Chapter Ninety-Three: Opening the Sea, Part Five

Chapter Ninety-Three: Opening the Seas, Part Five

Indeed, Zhu Qizhen had already decided to protect Wang Zhen.

It was not that Zhu Qizhen felt some great affection for Wang Zhen. Rather, the two of them were truly bound together. Wang Zhen controlled the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Directorate of Ceremonial, and those powers were, in effect, indirectly in Zhu Qizhen’s hands as well.

If Wang Zhen were brought down and Jin Ying took his place, Zhu Qizhen could not be sure whether the new man would still obey him.

Before his wings had fully grown, Zhu Qizhen could not part with Wang Zhen.

Zhu Qizhen said, “Tell me, what do you intend to do now?”

Wang Zhen replied cautiously, “Would it not be best to have Li Shimian sent to the imperial prison?”

Zhu Qizhen gave a cold laugh. “You make it sound so simple. Setting aside the bond between Master Li and me, if others have seized upon your weakness, that is because you were careless in your work. Must Master Li therefore be silenced? Even if I agreed, the Grand Empress Dowager would never permit it.”

Wang Zhen had only heard the latter half of that sentence. He knew all too well that with the Grand Empress Dowager still alive, Li Shimian could never be touched. He forced down the hatred in his heart. Just as he was about to speak, an attendant outside announced, “Your Majesty, Lord Yu requests an audience.”

Zhu Qizhen immediately took his seat upon the imperial throne. “Let him in.”

As soon as Yu Qian entered and completed his bow, he at once pleaded, “This matter is my fault. I had not foreseen it clearly enough.”

Zhu Qizhen said, “This cannot be blamed on you, Master Yu. It is Attendant Wang who has made far too many mistakes in handling affairs and given others an opening to strike.”

Yu Qian said, “Your Majesty, I have just investigated it as well. Most of the ten charges submitted by Lord Li are true. Right now, the court and the realm alike are in an uproar, and the remonstrance officials are all rushing to submit memorials.”

“What happened at this morning’s audience with Lord Li was only the beginning.”

Zhu Qizhen felt a splitting pain in his head. “I knew that Master Li was somewhat off today. So this was his move.”

Do not imagine that because Li Shimian was loyal and upright, he knew nothing of how to conduct affairs.

He was not unaware that before the emperor personally assumed full rule, the morning audience was little more than empty ceremony. And yet he still chose to speak his mind. He was not speaking for Zhu Qizhen to hear, but for the civil and military officials to hear.

Although the morning audience had long ceased to discuss major affairs and had become highly ceremonial, all the senior officials of every ministry, both civil and military, were present.

Thus, when such a major incident broke out during the morning audience, the entire capital’s official circles were shaken.

If this era had hot searches, then Li Shimian’s impeachment of Wang Zhen would surely have exploded to the very top.

Needless to say, every remonstrance official in the Censorate was probably drafting memorials as well. By afternoon, a blizzard of petitions would likely be flying in.

Zhu Qizhen said, “Master Yu, what should be done now?”

Yu Qian said, “The officials have long been dissatisfied with Eunuch Wang. Even if Your Majesty wishes to protect him, you should still let him avoid the storm for the moment. If Your Majesty announces that the voyages to the Western Ocean are to be suspended and orders Eunuch Wang to leave the capital, I think the ministers’ anger can be calmed.”

Zhu Qizhen looked at Yu Qian and suddenly found him strangely unfamiliar.

After a long silence, Zhu Qizhen said, “Must Attendant Wang leave the palace?”

Yu Qian said, “I misjudged the intensity of the officials’ fury toward Eunuch Wang. If Your Majesty abandons the opening of the seas, then this matter concerning Eunuch Wang can be put off for the time being. Yet I fear that if this chance is missed, it will be difficult to speak of opening the seas again in the future.”

Zhu Qizhen looked at Yu Qian, as if trying to read something from his expression. But his suspicion of Yu Qian only grew stronger. He always felt that Yu Qian was not without a way; rather, he was simply pleased to see Wang Zhen forced out of the palace.

After all, no civil official wanted an influential eunuch at the emperor’s side. He suspected that Yu Qian was merely letting things ride the current.

At present, Zhu Qizhen had pinned all his thoughts on the strategy for the Southern Seas, hoping to plant a stake there and leave behind a hidden move for the future.

If he had not felt that this matter was so important, he would not have needed to discuss it with the Grand Empress Dowager. In his own weighing of things, sacrificing Wang Zhen to accomplish it was not impossible.

But now his suspicion of Yu Qian had risen, and he no longer intended to decide at once.

At that moment, Zhu Qizhen suddenly found himself understanding the Grand Empress Dowager’s words.

The loyalty a loyal minister imagined for himself was not necessarily the loyalty the ruler wanted.

In Yu Qian’s view, perhaps this was merely a chance to uproot the treacherous ministers around the emperor. But Zhu Qizhen could not accept having an arm cut from his body. What he could not accept even more was being played at will by those beneath him.

Not even if that man was Yu Qian, the loyal minister whom history would prove to be beyond reproach.

At that moment, Zhu Qizhen deeply suspected that Yu Qian had long ago dug a pit, intending to strike two birds with one stone: remove Wang Zhen and, at the same time, carry out the task the emperor had entrusted to him.

Yet Zhu Qizhen’s suspicion was only suspicion, and would forever remain so. He would never ask it aloud in this lifetime. Still, his acting had not yet reached perfection. With a trace of disappointment in his voice, he said, “Master Yu, rest for a while. You have already been busy since this morning. As for this matter, I shall think on it further.”

After sending Yu Qian away, Zhu Qizhen waved everyone else out of the Hall of Heavenly Purity as well. Alone, he wandered through the hall, his hand passing over a bookshelf, brushing across the wooden plaques one by one, from the Northern and Southern Capital Regions to Guizhou and Yunnan.

He came to a set of wind chimes and gave them a light tap. A clear metallic ring answered.

“A ruler and minister battle a hundred times in a single day,” Zhu Qizhen murmured with a soft sigh. “Only today do I truly understand the meaning of Han Feizi’s words. What is being a lone sovereign? It is one man contending against the whole world.”

“The Oirats, the Jurchens, Vietnam, the Southern Seas, the Three Yangs, Zhang Fu, the Grand Empress Dowager, and the common people under heaven: all are my subjects, and all are also my enemies.”

“As for loyalty between ruler and minister, the loyalty he imagines and the loyalty I imagine are not the same thing at all.”

“So what if you say Your Majesty must be the embodiment of great loyalty? Must I, then, be manipulated by you so-called loyal ministers?”

Zhu Qizhen spread his arms. “Let us see, then. Let us see who controls whom.”

At last, Zhu Qizhen clearly understood his own position. After grasping this truth, he still faced the deadlock before him, but what he thought and planned was no longer the same as before.

From the perspective of the Great Ming, planting a stake in the Southern Seas was the most important matter.

But at that moment, Zhu Qizhen understood one thing with utter clarity: once values differ and interests differ, no true compromise is possible. Only power matters.

Only power is what matters most.

I am the state.

My interests stand above the interests of the state.

If he could not secure his own position, then what if he planted a stake in the Southern Seas? In the end, it would still be abandoned.

Only then did he finally understand Lord Jian’s words.

Only power gives rise to all things. For an emperor, this is even more true: power is life, power is breath, power is the pulse.

For an emperor is born into symbiosis with power. An emperor without power, no matter how healthy his body, is already a dying man.

Talk of making the Great Ming endure for ten thousand generations and surpass the Han and Tang is the thinking of ordinary people. The emperor’s way of thinking should be this: after my death, let the floodwaters rise for all I care.

Therefore, the Shi family in the Southern Seas could be set aside for now, but Wang Zhen absolutely had to be preserved.

Keeping Wang Zhen meant preserving his influence within the palace, preserving the Embroidered Uniform Guard faction, and having the strength to contend with the Eastern Depot under Jin Ying. At the very least, it would ensure that he would not die an unnatural death in the palace.

It would also preserve his authority.

Otherwise, if he could not even protect someone as close and considerate as Wang Zhen, who would still be willing to serve the emperor?

As for whether Wang Zhen was a scoundrel or a monster beyond forgiveness, he was sorry, but that matter would have to be put aside for now. A struggle for power was a war.

First he had to determine victory and defeat.

Only then would he decide whether justice existed.

For as the saying goes, the victor is king and the loser a bandit. The defeated have no justice.

Once Zhu Qizhen had sorted out his thoughts, the first question that arose was: who exactly was the enemy?

Was it the Grand Empress Dowager? Was it Yang Shiqi? Hu Ying? Zhang Fu? Or someone else?

What concerned him most was what the Grand Empress Dowager’s end might be. If the Grand Empress Dowager were the one to fall, then things would be difficult indeed.

Yet on this matter, only one man could answer him.

That man was Yang Rong.

The moment Zhu Qizhen thought of Yang Rong, Yang Rong arrived.

A voice came from outside. “Your Majesty, Lord Yang Rong has arrived.”

Zhu Qizhen said, “Let him in.” Then, as if struck by some thought, he added, “No, I shall go greet him myself.”

He pushed open the door and stepped out into the courtyard. Yang Rong had just entered the gate, and he had never imagined that Zhu Qizhen would be standing right before him. He immediately bowed and said, “Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty.”

Zhu Qizhen hurried forward to support Yang Rong and said, “Lord Yang, I—” His eyes widened, and he wore an expression as though tears were about to fall.