Chapter 60: He Who First Created Such Practices, Shall He Have No Posterity?

Li Le had his flaws. Having passed the imperial examination in the fifth year of Longqing, he began his official career as a political observer upon making the prestigious honor roll, and was subsequently appointed as a Supervising Secretary in the Office of Scrutiny for War. Having never witnessed true extravagance before, when lavish luxury suddenly washed over him within effortless reach, he found himself falling into a state of bewilderment.

Did Zhang Juzheng have flaws? He did.

His flaws were glaringly obvious: brilliant in plotting for the state, yet clumsy in plotting for himself. However, this particular flaw was exceedingly difficult to handle.

Zhang Siwei pondered for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said viciously, "Zhang Juzheng—we just need to wait for him to die! Once a man is dead, he can no longer meddle in worldly affairs."

Gao Gong and Wang Chonggu were thick as thieves, and the Shanxi faction commanded a majority in the imperial court. Yet this did not mean there was no one in court capable of keeping Gao Gong in check. As the Senior Grand Secretary, Zhang Juzheng was fully capable of offering a counterweight. In military affairs, politics, censorship, and the pathways of speech, Zhang Juzheng had cultivated his own faction of allies.

Therefore, facing the imperial edict of dismissal, no matter how unwilling he was, Gao Gong had no choice but to return to his hometown for a life of idle retirement.

In truth, Zhang Siwei had no effective means to deal with Zhang Juzheng. He simply could not best him. From whatever angle one looked at it, Zhang Siwei could not treat Zhang Juzheng the way he treated Li Le. Yang Bo had tried repeatedly to rope Zhang Juzheng in, offering extremely generous terms—even offering to hand over the entire Shanxi faction lock, stock, and barrel—yet Zhang Juzheng remained completely unmoved.

"Didn't Qi Jiguang return the tally token of the All-Chu Guildhall to the Chief Grand Secretary? Could this be an opportunity?" Wang Chonggu said with a solemn expression. If someone was difficult to deal with, did that mean they shouldn't try every possible means to deal with them? One should exploit every available opportunity to weaken the strength in Zhang Juzheng's hands.

"Commander Qi..." Zhang Siwei sighed and shook his head. To deal with Qi Jiguang, one had to strike at his vital point. And what was Qi Jiguang's vital point? It was his military might—a crushing, formidable military might forged from one victory after another, so dazzling that people had to avert their eyes and steer clear of his path.

As long as he kept winning battles, any amount of underhanded external schemes would be an absolute waste of effort.

"I'll have someone try to win him over, anyway. Since some censors have recently impeached Commander Qi, we can send a few of them to lobby him and see how it goes, though I doubt it will work." Zhang Siwei paced with measured steps as he left the All-Shanxi Guildhall.

A man like Qi Jiguang was even purer than Zhang Juzheng; there was simply no way to rope him in.

To deal with Qi Jiguang, neither conspiracies nor wicked plots would work.

When Qi Jiguang was pacifying the Japanese pirates in the southeast, his enemies were far from limited to the pirates alone. He had triumphed despite all manner of devious schemes. Against such military genius, how was one supposed to cope?

As twilight descended, You Qi returned to the All-Chu Guildhall and found Zhang Juzheng in the Wenchang Pavilion, writing annotations on the Four Books and Five Classics for the young emperor. With an expression of profound complexity, You Qi reported, "Sir, word has come from the All-Shanxi Guildhall that Li Le went there and has yet to come out. It seems he is likely about to defect to the Shanxi faction."

The reason You Qi received this intelligence was that he had planted his own people inside the All-Shanxi Guildhall. As an imperial inspector dispatched to the frontiers, Li Le was the focus of everyone's attention. Even if he entered through a side door, those who wished to know could still find out.

"Understood." Zhang Juzheng laid down his pencil. Having finished annotating a section, a sense of helplessness washed over him. He could already imagine the sorts of questions the Emperor would ask him, and he needed to prepare for them in advance. Otherwise, if His Majesty raised a question and Zhang Juzheng, acting as the Imperial Tutor, could only look away and speak of unrelated matters, Zhang Juzheng could not afford to lose that face.

"Then what should we do?" You Qi looked at his master. Zhang Juzheng seemed to have anticipated this all along.

Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, "Do you remember the affair of Lu Shusheng? We were classmates. In the twilight of the Jiajing era and the dawn of the Longqing era, we were both members of the Xu faction. After I took charge of the government, I promoted Lu Shusheng to Minister of Rites. As for my governance, he opposed this and he opposed that—it simply boiled down to the Shanxi faction offering more while I offered less."

"Returning to the matter of Li Le, he understands nothing. Using his wife and daughters as leverage was merely a tactic. Would the Shanxi faction actually dare to do such a thing? Once a precedent like this is set, could the Shanxi faction bear the consequences? Therefore, they were merely trying to frighten Li Le."

"Those who initiate such wicked practices shall leave no descendants."

Li Le had newly entered officialdom and understood nothing. Even if Li Le represented the court and truly uncovered something, no harm would come to him.

"As for what we should do," Zhang Juzheng flipped through two memorials on his desk, glanced at them for a moment, and put them back down with a smile. "Build the boardwalk in the open while secretly crossing Chencang. Li Le will stay in the open, accepting Zhang Siwei's terms, which will only cause them to lower their guard. We will simply dispatch others to conduct covert investigations in secret."

"Zhang Siwei has exhausted every calculation. If he had left Li Le alone and let him lead his men to investigate wherever they pleased, so be it. But since Zhang Siwei insisted on harassing Li Le, he cannot blame me for harassing them."

Zhang Juzheng's eyes grew murky and unfathomable, tinged even with a hint of ruthlessness. When the young emperor asked him what results he expected from sending Li Le and the others to inspect the frontiers, Zhang Juzheng had replied: To successfully dispatch censors not originating from the Shanxi faction is already a success.

What Zhang Juzheng wanted was truly not much. He had no intention of utterly crippling or destroying the Shanxi faction before the young emperor assumed personal rule. If the court were filled entirely with members of the Zhang faction, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor sitting within the palace walls would begin to sleep very uneasily.

Yet Zhang Siwei insisted on turning Li Le into a member of the Shanxi faction, moving against his man and lobbying his man. It would be a wonder if Zhang Juzheng could swallow that insult.

He was a man who exacted recompense for every minor grievance.

Since they wished to engage in a struggle of wits and power, then so be it. Zhang Juzheng's meaning was crystal clear: from this moment on, Li Le would merely serve as a decoy—the boardwalk built in the open. The real killing blow would be the covert investigations carried out in secret, crossing Chencang unseen.

Zhang Juzheng had originally intended to let the matter pass with a token gesture, but since Zhang Siwei insisted on provoking him, he would no longer deal in mere gestures.

At that moment, Zhu Yijun was farming. Accompanied by Xu Zhenming, Zhang Hong, Zhang Jing, and others, he was walking through the cultivated fields.

Zhu Yijun said to Xu Zhenming, "In these months of March and April, the soil temperature is still quite low. That idea you mentioned earlier—using sorghum stalks to build windbreaks, fencing in the vegetable plots, and covering the soil with horse manure and plant ash to retain heat and prevent late spring cold snaps from damaging the seedlings—is quite a good one."

"When should we apply the top dressing?"

"About fifteen days after the seedlings are transplanted," Xu Zhenming hastily replied.

Feng Bao whispered a few words with a young eunuch, his complexion turning ashen. He hurried over to the Emperor, bowed deeply, and said, "Your Majesty, something has happened."

"Wait a moment," Zhu Yijun gestured for Feng Bao to hold his words and continued, "How much top dressing should be applied?"

Xu Zhenming opened his memorandum and said, "For diluted human and livestock manure compost, one mu requires fifteen hundred to two thousand catties. If too much is applied, it will burn the seedlings; if too little, the fertility will be insufficient."

Xu Zhenming desperately wanted to say that, based on his observations of potatoes and sweet potatoes, they could actually survive without any fertilizer at all—just a ladle of water. The harvests might differ, but if you planted them all over the fields, every bit you harvested was pure profit.

His Majesty's method of farming was an emperor's method of farming; it was truly extravagant.

Intensive and meticulous farming had its own methods, while slash-and-burn or perfunctory farming was another matter entirely. Those overseas barbarians in the Nanyang didn't even dip the seed cuttings in plant ash when planting these crops...

"I see. When should we prune and top them?" Zhu Yijun memorized the numbers.

A catty of compost cost six cash, and diluting about five catties of it meant one mu required three to four hundred catties of compost. That came out to anywhere between one thousand eight hundred and two thousand four hundred cash, translating to roughly one tael of silver. However, among the common people, especially in rural areas, composting did not entirely rely on purchasing manure; the main method was collecting human and livestock waste to pile up. Crucially, whatever crop was planted required fertilizer, so the farming costs for peasant households did not increase, yet their harvests multiplied.

Human waste was a major enterprise for the "night-soil lords"; its profits were so lucrative that even Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhao Gou, was willing to act as a night-soil lord to earn that money.

Pruning and topping meant cutting off two or three secondary branches from potato fields with excessive branching and vigorous growth. This concentrated the nutrients more into the tubers and increased the yield.

Topping meant pinching off the tender tips. When branch growth became overly vigorous, the tender tips had to be pinched off to prevent nutrients from being wasted on the stems and leaves.

Zhu Yijun had known about this beforehand and had even explained it to the two Empresses Dowager.

For crops, unbridled growth and lush foliage were not necessarily good things, especially for potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Xu Zhenming opened his memorandum and stated, "Pruning must be done in April, and every single secondary branch must be clipped. Topping must be done after the potato seedlings grow higher than twelve inches and before they reach eighteen inches. If done too early, the foliage won't be lush enough; if done too late, the tubers will remain small, and the harvest will suffer."

"Understood," Zhu Yijun nodded. He looked over his ten mu of land and stretched lazily. The five mu on the left consisted of potato seedlings that had undergone tip-pinching and high-temperature hardening, while the five mu on the right consisted of seedlings that had not. The difference was already glaringly obvious.

The plots on the left had not required replanting, yet they remained lush and verdant, overflowing with vitality.

The plots on the right had already required replanting once, but dead seedlings still occurred periodically, and even their coloring differed. The left side was a vibrant green, while on the right, every other plant showed yellowing and rotting leaves, lacking both fullness and a deep, rich green.

The staff of the Baoqi Hall under Xu Zhenming's leadership never gave the young emperor a chance to engage in heavy physical labor. Tasks like pruning and topping were things Zhu Yijun could participate in, but as for applying top dressing, Zhu Yijun didn't even need to think about it—even if they worked through the night, Xu Zhenming would never dare let the Emperor carry and apply night soil.

"What is the matter, Grand Eunuch Feng?" Zhu Yijun turned to look at Feng Bao.

Feng Bao spoke in a low voice, exchanging a few words with the Emperor. The news of Li Le entering the All-Shanxi Guildhall had reached even the inner palace.

Logically speaking, Li Le's visit to the All-Shanxi Guildhall should have been extremely confidential, but the All-Chu Guildhall and the All-Shanxi Guildhall were separated by merely a single street.

Since Zhang Juzheng, You Qi, and the people at the All-Chu Guildhall already knew, it was hardly surprising that Feng Bao knew as well.

Zhang Siwei claimed that Zhang Juzheng monopolized the imperial lectures to isolate the court's inner and outer circles. Yet while Zhang Juzheng indeed monopolized the lectures, he did not isolate the inside from the outside; whenever he learned of any intelligence, he invariably informed the palace.

"Does Grand Eunuch Feng have any suggestions?" Zhu Yijun asked, looking at Feng Bao.

"Please instruct me, Your Majesty." Feng Bao actually had several ideas in mind, but when it was time to play along with the Emperor's play, one must never turn a blind eye!

Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and said, "Send Zhang Jing to the All-Chu Guildhall. Since the Shanxi faction acts without benevolence, they cannot blame Us for acting without righteousness. If that fool Zhang Siwei creates no trouble and stirs up no disputes, Chief Grand Secretary Zhang will not continue to press the matter, and We would let it rest as well. But since Zhang Siwei insists on making trouble, he cannot blame Us."

The Shanxi faction had operated in Xuanfu and Datong for so many years. Once Li Le went there, as long as the surface formalities were properly maintained, he would uncover nothing.

Unless the construction of the Great Wall at Xuanfu and Datong had rotted to a degree where even surface appearances could no longer be maintained—rotted to a shocking extent—such a commotion would not have been necessary. Zhang Siwei also wished to demonstrate his influence; he truly had exhausted every calculation.

"Does Your Majesty mean to build the boardwalk in the open while secretly crossing Chencang? To send Zhang Jing to the All-Chu Guildhall so he can lead men to investigate covertly?" Feng Bao asked after some thought.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Precisely. Have the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard dispatch two inspecting thousand-household officers to accompany him."

"This subject obeys the imperial decree." Feng Bao's primary focus now lay in protecting the safety of the Baoqi Hall. Absolutely no one—not even the Mandate of Heaven—was allowed to disrupt the Emperor's farming!

If Heaven intended to bring a late spring cold snap, the young eunuchs would lay down thick straw mats!

Ensuring the safety of the Emperor's Baoqi Hall was a solid, tangible merit. This position of chief eunuch held by Feng Bao would remain secure for at least another five or six years.

Therefore, Feng Bao did not obstruct the dispatch of Zhang Jing, the adopted son of Qianqing Palace eunuch Zhang Hong. Everyone was doing their job: Zhang Hong was doing his work, and Feng Bao was doing his. As long as everyone properly executed the duties in their hands, they were all loyal subjects of the Emperor, and no one could threaten anyone else's standing.

Zhang Jing took the All-Chu Guildhall tally token given by Xu Jue, changed into civilian attire, and entered the guildhall. The Senior Grand Secretary was currently tending to the potato patch alongside the nine-curved white marble bridge. Too many potato seedlings had been pruned off, so Zhang Juzheng had simply ordered his servants to pull up all the flowers and grass, replacing them entirely with potato seedlings.

Seeing Zhang Jing arrive, Zhang Juzheng wore a complex expression.

This was because standing beside Zhang Jing was another person: Li Le, the Supervising Secretary for War.

Li Le was dressed as a servant in coarse hemp garments, his hair disheveled, his face reasonably clean, and one of his cloth shoes sporting a gaping hole. Zhang Juzheng had failed to recognize that this was his own student, Li Le. Who on earth would mistake the person before them for the twenty-seventh placer on the metropolitan examination honor roll of the fifth year of Longqing?

This was a Jinshi degree holder, yet his attire was truly a disgrace to scholarly dignity, though it certainly served to evade prying eyes.

"Didn't you take the bait from the Shanxi faction? Why have you come back?" Zhang Juzheng's tone carried a mix of reprimand and quiet relief. After all, Li Le had not turned out like Lu Shusheng and completely defected to the Shanxi faction.

Li Le brushed back his disheveled hair, bowed deeply, and said, "You taught me, sir, that one must understand the enemy to deal with them. Taking the detour to reach the goal, this disciple wished to see what kind of tricks they could possibly play. If someone who lacks steadfastness and resolution, someone devoid of public righteousness, public interest, and fortitude, were to listen to Zhang Siwei's words, they would find them entirely reasonable."

"Yet this realm belongs to His Majesty, to the imperial court, and to the people of Great Ming—it does not, under any circumstances, belong to the Shanxi faction."

Zhang Juzheng shook his head slightly and said, "You have become rather cunning."

"You taught me well, sir," Li Le replied with a full smile.

"Nonsense, your cunning is entirely your own," Zhang Juzheng said with an amused smile. "Build the boardwalk in the open while secretly crossing Chencang. Li Le, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

Li Le bowed and said, "This student believes that the reason Zhang Siwei resorted to such base tactics is fundamentally because the construction of the Xuanfu-Datong Great Wall has rotted to a degree where they can no longer even keep up appearances."