that if his father, the Emperor, would one day be in a bad mood, and he would be deposed.

As for the Prince of Jing, the Yan faction was supporting him before, and would offer him some money as tribute from time to time, so he’d been able to make a profit over time. Compared to his elder brother, the Prince of Yu, his standard of living was much higher. But now, Yan Song had been repatriated and Yan Shifan was on death row, he had been cut off from his additional source of income, not to mention, he was also worried that the Jiajing Emperor might be angry at him.

The two princes stood in the imperial chambers hanging their heads low, if one wasn’t aware they’d think that the two princes were headed to the execution ground.

In contrast, Emperor Jiajing was taking a nap on the soft bed and then he slowly took his elixir before starting to look over the memorial. During this whole time, he didn’t even glance at the two sons once, seemingly giving them the cold-shoulder on purpose.

The two of them stood tremblingly for more than half a shichen. The Prince of Yu’s mind began to wander, whilst the Prince of Jing tried to suppress his impatience by staring at the tiles on the floor. Huang Jin looked at them and then at Emperor Jiajing who didn’t seem bothered at all. He couldn’t help but sigh secretly. He leaned over and reminded the Emperor quietly: “Your Majesty, the two princes are still standing there…”

Jiajing replied with a simple ‘oh’ then looked up lazily, his eyes swept over both of them.

“Look at these two memorials and tell me what you think.”

He handed the memorials to Huang Jin, who held it in both hands to pass over to the Prince of Yu first.

The Prince of Yu looked over them for a long time, but was still at a bit of a loss, but he didn’t dare to show it, so he nervously passed the memorial to his younger brother.

He then heard Emperor Jiajing say indifferently: “These two memorials were submitted from the civil officials. One memorial is impeaching Hu Zongxian, whilst the other is impeaching Fujian’s Chief General, Qi Jiguang7. It’s suggested that they are both affiliated with the Yan Faction. How do you think it should be dealt with.”

Seeing the two of them hesitated, he directly called out: “Prince of Yu, what do you think?”

Prince of Yu secretly cried inside, racking his brains for a long time, and then mumbled: “I8 think that since they have conclusive evidence, we must deal with this severely.”

Emperor Jiajing did not comment and turned to Prince of Jing: “And you?”

The Prince of Jing cupped his hands together: “I think that the two of them have fought against the Wukou for many years, and they have made merits to our country. This matter should be verified carefully. We mustn’t wrongly accuse righteous officials and harm the morale of our people.”

Emperor Jiajing was slightly taken aback. He had always been disappointed with his two sons. He never expected that the Prince of Jing could come out with this kind of answer. Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but squint: “Who taught you to say this?”

The Prince of Jing replied hurriedly, “These words are from my heart, and instructed by no one!” Perhaps, it was because he had taken out the memorial on a whim, so the Prince of Jing could not have prepared it in advance, Emperor Jiajing relaxed, and said slowly: “You are both right and wrong. If it was me9, then I would deal with Hu Zongxian harshly, and if the situation with Qi Jiguang is verified, a forfeit of his salary will suffice.”

The Prince of Yu was yet to speak when the Prince of Jing said: “I would like to hear father’s10 explanation in detail, whilst I listen with respectful attention.”

His reaction was quick which pleased the Emperor: “The impeachment of Hu Zongxian has occurred more than one or two times now. Since the forty-first year of Jiajing, people have been impeaching him one after another, saying that he plundered the army’s funds and collected assets for himself. Over the last few years, he has also offered up many gifts to me. Regarding these crimes, at least a few of them will be undeniable. I have let him off several times, considering his merits to our land, and been lenient with his sentencing, giving him generous favour, but he refuses to repent, benevolence has its limits, so now it’s time to take action.”

“As for Qi Jiguang, he is a veteran General. He has fought a lot of battles and has never lost. To have peace in the Southeast, we still need someone like this, so a light sentencing will suffice. There are some things that I have already been clear on in my heart for a long time. How ridiculous, those people underneath think that I haven’t got a clue?” Emperor Jiajing snorted and just like that he had decided the fate of the two people.

The slow-reacting Prince of Yu finally understood at this moment. Their father was teaching them a lesson.

In the end, what Emperor Jiajing was trying to say could actually be summed up in one sentence: Hu Zongxian’s goal was too obvious. He had offended too many people. Just killing Yan Shifan was not enough to reassure others. The situation has begun to move in an uncontrollable direction. Even as an Emperor, he must also sometimes make compromises to soothe the minds of his people.

The Prince of Jing was somewhat secretly delighted.

Their father had summoned the both of them to talk about these things in order to teach them how to be an Emperor in the future. If he had already chosen the Prince of Yu as his successor, then there would be no need to ask him to be there as well. It was obvious that the last half a year where he had been serving on his father left and right had had an effect. In the father’s heart, he really had not decided upon his heir.

Originally, the Prince of Jing had been frustrated for a while after the downfall of the Yan Faction, but now he discovered that he still had a chance.

Since the last time he fell ill, Jiajing thought that he might not be able to survive, so he did not cling to the prophecy that “two dragons cannot co-exist” anymore, and summoned his two sons to serve him day and night before his sick bed to observe each of their temperaments. As a result, he found that it was really difficult to pick between them to be his heir.

The Prince of Yu occupied the status of his eldest son, his main good point was that he was benevolent and kind. But for an Emperor, especially an Emperor like Jiajing, kindness was simply useless. The biggest shortcoming of this son was that he lacked his own opinion and was indecisive. Jiajing would really be worried if he had to hand the country over to him.

On the other hand, the Prince of Jing, he was very smart, as evidenced from his response just now. His manner was very much like Emperor Jiajing when he was young, but this son also has a flaw, he was easily irritable. Although Emperor Jiajing was indifferent to governing the country, he was still a descendant of the Zhu family after all. If he were to raise another Emperor Yang of Sui11, in the future, he would have no face12 to meet with his ancestors in the Netherworld.

As a result, Emperor Jiajing was still struggling to decide.

Due to his unsatisfactory response, the Prince of Yu was reprimanded again. He returned to the Manor with a long face, and then continued to complain about the matter to people close to him, including Zhao Su.

In Zhao Su’s view, Jiajing’s way of educating his sons was very inappropriate.

Firstly, he swayed between his two sons, leaving the position of crown prince vacant for so long. This made the other one hopeful. If it was like the history that Zhao Su knew, the final choice would be the Prince of Yu. But with the Prince of Jing’s vicious temper, Zhao Su wasn’t sure what he might do.

On a larger scale, the imperial court was now watching, waiting for the crown prince to be selected, so that they could pick a side. As a result, the Grand Secretariat had already submitted multiple memorials but the Emperor had never decided, as if he was purposefully toying with them, wanting to keep everyone in suspense.

So Zhao Su took this incident as a typical case to educate Zhu Yijun.

“A ruler must use dignified methods. Take for example the Emperor Yang of Sui, although he was extremely clever and sophisticated, it is impossible for him to govern the country well by simply relying on schemes and strategies to test the will of the people.”

It was a serious crime to make statements and presumptions about the Emperor, so Zhao Su could only borrow the past as a model for the present, and take an indirect route.

Zhu Yijun was puzzled: “But Susu, didn’t you say before that to deal with the bad people, we should be even worse than them? If there are some treacherous officials in the imperial court, what should I do?”

Zhao Su smiled: “I only said not to scheme, but didn’t not say you cannot scheme.”

“Scheme?”

“That’s correct, there are those who scheme out in the open. You are clear that it is the other party’s scheme, but you still have no choice but to jump into the pit dug out for you. This is the highest level of strategy. On the battlefield, when two armies confront each other, using a scheme is often impossible, because if the opponent is also an experienced General, it will be easy to see through the other’s strategy. Just like Zhuge Liang‘s Empty Fort Strategy, he revealed it openly. Sima Yi knew that it might be an empty fort, but he still didn’t dare to attack. This is what is called strategy.” Zhao Su stroked Zhu Yijun’s head whilst he explained.

Zhu Yijun had a sudden realisation.

Zhao Su continued his efforts: “If you have two sons in the future, once you have decided on an heir, you must treat the two differently. You can’t let the other son hold hope, otherwise you will be like your royal grandpa, making your father sad, your uncle can’t be too happy either.”

Zhu Yijun said earnestly: “I understand, like mother now has didi, I am also very sad, Susu, I only need one child in the future, so that no one will take anything away from him.”

“……”

Zhao Su was silent, the heavens must know that this was not his original intention.

But since meeting the little kid, Zhu Yijun, his goal for educating him could also have deviations.

Zhu Yuanzhang, it was never my intention to cut off the offering of incense13 to the Zhu family.

After the morning court held by Jiajing, certain changes were made to the leave allowed to officials.Those who had served in the Capital for three years were allowed to take a leave of absence. Aside from the travel time to make the round trip, they could still have two months of leave. So in the twelfth month of the lunar year, Zhao Su took leave and got ready to go home for the Lunar New Year.

Author Note:

Note: The progress of the plot and actual history are not completely aligned, and will be changed as necessary.
I miscalculated, before he returns home in glory, there are still two things that need to be sorted out, one was this chapter’s Yan faction, and the next chapter there will be an appearance of another character. Next time, I won’t announce it as my plans can’t keep up with the changes….

Translator Note:

There is no chapter summary for this chapter if you were looking for the title – it is literally – Plot development, no JQ14.

This chapter took so long to translate… the history references, the language….
(╥_╥) I’m brain-dead, there is a “mini-history lesson”15, not to do with this chapter just some more discussion about Wanli but my poor brain – I’ll add it onto the next chapter.