Chapter 124: Future National Policy, Exporting the Zhu Clan

On the carriage returning to the palace, Zhu Yuanzhang sat with his eyes closed, lost in thought.

Zhu Biao knew that his father was troubled, and, being tactful, kept silent.

After a long while, the old Zhu let out a slow sigh. Then he suddenly swore.

“Damn it, nothing good ever comes of visiting that brat!”

Zhu Biao smiled faintly. If his father had been driven to profanity, then whatever occupied his thoughts must truly have been vexing him.

“What are you laughing at? What’s so funny? Tell me—do you know what’s bothering me?”

After receiving a glare from the old Zhu, Zhu Biao quickly composed himself.

“The matters troubling Father are nothing more than the reform of the imperial examinations and the hidden danger posed by the imperial clan. As I see it, the question of introducing mathematics into the examinations and the reform of the examinations were already settled when Father asked Zhang Yi to persuade Master Xu.

“So the only thing left to trouble Father is the imperial clan.”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded gloomily and let out a breath.

“That boy said I have a peasant’s temperament. I admit he’s right. Truthfully, I’ve been wondering all along: after struggling my whole life, what was it all for?

“Wasn’t it so that the people of our Zhu family would never again have to endure the hardships suffered by our generation?

“Back then, your grandparents died before my eyes, and my brothers were forced to flee for their lives. Later, after I married your mother and our days gradually improved, I began thinking that I absolutely had to ensure the descendants of the Zhu family would never suffer like that again.

“I’ll tell you something quietly. That brat Zhang Yi said I wanted to give your younger brothers twenty thousand piculs of grain. Do you know how much I actually intend to give them?”

The old Zhu raised five fingers.

Zhu Biao drew a sharp breath.

Fifty thousand piculs?

His father was generous, certainly. But if fifty thousand piculs were used as the basis, then according to the method in Zhang Yi’s mathematical problem, the hidden danger facing Great Ming would be even more serious.

The problem of the imperial clan was ultimately still a difficult one.

So long as it remained unresolved, it would be an obvious time bomb.

The old Zhu did not dare implement his original plan for the imperial clan. That was why he had been sighing so heavily.

“If he had merely been making a prophecy, I could have listened to it half-heartedly. But he used that strange fortune-telling mathematics to calculate the matter for me. That told me this is something we absolutely cannot afford to take lightly. Eldest, tell me this: if I truly want to secure a promising future for your younger brothers, but do not want to trigger consequences that severe, what should I do?”

Zhu Biao: “…”

To him, this was practically a question of life and death.

As the Crown Prince, he naturally had no need to worry about the treatment his brothers would receive. But if he suggested reducing their allowances, would his father think that, as their elder brother, he was being unfair?

Yet after thinking it over, Zhu Biao realized that he himself would have to worry about this problem as well.

He could not possibly have only one son. In the future, his own sons would also become princes of the blood. Calculated that way, the future Zhang Yi had glimpsed through his mathematical problem seemed even more dire.

“For the moment, I cannot think of a solution. The only measure that seems remotely relevant would be the decree extending imperial favor…”

“Extending imperial favor?”

Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes lit up. But after pondering for a moment, he shook his head.

“No. It isn’t suitable.”

Father and son fell silent again. Zhu Biao ventured cautiously:

“Then, Father, perhaps we could reduce my brothers’ stipends somewhat?”

“Even if we reduce their stipends further, it won’t solve the fundamental problem. The true problem lies with me. Am I not trying to find a solution that satisfies both sides?”

Confronted with a merciless future, the emperor still wanted to struggle against it.

After all, he had spent his whole life as an old peasant. How could he resign himself so easily?

Zhu Biao could think of nothing. Then, suddenly, inspiration struck.

“Father, I do have one solution—though it may hardly qualify as a solution.”

“Speak.”

“Do you remember what Brother Zhang said? That this realm is small, but the world is vast…”

Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes brightened. That was indeed a feasible strategy.

“Father has always said that the people of our Zhu family must stand united. I, as the eldest brother, will remain here to oversee the court, while once my younger brothers take up their fiefs, they can help defend Great Ming…”

The old Zhu nodded. This was precisely the plan he had been considering.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust the civil officials at court, but he had reservations about the military commanders as well.

He trusted old brothers such as Xu Da and Chang Yuchun. Yet once the realm had been pacified, their military authority would certainly have to be brought under control.

At the same time, excessive suspicion toward military commanders was not a good thing either.

Unless the men who truly held military power were members of the Zhu family themselves.

Only when Zhu family princes and military commanders restrained one another could the realm enjoy lasting peace and stability.

The old Zhu wanted to grant his sons sufficient support not merely because he loved his sons and grandchildren.

He also had expectations for the descendants of the Zhu family.

Zhang Yi had used mathematics to calculate the fatal danger hidden in Zhu Yuanzhang’s arrangements. Zhu Yuanzhang therefore had to begin solving the problem.

Now it seemed that sending these young members of the imperial clan overseas might be an excellent decision.

Once Great Ming had stabilized the realm and grown prosperous, after Zhu Yuanzhang had conquered this little “realm” known as China, he ought to go and see the vast world beyond it.

The Zhu family would send its people out into the world.

The maritime strategy had originally become no more than an idea in the old Zhu’s mind after Zhang Yi displayed that map. But after discovering the hidden danger within the imperial clan, it had become a future national policy that Great Ming absolutely had to carry out.

“The Xuanwu Army’s military expenses must be scraped together somehow. And there’s something else… We must establish at least two shipyards.

“Ever since our great war with Chen Youliang, we’ve had far less dependence on shipbuilding. But if we’ve decided to sail overseas, we cannot allow those shipwrights to disappear.

“This concerns the fate of Great Ming. It must be done properly.

“No matter how tight things become or how poor we are, we must build them!”

“Yes, Father!”

Zhu Biao’s mind was already filled with visions of Great Ming’s treasure ships sailing across the seas. If that day truly came, Great Ming would surpass every dynasty that had come before and become the undisputed greatest of them all.

Perhaps the first emperor of Great Ming would never live to see that day, but it was entirely possible that it would arrive during Zhu Biao’s own rule.

Provided, of course, that he lived long enough to inherit his father’s throne.

Zhu Biao remembered Zhang Yi’s prediction regarding his fate, and the excitement in his heart cooled considerably.

Still, judging from his exchange with Zhang Yi just now, it seemed that a way to resolve the matter had already been found.

If so, then he could indeed afford to dream of Great Ming’s navy sailing beyond the seas.

The carriage carrying the emperor and Crown Prince slowly entered the imperial palace.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yi, stirred into action by the old Zhu’s words, had begun carefully writing out his own plans in his study.

Although that fellow Huang He had tricked him into promoting the reform of the imperial examinations for selfish reasons, Zhang Yi had genuinely begun to consider the meaning of his arrival in this world.

At first, he had only wanted to protect himself and live well for his own sake.

He had intended to witness the rise and fall of history, playing the role of a detached spectator.

But through a series of twists and accidents, he had already changed this world in countless ways. Perhaps, as Huang He had said, he too had a mission of his own.

Making this world a better place might not be such a bad idea.

Everyone from later generations who read history carried countless regrets and often sighed, thinking how wonderful it would have been if history had unfolded differently.

If only Zhu Biao had not died…

Li Shizhen had already come so close to inventing a vaccine against smallpox. Why couldn’t he have made one final effort? In the end, the foreign devils were the ones who researched it…

Zhang Yi had entertained many thoughts like these.

Now, he had personally resolved some of the regrets that had once haunted him.

“The imperial examinations…”

Zhang Yi wrote two characters on the paper. Ever since Xu Cunren had begun forcing him to practice calligraphy, his handwriting had improved considerably.

Then Zhang Yi wrote two more words:

Mathematics.

In Zhang Yi’s eyes, introducing mathematics into the imperial examinations was far more meaningful than wasting time debating whether the eight-legged essay should be changed.

Even without the eight-legged essay, the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism was still a tool for shackling the mind. Zhang Yi had once dreamed of learning the art of slaying dragons and cutting down the great dragon of Confucianism.

But he also understood that the popularity of every philosophy and school of thought was inseparable from the era in which it existed.

Confucianism might be an unsuitable doctrine in later generations, but in this age, it was difficult to find anything more appropriate.

Unless the age itself changed—unless changes in productivity altered the soil in which that doctrine grew—talking about slaying dragons would be nothing more than the ravings of a fool.

And mathematics…

Mathematics might very well be the catalyst.

The effect mathematics itself would have on the selection of talent through the examinations was not actually as great as Zhang Yi claimed.

But the inclusion of mathematics in the examinations might well transform the national destiny of China.

Just as Zhang Yi had explained with his distinction between principle and technique, the ancients placed excessive importance on principle while looking down on technique.

In particular, anything related to the natural sciences was dismissed as frivolous cleverness.

Yet those were precisely the things that truly advanced productivity.

Mathematics was one of the Six Arts of the gentleman. Once it reentered the imperial examinations, it would cease to be merely an “extracurricular hobby” for certain people and become an official field of study that everyone had to learn.

Zhang Yi believed its influence on China would be no less than that of inoculation against smallpox.

In an age when information was sealed away and ordinary people might live their entire lives without traveling more than ten miles from home, whether an academic discipline received official promotion made an enormous difference to its influence.

Take inoculation, for example. Without the old Zhu’s promotion, no matter how hard the people of Mount Longhu worked, it would have been an achievement merely to spread the method throughout Jiangxi.

Perhaps within a few decades, the method would have faded with the passage of time and vanished into the river of history.

Introducing mathematics into the imperial examinations did not mean that it could change everything overnight.

It meant that once mathematics gained the status of an official discipline, the geniuses of China would naturally use it to transform the world by degrees.

China had never lacked geniuses. Even in the past, when mathematics was not valued, ancient scholars had produced countless astonishing achievements in their leisure hours.

Once mathematics became an official field of study, its development would no longer require Zhang Yi’s concern.

Mathematics was the mother of the natural sciences. Once people acquired mathematical thinking, countless things would naturally emerge across the land of China.

“Principle and technique. Bringing mathematics into the imperial examinations will be the beginning of overturning the ancient preference for principle over technique and the literary over the practical!”

“Let’s do it!”

Zhang Yi tossed his brush onto the table and made up his mind.

…

The next day, Deng Zhongxiu once again took Zhang Yi to school. Now that the temple had money, the two of them had upgraded their transportation and managed to acquire a donkey cart.

Zhang Yi sat inside the cart with ordinary clothes thrown over his Daoist robe, muttering:

“I used to think Daoist robes were uncomfortable. Now I’ve realized that being a Daoist is still more comfortable.”

Deng Zhongxiu laughed when he heard this.

“Junior Brother, being able to study at the National Academy is an immense blessing. Yet here you are, still finding fault with everything. Perhaps in another ten years or so, I’ll have to address you as Official Zhang.

“Actually, I think that old Master Xu even intends to take you as a disciple. Why don’t you agree?”

Zhang Yi curled his lip. He did not dare tell Deng Zhongxiu that he would rather die than become an official hound of the Zhu family. But when it came to Xu Cunren, the matter was indeed troublesome.

Zhang Yi knew that Xu Cunren treated him well. Otherwise, he would never have risked using Kong Ne in an attempt to rescue Xu Cunren.

After that incident, his relationship with the old master had grown even closer. At least on the surface, it had surpassed his relationship with Zhang Zhengchang.

Outsiders all assumed that he and Kong Ne would become Xu Cunren’s disciples, having formally entered the old master’s tutelage. It seemed only natural.

Xu Cunren might not have been a figure on the level of Song Lian or Liu Bowen, but he was still a great Confucian whom ordinary people could never hope to approach.

And after the emperor ordered him to reform the imperial examinations, Xu Cunren’s authority had, in a sense, become extraordinarily powerful.

Becoming his disciple was indeed a blessing many people could never obtain.

But Zhang Yi still shook his head. He had no particular desire to take a master.

The cart passed through the bustling streets and arrived at the entrance of the National Academy.

Zhang Yi jumped down from the cart, only to see someone standing there.

“Kong Ne!”

(End of chapter)