Chapter 59: A Scholar's Business, Borrowing is Not Stealing

Li Le did not sit down. Ever since he received the invitation, his heart had been filled with suppressed anger, but what could he do?

Faced with the intimidation of the Shanxi Faction, Li Le was completely powerless to fight back. He had no choice but to obediently come to the Shanxi Provincial Guild Hall and meet these two men whom he had no desire to see.

In truth, Li Le should have gone to the Chu Provincial Guild Hall to consult his patron about this, but he did not do so.

Wang Chonggu settled into his seat and waved his hand. All the servants began to withdraw, leaving only the three men in the room to speak.

"Sit." Wang Chonggu motioned for Li Le to sit down and talk. Standing like that seemed distant. After all, this was meant to be a polite and amicable discussion. Wang Chonggu was a Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent holding the prestigious rank of Senior Second Grade, while Li Le was merely a Supervising Secretary who had entered the officialdom just a few years ago. If Li Le refused to grant him even this shred of face, Wang Chonggu would truly cast aside all pleasantries.

Li Le had no choice but to sit down.

Zhang Siwei leaned to the side, poured a cup of tea for Li Le, and then spoke with a smile: "Li Le, most newcomers to the officialdom are full of soaring arrogance, believing they can fix this corrupt and ruined world. But your patron, the Chief Grand Secretary, can he succeed? Even he cannot succeed."

"Will you hear me out for a moment?"

"We have been fighting the Northern barbarians for all these years—from the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing to the forty-fifth year of Jiajing. Did we win? No."

"The fighting resulted in blood flowing like drifting pestles, leaving the common people in profound misery. Datuan and Xuanfu originally had forty-two thousand households and over two million mouths, but by the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, there were only slightly over twenty thousand households and a little over a million mouths left."

"Those who died, died; those who fled, fled. How tragic was that? Tell me, were the common people miserable or not?"

Zhang Siwei took a sip of tea, waiting for Li Le's reply. He was not in a rush; everything he said was the absolute truth. When the calamities of war struck, the only ones who suffered were the common people.

When the enemy attacked, one could simply run away. But it was easy to say—what about the expenses on the road? What about the settlement costs upon reaching a destination? How could ordinary people have such surplus wealth? When war broke out, only the gentry could flee, while the common people paid the price of military disaster.

"I am well aware of the harms of military calamity. The Longqing Peace Accords and the Altan Khan Tribute System indeed brought stability to the border regions." After thinking for a moment, Li Le acknowledged the contributions of the Shanxi Faction, as they had brokered the Longqing Peace Accords and the Altan Khan Tribute.

Zhang Siwei continued: "How many years has our Great Ming fought the Northern barbarians? Counting from the first year of Wu, we have fought for two hundred and eight years! Has any result come of it? No."

"When the Great Ming was strong, they fled. When the Great Ming was weak, they pushed south to raid the passes. Back and forth, we have been fighting for two hundred years. The Northern barbarians are like wild grass—wildfires cannot burn them out, and the spring breeze blows them back to life, generation after generation."

"We suffer, they suffer, all living creatures suffer."

"If we continue to fight like this, can there ever be an outcome? As martial and heroic as the Founding Emperor Gao, as brave as the Chengzu Emperor Wen, they launched a total of eighteen northern expeditions, yet in the end, they only brought unrest to the state and turmoil to the people."

"Are the Longqing Peace Accords and the Altan Khan Tribute not an outcome? From Genghis Khan to the present day, the Northern barbarians have finally agreed to bow their heads and proclaim themselves subjects. The Khan of the Golden Family, of whom they were so proud, has finally agreed to accept the investiture of the Great Ming, lowering himself to play a lesser role. To prevent the fires of war and allow the common people to live in peace and quiet—is that not our fundamental duty?"

"The people are the foundation of the state; only when the foundation is secure will the state be tranquil."

Li Le pondered seriously for a moment, nodded, and said: "Humiliation is humiliation. Today, we grant annual tributes to the Northern barbarians; the more lavish the offerings, the more urgent their invasions become. Therefore, even without fighting, the superiority and inferiority, the strength and weakness are already decided the moment the tribute appears. As for the collapse of the state, it is naturally a matter of course!"

"Hence, serving Qin with land is no different than serving the barbarians with annual tributes today. It is like holding firewood to put out a fire; as long as the firewood is not exhausted, the fire will never be extinguished!"

Li Le was quoting Su Xun's essay *On the Six States*. The more frequent the annual tributes given to the Northern barbarians, the more urgent their invasions would become. Thus, even without battle, the outcome of strength and weakness had already been sealed the moment the tribute was instituted, making the eventual ruin of the state an inevitable consequence.

Zhang Siwei merely smiled. If one could win, if one could crush them, if one could make the enemy cry for their parents and flee thousands of miles away in terror, then naturally one could afford to speak such lofty words. But the reality was that they simply could not win.

A Supervising Secretary like Li Le always regarded the cultivation of righteous spirit as his primary duty; how could he possibly understand the practical difficulties of governance?

Wang Chonggu said solemnly: "The horse-price silver is merely money for purchasing horses; it is not an annual tribute."

In the eyes of scholars, stealing was not the same as robbery.

Zhang Siwei continued: "Turning from the borders back to the court, Grand Secretary Gao was dismissed and sent home with a single decree from the Empress Dowager. If Gao Gong were truly a man devoid of loyalty and filial piety, and if he truly refused to submit to this decree, let us count the Shanxi men in this court: the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Censorate, the Senior Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, the Military Commissioner of the Capital, and the Grand Coordinators and Regional Commanders of Xuanfu and Datuan—wouldn't they all step up to back him and lend a hand?"

"Yet when Grand Secretary Gao heard the decree, he merely beat his chest and stamped his feet in frustration, and still he returned to his hometown to live in retirement."

Li Le looked at Zhang Siwei with a strange expression and said: "This view is utterly absurd. Did Grand Secretary Gao return home to live in retirement because the Chief Grand Secretary is in power, because the Minister of Revenue Lord Wang is a man of independent spirit and lofty ambitions, and because Commander Qi commands ten thousand troops guarding Jizhou?"

Zhang Siwei immediately asked: "Then how can you be certain that the Chief Grand Secretary will not be the next Grand Secretary Gao?"

This was a trap carefully laid by Zhang Siwei, waiting for Li Le to jump into it.

Yesterday, it was Gao Gong who had promoted a multitude of Shanxi men, and these Shanxi men, through fellow-provincial ties, marriage alliances, patron-protégé relationships, and recommendations, had indirectly or directly controlled the court both inside and out, even posing a threat to the Emperor.

What about tomorrow? Would Zhang Juzheng become the next Gao Gong?

One must know that Zhang Juzheng was far more daring and reckless than Gao Gong!

Zhang Juzheng actually dared to monopolize the imperial lectures, isolate the inner court from the outer court, and even examine the Emperor's studies in the Wenhua Hall. What kind of behavior was this? If Zhang Juzheng dared to examine the Emperor's studies now, what would he dare to do in the future?

This was simply intolerable.

Li Le was left momentarily speechless, not knowing how to respond. If the Shanxi Faction had turned into a clannish faction, was it not possible for the Zhang Faction to become a clannish faction as well?

Zhang Siwei picked up his teacup and said with a smile: "Drink your tea. Supervising Secretary Li is a brilliant man, but you cannot say that. I am willing to believe that Chief Grand Secretary Zhang has lofty ambitions and is fiercely loyal to the sovereign. However, given his position, many things are beyond his control. Supervising Secretary Li, think about it carefully and you will understand."

Wang Chonggu glanced at Zhang Siwei and nodded with considerable satisfaction. His nephew was exceptionally skilled in debate; with just these few words, he had completely entangled Li Le. Since Li Le was not a court minister embroiled in high-level politics, how could he possibly discern the subtle differences between a clannish faction and a political clique?

Seeing that Li Le had grown hesitant, Zhang Siwei clapped his hands. The sound of music began to rise, and two lines of foreign dancing girls with skin as smooth as jade swayed gracefully to the rhythm of the music, stepping out into the open. Their slender waists were bare, adorned with tiny golden ornaments that shimmered continuously, and the bells tied to their bare feet chimed ceaselessly with every dance step, sending waves of fragrant perfume wafting through the air.

The music gradually grew faster, and the dance of the foreign girls became increasingly bold.

Li Le appeared somewhat dazed. He had spent his entire life reading books, and even after passing the imperial examinations and attaining official rank, he had never been exposed to this kind of decadent world of wine and song. Thus, he sat there in a daze, while Zhang Siwei's seductive voice echoed in his ear: "When you passed the provincial examination as a juren, you no longer had to kneel when meeting the county magistrate. After passing the exam, relatives you knew and didn't know all rushed to ingratiate themselves with you, and countless people wanted to register their farmland under your name so they could evade grain taxes."

"Even the upright magistrate of the county sent you an invitation card, because having passed the examination, you were now one of their own."

"But what about when you passed the metropolitan examination to become a jinshi? You are a dignified jinshi of the Great Ming; are you still going to live such a destitute and impoverished life? You are a jinshi of the Great Ming, and wielding power means possessing everything—do you understand?"

"Ah?" Li Le looked at Zhang Siwei with a face full of confusion and asked.

Zhang Siwei said with a smile: "You don't understand? Right now, with just a single word from you, you can choose any one or two of these foreign girls, and you can take them all away with you. If taking them away is inconvenient, the Shanxi Provincial Guild Hall has guest rooms; from now on, they will be your people. Do you realize your status now?"

Zhang Siwei slowly raised his hand higher and higher until he could raise it no further, and then said: "You stand this high, so high, yet you live such a impoverished and even miserable life. The courtyard of your aged mother in your hometown is merely a fraction of an acre, with no pavilions or waterside terraces. You have made something of yourself, you are a jinshi, but who knows it? To return home in embroidered robes without letting others see—are you truly willing to resign yourself to this?"

"You stand so high! You ought to possess more! This is a matter of course. Others have sedan chairs, you should have them too; others have servants, you should have them too; others have luxurious ancestral mansions, you should have them too; others have beautiful concubines, you should have them too."

"Is that not so?"

"Otherwise, did you suffer through so much hardship just to pass the imperial examinations and become an official, only for it all to go to waste?"

"Think it over carefully." Zhang Siwei stood up, patted Li Le on the shoulder, and left the theater hall with Wang Chonggu, leaving the stage entirely to Li Le.

"Will he agree?" Wang Chonggu still felt a trace of anxiety as they walked out of the theater hall. Li Le held his integrity high and was a renowned man of virtue. Whether they could persuade Li Le involved the major matters of inspecting the border regions and reviewing the grand construction projects. If the lid were to be blown off the affairs in Xuanfu and Datuan, everyone would go down together.

Zhang Siwei, however, laughed and said: "He is a man of virtue, but he is a poor man."

"He has never witnessed true luxury, which is why he has been able to maintain his moral integrity. Now that this luxury is laid out before him, it will itch at his heart like a cat's claws. It is within arm's reach, right before his eyes; he doesn't even need to reach out far to attain it. Uncle, how do you think he will choose?"

"If he manages to preserve his original intent, I will truly admire him as a real man."

Hearing this, Wang Chonggu looked back at the theater hall, shook his head, and said: "Ah, you... among all the fame-seekers and fortune-hunters in Chang'an, you have exhausted all your schemes, yet none can match you."

"Thank you for the compliment, Uncle." Zhang Siwei felt no shame, taking it as a badge of honor instead. Born into a family of merchants, the pursuit of profit was his very nature; if something was profitable, he would do it. And clearly, using a few foreign girls and some silver to safely navigate this crisis without destroying their foundation was the wisest course of action.

Zhang Siwei asserted with absolute certainty: "As long as a person lives, they have selfish desires. As long as they have selfish desires, they have flaws. As long as they have flaws, they have vulnerabilities, and they can be manipulated. Take this Li Le, for instance—he is simply poor and has never lived a good life. A world of dizzying luxury and sensual pleasures corrupts the human heart; he cannot hold out against it."

"Then what about Zhang Juzheng's flaws?" Wang Chonggu asked, his brow furrowing deeply.

"Zhang Juzheng's flaws..." Zhang Siwei fell into a rare silence, losing his usual eloquent and spirited demeanor. At first glance, Zhang Juzheng seemed riddled with flaws and vulnerabilities from head to toe.

Zhang Juzheng formed factions, but the vast majority of his partisans were fellow travelers walking the same path; Zhang Juzheng engaged in corruption, but the amount he took was utterly insignificant compared to Yan Song or Xu Jie; Zhang Juzheng lived an extravagant life, yet when one considered that this was the daily routine of the Chief Grand Secretary of the Great Ming, it seemed somewhat justified.

Only by finding Zhang Juzheng's true flaw could they ever hope to defeat him.