Chapter 78: The Machinations of the Emperor, Decrees Difficult to Implement

"Why is Father so happy?" Zhu Biao asked in confusion. Shouldn’t the Emperor be furious after being contradicted?

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced back at him but gave no explanation. Some matters could only be grasped through intuition, not words, and with Zhu Biao’s intelligence, he would eventually understand.

Receiving his father’s hint, Zhu Biao faintly arrived at his own answer. As sovereign, the Emperor and the scholar-official class depended on each other, yet were also locked in constant rivalry. Today’s unexpected clash in court was a most direct confrontation—the scholars, seizing upon the Duke of Yansheng affair, were making a subtle attempt to pressure the Emperor.

If the Emperor had yielded, royal authority would have been undermined. Conversely, by suppressing Liu Bowen and his allies’ momentum, the Emperor’s authority was once again reinforced.

How difficult it was to be Emperor!

Noticing Zhu Biao deep in thought, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled. “Have you figured it out?”

Zhu Biao replied, “Father, I believe I have. Still, I find it amusing… Uncle Zhang always seems to get caught up in these disasters out of nowhere!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Emperor halted and looked back at him in silence.

Zhu Biao was taken aback—could it be that Zhang Zhengchang’s fate today was also deliberately orchestrated by the Emperor? The very thought sent a chill down his spine. His father’s depth of cunning was far beyond his own imagination.

To use Zhang Zhengchang against the Kong family, bestowing the Zhangs with abundant favors—yet these very favors would also earn them the enmity of the entire court, and then, to use the officials to check the Zhangs in turn?

“The heart of a ruler lies first in balance and counterbalance. You still have much to learn,” the old Zhu said, patting Zhu Biao’s shoulder before striding ahead.

Zhu Biao pondered this for a long time, gaining a faint understanding before catching up.

Upon their return to the imperial study, the Left Prime Minister Li Shanchang, Censor-in-Chief Liu Ji, and the Zhang father and son entered together. Due to the earlier conflict, none of the three parties spoke.

After the eunuch announced them, Zhu Yuanzhang handed the medical treatise to Liu Ji. One look was enough to make Liu Ji sit up in shock. Whatever its practical value, at least the medical treatise was sound.

From Ge Hong to Wang Dan…

The method of variolation had been recorded in the past, but its value had been drowned in the river of history—no one truly utilized it. Now, with the Celestial Master of Dragon-Tiger Mountain claiming divine instruction and offering salvation to the people, the method was finally presented in full before the Emperor.

“Liu Bowen, what have you to say?” Zhu Yuanzhang demanded coldly.

Liu Bowen sighed and dropped to his knees before the Emperor. “Your servant was rash. If this Dragon-Tiger Mountain method is genuine, Master Zhang deserves even greater reward!”

“The rules of Great Ming are clear: rewards are given according to merit. If you render service, I will not begrudge you rewards. If you depend only on inherited privilege, what I can give is limited. If the Kong family wants more, let them strive for it themselves!”

With this, Zhu Yuanzhang settled the matter of the Duke of Yansheng.

Liu Bowen and Li Shanchang exchanged glances. Though once rivals, they now knelt in unison before the Emperor.

This small contest between ruler and ministers ended in a decisive victory for Zhu Yuanzhang.

“Enough. I summoned you not to debate these matters, but to discuss how to devise an effective method for spreading this technique!”

To promulgate variolation by imperial decree—this was something Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to do. Whether out of private motive or public duty, it was entirely beneficial and without harm.

On the public side, if China were to adopt variolation nationwide, the number of deaths from epidemic disease would dramatically decrease. The benefits ranged from near to far. In the short term, with the wars at the end of the Yuan and the impending Northern campaign, the Ming dynasty would soon enter a period of recuperation. People were one of the most vital resources for the new dynasty, and variolation would indeed reduce the loss of Ming’s populace.

In the long term, the promotion of variolation would not benefit just Ming in the present, but generations of Chinese for millennia to come.

Privately, those who promoted this endeavor would be remembered in history. Now, it was the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang himself who would be credited…

Having grasped these nuances, Liu Bowen and Li Shanchang no longer voiced opposition. Li Shanchang was already considering how to profit from the affair himself. Studying the medical treatise, he marveled at its contents.

After a moment’s thought, Li Shanchang spoke: “This method is simple and comprehensible. I believe it can be publicly announced and enforced through official documents, requiring local officials to organize renowned physicians to promote variolation. If the number of inoculations is included in next year’s assessments, officials will naturally implement it!”

This was the simplest and most efficient approach, but Liu Bowen disagreed.

“If it were so simple, His Majesty would not have sought our advice. Lord Li, your thinking is still too simplistic. Were your plan followed, it might even cause harm to His Majesty…”

“What are you implying, Liu Ji? Speak plainly,” Li Shanchang retorted.

Their short-lived alliance dissolved with the loss of a common goal, and the two immediately clashed.

“In general, Lord Li’s proposal is not without merit, but it is too crude. This method uses material from human or bovine pustules as the medium—a principle of fighting poison with poison. If you had just learned of this, would you dare try it yourself?”

Liu Bowen’s question left Li Shanchang speechless, his face darkening.

“The common people are not scholars; they are illiterate. Even if the authorities proclaim the method’s efficacy, they may not dare try it. You propose to enforce it by decree, but in execution, local officials may cut corners! For example, I see there are two types of vaccine—fresh and aged. The aged is more complex to prepare, the fresh is simple. If you tie this to official assessments, have you considered that local officials, eager to meet quotas, might prefer the simpler fresh vaccine? Yet the fresh vaccine is dangerous—three or four in ten recipients might have severe reactions, even die.

The people, unfamiliar with variolation, may suffer casualties from the fresh vaccine. First, this would betray His Majesty’s intention; second, it would erode public trust in the government. Are you prepared to shoulder that risk, Lord Li?”

Li Shanchang had not anticipated that his offhand suggestion would be so thoroughly dissected by Liu Ji. It was only a rough draft—further deliberation by the Secretariat would follow. But Liu Ji showed no mercy, casting the matter in such grave terms that it put him on the spot.

The tension between Li Shanchang and Liu Ji immediately escalated.

Meanwhile, Zhang Zhengchang listened in silence, suddenly struck by a new understanding. Watching their dispute, his thoughts turned to Zhang Yi.

Zhang Yi had once told him that without the Hongwu Emperor’s earnest promotion, variolation could never truly be spread. At first, Zhang Zhengchang thought this exaggerated. But listening now to Li Shanchang and Liu Ji, he dimly realized that even with the Emperor’s efforts, accomplishing such a task was far from easy.

It was hard enough to issue a decree; governing a nation was never as simple as outsiders imagined. If mishandled, even a good thing could become a disaster…

(The End of this chapter)