Chapter Thirty-Eight: It was not me! Do not slander my innocence!

Who is considered the foremost among the fearless remonstrators of the world? In the first year of the Wanli reign of the Great Ming, that title belonged to Hai Rui.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Hai Rui it is. Recalling Hai Rui to the imperial court to take office may also serve to quell public criticism."

To put an end to the culture of partisan strife, one must kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Stripping Luo Zun, Jing Song, and Han Bixian of their official titles and sending them back to their ancestral homes to live in seclusion serves as a warning, forcing the Jin faction to cease their attacks on Tan Lun. This is vital for the stability of the court. Thus, by bringing Hai Rui back to the capital, the dilemma can be resolved at once.

Hai Rui is a supreme weapon for rebuking the Emperor; the one who would feel the most discomfort is, naturally, the Emperor himself.

Hai Rui once brought a coffin with him to court, berating the Jiajing Emperor until he was utterly humiliated. Yet, the Jiajing Emperor never had the heart to execute him, nor did the Longqing Emperor. Nevertheless, such a man is destined to be unwelcome in the halls of power. The Emperor dislikes him, and the ministers dislike him even more; a blade that is too sharp is prone to cutting its own wielder. Only a blade like Ge Shouli is truly appropriate.

Hai Rui is favored only by the censors of the Office of Scrutiny and the "Pure Stream" faction.

When Hai Rui berated the Jiajing Emperor, did he not also berate the Longqing Emperor? The "Pure Stream" officials had tried several times to elevate Hai Rui to the Censorate, but they never succeeded.

It was natural for the censors to try to save Luo Zun, Jing Song, and Han Bixian, as it involved their own vital interests. If the precedent of being punished for one's speech were established, what else would there be for the censors to say? By elevating Hai Rui—the darling of the censors—to the Censorate, they could show everyone that the Emperor does not value the "Pure Stream."

Zhang Juzheng’s "blank floating ticket" was not understood by the Empress Dowager Li, and Feng Bao only half-understood it, but Zhu Yijun understood it perfectly.

Zhang Juzheng could not speak his mind. As the Senior Grand Secretary, he already posed a direct threat to imperial power. If he were to place Hai Rui—a weapon that dared to rebuke the Emperor—before the sovereign, the moment Hai Rui scolded the Emperor, the ministers would only assume that it was Zhang Juzheng doing the scolding. Therefore, Zhang Juzheng could only leave it blank.

Upon hearing Zhu Yijun’s plan, the Empress Dowager Li’s eyes lit up, but soon, a new worry arose. Once Hai Rui returned to court and saw an Emperor who neglected his duties, he would likely bring his coffin again to remonstrate, leading to another mountain of trouble. The Empress Dowager only wanted her young son to grow up smoothly and eventually take full control of the power; such affairs could wait until the Emperor reached his maturity.

Zhu Yijun finished his pear juice and smiled. "Today, Grand Secretary Yuanfu lectured on the *Illustrated Mirror for Governing*, speaking of Emperor Taizong of Tang and Wei Zheng. In the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era, when the outspoken Wei Zheng passed away, Emperor Taizong wept and said: 'Using copper as a mirror allows one to straighten one's cap; using history as a mirror allows one to understand the rise and fall of empires; using a person as a mirror allows one to see one's own gains and losses.'"

"I asked the Grand Secretary: Wei Zheng assisted Emperor Taizong, helping him straighten his cap, know the rise and fall, and understand gains and losses. In our Great Ming, the most outspoken remonstrator is Hai Rui, known as 'Hai the Pen-Rack.' He fears no powerful official. Why then has Hai Rui remained idle at home, without an official post?"

"The Grand Secretary only replied: 'The court is a dragon's pool and a tiger's den; that which is too rigid is easily broken.'"

After Hai Rui submitted his *Memorial on Peace and Order*, the Jiajing Emperor passed away the following year. The Longqing Emperor ascended the throne and granted a general amnesty, and Hai Rui was released from the imperial prison, becoming a Left Assistant Minister of the Court of Judicature and Revision, a fourth-rank official.

In the third year of Longqing, Hai Rui submitted a memorial stating that the Longqing Emperor was hiding from his duties, refusing to meet with his ministers, and that memorials sent to the palace disappeared like stones into the sea. This memorial, too, vanished like a stone into the sea. Shortly thereafter, Hai Rui was sent away to serve as the Governor of Yingtian.

Was Hai Rui truly just a member of the "Pure Stream," a man of empty talk?

When Hai Rui arrived in Yingtian as Governor, he promoted benefits and removed harms. He requested the dredging of the Wusong River and the Baimao River, allowing the flow to reach the sea, which eventually formed the Huangpu River. Before this, the Wusong River basin in Songjiang Prefecture was all tidal flats, but Hai Rui brought the river under control, and the people of Songjiang praised him universally.

Most officials capable of water management are not mere practitioners of empty talk. After Hai Rui finished with the Wusong and Baimao rivers, he began to deal with Xu Jie.

Xu Jie had encroached upon 400,000 mu of land. Songjiang Prefecture lacked rice fields but had many cotton fields, and the land Xu Jie occupied was the most fertile. Hai Rui pursued the Xu family’s land encroachment without the slightest trace of leniency or favoritism; he demanded that the Xu family return every inch of land.

The Supervising Secretary Dai Fengxiang submitted a memorial impeaching Hai Rui for protecting "villainous people," bullying the gentry, and seeking fame at the expense of governance. Consequently, Hai Rui was reassigned to the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing.

Gao Gong merged Hai Rui's duties into the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, forcing him to retire. From then on, Hai Rui lived in seclusion at his old home in Qiongshan, Hainan.

Zhang Juzheng did not use Hai Rui because he knew that if Hai Rui returned to court to take office, it would only lead to a dead end. Hai Rui did not know how to adapt; if he returned, he might not even be able to return to his hometown in peace.

Hai Rui was stern and upright. Officials from both inside and outside the court recommended him repeatedly—not because they truly valued his reputation, but because they valued his inability to adapt, wishing to bring him back to the capital as that sharp blade.

"If we truly want to rectify the moral standards of the court and clear the air, bringing Hai Rui back is the most appropriate choice," Zhu Yijun said with great conviction.

Zhu Yijun was not afraid of Hai Rui. The censors had been stoking the flames, trying to bring such a sharp blade back to the capital. But when the time came, who would truly be the one to get hurt?

"My father used to say: only magic can defeat magic," he thought.

The Empress Dowager Li pondered with a grave expression. The Emperor wanted Hai Rui back, while the Senior Grand Secretary, Zhang Juzheng, was a pragmatic administrator, not a "Pure Stream" man. He did not want to use Hai Rui simply because he worried Hai Rui would break himself, not because he feared him.

The Empress Dowager contemplated whether to allow Hai Rui’s return. If Hai Rui returned to court and pointed his finger at the young Emperor, berating him for neglecting his duties, the ten-year-old sovereign would be ruling over an already anxious nation. If a top-tier "Pure Stream" official were to humiliate the Emperor, the imperial dignity would be lost, but could a ten-year-old child withstand such a storm? If something went wrong, how would it be handled?

"Forget it," the Empress Dowager said, hesitating. She decided against letting Hai Rui return.

Zhu Yijun ate two pieces of pastry and drank some water. "Mother, if you retreat one step, you will retreat every step."

"If we agree to the censors and punish them lightly, they will ask for a 'toast of three cups' as a penalty. Do we agree or not?"

"If we agree to the 'toast of three cups,' they will demand an acquittal. Do we agree or not?"

"If we agree to the acquittal, they will demand that they be restored to their original posts. Do we agree or not?"

"Light punishment, a toast of three cups, acquittal, restoration of rank, rapid promotion, the removal of Tan Lun—must we agree to every step of these demands? Tan Lun is the Grand Minister of War and Minister of the Ministry of War. This position is vital. The Grand Secretary is pushing for reform to enrich the nation and strengthen the military; without the support of the Minister of War, how can he strengthen the army?"

"If we do not agree, the censors will cause a scene. They will submit memorial after memorial, kneel at Chengtian Gate, go on hunger strikes at Chengtian Gate, and bash their heads against the pillars in the Fengtian Hall and Wenhua Hall."

"If imperial power retreats one step, they will advance three. If we retreat again and again, the abyss lies right behind us. How can we retreat? We cannot agree from the start; we cannot retreat."

The Empress Dowager felt heavy-hearted; she had seen such scenes with her own eyes. Her husband had been unable to handle such situations, eventually speaking less and less during court sessions, as anything he said was deemed wrong. In the end, he left it to the Directorate of Ceremonial to handle the infighting outside. The Wanli Emperor of history had been the same: he retreated one step, they advanced three, and he was forced to retreat a fourth, until eventually, there was nowhere left to go.

"Hai Rui is a man of integrity," Zhu Yijun said firmly. "Benevolence is his yardstick. He is not the type of person who only engages in empty talk or criticizes the Emperor to gain a 'pure' reputation. Mother, there is no need to worry so much about those things."

In the game of politics, every move is a choice. By making the correct choices repeatedly, imperial authority can be built through each success. That is what power is. To fight against the court officials, one must fight the fiercest one among them, and Hai Rui is the fiercest of the censors.

When Hai Rui submits his remonstrance, as long as Zhu Yijun proves he is in the right, he can use Hai Rui as a stepping stone to establish his imperial authority. Zhu Yijun understood the process of building authority, but the twenty-seven-year-old Empress Dowager had not yet reached the age of thirty and clearly did not fully grasp the process of establishing such power.

"Then let Hai Rui return to court? Shall we let the Supervising Secretaries recommend him and see what the court discussion says?" The Empress Dowager was finally beginning to waver.

Zhu Yijun stood up and said, "I am going to play!"

He was very concerned about the potatoes and sweet potatoes on Jingshan. After changing his clothes at the Qianqing Palace, he headed straight for Jingshan.

The next morning, a cold wind swept across the land. The spring breeze of the Little Ice Age carried a biting chill, blowing over the censors who were kneeling outside the Chengtian Gate.

The censors of the Censorate and the Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices had all arrived. The cold wind could not stop their pursuit of "justice." They stood in order of rank, kneeling in silence before the Chengtian Gate, requesting that the Emperor rescind his edict against the censors.

The Censorate had 117 members, and the number of Left and Right Censors-in-Chief, Deputy Censors-in-Chief, and Assistant Censors-in-Chief was not fixed. In the first year of Wanli, there were about 130 censors. Before dawn, these officials had gathered, and by the time the sky began to brighten, a large crowd was kneeling in silence before the Chengtian Gate.

Zhu Yijun understood the nature of these scholar-officials: if imperial power retreated one step, they would advance three. Even if the Emperor stood still, they would try to advance two!

As the ministers entered through the Right Gate to attend the court session at the Wenhua Hall, they saw from afar the massive crowd kneeling on the ground.

"Ge Shouli, quite a talent you have, stirring up such a scene. I, Tan, am deeply honored. Tsk tsk, the last time such a scene was staged, was it to bring down Yan Song or Xu Jie?" Tan Lun addressed the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Ge Shouli, by his name.

Was this display really just to make the Emperor rescind his order? It was clearly aimed at forcing the Emperor to dismiss him, the Minister of War.

Tan Lun was a broad-minded man. He had grown weary of the intrigue and mutual backstabbing in the court. He felt that living such a stifled life was far less satisfying than his days in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, where he fought the Japanese pirates.

Because he was weary, he no longer bothered to maintain a facade of peace. He called Ge Shouli by his name, no longer using sarcasm, but speaking directly. Tan Lun could almost foresee the outcome: yet another great victory for the "Pure Stream."

Zhang Juzheng looked at the mass of kneeling officials. He had seen this scene many times before; it was only the most basic of tactics. Submitting memorials, followed by kneeling at the Chengtian Gate—it was very, very, very rudimentary.

"It wasn't me! Do not smear my reputation!" Ge Shouli’s face turned red. He looked at the sea of kneeling censors and shouted, "I did not do it! I truly did not tell them to do this!"

"You must believe me! It really wasn't me!"