All Under Heaven

You’re spoiling the little princely heir too much

Continuously suppressing his troops, indulging in his harem, neglecting law and order, standing apart from his officials, the Ming Dynasty headed towards its ruin, beginning with Shenzong12.

This was a description written about Zhu Yijun in modern day history books. But at this moment, this little kid who was unaware of his own future destiny was staring up at Zhao Su with two bright eyes and with an expectant look on his face which had “quick give me a compliment” written all over it.

As Zhao Su looked through those hundred sheets of paper varying in calligraphy ability, each one with a slightly differently ‘Su’ character written upon it, he was still a little speechless.

No one was born with a heart of stone, it was the influence of one’s environment, and the people one grows up with, that makes someone slowly change their character. Yan Song was like this, Xu Jie was like this, Zhang Juzheng was like this, perhaps Zhu Yijun would also be like this in the future, therefore, since ancient times, there have been many things that started well but did not end well.

Zhao Su stared blankly for a long time and then took a deep breath in, crouched down and then embraced him.

If you need me, then I’ll always be by your side.

I will do everything in my power to change your fate, to assist you in becoming a virtuous Emperor. Even if you cannot leave a good reputation for the ages, you will at least not wear the cap of having destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

“Susu?” The little child did not understand why he had suddenly become so serious, and reached out with his hand to stroke his face.

“It’s nothing. Shaoyong will remember the little princely heir’s gesture of goodwill.” He smiled and carefully put away those sheets of paper. “I’ll count these as a gift from you.”

Zhu Yijun nodded instantly: “These were for you anyway.”

When he grew up and saw these little masterpieces again, he would remember how clueless he was in his youth and perhaps think that it was quite ridiculous. But no matter what, at this time, this little kid has still not learnt how to manipulate people’s hearts. Everything that he did now, was natural and genuine so this made his gift even more precious.

Zhao Su smiled slightly as he thought about it, his heart was warm like the early summer.

The forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Yan Shifan was executed, Yan Song was dismissed from office, their trusted aides, Yan Maoqing, Wan Cai and others all fell from grace. For the Yan faction, once the forest fell, the monkeys dispersed3. Their former glory disappeared overnight, the entire imperial court was shaken to its core.

Everyone in the Yan faction all received their just retribution, many of those who had nothing to do with the Yan faction also seized the opportunity to take them down. Like Hu Zongxian, Qi Jiguang, and others who had indeed once attached themselves to the Yan faction, were either escorted back to the Capital for questioning or directly dismissed from post.

Following Yan Shifan’s death, those who had a previous grievance with the Yan faction, didn’t want to miss the opportunity to fish in troubled water4, to act in self-interest, there was no way that any one would give up this opportunity to beat a dog whilst its down. In short, there was a large-scale clean up, the memorials written by the imperial censors appeared case after case in front of the Emperor and the Grand Secretariat.

Jiajing did not seem to harbour any lingering old feelings for the Yan faction, as long as the memorial was presented with genuine facts, it was investigated without fail, and without lenience, immediately indirectly inciting a new wave of impeachments.

Compared with the ongoing large-scale political struggle going on, when Gao Gong entered the Grand Secretariat it was not particularly noticed. The forty-fifth year of Jiajing, thanks to the recommendation of Xu Jie, he formally entered the Grand Secretariat to become Zaifu5 of the Great Ming, and the relationship between the two of them had also entered into the honeymoon period. The couple of times that Zhao Su saw them together, they were laughing and chatting happily, it seemed that they were very close, to the extent that outsiders were saying that, from now on, the Grand Secretariat would be the Grand Secretariat of the Xu clan and could be considered as being run by Xu Jie alone.

Only Zhao Su knew that this kind of harmony would not last long, as Gao Gong was not the type of person who could stand being suppressed under someone else, and the Emperor would also not let Xu Jie hold so much power. He had once supported Yan Song but had also helped Xu Jie take the former down, and to this reasoning, the Emperor was a calculating person, more specifically he knew how to check and balance power.

Qi Jiguang had been transferred back to the Northeast, and was ordered to come back to the Capital, the new decree had not yet fallen, so he could only stay in Beijing, running around waiting for the news to drop.

Because he was once part of the Yan faction, and he was also a military General, many people steered clear of him, and were not willing to see him. Only Zhao Su often went to see him because of the fact that he had protected Changle back then. After a good few times meeting, the two of them got to know each other well, and both had personalities that were easy to get along with, so naturally they got on better and better. When they were both bored with nothing to do, they would pick up a few jugs of wine and some small dishes, and sit in the courtyard sitting with each other and drinking. Zhao Su had even taken Zhu Yijun to his place a few times, he’d purposefully done that for Qi Jiguang to tell the child more about being on the battlefield, in case, the child grew up to not know how to use his own hands and feet, only aware of military tactics on paper.

On this day, Zhao Su left Hanlin Academy, and went over to pick up Zhu Yijun from the Prince of Yu Manor. The two of them turned up empty-handed for dinner at Qi Jiguang’s place. —— He would never ever feel embarrassed or rude, because Qi Jiguang had fought many battles and had received many bribes, so was never lacking in funds. Plus, for the time he was staying in the Capital, he had even rented an enormous house, and the place was two or three times bigger than Zhao Su’s place. So in reality, those memorials that impeached him were not entirely false, nearly half of them were true.

Qi Jiguang had only brought twenty accompanying soldiers with him to the Capital, but each one of them were brave and skilled fighters, they were all outstanding fighters who had crawled out from the pits of hell. Standing at the entrance, their murderous spirit was overbearing, unconcerned persons would not dare to approach them but He Zizhong was an exception, every time he came here, he would try to find a way to compare notes with these soldiers, fighting together often, meant that they built a firm relationship.

Zhao Su visited often and could be considered as knowing them well, and would usually chat and smile to them a little and then he would leave He Zizhong to continue ‘exchanging notes’ with them, whilst he went inside with the little child.

It was only when he entered into the courtyard that he realised there was another guest.

Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang were in the midst of a conversation when they looked over at the entrance, it seemed like the former was getting ready to take his leave and the other was sending him off.

Zhao Su felt a bit awkward, although the Hanlin Academy was understaffed, everyone still often found a way to slink off earlier but he had been caught red-handed at this moment by his superior, so it was not a good situation.

“Zhang da-ren!”

“Shaoyong?” Zhang Juzheng was a little taken aback, he and Qi Jiguang quickly cupped their hands together to greet and pay their respects to Zhu Yijun, and then turned to Zhao Su to say: “Why have you come here?”

Zhao Su stroked his nose as he smiled with embarrassment without speaking, he couldn’t say that he had skipped out of work early.

Zhang Juzheng thought about it and understood well, he looked over at him and winked and unexpectedly didn’t inquire any further, and only took his leave and quickly left.

As soon as he left, Qi Jiguang mocked Zhao Su: “I doubt you’ll dare to come over again, lucky Zhang da-ren is magnanimous, otherwise, just confiscating some of your salary would have been the lightest punishment.”

“Don’t I have an honourable big Buddha guarding over me, even if Zhang da-ren doesn’t respect the monk, he must still respect the Buddha6.” Zhao Su was brimming with smiles when he said that, he let go of Zhu Yijun’s hand and left him to run around the courtyard and explore.

“You’re always bringing the little princely heir over here, you must be careful that the imperial censors don’t say something about it.” Qi Jiguang shook his head, and then wanted to lead them inside to serve tea but was stopped by Zhao Su.

“It’s nice and cool outside, it’s better if we stay outside. Get them to serve some tea, let’s not have any alcohol, the princely heir is still young.”

Qi Jiguang shot a glance at him: “I haven’t seen you be so familiar, you’ve really made yourself at home.”

The words came out of his mouth but he was actually showing delight on his face.

He was a military General so naturally he didn’t care about those unnecessary respectful customs, Zhao Su’s actions were more fitting to his way of thinking.

“This is called a home away from home, when I’m here, I remember my home7. Why don’t I just pack up and move in here with you!” Zhao Su laughed out loud, and said smugly.

“Great, in a while, my wife will arrive in the Capital, when the time comes, I will get her to personally cook a few dishes for you, xiandi.”

“I heard that sao fu-ren8 is a female hero, how could I deserve such an honour, you must be joking!”

Qi Jiguang held back his laughter and sighed: “Why would you not be deserving, in the whole of the Capital there is only you and Zhang da-ren who is willing to be associated with me without caring about arousing suspicion!”

Zhao Su nodded, and praised sincerely: “Zhang da-ren is indeed an inspiration.”

Qi Jiguang shot a glance at him: “You’re just trying to praise yourself in a roundabout way right?”

Zhao Su just laughed without replying. He was free from this era’s way of thinking, and definitely did not have the same contempt that civil officials had towards military officials, so naturally he was able to get on very well with Qi Jiguang, but it was different for Zhang Juzheng. He was born and bred as a Ming Dynasty person, the way that he felt and thought, had unwittingly been influenced and confined to this era but he was still able to determine that Qi Jiguang was anything but ordinary and be certain of the latter’s merits and contributions. This was something that not everyone could do, especially to have this kind of keen eye and positive outlook. From the past until now, this was extremely rare, so it was not surprising that Zhang Juzheng would be able to pull the Great Ming back from the brink in the future and save the foundation of the Empire.

Whilst the two of them were talking, Zhu Yijun ran upto Zhao Su, he opened up his hand, there were two snails on the palm of his hand.

“Here, it’s for you.”

“Thank you, they’re so pretty.” The corners of Zhao Su’s lips curled up, he lightly picked up the snail, and put it in the palm of his own hand.

Zhu Yijun was really happy: “There’s an army of ants under that tree, I’m going to take a look!”

Qi Jiguang watched the back of the child as he ran off, his voice carrying a disapproving tone: “Shaoyong, you’re spoiling the little princely heir too much.”