Chapter 61: Complete Alignment of Knowledge and Action, Consistency Between Exterior and Interior

Li Le's reappearance in the All-Chu Guildhall was well within reason. The Minister of Rites, Lu Shusheng, had already undergone a political realignment, a development that stuck in Zhang Juzheng's throat like a fishbone.

From Li Le's perspective, the Shanxi faction was formidable, but Master Zhang was far more terrifying than the Shanxi faction!

"Li Le, you are already capable of governing a region," Zhang Juzheng said with a smile. "This mission will be primarily entrusted to you."

Open investigation could not be abandoned, and covert inquiries had to be made as well.

"His Majesty's intention is precisely this, to have this humble servant assist the Senior Grand Secretary," Zhang Jing explained his purpose. Two criminal investigation commanders would depart the city and tail them. Since they were operating as a covert line, everything had to be done without leaving a trace.

Zhang Jing was Zhang Hong's man, and Zhang Hong was a eunuch of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Meanwhile, Feng Bao was the Director of Ceremonial and the Grand Commander of the Eastern Depot. To a large extent, Feng Bao and Zhang Hong could be considered enemies.

Yet Zhang Jing was holding the tally of Xu Jue, Feng Bao's trusted confidant. This meant that Zhang Jing's departure from the palace and his arrival at the All-Chu Guildhall had been approved by Feng Bao.

That a superficial peace could currently be maintained within the palace came as an extreme surprise to Zhang Juzheng. The internal struggles of the palace had always been more direct and brutal than those outside, yet Feng Bao and Zhang Hong had not come to blows. This truly made Zhang Juzheng view Feng Bao in a new light once again.

The last time Zhang Juzheng had felt such strangeness was when Feng Bao delivered the pencils, strictly adhering to palace regulations and refusing bribes.

Many changes had taken place within the palace, and at least in Zhang Juzheng's view, these changes were benign and beneficial to the imperial state of the Great Ming.

Zhang Hong was an ambitious man; perhaps he would come into conflict with Feng Bao in the future, but as long as it was not now—not at a time when the sovereign was young and the nation's stance was in doubt—Zhang Juzheng, as the Senior Grand Secretary, would have a much easier time. Seeing Zhang Jing holding Xu Jue's tally at the All-Chu Guildhall, Zhang Juzheng suddenly felt a sense of flourishing prosperity within the Great Ming.

Zhang Jing's presence at the All-Chu Guildhall was possible because he had an unfamiliar face and rarely appeared in public. Even Zhang Juzheng only knew his name, making this their first meeting.

"How is Academician Xu?" Zhang Juzheng did not immediately reveal his plans, instead inquiring about Xu Zhenming.

Zhang Jing thought for a moment and smiled. "Academician Xu knows nothing of other matters, but he is exceedingly skilled at farming. He possesses a heart of loyal submission, and he never troubles His Majesty with heavy, grueling, or filthy work."

"That is good." Hearing this, Zhang Juzheng let out a sigh of relief. Xu Zhenming was in charge of all internal and external affairs at the Baoqi Palace. Since the Baoqi Palace involved imperial authority and majesty, no carelessness could be permitted.

Xu Zhenming's arrival in the capital carrying a bamboo book-chest had left a deep impression on Zhang Juzheng. Back when Zhang Juzheng had passed the provincial examination, he already had a page boy named You Qi. Carrying a book-chest was not something a successful provincial graduate had to do himself, yet Xu Zhenming had no page boy.

When Xu Zhenming was reclaiming wasteland in Shanyin, Zhejiang, he must have experienced the exact same ordeal as Li Le. But Xu Zhenming had refused to kneel, had been stripped of his office, and even with empty hands, still harbored thoughts of finding someone to recommend him for reinstatement.

Zhang Juzheng said with deep emotion, "His Majesty speaks with profound truth: diligent in literature and resolute in conduct, loyal and pragmatic, both knowing and acting to the utmost, consistent in word and deed."

This phrase was the Emperor's commentary on the Analects of Confucius, specifically the passage where the Master taught four things: culture, conduct, loyalty, and trustworthiness. Now, witnessing Li Le's departure and return, Zhang Juzheng found the Emperor's words to be truly profound.

One could not merely judge a person by what they said or how they appeared on the surface; one had to make them work, to test whether their inner nature and outer appearance matched.

Zhang Juzheng felt immensely gratified. Although his judgment of his former classmate Lu Shusheng had been mistaken, the problem did not lie in his own discernment, but rather in Lu Shusheng.

The men he had recommended—Li Le and Xu Zhenming—how could they possibly be problematic?

"Senior Grand Secretary," Zhang Jing reminded him, signaling that Zhang Juzheng should arrange their departure. He did not know the specific course of action; before leaving, His Majesty had merely instructed him to follow Zhang Juzheng's arrangements.

Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, "Depart tomorrow alongside Li Le and the others. Li Le, once you reach Xuanfu and Datong, indulge in drinking bouts and merrymaking with the local officials there. Leave the investigative work to Zhang Jing and the investigation commanders."

Zhang Juzheng was also capable of playing a ruthless game. What he employed was the strategy of hiding in plain sight.

Zhang Jing and the investigation commanders needed official status to tour the frontiers and inspect construction projects—that was protocol. How else could one gain access to the passes and the Great Wall without an official identity?

On the surface, Li Le had surrendered to the Shanxi faction, mingling closely with the local officials of Xuanfu and Datong. This attracted everyone's attention, perfectly serving as a smoke-screen for Zhang Jing and his operatives.

Since they were engaged in a struggle, every possible stratagem must be used; they had to catch their opponents off guard and strike where they were least prepared.

In the eyes of Empress Dowager Li and Empress Dowager Chen, the young Emperor's daily life was excessively dry and monotonous.

He woke up every morning at the fifth watch, ate a meager meal, and then proceeded to the Wenhua Hall to attend governance and study. After studying came martial training, following which he would exchange a few words before heading out to till the earth. After tilling the earth, he would spend hours stamping a pile of memorials, and even after finishing the stamping, he would stay up late reading—books on agriculture, no less.

Zhu Juzheng never tired of this routine.

"This has become completely effortless. Has the Grand Commander actually been training seriously? Two months of martial practice, and besides stance-holding and rapid shuttle-runs, there is nothing else at all. Is it that the Grand Commander refuses to teach, or that he simply doesn't know how?" Having maintained his stance for nearly two months, the young Emperor concluded his session and began launching verbal attacks on Grand Commander Zhu Xixiao.

Zhu Xixiao clenched his fists. Who didn't know how?!

He truly knew how; it was simply that the young Emperor's words were genuinely infuriating.

Zhu Xixiao had indeed trained very earnestly, but he couldn't help the fact that the young Emperor was even more earnest than he was. Or perhaps the saber-wielding guards and little eunuchs were somewhat dragging down the Emperor's progress. Without a single complaint or penalty, the young Emperor unhesitatingly completed every single one of his training regimens: stance-holding, rapid shuttle-sprints, and long-distance running.

Over these three months of martial training, the young Emperor had lost nearly ten pounds. Recently, Empress Dowager Chen and Empress Dowager Li had been casting rather unkind glances at Zhu Xixiao, as if he had been mistreating the young Emperor.

Zhu Yijun exhaled a breath of stale air. Having finished his stance, he asked with some curiosity, "Are there any combat arts you can teach me?"

"Does Your Majesty mean routine forms?" Zhu Xixiao frowned deeply.

Zhu Yijun nodded, gesturing with a few movements, his bright eyes flashing with eager anticipation. "Yes, martial arts routines! Are there those kinds of techniques where, once practiced, you can leap across roofs and vault over walls? Where your strikes are as soft as cotton, but when they touch someone they are as hard as iron? Where your fists are like hammers and as heavy as thunderbolts, your form like a hare or a falcon, possessing the ability to shoot dragons and slay tigers!"

Zhu Xixiao's expression grew complex. With words hovering on the tip of his tongue that he wanted to swallow back down, he said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, those who leap across roofs and vault over walls are thieves..."

Leaping across roofs and vaulting over walls was precisely what thieves did when breaking into homes by night to steal goods or people. According to the Great Ming Code, anyone breaking into a home by night was treated as a criminal, and if the homeowner killed such a thief, the authorities would not pursue the matter.

"So there are no such routines?" Zhu Yijun asked with a trace of disappointment. "Then what should I practice?"

"Bows, crossbows, and firearms. An inch longer means an inch stronger, and bows, crossbows, and firearms are the longest," Zhu Xixiao replied with absolute certainty.

"An inch longer means an inch stronger?" Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Doesn't that imply that an inch shorter means an inch more perilous?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xixiao shook his head. "This official dares not entirely agree. For instance, if this official were bare-handed and encountered a bandit wielding a dagger, retreating would be the only prudent choice. In battlefield combat, length wins the day."

"In the 'Hand and Foot Chapter' of the *New Book of Military Efficiency*, Commander Qi also stated: when the enemy's short weapons cannot reach within the spear's length, they naturally dare not advance rashly. Bows, arrows, and firearms are also long weapons capable of shooting a hundred paces; if we wait until the enemy is fifty paces away before firing, it exploits tactical advantage while utilizing long weapons in close quarters. Yet Commander Qi's meaning remains fundamentally that an inch longer is an inch stronger."

"I will listen to the Grand Commander and Commander Qi." Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment. Human history ultimately boiled down to throwing stones and boiling water; what Zhu Xixiao said made a lot of sense. If you could shoot your opponent to death, why bother risking your life in hand-to-hand combat?

Professional matters were best left to professional talent.

"Then how should bows, crossbows, and firearms be practiced?" Zhu Yijun asked eagerly.

Zhu Xixiao flicked his sleeve, handed an object to Zhang Hong, and said, "Would Your Majesty care to practice with this first?"

Looking at the item in Zhang Hong's hands, Zhu Yijun said indignantly, "Is the Grand Commander teasing a child? This is a slingshot! Does Your Majesty look that ignorant to you?"

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, there was a man named Han Yan who was passionately fond of playing with a slingshot, using pellets made of gold and tossing away a dozen or more a day. The streets of Chang'an soon popularized the saying: "Suffering from hunger and cold, chasing after gold pellets." Every time Han Yan went out, he was followed by hordes of impoverished commoners scrambling to pick up the gold pellets he shot, giving rise to the terms "slingshot-wielding scion" and "spoiled aristocrat."

For Zhu Xixiao to tell him to practice with a slingshot—wasn't this treating him like a toddler?

"Your Majesty, practicing your aim with this is no bad thing." Zhu Xixiao had mulled over these words for quite a while before finally spitting them out. He couldn't very well say that at His Majesty's current age, he hadn't yet grown enough physical strength to pull back a bow, nor could he tension a crossbow, while firearms were still insufficiently stable.

Observing Zhu Xixiao's expression and carefully pondering his words, Zhu Yijun understood the Grand Commander's meaning: his current strength was insufficient to practice with bows and arrows, but practicing his accuracy first was a fine start. Impetuous seeking of quick results was undesirable; martial arts required the grinding patience of whetstone work.

The pellets for the Emperor's slingshot were fired solid porcelain balls. Zhu Yijun picked up a porcelain ball, drew the slingshot, and aimed at a rectangular archery target standing ten paces away, measuring five and a half feet high and two and a half feet wide.

The porcelain ball shot forth, brushed past the target, struck the wall, and shattered into pieces.

Everyone fell silent.

That was truly, excessively off target.

No, wait—it must have been that the archery target lacked a heart of loyal submission and refused to catch the porcelain ball!