Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 67: What I Am Is Determined by the Emperor

"Your servant Fang Congzhe pays homage to the emperor, Long live the emperor." Fang Congzhe entered the hall and saluted.

"Prime Minister Fang, please stand up and sit down to talk." Zhu Changluo waved his hand and smiled. "Wei Chao, bring a stool over for the elder."

"Don't bother Wei Bingbi. Let me do it myself." Fang Congzhe found an empty stool and moved it to the side of the emperor.

"I heard it's quite lively outside the Meridian Gate." Zhu Changluo said in a teasing tone, "Is the Prime Minister so anxious that he fainted?"

"Your old minister is fine." Being pointed out by the emperor in front of him, even someone as thick-skinned as Fang Congzhe would find it hard not to blush.

"What does the cabinet think about the court meeting?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"The cabinet is, after all, the emperor's advisory body." Fang Congzhe tried to extricate himself.

"That's why I'm asking you. Tell me straight away, Prime Minister Fang, what do you think?" Zhu Changluo lowered his voice and continued, "If you don't tell me, I'll just guess."

"The late emperor has taught us a lesson, and the officials cannot bear to see Your Majesty repeat the same mistake." Fang Congzhe still did not give a direct answer.

"Prime Minister, you're in a dilemma." Zhu Changluo chuckled, then said seriously, "Fang Congzhe, do you want to be Yan Song, Zhang Juzheng, or Shen Shixing?"

Yan Song was obsessed with currying favor with his superiors, usurping power and profiting from it, suppressing officials and enriching himself.

Zhang Juzheng colluded with the two courts, held the young emperor hostage, and exercised the power of the prime minister from the position of chief assistant. He was eager to make progress, but died with regret.

Shen Shixing, on the other hand, walked between the emperor and the officials. He seemed to be wavering, but in fact he was trying hard to maintain the government.

"Your Majesty, your Majesty, will you?" A surge of hot blood, pumped from his heart to his brain, made Fang Congzhe feel as if he were about to faint. He took several deep breaths, and finally, summoning unprecedented courage, he said, "Whether I am Yan Song, Zhang Juzheng, or Shen Shixing is not up to me, but to Your Majesty." With that, Fang Congzhe knelt on the ground.

The atmosphere in the hall seemed to freeze. Wang An was startled, and his right hand, holding the red brush, trembled violently, splashing the bright red ink onto the blank space of the memorial, turning it into a dazzling red spot. Wei Chao, who was also in the hall, was so terrified that he dared not breathe.

"Prime Minister Fang, I really underestimated you." Zhu Changluo was genuinely surprised. In his impression, Fang Congzhe was just a mediocre person who only cared about keeping himself safe. Summoning him here was simply to follow the previous example and force him to take the initiative and lead the cabinet to take the blame.

"You will know what kind of monarch I want to be on the first day of November. Now, I order you to return to the cabinet and draft an edict."

"I obey your order." Fang Congzhe kowtowed to accept the order, then stood up tremblingly, facing the emperor and backing out of the southern study.

After Fang Congzhe left, Zhu Changluo turned to Wang An and asked, "Wang An, what kind of monarch do you think I am?"

Wang An was already prepared. He darted to the table and knelt down, huddled in a ball. Seeing this, Wei Chao couldn't sit still either, but the emperor didn't call him, so he simply knelt beside the table, head toward the main seat.

"I dare not speak ill of my master's virtue." After a pause, Wang An said cautiously, "I only wish to be buried in Guli."

On the sixth day of the twelfth month of the intercalary year of the Xuande reign, Zheng He led his fleet on his seventh voyage to the Western Ocean. In April of the eighth year of the Xuande reign, Zheng He died in Calicut on the west coast of India.

Wang An used this allusion not only to express his own aspirations but also to paraphrase Fang Congzhe's argument, implicitly comparing Zhu Changluo to Emperor Chengzu. This was the best answer Wang An could come up with. "Good! Good!" Zhu Changluo thought for a moment, then laughed and said yes repeatedly.

Fang Congzhe walked back to the pavilion along the same path he had come in. Along the way, he mechanically repeated the steps of "step forward, step forward again, step forward again", like a shadow puppet being pulled by a rope, slowly moving along the edge of a curtain.

He always tried to concentrate and think about something, but even after repeated attempts, his mind was still blank: How could I say such words? How could I say such words?
When Fang Congzhe walked into the cabinet, everyone saw that he was pale and his eyes were dull, and no one spoke for a while.

It was not until Fang Congzhe reached the end of the main room and sat down in the main seat that Shen asked, "Prime Minister, what does the emperor mean?"

"Ah!" Fang Congzhe took a few breaths, his eyes gradually regaining clarity. He suppressed the panic on his face and recited the words he had prepared before the meeting: "The Emperor is a man of great virtue and compassion for his subjects. He cannot bear to see his officials suffer from the pain of the night."

This was a beautifully said statement, as it not only expressed the emperor's intention in a tactful way, but also hinted at Fang Congzhe's own attitude and provided a plausible excuse for the suspension of court.

Liu Yirong glanced at Fang Congzhe. He wasn't the least bit surprised by this outcome. Fang Congzhe couldn't possibly refuse the emperor, otherwise he would be retiring and returning home. But understanding was understanding, but that didn't mean the Donglin Party wouldn't use this opportunity to launch a political campaign against Fang Congzhe.

"Jinqing, you will be the one drafting the edict." Fang Congzhe turned his gaze to Ye Xianggao and said with a smile.

"Prime Minister, do you really want to draft an edict?" Shi Jixie still wanted to fight for it.

Fang Congzhe lifted the teacup, brought it to his lips, and took a gentle sip. He noticed the tea had cooled, so he went to the sink to pour it out. Then, he pulled a porcelain teapot from the shelf, plucked a few leaves of fine Longjing tea from it, placed them in the cup, and walked back to the stove where the water was boiling.

Fang Congzhe poured hot water into the teacup while saying, "Just write it as I said just now. I'll be the first to sign it after you finish. Anyone who disagrees doesn't need to sign it."

Lu Wenzhao got his impermanence book back, so he didn't need a new one. But the record was already in the secretariat, and he needed to go and delete it.

"Commander-in-Chief." Lu Wenzhao first went to the main hall to pay his respects to Luo Sigong. He still remembered the slightly frozen expression on the guard's face when Admiral Cao stopped him in the name of "someone else".

"Are you back?" Luo Sigong didn't stand up, but just replied indifferently.

"I am fortunate to receive the grace of heaven. I would like to thank the emperor and you, sir." Lu Wenzhao bowed again.

"Oh? Why are you thanking me?" Luo Sigong then raised his head and looked at Lu Wenzhao.

"The emperor summoned me to the palace to report on the situation against the Portuguese. If the emperor had not given me the task, I would not have had this opportunity." Lu Wenzhao answered respectfully.

Luo Sigong was very satisfied. He stood up, walked over to Lu Wenzhao, and gently patted his shoulder: "Then go and do your job well, so that you can write a beautiful document when you submit it."

Lu Wenzhao was well versed in the ways of the officialdom. He knew very well that although he had gained a "familiarity" with the emperor, he was ultimately just a "useful" person and could not be compared with Luo Sigong, the meritorious head of the guards who had experienced the entire anti-Japanese and aid-Korea war.

Not to mention offending someone, the right thing to do is to use this matter to find a way to catch the eye of the chief guard.

"I obey your command." Lu Wenzhao knew that no matter how well things were done, the one who would be credited first must be the one in charge of the guards.

(End of this chapter)