Yun Ye could never get enough of watching Xinyue remove her makeup. Watching her take off her hair ornaments one by one, watching her let down her long hair to drape over her shoulders, watching her wash her face with clear water—every time this happened, his heart would fill with an incomparable sense of tranquility.
If only Yun Baobao and Li Rong didn’t always barge in at this moment to pay their respects, perhaps there would be a live spring palace performance. This woman became increasingly alluring as she grew older. Perhaps a twenty-two-year-old woman was at the most beautiful age?
Watching her lead Yun Baobao and Li Rong on a stroll through the courtyard, occasionally picking various ripe fruits from the fruit trees in the yard and placing them in the small basket the children carried, Yun Ye’s heart was filled with happiness at this moment.
Li’er had fallen ill, and Li Anlan had entered the palace to attend to him. Imperial attendance was actually just a form of etiquette—one could only enter the palace to visit briefly, then spend most of the time staying in the palace waiting to be summoned by one’s father. People who were ill all needed the comfort of family affection, especially when Li’er had grown an inflamed tooth and his cheek had swollen so much he couldn’t see anyone.
The healthy Li’er used to eat well and sleep soundly, but after the great examination, great scholars and renowned masters continuously entered the palace to visit His Majesty the Emperor. “Clever tricks and frivolous skills undermine the foundation” became the phrase he heard most during these days. Whether the foundation of the empire had been damaged was unknown, but his tooth root had thoroughly rebelled.
When Yun Ye entered to visit, the desk in front of His Majesty the Emperor was covered with cooling and fire-reducing medicinal soups. Traditional Chinese medicine’s treatment of toothaches was a major shortcoming—not that it couldn’t cure them, but it was dreadfully slow.
“Boy, think of a good method to stop my toothache, and I’ll reward you with that set of tribute porcelain. That’s right, the very set of celadon you’ve had your eye on for ages.”
Yun Ye sniffed around the various soup bowls like a puppy, picked one that smelled right and drank it down, then wiped the corner of his mouth and said, “There actually is something, but it treats the symptoms not the root cause. It can stop the pain, but if you want to cure it completely, you’ll still need to drink all these medicinal soups.”
“Quickly bring it out! I’m ready to pull out all my teeth. First stop the pain and let me get a good night’s sleep.” Li’er impatiently reached out to Yun Ye for the medicine. Empress Zhangsun also wore an urgent expression—the Emperor hadn’t slept well for two days and two nights.
Yun Ye pulled out a small jade box from his chest. Inside was wild poppy that Xi Tong had collected from the Arctic lands. This was the best thing for stopping pain, and it wouldn’t cause addiction. Sun Simiao had prepared it into honey pills that, when taken with warm water, had miraculous effects.
Li’er took the jade box, picked up a pill to examine it, and asked, “Why does this look so much like that poppy you mentioned before?”
“This is wild poppy. It has the best pain-relieving effect but won’t cause hallucinations in people. Most valuable of all, it won’t cause addiction. My friend brought it from the far north—it comes from the same place as the white bear pelts. Daoist Sun prepared it into honey pills. This is just one box. Use it sparingly. If you weren’t truly suffering unbearable pain, this subject wouldn’t have taken it out.”
“Your heart is truly wicked.” Li’er cursed angrily, then asked clearly about how to take it and ate two pills in succession.
The medicine would need half an hour to take effect. Naturally, Yun Ye couldn’t leave at this time, so he sat on the carpet to keep Li’er company in conversation. There was only one chair in his sleeping chamber, and it was behind the desk—whoever sat in the Emperor’s chair would have bad luck.
“Yun Ye, tell me, what is your view of this great examination? How do you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these two types of students?” Li’er asked Yun Ye with his eyes closed, waiting for the medicine to take effect while trying to distract himself.
“In response to Your Majesty, this subject believes we have no way to distinguish which is more important between our left hand and right hand. The literacy rate in our Great Tang is appallingly low—you can’t pick out a single literate person among a hundred. Without literacy, they cannot properly accept new ways of living and can only continue the ancient things passed down from their ancestors, from craftsmanship to farming, all the same. Facing new industries, they have almost no resistance whatsoever. As you know, the weaving machines that Qing Que and the others built—one machine’s daily output equals a peasant woman’s monthly output. If you hadn’t ordered that these machines not be spread outside, many peasant women under heaven would no longer be able to weave cloth, because the cloth they weave is not only expensive but also far inferior to the new machines.”
“Stop playing slippery. I asked about the students, not about peasant women weaving cloth.” Li’er opened his eyes to glance at Yun Ye, then continued resting with closed eyes.
“This isn’t this subject playing slippery, but rather this subject, being a person within the situation, has no way to give an accurate judgment. If I say the Academy disciples are far stronger than those people, you’ll think I’m boasting. If I go against my conscience and say those scholars are stronger than the Academy’s, even this subject would feel guilty. So, Your Majesty, we’d better stick to peasant women weaving cloth. Leave these evaluations to Prime Minister Fang and the others. Whatever the result, this subject will accept it calmly. The students you don’t want—outside there are many aristocratic families and merchants lifting up chests of silver, hoping they’ll join their households. If it weren’t for fearing your displeasure, this subject would want to gather two to help manage my family business. You must act quickly—delay and they’ll be gone. I’ve heard that when those people recruit Academy students, they’ve already started using honey traps. You know they’re all hot-blooded young men. If they can’t resist, won’t the loss ultimately be yours, Your Majesty?”
Empress Zhangsun wanted to laugh, but since her husband was in pain, it wouldn’t be appropriate, so she forcibly held it in.
“This palace forcing is done well—threats and inducements all at once. Are all the people taught by the Academy of this character? Empress, show Yun Ye Fang Xuanling’s memorial. See what kind of scoundrels his disciples are. At such a young age they can already handle matters flawlessly. Even I can’t easily deal with them. They even said I must be lamenting for the criminals. Am I the kind of person who acts indecisively? If in the future the Academy’s students are all of this ghostly appearance, will my position as Emperor be easy to hold?”
Yun Ye curiously accepted Fang Xuanling’s memorial. Regarding Yaoniang’s fate, Yun Ye wasn’t surprised at all, but seeing the performance of Shen Gonghai, Yuan Jia, Zhu Zong, and Yao Si, Yun Ye couldn’t help but feel proud.
“Don’t you feel quite accomplished? Your many years of hard work have finally blossomed and borne fruit. If I were you, I’d also be gratified. Qing Que said the Academy doesn’t produce fools—each one has long been thoroughly deceived in the Academy, so facing small situations, having rapid response strategies isn’t strange. When the same thing happens to provincial and county students, their performance appears extremely rigid—either avoiding it or remonstrating unto death. Besides these, there’s no other path to take. How can you expect me to confidently insert such people into various government offices? I’m afraid it won’t be many days before their superiors will probably all be sidelined. People with learning aren’t frightening; what’s frightening are fellows who have both learning and methods. Honestly, having so many emerge all at once, I’m very worried.”
Regarding matters beyond his expectations, whether good or bad, Li’er would inexplicably become alert. Only power he himself could control was good power—this was Li’er’s motto.
“Your Majesty, this subject remembers you once said talented people were hard to find and used every method—holding imperial examinations and personally going to the countryside to seek worthy men. When you held the first examination, you said all the talented people under heaven have entered my net. How have you changed your tune now?”
“Boy, in a long drought, when light rain comes, it’s naturally a good thing. When moderate rain comes, this is a good thing to thank heaven for. When heavy rain comes, this is ancestral protection. But, boy, what if what falls is hail? Tell me, should I be happy or worried? A boy like you—having one is Great Tang’s fortune. Now you’ve used yourself as a mold and forcibly created over two hundred of you for me. Let me tell you, this is more frightening than military disaster. At least with military disaster I know how to respond. The current situation is an unprecedented matter. I can’t find any precedent to reference, so that’s why I have a headache.”
Yun Ye smiled bitterly. The courage of the later generation’s Taizong in feeling his way across the river by touching stones wasn’t something every leader could possess. Even the current Emperor Taizong was anxious about this matter, wasn’t he? Excessive worry, combined with internal fire stimulation—it would be hard not to get inflamed.
Regarding this matter of feeling one’s way across the river by touching stones, if you actually think about it carefully, you’ll know how terrifying this phrase is and how broad-minded one must be to say it. What if the water is too deep? What if there’s a whirlpool here? What if poisonous snakes are hidden under the stones? A thousand threads and ten thousand strands—one careless step leads to the tragedy of capsizing and drowning.
“Your Majesty needn’t be troubled. You only need to ask the students what they’re willing to do, won’t you know? Those who like building bridges and roads, send them to build bridges and roads. Those who like agriculture, send them to the Directorate for Imperial Manufactories. Those who like running around everywhere, dispatch them far away. Those who like establishing achievements, give them a barren land and let them govern it. As long as you occupy them with tasks and observe for a period of time, won’t the truth become clear?”
Yun Ye also didn’t like the Academy students being too outstanding. Their age was still too young after all. In the Academy they might have learned professional knowledge, but human relationships and worldly wisdom required crawling and struggling in the larger environment. His students were still far from being opponents of these old foxes in the court. Once they became too exceptional, they would become public enemies. If there were twenty thousand graduating students, Yun Ye wouldn’t consider these things, but now there were only over two hundred. It was better to keep a low profile.
“Do you think this might wrong them too much?” Hearing Yun Ye say this, Li’er instead felt somewhat uneasy.
“It won’t wrong them. Since the students have determined themselves to be people who do practical things, then let them serve as principal officials. No matter the size, as long as they serve as principal officials, they definitely won’t have complaints. If they can’t be county magistrates, even being village heads is fine—just not county vice-magistrates or registrars. The same goes for the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Rites, Directorate for Imperial Manufactories, and Directorate of Construction. The position of director is enough to make them delighted. So Your Majesty needn’t be troubled. As for later promotions, there’s nothing more to say. The capable rise, the mediocre fall—this has always been our dynasty’s policy. The Merit Assessment Bureau will select based on merit, no need to look at whether they came from the Academy.”
Whether it was Yun Ye’s words that extinguished Li’er’s heart fire or the medicine truly took effect, before long, Li’er, leaning against his cushion, began to snore. Empress Zhangsun settled Li’er comfortably, then led Yun Ye out of the sleeping chamber.