Chapter 015 – His Majesty hears that He Qinwang is ill

Just as the Buddha said, a man’s burning ambition cannot be doused by cold water. Gu Yuanbai felt a bit fickle, and he understood Kangxi’s moods during his later years.1

Aware that he was dying, aware that all he had done was for nothing, even knowing that the future ruler was right next to him.

But he didn’t want to let go of his power. He also felt some reluctance about killing the future ruler, because, if he killed the protagonist of the novel, who else would do a better job than him?

Because of this, Gu Yuanbai wasn’t sure about how he should be feeling when facing Xue Yuan and Chu Wei.

Ever since he injured his foot, Gu Yuanbai had started a three stop route for work:2 going to court, sleeping and handling government affairs. Since his body was so delicate, his small injury gave him the same appearance of someone who had been seriously harmed. Gu Yuanbai’s ankle remained swollen day after day, and half of his foot had bruising from all the massages. He had already gotten used to the pain, but the imperial doctors looked more and more upset every day.

The Emperor’s wound seemed too serious. They felt like they were sinning when they massaged it.

After more than ten days, the injury on his foot finally healed. Over the past ten days, Prince He3had been ill and didn’t show up for many days. At first, Gu Yuanbai had only thought that he had caught a cold when he went home under the heavy rain. Getting sick was only to be expected.

However, after it kept happening, Gu Yuanbai realized something was wrong, and he sent someone to Prince He’s mansion with an imperial doctor to let them check what was going on.

During this time, the spring breeze was starting to blow, and it was time to post the results of the examinations.

As the Emperor, naturally, Gu Yuanbai had the right to know the results in advance. A high official from the Ministry of Rites sent him the list and said with a smile: “The only son of official Chu got the first place.”

Gu Yuanbai nodded, looked down to read the top ten and asked: “Where are the top three essays?”

The high official handed the pages to Gu Yuanbai. Gu Yuanbai first looked at the examination and approval of the examiners, and then went to read the policies the top three presented on their essays.4

This year’s essays had been personally drafted by Gu Yuanbai himself. One section asked three questions about the agricultural and livelihood policies of the Great Heng Dynasty, and the other asked about border trading. It was easy to write about a broad topic, but writing detailedly about specific matters would be much harder.

One goal was to examine whether the candidates were down-to-earth and knowledgeable about the basic elements that sustained the country, and Gu Yuanbai’s second intention was to see if they were short-sighted. If someone was a pedantic bookworm, it would be better not to hire them.

People whose views lined up with Gu Yuanbai’s would be hired, and those with pedantic and inconsistent ideas would be discarded. In the long run, Gu Yuanbai’s ideas would be implemented more smoothly, and with the influx of fresh blood into the court, the Emperor would gain loyal guardians for when it was time to confront conservative factions.

The Imperial examinations could also be considered a process to tame intellectuals and unify their thoughts, to an extent, with those of the ruler.

For this year’s examination, Gu Yuanbai had selected an official who was a real politician and worked down-to-earth as chief examiner. As such, the final top three essays weren’t written as beautiful articles, and instead had real ideas, solid writing, and were true to Great Heng’s national situation.

Gu Yuanbai looked carefully one by one, and couldn’t help but smile when he saw the last one: “Well written!”

The Minister of Rites was curious and went up to take a look. He discovered that the third essay was from a scholar from Shandong.

Ranked ahead of the Shandong student were Chu Wei and Chang Yuyan, who wrote good articles, with fluent expressions and profound meaning that made for an interesting read. This article was written unpretentiously, with concise and plain words. If the content weren’t really brilliant, it’d be hard for it to end up third.

Looking at His Highness’ reaction just now, he couldn’t help but sigh at the head examiner’s keenness and the student’s good luck. Seeing the Emperor, it seemed that this student had made a strong impression.

Gu Yuanbai read the essay from start to finish multiple times. Finally, he looked back to the top and memorized the name of the person who wrote such a sagacious essay.

Kong Yilin, Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong.

The examination hall’s gate was surrounded by people both inside and outside.

When the soldiers walked out of the examination hall with the red paper, the people around there began clamoring and squeezing forward. The soldier said angrily: “Don’t push! Don’t push! Take a step back!”

The red paper was finally posted. The scholars around had long lost their usual calm demeanor. They clenched their hands, their eyes almost coming out of their sockets, and inside their chests, their hearts thumped in fear of missing a word.

“Hurry up, hurry up, post the announcement!”

“I made it, I made it!” An ecstatic voice could soon be heard. “I made it!”

The restaurants and teahouses on both sides were also full of people. Some people, listening to the excitement below, couldn’t resist leaning against the railing and stretching their necks to look down. They were very anxious, but even when they stretched their necks to their breaking point, they still weren’t able to read a single word from the red paper.

The face of a certain person who had sent a young servant to read the list remained calm, but their eyes were expressionless and kept glancing at the stairs from time to time. Every passing second felt like torture.

On the day the list was published, there were all sorts of people. Some were smiling and laughing towards the heavens, some were pleased and self-satisfied, and some were desperate, looking at the red paper in dismay, as if their entire being had lost their will to live.

The ones who were ecstatic were very spirited, and the screams of ‘made it!’ triggered the envy of those around. Either because they felt like they were in heaven or in hell, a piece of red paper was enough to make many people go crazy.

Originally, Chu Wei sat very calmly in the teahouse to sip tea. However, the sound of both cheering and sobbing in pain obviously affected him too. He frowned and glanced at the stairs discreetly.

His classmate shook his head and said: “Chu Wei, Chu Wei, I really didn’t expect you to participate in the examinations.”

Chu Wei looked away, with a noncommittal hum.

Suddenly a rush of footsteps came from the stairs to the second floor.

Chu Wei couldn’t resist putting down his cup to look back, only to see that it was another candidate’s servant, who shouted joyously with his hair all messed up: “Made it! Master, you made it!”

Chu Wei’s heart sped up slightly. He simply stood up, ignored the teasing from his classmates, and stood at the window looking towards the gate of the examination hall.

Many people had gone away, and most of those that hadn’t were people who couldn’t believe that they weren’t on the list. Chu Wei’s heart jumped and he pressed his lips together. Could he possibly have failed the examination?

Almost as if it were his reflection, Chu Wei saw that, on the tavern window right across his position, there was also an elegant and calm young master. The young master spotted him too and he nodded politely towards Chu Wei, the corners of his smile stiffening.

Chu Wei recognized him as the candidate who had been boasting, before the exam, to be his rival, Chang Yuyan.

Chang Yuyan was well-known, and had repeatedly produced excellent works of famous poetry. Now, judging from his appearance, it seemed that he hadn’t yet found his position in the list either.

Chu Wei also nodded faintly towards Chang Yuyan. Looking to the side, he spotted a person sitting on the table next to him.

The man’s hand hung outside the window, and he spun the jug of wine loosely in his hand, making it look as if it could fall from his hand and hit the ground at any moment.

The man’s senses were extremely sharp, and he immediately noticed Chu Wei’s gaze. He frowned, glancing towards him with a sinister look. Chu Wei looked away from this terrifying glance without changing his expression. Intuitively, he knew that this person was definitely not a good person.

“Young master!”

A familiar voice suddenly rang behind him. Chu Wei, startled, immediately turned around. When he saw his young servant’s ecstatic face, his heart jumped.

“The top spot! Young master, you got the top spot! Huiyuan! You’re Huiyuan!”5

Everyone’s heads swiveled to look at Chu Wei, and the room was suddenly full of noise.

His classmate, shocked, dropped his tea cup and excitedly got up to pat Chu Wei’s back. “Chu Zihu, Chu Zihu, you actually got Huiyuan!”

As if awakened by this sound, the entire crowd of people in the room crowded around Chu Wei to congratulate him, words layering over each other so noisily that the ear couldn’t distinguish who was saying what.

Chu Wei took a deep breath and, coming back to his senses, the corners of his lips curled up, full of spirits.

Xieyuan seven years ago, Huiyuan seven years later.6

Only one Zhuangyuan title, would His Majesty give it to him?7

After the meeting place was announced, many families were happy and others were worried. But the Gongsheng8 on the list did not care about attending the various banquets, because, five days later, they would enter the palace to participate in the palace examination.9

To be able to face His Majesty’s face and hear His Majesty’s teachings would be the highest point in their lives, and no one dared to slack off on it.

The people in the Ministry of Rites were busy working overtime, needing to measure clothes and train the students on proper behavior and etiquette. There was no cabinet in the Great Heng Dynasty, so the pre-planned questions for the palace examination were handed to the Zhengshi Hall. The Military Bureau and the Zhengshi Hall were the two most efficient institutions in the entire Great Heng administration. The proposed questions were presented to Gu Yuanbai in the afternoon the day after the examination results were posted.

Gu Yuanbai chose a few questions from there, added his own ideas and mixed them up. After handing the questions to the Ministry of Rites, he, the Emperor, was done.

While he waited for the palace examination, Gu Yuanbai summoned the ministers in the Zhengshi Hall and mentioned the memorial reform statute he had in mind. The officials in the Zhengshi Hall pondered the issue for a moment. An official surnamed Zhou said: “Your Highness, this servant is confused with just words, could it be possible to put these ‘spreadsheets’, ‘charts’ and ‘templates’ that Your Majesty mentioned on paper to look at them?”

“Why complicate things?”

“Why is it so troublesome?” Gu Yuanbai picked up his brush. “We will do it.”

While moving his brush, Gu Yuanbai slowly explained the purpose of the three things. The spreadsheet was a square composed of a series of columns and rows, and the originally chaotic content that would be all crowded together would be clear and distinct. The charts would display the data from the spreadsheets in a clear and intuitive manner. Gu Yuanbai even drew three different examples, and wrote down Arabic numerals, saying: “The numbers used for charts and tables are written in this way.”

As for the memorials, they would still be written in Chinese characters, that couldn’t be changed. Gu Yuanbai kept explaining for half an hour, combining theory and practice to draw a lot of tables and charts, trying to get the ministers to understand the purpose of a spreadsheet. After they nodded, he wrote a basic template for the memorials.

It used few words and had a clear organization. Although it looked a bit strange and it was also a bit cold and direct, these busy ministers from the Zhengshi hall knew how much time they could save with something like this.

After the Emperor finished writing, this piece of paper was passed back and forth between the courtiers. Gu Yuanbai asked: “How do you feel about it?”

Since Gu Yuanbai led the government affairs in the Zhengshi Hall, everyone knew what Gu Yuanbai thought, so they quickly nodded. “Rest assured, Your Majesty. Although this method is unusual, it will definitely save a lot of time after getting used to it. This official will assign it to the subordinates.”

“We will send the new scholars to the local prefectures and counties to spread this system.” Gu Yuabai nodded slightly. “After May, the Zhengshi Hall will not be allowed to examine memorials that did not follow these templates, and will be sent back to the local government to fix them. If the contents of the memorial are misleading and ambiguous and the official continues to not change over and over, they’ll be immediately dismissed.”

Everyone in the Zhengshi Hall put on a serious expression and said: “Yes!”

Gu Yuanbai was relieved with satisfaction. He was in a good mood at the moment. The corners of his lips were slightly raised, and his face was extremely happy. The guard captain accompanied him on a walk in the palace, and, under the insistence of his brothers in arms, he stammered a sentence: “Does Your Highness want to watch a cuju match?”

Gu Yuanbai was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at him. The guard captain’s handsome face was flushed, as if he had done something wrong, showing a worried and uneasy expression.

The guards at the back lowered their heads. They all had either their ears or their necks flushed. Before him, the tall and strong men looked like squirming little girls.

Gu Yuanbai was amused. “Do you all want to show Us your kicking?”

“…” The guard was red up to his ears. “These officials all love to play cuju, and all of them are good players. If Your Highness feels bored, these officials can play a game to relieve Your Highness’ boredom.”

The Emperor didn’t agree or disagree. He looked around, and a flower tree caught his eye. The Emperor stretched out a hand, holding his wide sleeves. His white wrist stuck out, his fingertips twisted the flower branch, and gently tugged until he held a red and pink flower in his hand.

“Then, this flower will be the prize.” The Emperor twirled the flower with a smile. “Whichever team wins will be rewarded.”

The guard captain glanced at the Emperor’s hand. Although his face was still red, the desire to win shone brightly in his eyes. Competitiveness arose in the group of guards. When they walked to the cuju field, they were already divided into two teams, both groups thinking that the other didn’t even seem presentable.

Tian Fusheng took a white kerchief and wrapped the flower branch with it, intending to hold it himself. Gu Yuanbai said: “We can do it.”

Gu Yuanbai had gotten stained with flower juice when he picked the flowers, and his hands were already dirty, so there was no need to pay attention to things like that. Tian Fusheng said with a pained voice: “Your Majesty, this eunuch worries that you will get tired.”

Gu Yuanbai glanced at him lightly, and said with a smile: “Move aside.”

Tian Fusheng let out a ‘haha’ and moved behind Gu Yuanbai to knead his shoulders.

The Emperor liked cuju, and there was also a big cuju field in the palace. The guards put on thin shirts and chased a cuju on the court with such energy that it made people excited just from looking at it. Many of the palace’s servants weren’t able to look away, and they went red from repressing their cheering and jeering.

The cuju game went on for an hour, and when the guards stepped out of the field, their bodies were emitting so much heat that it made the air seem slightly distorted.

The guard captain walked over with his subordinates, afraid to get too close to Gu Yuanbai for fear that his sweat would offend the Emperor. “Your Highness, this official’s team won.”

But even if the head guard stood so far, Gu Yuanbai still felt the warmth of their bodies. Such a healthy, tall body made Gu Yuanbai inevitably feel a bit sour.

The guard captain’s expression was a little bit shy. He lowered his gaze and dared not look at the Emperor. His body, wearing just a thin shirt, was also stiff as wood.

Gu Yuanbai sighed at himself melancholically and handed the beautifully blooming tree branch to the guard captain, saying teasingly: “You have twelve people, but We only have one flower. How shall We distribute it?”

The cuju rules of the Great Heng Dynasty followed the old system, and double-goal cuju matches were also used for military practice in the Han Dynasty.10 Great Heng Dynasty was no different. In Gu Yuanbai’s opinion, at least, it was good, both for the country and the people, to have the upper class enjoy such a healthy and simple exercise.

The effect was that students of the Great Heng Dynasty were physically healthier than the strict scholars that can only read books. The common people, to some extent, would also play some cuju, and those following the Emperor were able to perform even more dazzling tricks.

Using a flower to buy a ticket for such an exquisite match, Gu Yuanbai felt that he was taking advantage of them.

But the people receiving the reward were very happy, and the scene was very lively. At that time, a eunuch hurried over from the distance, followed by two imperial doctors. When he saw Gu Yuanbai, he knelt on the ground. “Your Highness, this eunuch has returned with the two officials.”

These people were the ones that he had sent to Prince He’s house. Gu Yuanbai smiled and then slowly asked: “How is Prince He’s health?”

One of the imperial physicians respectfully said: “These officials stayed in Prince He’s mansion and observed him for three days. It has been speculated that Prince He is not seriously ill, but seems to be suffering from a disease of the heart.”

Disease of the heart?

Gu Yuanbai frowned and waved away people unrelated to the matter first. Tian Fusheng offered the two imperial doctors a seat. After he saw them settled, he picked up the teacup and skimmed off the foam,11 and said without altering his voice: “What sort of disease of the heart is it?”

The imperial doctors looked ashamed. “This official does not know.”

“Prince He was unwilling to see us officials. According to the words of Princess Consort He, Prince He’s retainers went in person to advise him, and were unable to get a good reaction out of the prince.”

Gu Yuanbai paused, looking down at the ripples in the cup.

Prince He has only gotten strange after the rainstorm a while back. Looking back carefully, it seems that the only thing that would make him react would have been his words about Lu Feng.

Prince He didn’t want to remain stuck in Beijing, he wanted military power.

The retainers came to advise the prince and got a bad reaction, meaning that Prince He was willing to meet his retainers.

He was willing to meet his retainers, but dared refuse the people We sent there.

Gu Yuanbai’s gaze was heavy.

Gu Zhao… you better not be getting any annoying thoughts.

“Get the carriage ready.” Gu Yuanbai made a sudden decision and stood up. The young Emperor’s face signaled the calm before the storm. “Prepare a ride to Prince He’s Mansion. We want to see this good brother of Ours in person.”