Chapter 90: The Monopoly of Knowledge, Diverting Disaster Elsewhere

Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di looked at one another.

“Fourth Brother, you say it...”

“Second Brother, it was clearly your idea!”

“Or let Third Brother speak...”

The three young princes fidgeted and twisted awkwardly, unable for a long while to get to the point. Zhu Biao pretended to be angry.

“If none of you will speak, then I’m leaving!”

“Don’t go, Eldest Brother...”

Seeing Zhu Biao sweep his sleeve and turn to leave the Eastern Palace, Zhu Shuang hurried to stop him.

“Eldest Brother, have you been leaving the palace a lot lately?”

The three of them asked in a tentative tone, trying to coax something out of him.

Zhu Biao did not know whether to laugh or cry. With just a little shift of their bottoms, he could tell what they were thinking.

“Yes.”

Of course he would not reveal Zhang Yi’s existence, and so he answered with only a single word.

Seeing that they were unable to draw him in, the three boys had no choice but to continue their awkward chatter.

“We just wonder what it’s like outside the palace. Is it fun out there?”

Zhu Biao kept a stern face.

“You still want to go out and play? Surely you know the rules of the palace. Imperial princes may not leave the palace before coming of age. Once you are granted your princely titles and have your own estates, you may leave whenever you like.”

At present, although the old emperor had not yet enfeoffed the princes, these children more or less understood their own futures.

At that, the three wailed in dismay.

“How many years until we’re grown?”

“Eldest Brother, I don’t like being an imperial prince. Back before Father became emperor, we could still run around anywhere we wanted. Now we’re locked in this stinking palace like prisoners. They say Yingtian Prefecture is wonderful, but even though we live in Yingtian Prefecture, we don’t even know what Yingtian looks like.”

Zhu Di was the youngest and the most unruly. As soon as Zhu Biao finished speaking, he could not help grumbling.

But halfway through, he felt Zhu Biao’s gaze turn sharp.

Terrified, Zhu Di hurriedly fell to his knees.

“Who says you may behave like this? You are sons of the imperial house. Your lives and fortunes are tied to the very foundation of the realm. How could you be allowed to wander about at will?

“This Great Ming has only just been founded. Outside the capital there are no telling how many Mongol spies. Even I must be careful when I leave the palace. Just how much skill do you think you have?”

Still kneeling, Zhu Di could not help feeling unconvinced.

“I’m not going to be emperor anyway. Even if something happens, it won’t matter...”

“What did you say?”

The word emperor again touched a raw nerve in Zhu Biao, and his eyes flared with anger.

Zhu Di seemed to realize he had said the wrong thing. Frightened, he burst into tears. Zhu Biao turned to Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang, both of whom had frozen in shock.

“And you two think the same?”

Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang shook their heads furiously like rattling drums, naturally refusing to admit it.

Zhu Biao suddenly lost all interest, turned, and left.

Brotherly affection? The throne of an emperor?

He could take Zhu Di’s words today as nothing more than childish nonsense. But once they were grown, would they truly have no desire for the imperial throne?

After leaving the Eastern Palace, Zhu Biao found nowhere else to go.

So he went once more to the imperial study he knew so well.

When the old emperor was working, he did not particularly like eunuchs lingering about to disturb him, so Zhu Biao declined the eunuch’s announcement and entered on his own.

He was just about to call out to Zhu Yuanzhang when he saw that his father, though sitting upright in appearance, had actually dozed off in the chair.

Zhu Biao drew a long breath, and in the end did not wake him.

Ever since he became emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang had spent more than six hours of every twelve in the imperial study each day reviewing memorials. After being provoked by Zhang Yi’s remark about a sovereign for all ages, he had only grown even more diligent.

Zhu Biao looked around and spotted a blanket. Just as he was about to drape it over the emperor, he found that the old man had already woken.

“You’re here...”

Seeing that it was Zhu Biao, the emperor relaxed considerably.

“Didn’t I tell you to go keep your mother company? Why have you come here again?”

“Since Father is toiling on behalf of the state, if this son cannot share your burden, that is already a failing. How could I still rest in peace?”

“Nonsense. Can I be the same as you? There will be plenty of hard days for you in the future...”

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was scolding him, there was a trace of relief in his eyes.

Then he straightened up, instinctively picked up a memorial, and was about to begin reviewing it when he suddenly recalled something and asked:

“Has that girl from the Chang family said anything?”

Zhu Biao: ...

Zhu Yuanzhang had sent him to see Empress Ma, probably for the same reason.

Although the old emperor had placed informants in many places, there were none inside the Pure Heart Temple. Lady Lan had gone to ask Zhang Yi about the future, and the emperor was very concerned by Zhang Yi’s answer.

As for the future crown princess from the Chang family, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally also wanted to know what Zhang Yi had said to her.

Zhu Biao thought about it, but in the end did not voice his own speculation. He only said:

“What the younger sister of the Chang family said was no different from what we heard from Zhang Yi.”

At that, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed deep in thought. Looking careless on the surface, he said to Zhu Biao:

“Your marriage was arranged when you were young by me and your Uncle Chang. But if... if you have some other thought, I can choose you another crown princess.”

Zhu Biao shook his head.

“Father, the matters of the future are hazy and uncertain. What Zhang Yi’s younger brother said may not even be true. If we were to break our promise over such a thing, first, it would break Uncle Chang’s heart, and second, it would damage the prestige of the imperial house. Besides, Zhang Yi’s younger brother also gave the Chang girl an idea, saying that since Heaven’s decree has changed, her fate can change as well.”

“Heaven’s decree has changed because of the vaccination method?”

“Those damned Daoists are always so irritating, speaking in riddles. Zhang Yi is the same. I would truly like to hang him up and interrogate him properly to see how many things that boy is hiding.”

Whenever this came up, Zhu Yuanzhang grew somewhat vexed, though his words were only idle talk.

He had already confirmed Zhang Yi’s value and understood the boy’s nature.

He knew that once his identity as emperor was exposed, Zhang Yi would very likely start spouting nonsense.

That boy was by no means an upright man, and once constrained by that identity, Zhang Yi would never be as free with his speech as he was now.

But how long could he keep his own identity hidden?

In the future, if he wanted to make use of Zhang Yi, he would have to find a proper way to get along with him.

From Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes, Zhu Biao read a trace of worry, and then a thought flashed through his mind.

If he himself could infer his fate from the slightest clues around Zhang Yi, could Father not do the same?

He was the one known as a sovereign for all ages. Then why would his grandson be imprisoned for life? Could the emperor really fail to imagine the possibility that he himself might not be there?

Perhaps...

Perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to face such a possibility.

Or perhaps he already had a backup plan in mind.

Was that plan meant to replace him?

Zhu Biao drew a deep breath and forced down the chaotic thoughts in his mind.

“Very well, let us watch and see. You may go out now and return to rest properly.

“I just received word that Kong Xixue’s son will reach Yingtian today. Tomorrow I will summon him to the palace. Spend more time getting close to him.

“As for the line of the Sage’s Descendant, even if we dislike them, we can only continue to exalt them high above others. After all, this realm still depends on scholars to govern it. If we push too far, we will only chill their hearts.”

Hearing this, Zhu Biao asked:

“Since Father is summoning Kong Na to the capital, is it because you mean to... cultivate him properly?”

“Cultivate is too strong a word. So long as the Kong family stays obediently in Qufu, that is best. If not for that old thing from the Kong family causing trouble, I would at least have given him some dignity.

“Whether it is Kong Kegang or Kong Xixue, in their hearts they will never truly stand with Great Ming. I do not like a Kong family like that, though it is too hard to change them now.

“In that case, I might as well place my hopes on the third generation.

“After all, the Kong family holds religious authority. Even if those fellows write books and spread all kinds of nonsense in Qufu, I cannot easily move against them. Public opinion...”

Mentioning this, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help sighing.

Before he became emperor, he had never truly noticed this problem. In the past, everyone had rebelled together, all living one day uncertain of the next.

So whether it was Li Shanchang or Liu Bowen, everyone got along rather happily. But after he became emperor, a faint divide also began to appear between ruler and minister.

That divide was the balance between imperial power and ministerial power.

If one followed the logic of that damned boy Zhang Yi, it was the struggle between the scholarly gentry and the ruler. Since the Han dynasty made Confucian learning supreme, such struggles had never really ceased.

Scholars needed to sell their knowledge to the emperor’s household in order to achieve their ambitions.

But when had emperors ever not needed scholars to help govern the realm?

Thus, even when foreign peoples invaded, the Kong family, as the spiritual totem of the scholarly world, would still be treated with respect. That reverence did not shift according to the emperor’s liking.

For the power in the hands of scholars was not only the power to share the governance of the realm with the emperor, but also the power to spread knowledge and guide public opinion.

A ruler could suppress scholars for a time, but he could not stop them from speaking recklessly.

How many emperors had been slandered by those people in the histories, written down as foolish sovereigns?

Zhu Yuanzhang disliked this situation, yet he had no choice but to compromise. Bringing Kong Na to Yingtian was for this very reason.

Still, Zhang Yi’s unorthodox and rather sinister method seemed to have opened a new path in the old emperor’s mind.

It seemed there might be a way to pry open the narrow gap in the scholars’ iron grip on the circulation of ideas.

That could wait until later. The emperor shook his head, dispersing the stray thoughts in his mind, and said to Zhu Biao:

“Kong Kegang and Kong Xixue both benefited from the Yuan dynasty. Their minds are already settled. Even if Great Ming drives the Mongols out in the future, it will be hard to win their favor, so whether we try to court those two is not worth mentioning.

“As for whether the Kong family’s heart belongs to the court, that depends on their third generation. This Kong Na is still young, and he is worth drawing close to.

“Let him witness the prosperity of my Great Ming and bestow kindness upon him, and naturally he will be different from his father and grandfather.”

Zhu Biao was puzzled.

“Father, since you intend to win over the Kong family, why treat Kong Kegang in such a manner? Aren’t you afraid that hatred will be passed down?”

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled.

“Kong Kegang was clever for his own good, so of course I should teach him a lesson. Why would I fear the Kong family? Even if they hate me to the bone, at most it is impotent rage. What can they do besides write books in later generations to curse me?

“Besides, I have even given them a place to vent it...”

“Father means the Zhang family?”

“Exactly.”

Zhu Biao now understood some of Zhu Yuanzhang’s methods, so he immediately grasped it.

No matter how much the Kong family hated the old emperor, they could do nothing to the emperor himself. When people were driven to impotent fury, they would always take it out on someone else.

And what better target for that anger than the Zhang family?

The Zhang and Kong families were both old aristocratic houses, both had served as traitors to the Mongols. Why should Longhu Mountain be thriving now while the Kong family was being suppressed?

By deliberately putting Zhang Zhengchang together with the Kong family, the old emperor was using Longhu Mountain to provoke the Kongs on the one hand, and on the other, perhaps also using the Kong family’s hatred to keep in check the Longhu Mountain he meant to elevate.

Such was the mind of an emperor.

“As for Kong Na...”

Zhu Yuanzhang began.

The End