Zhang Juzheng had returned from surveying the imperial mausoleum.
Only he had come back ahead of the others, who were still on the road.
Because Grand Secretary Zhang had come down with heatstroke — a genuine case of it.
Right now he lay at home, his medicine served to him by his son Zhang Jingxiu.
Zhang Jingxiu pushed the door open and came in carrying the bowl of medicine. He stepped up to the bedside and said softly, "Father, it's time for your medicine."
Zhang Juzheng slowly sat up, took the bowl, and swallowed it down in one gulp.
Once he had finished serving the medicine, Zhang Jingxiu complained as he tidied up, "Why did you have to rush back like that?"
Mount Tianshou was certainly sweltering.
But when a senior court official went out to choose a tomb for the late emperor, there was no lack of shade and cold compresses — how could he so easily come down with heatstroke?
This was plainly a heatstroke he had courted on purpose, so he would have an excuse to hurry back as fast as possible.
Zhang Juzheng lay back down in silence, in no mood to humor his son.
That Gao Gong had pulled such a move was something even he had not foreseen.
He'd had no choice but to use this method to rush back and clean up the mess.
Along the way, one startling report after another had reached his ears.
First it was that Feng Bao had been stripped of the Eastern Depot, with Li Jin stepping in to take his place.
Then it was that Gao Gong meant to abolish the Directorate of Ceremonial.
And then, when he heard that Gao Gong had played his trump card and meant to grant Empress Dowager Chen an honorary title, his heart churned like a stormy sea.
This was his friendship solid as metal and stone — the man's talent and skillful handling truly had not disappointed him.
As he was thinking this, his second son Zhang Sixiu suddenly came running in, pointing toward the main gate: "Father! There's a..."
Zhang Juzheng cut him off, displeased: "Didn't I say I'm not seeing guests today, no matter who comes?"
Zhang Sixiu panted hard: "It's... it's the Senior Grand Secretary!"
Zhang Juzheng flung the covers off at once.
He snatched up his clothes haphazardly and pulled them on.
He rushed out the door, his voice trailing back from beyond the room: "Go — invite him to the study to see me!"
……
Zhang Sixiu escorted Gao Gong to the study, where he saw Zhang Juzheng sitting upright before the writing desk.
In one hand he held a summary of the Grand Secretariat's recent memorials; in the other, the bowl of medicine.
He sipped from it as though drinking tea, then went on reading.
"Father, the Senior Grand Secretary has come to see you."
Having announced this, Zhang Sixiu offered Gao Gong a seat and withdrew.
Gao Gong took the seat and shook his head: "This boy — he doesn't even know to brew me a cup of tea."
Only then did Zhang Juzheng look at him, shielding his son without a trace of it showing: "We're out of tea at home."
That excuse was far too flimsy to be sincere.
Gao Gong had only said it in passing; it wasn't as if he really needed the tea.
He stared at Zhang Juzheng for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "Heatstroke, really? That urgent?"
Ridiculed, Zhang Juzheng colored a little. Setting down the bowl of medicine, he said irritably, "I could hardly have the imperial physician come in and find me hale and hearty, could I? That would make me Sima Yi."
Gao Gong knew this was a veiled jab at him — hinting that his present conduct was rather like Sima Yi's.
He didn't take offense. Instead, with a show of concern, he said, "Then rest up and recover properly. It works out well, really — no one much needs you to handle official business for the time being."
Gao Gong was the sort of man who had a foul temper when the wind blew against him and a cutting tongue when it was at his back.
Zhang Juzheng truly didn't know what to do with him: "Let's get to the real business."
Gao Gong nodded: "Fine. Shall we talk out in the courtyard?"
Men in high positions all had this habit.
Either a spacious, empty hall, or a courtyard with no one about.
In short, when discussing serious matters, one could not risk eavesdroppers behind the wall.
Zhang Juzheng asked, "Give me a hand up?"
Gao Gong ignored him entirely, walked to the doorway, and bellowed, "Zhang boy, come help your father!"
Inwardly Zhang Juzheng thought it a pity — chances to have Gao Gong wait on him were few and far between.
At Gao Gong's shout, both of Zhang Juzheng's sons came running.
One supported his aged father, while the other trailed behind, carefully attending him.
Following Gao Gong, they made their way to the pavilion in the center of the courtyard.
Zhang Juzheng waved his sons off: "All right, off you go. The Senior Grand Secretary and I have matters to discuss."
Knowing too much made it all too easy to invite disaster.
But once he had seated himself on the stone bench, he turned to find that his two sons had not budged an inch.
Zhang Juzheng glared at them, driving them off with his eyes.
Gao Gong stepped in to smooth things over: "They're just afraid I'll bully you."
"Then let them listen. It's not as if I'll say anything harmful."
Zhang Juzheng was helpless.
He could only wave a hand, telling his two sons to stand farther off.
The two sons withdrew respectfully beyond the pavilion, to just the distance where they could make out the conversation without seeming intrusive.
Once only the two of them remained, Gao Gong looked about him and sighed: "This mansion of yours really is vast — far better than that run-down place of mine."
Zhang Juzheng didn't take up the remark: "Your place doesn't even have a cool pavilion. How would you discuss anything?"
Gao Gong smiled: "This way it's less likely to be confiscated."
With that, the smile left his face.
He looked at Zhang Juzheng and said gravely, "Baigui, retire from office."
Zhang Juzheng was silent.
He didn't answer directly. Instead he said, "I hear you've even tolerated Yang Bo and Zhang Siwei. So why is it that, when it comes to me, you urge me to retire?"
That Gao Gong had gone to see Lü Diaoyang, Zhang Juzheng naturally did not know.
But he had heard something of how Yang Bo and Zhang Siwei had come to call in person the night before.
The result was plain enough.
Since Yang Bo had shown up at the court deliberation, it meant Gao Gong had let the matter slide lightly.
Otherwise, more than just the Minister of Justice would be pleading illness today.
Gao Gong did not beat about the bush with him. He came straight to the point: "Yang Bo and Zhang Siwei are, in the end, just petty, groveling opportunists."
"I keep them around to placate Xuan-Da. And I'm not afraid of them scheming against me a second time."
"To put it as an analogy — much like the plain-tale Journey to the West says — they can't escape the palm of my hand."
"Not just them. I can tolerate Lü Diaoyang as well."
"As long as I can keep them under control and they serve the good of the realm, I can tolerate them."
"But you are different..."
"Baigui, retire."
He didn't explain in what way Zhang was different — he simply repeated the demand.
Zhang Juzheng asked curiously, "If I retire, what do you mean to do? Do you really intend to become Sima Yi?"
Gao Gong rose and clapped a hand on Zhang Juzheng's shoulder: "There's no need for probing questions."
"I can tell you plainly: I mean to hold real chancellorial power!"
"Gathering up the Directorate of Ceremonial's authority is only the first step. When the reign era changes next year, I will ask the Emperor and the Two Palaces to make the Grand Secretariat an independent office, raise its rank, and set it above the Six Ministries."
"Not just Wang Chonggu and Lü Diaoyang — I will also expand the seats of the Grand Secretariat, restore the Eastern and Western Bureaus, and draw in military talent."
"At that point, perhaps I could let you return to the Grand Secretariat."
Zhang Juzheng listened in silence.
When Gao Gong had finished, he finally sighed: "Gao Suqing, what you're doing is hardly any different from treason."
Gao Gong suddenly burst into loud laughter.
He laughed with utter abandon.
He seemed to have caught a sudden enthusiasm — or perhaps, having taken a step in his scheme, he needed someone to pour his heart out to.
He dropped down onto the seat opposite Zhang Juzheng: "Good. You and I — ever since the late emperor took the throne, we've never been able to go back to the way things were at Prince Yu's Estate."
"We haven't debated the Way in over six years. Today I'll have a proper one with you!"
Zhang Juzheng sat up straight and made a gesture of invitation.
Never one to hang back, Gao Gong spoke first: "The Wenxian Tongkao says, 'The Yellow Emperor established six chancellors. Yao had sixteen. Tang of Yin had a Left and a Right. King Cheng of Zhou had a Left and a Right.'"
"I take that to be a forgery."
"If we look to the Spring and Autumn Annals, there is the twenty-fifth year of Duke Xiang: 'A favored consort bore Prince Jing. On the dingchou day, Cui Shu set him up and became his chancellor, and Qing Feng was Left Chancellor.'"
"But even if we go by the account in the Basic Annals of Qin, there is: 'In the second year of King Wu of Qin, chancellors were first established, Chuli Ji and Gan Mao serving as Left and Right Chancellor.'"
"By the most conservative count, that is two thousand years ago."
"Passed down layer upon layer, revered through ten thousand generations — why did Emperor Taizu abolish it?"
"What is two thousand years set against two hundred?"
Both men were learned scholars — and men who had risen to such high office besides — so how could either lack any political conviction at all?
Zhang Juzheng would not be outdone: "The ancestors are not to be taken as models!"
"So-called established law is nothing but a means to keep the state of the court stable and the various parties united — how could it be some eternal truth for all generations?"
"Emperor Taizu's abolition of the chancellorship — that was the true evolution of the times, keeping pace with the age, advancing day by day and month by month."
"Never mind two thousand years; even twenty thousand is nothing but withered bones in a tomb!"
Off to the side, the two eavesdropping brothers — Zhang Sixiu, the younger, did not follow it at all.
He couldn't help nudging his elder brother: "Brother, what are they arguing about?"
Zhang Jingxiu had been listening with rapt attention. Nudged, he answered absentmindedly: "The Senior Grand Secretary says the chancellorship has historical roots, and after two thousand years of refinement it's already very complete."
"Father says the chancellorship is only a means of keeping the court stable — a transitional measure. After two thousand years, the times have changed utterly."
Zhang Sixiu nodded, only half understanding.
In the pavilion.
Gao Gong gave a scornful laugh: "'The evolution of the times,' is it? Baigui, let me tell you what the evolution of the times really is."
"In high antiquity the sage kings ceded the throne, and the Confucians have lauded it for nearly a thousand years. Say a thousand things, say ten thousand — in the end, was it not still supplanted by hereditary rule? And why? The evolution of the times!"
"The Three Sovereigns hacked their way through the wilds, and their tribes were few in number."
"Ceding the throne meant that anyone at all had a claim to succeed."
"With succession contested from within, and the handover from one ruler to the next going badly, those beneath were utterly at a loss whenever a change came — one round of purges after another!"
"That meant turbulence and upheaval! It meant a realm in disorder!"
"It even gave rise to the saying, 'Shun confined Yao, and Yao died in the wilds.'"
"Hereditary rule, by contrast, strips most men of any claim to succeed. And with the natural bond of father and son, power can be handed down and passed across, for a smooth transfer."
"This was the inevitable choice for the state of the court. This is the evolution of the times! It is all for the stability of the court — not for any bloodline succession or 'Sons of Heaven' out of the Confucians' mouths!"
"The state of the court is the great trend! The state of the court is the consensus of all under heaven!"
"You ask where the system of chancellors came from?"
"From the need to keep the court stable, nothing more!"
"The First Emperor annihilated the Six States and swallowed up their lands. The affairs of a hundred commanderies swelled with every passing day, so he had no choice but to set up Left and Right Chancellors, to assist the Son of Heaven and help him manage the myriad matters of state."
"Why? Because the great affairs of government were too complex to carry alone — they had to be entrusted to other hands! And that was for the sake of the court's stability!"
"What is the great trend? The Son of Heaven ruling with folded hands, setting up chancellors to share out power — that is the evolution of the times!"
"Through every dynasty, when the office was cut back it grew strong again — so it was with the Three Departments, and so with the Eastern and Western Bureaus!"
"If that were not so, why did Emperor Taizu abolish the chancellorship only for later ages to establish the Grand Secretariat in its place?"
Zhang Sixiu again looked at Zhang Jingxiu in bewilderment.
As the elder brother, though he did not want to be distracted, he had no choice but to explain: "Father said that for the stability of the court, the chancellorship is only a transitional measure."
"The Senior Grand Secretary accepts the first half and rejects the second."
"He says the chancellorship came into being precisely because the Son of Heaven could not manage everything himself, and he cited the First Emperor and our dynasty's Grand Secretariat as examples."
"The meaning is: so long as the imperial system exists, the chancellorship is indispensable. Even if it's abolished, it will be set up again whenever the emperor can't manage everything himself — the Grand Secretariat being the case in point. That is the evolution of the times."
Zhang Sixiu nodded. He finally understood.
Inside the pavilion.
Zhang Juzheng would not be outdone either.
He simply cast off his illness and sprang to his feet.
He swept out an arm and declared with bold vigor: "Utterly, utterly wrong!"
"The Zhou Son of Heaven lost the deer, and all under heaven raced to seize it."
"Yet the system of enfeoffing the feudal lords vanished without a trace, and everything was changed over to the system of commanderies and counties."
"Han Gaozu struck down the tyrannical and then inherited the Qin institutions."
"In the Two Han, offices and their staffs were established to keep the regions in check."
"By the Sui and Tang, power was split into the Three Departments to check the power of the chancellor."
"Why? To gather power into the central government!"
"The chancellorship is nothing but a transitional step in gathering power to the center."
"Our dynasty abolished the chancellorship to exalt the sage Emperor alone!"
"And the Grand Secretariat is nothing but the Son of Heaven's private office — is that not proof enough?"
This time, without waiting for his brother to ask, Zhang Jingxiu explained straightaway: "The so-called evolution of the times is, at bottom, a struggle over the Mandate of Heaven."
"To go along with it is to answer Heaven and receive its charge; to go against it is to move against the tide."
"The Senior Grand Secretary and Father are contending over this very point. The Senior Grand Secretary says the chancellorship embodies the way of the evolution of the times, that Emperor Taizu took the road backward, and that sooner or later it will be restored."
"Father says that gathering power to the central government is the true way of the evolution of the times."
"From pre-Qin days to now, it has all been a process of the center drawing in power. The chancellorship is only a temporary expedient, and it is only right that it be reclaimed."
"As for the emperor being unable to handle the affairs of government himself — the Grand Secretariat as it stands already works well enough. The chancellorship is not strictly indispensable."
Gao Gong, too, rose to his full height.
His whole head was beaded with sweat, and he seemed tremendously worked up.
He slapped the stone table: "If it works so well, then why was the Grand Secretariat ranked below the Six Ministries at the outset, and why does it now stand at the very head of the order? You're marking the boat where the sword went over — blind to how things have changed!"
"Isn't the Grand Secretariat even now growing into a Chancellery? What I am doing is one link in the chain of the evolution of the times!"
There in the pavilion, Zhang Juzheng clasped his hands behind his back, not showing the slightest weakness.
He stared hard at Gao Gong: "Baseless conjecture! How can the Senior Grand Secretary know that the Grand Secretariat and the Directorate of Ceremonial, as they go on evolving, won't in the end reach the utmost of sincere, wholehearted devotion?"
"You're the one taking the road backward!"
Gao Gong gave a cold snort: "You think that your honoring the emperor and exalting his might and fortune is the trend of the times?"
"The weal and woe of all under heaven held in a single man's hands?"
"Have you forgotten the likes of Jie and Zhou?"
Zhang Juzheng shook his head: "We Grand Secretaries exist precisely to guard against that."
"If the emperor is not worthy, we help him hold on to what has been built. If the emperor is wise and capable, then the full strength of the realm can be joined!"
"Just as Emperor Wu of Han swept away the Xiongnu, or Emperor Taizu set the realm to rights!"
"This — this is the evolution of the times!"
Zhang Jingxiu listened, utterly absorbed.
Only when his younger brother poked him in the back did he come to himself and explain: "Father's meaning is this."
"The emperor is forever the one all under heaven honors in common; only he can unify the realm and accomplish unparalleled deeds. If power is divided, the central government will surely be weakened, and cannot bring off great undertakings that call for the whole nation's strength."
"As for an emperor who is not worthy — with ministers to assist him, he can still preserve what has been built."
"But divide the power, and perhaps the worst of it is not so bad — yet never again can the strength of the realm be joined to accomplish great things."
Gao Gong flicked his sleeves.
Turning his back on Zhang Juzheng, he retorted: "The central government is the central government; emperor and chancellor are emperor and chancellor."
"In the Two Han, the finest talents from across the realm were gathered in, and the Three Excellencies established their own offices."
"By the Sui and Tang, the imperial examinations were opened again, the Three Departments were divided, and men of insight and learning were raised up as chancellors to deliberate together on the affairs of state."
"The great trend of the realm belongs to the people of the realm. Only this is truly joining the strength of all under heaven!"
"What I want is to gather the power of the realm into the central government, and then divide the central government's power between emperor and chancellor."
"At that point, with all hearts as one, it may well be possible to achieve the merit and virtue of Emperor Taizu, the High Emperor."
Zhang Juzheng was somewhat weary. He slowly sat down.
Yet within, he sighed — the rift between him and Gao Gong could no longer be bridged.
He understood what Gao Gong meant.
Let the central government gather power as it would — that did not mean the emperor ought to hold all power in his grasp.
The chancellor was to be chosen — chosen fairly through the imperial examinations — so that he could represent the interests of all under heaven and speak on behalf of the people of the realm.
At that thought, he finally lost whatever wish he'd had to admonish Gao Gong.
With a sense of seeing things through to the end, he spoke, somewhat wearily: "'The people of the realm'..."
"Gao Suqing — what are 'the people of the realm'?"
"In the Spring and Autumn period, the nobility were the people of the realm."
"In the Two Han, the great clans and powerful magnates were the people of the realm."
"In the Two Jin, the great clan houses were the people of the realm."
"In the Sui and Tang, the renowned families and noble houses were the people of the realm."
"In the former Song, the scholar-officials were the people of the realm."
"Gao Suqing — these 'people of the realm' who monopolize everything from top to bottom and keep power in so few hands — have you truly never seen them in the history books?"
"Your Chancellery — how will it be any different? Won't it, when the time comes, only let these people spring up in cliques and factions as before..."
Before he could finish.
Gao Gong flew into a rage: "The imperial examinations are part of the evolution of the times too! They will surely be able to select without regard to class, gathering in the talented and learned from across the realm — and gentlemen may gather in groups yet form no faction!"
Zhang Juzheng's own anger surged up: "You faction-mongers who defy your sovereign — with your sort in control of the examinations, how could there ever be selection without regard to class?"
The two stared each other down fiercely, neither yielding an inch!
The two young Zhangs, seeing that matters had taken a bad turn, hurried forward to mediate.
Zhang Juzheng turned his face away: "Our paths diverge!"
Gao Gong spat: "That young upstart is not worth scheming with!"
Zhang Jingxiu hastened to place himself before his aged father: "Senior Grand Secretary, how can you rail at a father before his own son!"
Zhang Juzheng pulled his son back.
His tone firm, he said: "Senior Grand Secretary, say no more. I will not retire. Tomorrow I shall be present at the court deliberation!"
With that, he held out his hand — plainly a gesture to see his guest out.
Gao Gong flicked his sleeves and departed.
Turning his back on them all, he threw out: "If I win, I'll have your household's property confiscated, and make you spend a few years in hardship to cool off before you come back to the Grand Secretariat."
Zhang Juzheng likewise turned toward his departing back and said mockingly: "If I win, I can make the Senior Grand Secretary no such promise. The Senior Grand Secretary had better hope that, when the time comes, Feng Bao won't leave you any way out."
Gao Gong strode off in a huff: "If you can't even keep Feng Bao in check, don't blame this grand secretary for writing a book to curse you, you wretch!"
Zhang Juzheng watched Gao Gong go.
He knew.
After this meeting, they would part ways — they would stand as enemies on opposite sides.
This scene — for some reason he found its like in his memory.
In a sudden flash of insight, Zhang Juzheng called out to Gao Gong, who had reached the gate, in a clear, ringing voice: "The victory or defeat of the court, the rise or fall of the realm — Senior Grand Secretary, just watch what I do!"
Chapter 42