The Ming Dynasty was on the verge of ruin.
This was something Zhu Yijun naturally knew. Not only did he know it, but he also knew the exact year it would fall; to him, it was hardly news.
Yet coming from Zhang Juzheng's mouth, the words carried a completely different weight.
Were such words taboo? Of course not.
In truth, after the turmoil wrought by his grandfather, the Jiajing Emperor, such voices were everywhere both inside and outside the court.
Indeed, this very sentiment had served as fertile ground for the reformist faction!
Why had Xu Jie and Li Chunfang fallen from power one after the other? Why were both the Senior Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat now reformists?
It was precisely because the urgent internal and external pressures facing the Ming Dynasty could no longer be ignored—mere paper-pasters could no longer keep pace with the tide demanded by men of insight.
Against this backdrop, whenever the reformists submitted memorials, they invariably sounded alarms that the Ming Dynasty was doomed.
In the first year of Longqing, when Grand Secretary Zhao Zhenji presented a memorial, he had stated: "Though today there is the reputation of peace and order, the reality is lacking; though there are no overt crises or rebellions, the conditions for them already exist."
Gao Gong's memorials were likewise rife with phrases like "the realm has already reached an hour of peril and ruin."
Zhang Juzheng had an even earlier record: in his *Memorial Presenting Six Affairs*, he had written that "the realm harbors tendencies of deeply entrenched habits that are difficult to reverse."
Claiming that the Ming Dynasty was doomed was still far more pleasant to the ear than Hai Rui bluntly scolding that the realm had been sick of His Majesty for a very long time.
Still, while such things could be said, the question was: why was Zhang Juzheng saying them to a ten-year-old child with no real power?
Could he endorse Zhang Juzheng, or could he let Zhang Juzheng replace Gao Gong as Senior Grand Secretary?
Zhu Yijun could not fathom what game Zhang Juzheng was playing, so he could only carefully conceal his thoughts.
Feigning an appropriate look of shock, he asked, "Why does the Grand Secretary say such things?!"
Zhang Juzheng bowed in apology.
Crisply drawing three scrolls of manuscripts from his sleeve, he presented them with both hands. "These are writings your servant compiled throughout last night. Your Highness will understand upon reading them."
Perplexed, Zhu Yijun gently took them. "What are these?"
Zhang Juzheng did not beat around the bush and answered with a bow, "Your Highness, the population, cultivated acreage, and tax revenues from the Hongwu reign to the present day are all roughly set forth in these scrolls. I invite Your Highness to peruse them."
Zhu Yijun unrolled one and glanced over it.
They truly were the population numbers, acreage of cultivated fields, and fiscal revenues across various periods since the founding of the dynasty.
He did not look closely; instead, he simply rolled it shut and said bashfully, "Grand Secretary, I am young and lacking in virtue and knowledge, so I do not quite understand."
Zhang Juzheng paused for a moment, steadying himself before speaking: "Look, Your Highness: at the founding of our dynasty, what was the acreage of cultivated land?"
Zhu Yijun unrolled the scroll again and looked through it following Zhang Juzheng's guidance.
Finding the early Hongwu years, he uttered an 'oh': "Grand Secretary, it was over 370 million mu."
Patiently guiding him, Zhang Juzheng asked, "And now?"
Zhu Yijun asked in confusion, "Over 460 million mu. Grand Secretary, is something amiss?"
Not knowing whether Zhang Juzheng was testing him, he had no choice but to feign ignorance.
Zhang Juzheng sighed deeply. "Your Highness, at the founding of the dynasty, mountains and rivers lay in ruins. Now, after a long era of peace, the two figures show little difference. Your Highness, therein lies the problem."
Zhu Yijun asked curiously, "Isn't this an increase of ninety million mu? Why do you say there is little difference, Grand Secretary?"
His bright, clear eyes fixed upon Zhang Juzheng, filled with an eagerness to learn.
Zhang Juzheng fell silent for a moment before saying, "Your Highness, during the Hongzhi era, the cultivated acreage stood at eight hundred million mu."
The Hongzhi era, spanning from 1488 to 1505, was a century after the founding of the dynasty.
As if only just realizing, Zhu Yijun looked at the corresponding period on the scroll, then gasped in astonishment: "From Hongzhi to the present, seventy-two years of peace, and yet the cultivated fields have decreased rather than increased?!"
Zhang Juzheng nodded.
Zhu Yijun pressed further, "Grand Secretary, what is the reason for this? Could the land have fallen into neglect?"
He was feigning foolishness while knowing the truth full well.
Zhang Juzheng shook his head and replied, "Your Highness, it is not that the land lies barren. It is annexation! It is the concealment of fields!"
He uttered the words through gritted teeth, heavy with indignation.
"In years of disaster, when commoners cannot pay their taxes, they pawn their land to powerful and wealthy households. Once they are unable to repay the debt, their fields are annexed by these magnates, and they themselves are reduced to tenant farmers.
"And once the magnates have annexed the fields, they conceal the acreage to evade taxes."
Zhu Yijun appeared pale with shock. "Annexing fields and evading taxes? Why do the authorities not arrest them?!"
Even as he asked, he almost failed to suppress a laugh.
He understood this as clear as a mirror.
Land annexation—naturally he knew about it.
In this world, two things could never be avoided: death and taxes.
Yet for these massive asset-holding entities, it was two different things: annexation and tax evasion.
The local authorities arresting them? Anyone who heard that would laugh their teeth off.
These very practices were sheltered by local yamen, traditionally split thirty-seventy.
Never mind arresting anyone; if someone from the court dared to conduct a land survey, in mild cases the archives would be 'accidentally lost,' and in severe cases, the imperial commissioner's lodgings would 'catch fire.'
Emperor Guangwu was able to rebuild the Han Dynasty, but could he successfully carry out a land survey? Surveying the land was harder than conquering the realm!
Otherwise, why would the central court turn a deaf ear and a blind eye?
This was not happening in a single garrison or prefecture; the entire realm was doing it!
The difficulty of realm-wide affairs lay precisely here: everyone was entangled with one another, and pulling a single hair moved the entire body. Who dared interfere? Whoever dared interfere became an enemy of 'the common people of the realm'!
As for who 'the common people of the realm' were? The power of definition rested in the hands of those very 'common people.'
Zhang Juzheng did not answer directly why the authorities did not make arrests.
Instead, he sighed and pointed to another scroll. "Your Highness, this scroll records the population across the reigns."
Sensibly skipping the previous topic, Zhu Yijun unrolled the other scroll.
Zhang Juzheng said, "Your Highness might look at the number of households and individuals during the Hongwu reign."
Finding the section, Zhu Yijun read aloud, "During the Hongwu reign: ten million households, and fifty-eight million individuals."
This was something he truly had not known.
He was, however, more familiar with that Qing-era phrase about 'four hundred million compatriots.'
Still, fifty-odd million was vastly different from four hundred million.
Pondering this, Zhu Yijun did not wait for Zhang Juzheng to prompt him; he tactfully located the present entry: "Longqing 6: ten million households, sixty-two million individuals."
He looked up in simulated astonishment. "The population has grown so insignificantly compared to the founding of the dynasty?!"
He timely displayed his intellect, drawing inferences from what he had seen.
"Your Highness is exceptionally bright," Zhang Juzheng praised, then added, "In the second year of Yuanshi of the Western Han, the registered population was already fifty-nine million."
The second year of Yuanshi—the late Western Han, over a thousand years ago.
Zhu Yijun did not hesitate to ask: "Grand Secretary, is it because after the commoners become tenant farmers, the wealthy households conceal their numbers?"
The Ming Dynasty currently levied a poll tax.
Ordinary commoners had no means of evading taxes, but it was a different story for powerful magnates.
In collusion with local officials, reporting thirty percent out of ten tenths of the population was already considered conscientious.
Zhang Juzheng bowed low. "None surpasses Your Highness in sagacity."
Zhu Yijun hurriedly helped him up and sighed, "I understand what the Grand Secretary means."
He had feigned foolishness by asking why local yamen did not arrest the tax-evading magnates, and Zhang Juzheng had answered him with population figures.
Because the local magnates possessed not only land, but also people!
Did the yamen dare to investigate?
Fine, even if you were an unyielding official willing to destroy their families and exterminate their lineages, what about the other magnates concealing land and people?
Would they not feel the grief of the hare when the fox dies? Might some hothead shout that the officials were driving the people to revolt?
Even if they dared not openly raise flags of rebellion themselves, colluding in secret and financing bandits, pirates, and roving outlaws with men and money would instantly throw a whole region into turmoil.
Were the wokou along the southeastern coast all men of Fusang? Of course not.
The underlying principle was identical.
If the gentry and magnates of the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces all resisted central decrees, the collapse of the realm would be far more than mere talk.
Zhang Juzheng bowed and said, "Yesterday in the hall, regarding the Huguang tax affair and the Xuan-Da frontier affair, both had unspoken difficulties. Your servant took the liberty of using these to resolve Your Highness's doubts."
Zhu Yijun gazed steadily at Zhang Juzheng.
How many heroes had walked the earth?
Here was an illustrious paragon of his age, whose understanding of state affairs and worldly conditions was truly crystal clear.
From the Jiajing era to the present, he had likely spent countless days and nights deep in contemplation over these dossiers; perhaps no one understood the chronic ailments of the Ming Dynasty more deeply than he did.
It was not that Zhang Juzheng did not know the difficulty of reform; he was simply facing the challenge head-on.
Zhu Yijun gently took Zhang Juzheng's hand and comforted him, "Grand Secretary Zhang has toiled hard, exercising forbearance for the sake of the state."
Zhang Juzheng froze, his back instinctively arching, before slowly relaxing after a good while.
"Your Highness honors me too much.
"There is also the tax scroll. I invite Your Highness to inspect it."
Zhu Yijun nodded, drew back his hand, and unrolled the final scroll.
There was actually no real need to look at this scroll.
With acreage and registered population falling year after year, one hardly needed to look to know the state of tax revenue.
Furthermore, the Ming Dynasty's tax system suffered from inherent defects to begin with.
Zhang Juzheng spoke at the right moment: "Your Highness, last year, the land tax collected by the Ministry of Revenue converted to 14.75 million taels of silver.
"Seventy-two years ago, in the Hongzhi era, the land tax converted to 16.14 million taels of silver.
"Last year, twenty-four million shi of grain were collected, inferior even to the thirty-one million shi at the founding of the dynasty.
"Your Highness, military pay for the frontier armies has gone unpaid for several years, and official salaries have likewise been in arrears for years.
"If we still fail to collect taxes... the central court will truly reach the end of its rope!"
Zhu Yijun listened quietly until he finished, skimming through the thin scroll.
He sighed, "No wonder the Grand Secretary says the Ming Dynasty is doomed."
A destitute central court, and local regions where imperial decrees could not penetrate.
Covetous wokou and Tatars, and frontier armies that received no pay.
Factional, self-serving civil officials, and gentry clans endowed with men, money, and land.
The Ming Dynasty, alas...
Zhang Juzheng straightened up and answered, "Your Highness, if this continues, how can the Ming Dynasty remain secure? This is truly a critical juncture of life and death for the realm!"
Zhu Yijun remained silent. Suddenly, he raised his head.
Gazing steadily at Zhang Juzheng, he said without expression, "What is to be done?"
Indeed, what could be done?
The realm was nearing its end; what was to be done?
You, Zhang Juzheng, are a Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, while I am merely a ten-year-old child.
Even if I am clever and understand you, what more do you expect of me?
Real power is not in my hands; why speak to me? If you have admonitions, why not submit a memorial to the Two Palaces?
Zhu Yijun had never lowered his guard.
He still vividly remembered how Zhang Juzheng had instructed Gao Yi to teach 'Taijia' during the daily lectures.
Now that he was laying all this out, what were his true intentions?
Zhang Juzheng suddenly raised his head and lowered his voice: "Your Highness, only one person can save the Ming Dynasty!"
At these words, Zhu Yijun felt as if doused with a basin of cold water, snapping instantly to full alert.
He abruptly realized the atmosphere was amiss.
Looking up and casting his gaze around, he saw that the surroundings were completely devoid of people; even the eunuchs on duty were nowhere to be seen!
Zhu Yijun's heart tightened. Was this a showdown?
Only one person? That would be you, Zhang Juzheng, wouldn't it?!
Urging him not to grasp for power and to surrender authority so Zhang could act as Yi Yin governing the state, returning power only after implementing his new policies?
A flare of resentment inexplicably rose in Zhu Yijun's chest.
You, Zhang Juzheng, are a paragon of the age, but am I not one as well?!
Who among us didn't fight their way up from a commoner to the very center of power?!
You, Zhang Juzheng, can merely prolong the life of the Ming Dynasty, but I can save the realm!
With irritation stifling his chest, he could hardly maintain his polite facade.
His tone could not help but turn stiff as he said, "Oh? Who might that be? Why not tell me, so that I may seek their counsel?"
Even if Zhang Juzheng wished to hold sway over him, he would never yield.
Many wished to save the realm, but only one could hold supreme rule!
This was a struggle over direction! A clash over orthodox authority!
Zhang Juzheng responded in a resonant voice: "The one to save the Ming Dynasty is, naturally, none other than Your Highness!"
Zhu Yijun stiffened, then shuddered with sudden shock!
Damn it!
I walked right into it!
This fellow was probing him!
Zhang Juzheng was likely suspecting that his suppression of Feng Bao and promotion of Zhang Hong yesterday had been deliberate.
He might even suspect that the prince was another Emperor Yingzong—biding his time and scheming to seize power—and thus sought to test him.
Yet Zhu Yijun's reaction just now had confirmed those suspicions entirely.
Using 'Taijia' in the daily lecture as a prelude, and then dissecting governance to lay bare the realm's deep malignancies, Zhang Juzheng had patiently guided him along.
Feigning a final showdown at the end had been solely to gauge the shifts in his emotions.
Zhu Yijun's reaction earlier had certainly been caught by Zhang Juzheng; judging by his expression, he had clearly reached a firm conclusion regarding the prince's actions over the past two days.
And he had only realized it after the fact!
Fine, fine! What deep, calculating shrewdness!
Having transmigrated not long ago, he still carried his old habits and failed to rein in the leadership mentality from his previous life; in a moment of carelessness, he had let Zhang Juzheng probe his depths.
Now, his persona as a precociously shrewd, calculating prince with hidden depths was all but cemented.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yijun took a quiet, deep breath and composed his emotions.
Since it had already happened, fretting over it served no purpose.
Composedly taking up the thread, he said, "Why does the Grand Secretary urge succession in a private audience? It is improper."
Showing no emotion on his face, Zhang Juzheng answered, "The realm hinges upon Your Highness alone. Your servant merely presumes to place his hopes in Your Highness:
"'Cultivate virtue and nourish character, show courtesy and respect to Confucian scholars, and inquire into state affairs.
"'Preserve the foundation laid by the ancestral emperors, and rescue the realm from its perilous decline.'"
Zhu Yijun nodded. "I have taken the Grand Secretary's words today to heart."
With this, the audience drew to an end.
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and Zhang Juzheng bowed and took his leave.
Zhu Yijun quietly watched Zhang Juzheng's departing silhouette.
His face was devoid of expression.
Once Zhang Juzheng left, he would likely be on guard against him immediately.
In this game, both he and Zhang Juzheng had nearly laid their cards on the table, while Gao Gong held the supreme post of Senior Grand Secretary and looked down upon both of them.
There was also Feng Bao stirring trouble between them.
Add to that the Shanxi Faction, the pure stream, the frontier garrisons, and the regional administrations—the situation was a chaotic knot; seizing power for himself would truly be arduous.
Yet...
Just as Zhang Juzheng neared the corner, Zhu Yijun suddenly called out, "Grand Secretary Zhang!"
Zhang Juzheng stopped at once, turned back in perplexity, and prepared to bow.
Zhu Yijun raised a hand to lightly stay his bow, flashing a bright smile: "In the rise and fall of the realm, Grand Secretary, just watch what I will do!"
To struggle with heaven brings boundless joy; to struggle with men brings even more boundless joy!
With that, without looking back and attended by eunuchs, he turned and walked into the inner chamber.
Watching the crown prince's departing figure, a flicker of surprise crossed Zhang Juzheng's eyes.
Bowing, he withdrew outside.
...
Truly a fine sage ruler.
With measured steps, Zhang Juzheng walked out from the East Side Hall, yet his heart was far from calm.
This crown prince, just as he had suspected, harbored an ambition to participate in governance and seize power; yesterday's events had indeed been entirely calculated.
Only ten years old, yet possessing such an intellect, grasping for power and hiding his depths—extraordinary!
Compared to this crown prince, when he, Zhang Juzheng, had been ten, he had still been... oh, it seemed he had already been writing policy essays critiquing the realm, earning high praise from the provincial governor; so it seemed the prince still fell slightly short.
Nevertheless, it was all the more remarkable; to be spoken of in the same breath as Zhang himself, this crown prince was probably the most precocious monarch in the dynasty's two hundred years, second only to Emperor Yingzong.
If this new monarch were to direct even half his mind toward the righteous path, it would truly be the fortune of the realm.
As for now...
He looked toward the young eunuch beside him and said, "Go inform Senior Eunuch Feng to watch out for Zhang Hong."
The words were veiled, but Feng Bao would certainly understand.
Indeed—Feng Bao's ally was none other than Zhang Juzheng!
Otherwise, how could he dare to probe the crown prince in a place so full of eyes and ears as Wenhua Hall?
Otherwise, how could Feng Bao have learned that Gao Gong was submitting a memorial of impeachment?
Colluding with eunuchs was a grave taboo for Grand Secretaries and a disgrace for civil officials.
Yet he did not care!
To accomplish great deeds, how could one spare oneself?
Even Gao Gong understood that implementing new policies required holding supreme power, stopping at nothing to suppress fellow Grand Secretaries and purge dissidents; how could Zhang Juzheng not know?
What good men and bad men, pure streams and turbid streams—all mere views of fools!
He, Zhang Juzheng, was no empty-talking pure stream paper-paster; he was a capable bureaucrat!
A capable bureaucrat who could get things done and hold up the collapsing heavens!
For this, he did not hesitate to associate with vile eunuchs and stab a steadfast friend in the back, for he knew that Gao Gong could not save the Ming Dynasty!
For this, he did not hesitate to pry into the imperial mind and treat the Son of Heaven like a child, for he was afraid—afraid that in this final chance, he would once again encounter a 'sage ruler' who cared nothing for the realm!
He was no longer young; his greying temples told him that this was his last opportunity.
Posthumous affairs, posthumous reputation? With the Ming Dynasty hanging by a thread, he could not afford to think so far ahead.
If the Ming Dynasty was to be reborn from the flames through the sacrificial altar of new policies, then the sovereign's authority, the grand secretaries' ambitions, the gentry's greed, and even his own life—every single one could be placed upon the table as a sacrifice!
The Ming Dynasty had to be brought back from the dead by his hands!
With his back to Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng took firm, steady steps, walking out of Wenhua Hall and returning to the Grand Secretariat.
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Note 1: "Recently, laws and discipline have gradually grown lax, and customs have degenerated daily; this is precisely the affliction born of long-standing peace. Though there is the reputation of peace and order, the reality is lacking; though there are no overt crises or rebellions, the conditions for them already exist. This is what is meant by bequeathing heavy burdens to the present." — *Huang Ming Jing Shi Wen Bian*, Fascicle 254, *Memorial on the Three Tendencies, Nine Evils, and Three Situations*.
Note 2: Lai Jiancheng, *Frontier Garrisons and Rations: Border Defense Expenditures and National Fiscal Crises in Mid-to-Late Ming*, Zhejiang University Press, 2010.
Note 3: Zhou Bodi, *Fiscal History of China*, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1981.
Note 4: Liu Xiaocheng, *Chinese Fiscal and Taxation History*, China Financial & Economic Publishing House, 2007.
Note 5: Yang Hui, *A Comparative Study on the Structure of Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Between China and Britain from the 17th to 19th Centuries*, Northeast Normal University, 2013 (02).
Note 6: It should be noted that the population figures mentioned by Zhang Juzheng are Ming official statistics. According to modern demographic modeling, the population in the sixth year of Longqing was approximately 150.91 million.
Chapter 12