“Ritual propriety is something that governs the state, stabilizes the people, makes the people orderly, and enables future generations to gain benefits. When others violate ritual propriety, they should be punished. Once they acknowledge their guilt, they should be pardoned. Estimate one’s virtue in dealing with them, calculate one’s ability in settling them, select favorable opportunities to take action, and don’t create trouble for later generations—this is where the essence of ritual propriety lies.”
“Yun Shou, have you observed ritual propriety today?”
Lishi’s unhurried voice came from the study. He was Yun Shou’s ritual propriety teacher. On the first and fifteenth of each month, he would come to the house to teach Yun Shou, mainly lecturing on ritual propriety. In fact, Yun Ye himself didn’t even know what the content of ritual propriety consisted of. Now standing outside the window listening, he also gained some harvest. Ritual propriety was the unshakeable foundation of feudal dynasties.
However, judging from Yun Shou’s reaction, he wasn’t resistant to it. This child carried a kind of pride in his bones—this was what Xinyue brought to him. Because from childhood, his mother had told him that their ancestor grandfather was an immortal. Mother had personally seen divine instruments that could glow and play music. This matter could only be buried in one’s heart and couldn’t be told to anyone. Your father was personally taught by immortals, which is why he’s so smart, enfeoffed as a marquis at such a young age, and a hereditary marquis at that. Master Xu Jingzong toiled almost his entire life without catching even a hair of a title. Potatoes and corn are actually our family’s—Father couldn’t bear to see the tenant farmers go hungry, so in his great mercy he presented them. Now all the tenant farmers under Heaven owe our family a debt of gratitude.
That such a philosophy hadn’t ruined the child, Yun Ye believed, was purely because his own half of the genes were playing a role. In this lifetime, one establishes a career in youth, raises children in middle age, and enjoys blessings in old age—this was a necessary path. Missing any link would inevitably leave regrets in life. Each time period must have its focal point.
Thirteen years of arduous campaigning had already laid a thick foundation for the Yun family. Now it had finally come time to raise children. The Great Tang was still a society of early death. At thirty one was called “old man,” at fifty was called “advanced age,” and at seventy one could already do as one pleased. According to Xu Jingzong, even rape wasn’t illegal. He planned to strive to live past seventy and then commit every evil.
This wasn’t a joke. Chang’an County judged cases this way. What kind of logic was this? What did “at seventy, essence depleted, blood exhausted, unable to perform” mean? Wu She in the neighboring courtyard was eighty-six years old and could still twist bed sheets to breaking, could draw a four-stone hard bow. Someone like himself, a vigorous young man, could be killed in an instant by a dozen or twenty of such men.
However, this also demonstrated from another angle the fact that Great Tang people had short lifespans. The population survey done by Yushan Academy showed that the average lifespan of tenant farmers in the most prosperous Yun Family Village was only fifty-one years.
Note that living in the village were two divine persons renowned for medical skills. Old Immortal Sun would check the pulse of elderly people he encountered for no reason, not to mention that Yun Family Village’s food was incomparably abundant and the living environment couldn’t be compared with elsewhere.
Speaking of the lifespans of tenant farmers in remote prefectures and counties made one sad. The Great Tang had been prosperous for five or six years, yet the average lifespan of tenant farmers was only a pitiful thirty-two years.
The main reason was the frighteningly high mortality rate of children. Unsanitary delivery methods had already become the greatest cause of death for infants and mothers. The reason Yun Ye knew so much data was because students who graduated from the academy and became officials all had the habit of compiling statistical data. Officials of the Six Ministries didn’t recognize the data, but the academy did. As long as data memorials were rejected by the Six Ministries, before burning them, officials there would sort them out and deliver them to the academy. The academy would then arrange for work-study students to organize them into volumes. After five or six years, from this data one could clearly see the comprehensive strength of each prefecture and county.
Merchants were the most astute people in the world. As long as He Shao returned to Chang’an, he would dive headfirst into the data archives room, studying there day and night without rest. The academy steward, sick of his pestering, wanted to use fees to stop He Shao’s harassment. Unexpectedly, He Shao immediately slapped down ten gold coins on the table and declared that if it wasn’t enough, he’d have his steward send more over immediately.
Xu Jingzong, who had just returned to the academy to serve as academy judge, naturally wouldn’t refuse money. Letting the steward bring it would be too excessive, but the price of ten gold coins per viewing was thus established. Now He Shao wasn’t the only one wanting to view data—any larger merchant would dispatch their most intelligent stewards to compare and review this data. They didn’t even ask about the ten gold coins matter, which made Xu Jingzong regret it for many days.
Until one day, Fang Xuanling appeared at the archives room door. The steward, who judged people as dogs judge, slapped the fee sign on the table. The academy had never had a custom of providing materials for free—not even for the prime minister.
After Fang Xuanling paid ten gold coins through gritted teeth and entered the archives room, he was stunned by over a dozen rows of huge wooden shelves. From the number plates set up on the wooden shelves, of the Great Tang’s fourteen circuits and over three hundred military prefectures, there were actually one hundred seventy-three prefectures listed in the directory catalog. Most were prosperous prefectures and counties. Guanzhong’s records were the most numerous—not a single prefecture was missing.
He hastily recorded data from Sheng Prefecture, the most remote in Guannei Circuit, returned to the Department of State Affairs, and had clerks compare it day and night. The final result was that it was completely accurate. The academy’s records were far more detailed than the Department of State Affairs’ documents.
The Department of State Affairs, the Chancellery, and the Department of the Secretariat consecutively issued three directives hoping Yushan Academy could hand over this data to be managed by the Department of State Affairs, but without exception they were all returned. The academy said this matter required His Majesty’s approval. Before Yushan Academy’s name were two additional characters reading “Imperial”! Yushan Academy had invested labor, and before costs were recovered, it wouldn’t be considered.
Zhangsun came today precisely to handle this matter. The academy couldn’t make black-hearted money from state secrets. Some records even had evaluations of garrison troop combat strength—this wasn’t right. What if enemies found out? Knowing she couldn’t persuade Li Gang, she could only bring Yun Ye along. The Three Departments had suffered losses at the academy’s hands more than once or twice. Things they threw away as garbage, the academy picked up and turned into treasures. Now they wanted them back—without sufficient sincerity, it wouldn’t work.
“Your Majesty, dragging me along is useless. I’m just a minor academy judge, the same as Xu Jingzong. Above me there’s still the Mountain Chief, there’s still the Academy Supervisor, and even more there’s His Majesty as Academy Director. If Master Yuanzhang doesn’t agree, your disciple has no solution. You should go teach those idiots in the Three Departments a lesson. Throwing away treasures for nothing—such absurd things they’ve done more than once or twice. Each time an error occurs, you come forward once. If this continues, the academy might as well pay no attention to these matters and avoid wasting effort for nothing.”
“Shut up! I’m the Empress, not His Majesty. The affairs of the Three Departments aren’t my place to manage. I’ll go find Master Li Gang in a moment. You must speak well and must persuade Master Li Gang to hand the archives room over to the Department of State Affairs.”
Before Yun Ye, Zhangsun still maintained an unreasonably domineering attitude. Yun Ye was already used to it. He discovered his relationship with Zhangsun was very similar to Xinyue and Yun Shou’s. Xinyue treated Yun Shou this way—the more he resisted, the more severe the suppression would be.
On a rainy day, dark and damp, Master Li Gang sat by the fireplace warming himself with a blanket across his legs. After Zhangsun very politely inquired after Li Gang’s health, she directly brought up the matter of the archives room.
Li Gang said with half-closed eyes, “What Your Majesty says is also reasonable. The archives room existing in the academy does indeed have many inconveniences. Those parts containing military matters and border defense shouldn’t be kept in the academy. Even if Your Majesty hadn’t said to hand them over, it was bound to happen. However, regarding the livelihood sections, the academy still has great use for them. Master Xuanren is now beginning to compare differences between human society and wild beast groups and very much needs this data. You are a learned person and should know that pursuing scholarship cannot tolerate the slightest falsity—everything must rely on this data to speak. The academy can allow the Department of State Affairs to copy one set.”
Master Yuanzhang, seeing Zhangsun about to speak, smiled and persuaded, “Your Majesty, rest assured. That data concerning military matters and border defense, the academy has never opened to outsiders. The academy’s purpose in doing this is actually to force the Three Departments to understand viewing data and know how to use data. Previously, forcing them to learn didn’t work well. Now we must make them beg to learn before they can be touched.”
“The academy has never thought of keeping this data for itself. These are all the painstaking efforts of Great Tang officials and must naturally be handed over to the Three Departments. It’s just that the time isn’t now. If they can’t learn to discern which things are useful and which aren’t, such matters will always occur. In this bitter cold weather, why doesn’t Your Majesty drink a cup of tea to drive away the cold?”
Having heard Yuanzhang’s words, Zhangsun smiled despite herself. Since the academy was only temporarily making things difficult for the Three Departments, why should she worry? Receiving the ginger tea Yuanzhang passed over, she took a sip. Looking at the rain threads outside the window, she said with emotion, “When Yushan Academy was first established, it was merely His Majesty’s momentary whim. Who could have imagined that in ten years’ time, it has already become the Great Tang’s backbone?”
“Now it has even reached the point where the Three Departments need to bow their heads. Master Wenji, do you still remember that picture Yun Ye drew at the beginning? When this palace saw that picture, I thought it was a madman’s dream. Unexpectedly, ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and most of that picture has already been realized. In another ten years, this place will become a magnificent city. Hehe, City of Learning, City of Wisdom—I just don’t know which name would be more appropriate.”
Li Gang opened his eyes and laughed loudly, “Whether City of Learning or City of Wisdom, it will surely shine gloriously through the ages. The reign name Zhenguan will also necessarily be praised through ten thousand generations because of its existence. With Zhenguan, there will be the City of Wisdom—this is the prerequisite. We old fellows are merely bricks and stones of this city. This city will necessarily be His Majesty’s glory, also Your Majesty’s glory, and even more the Great Tang’s glory.”
Ginger is indeed spicier when old. This flattery hit the mark. The flattery for state, Emperor, and Empress were all covered. A few days ago this old fellow was still scorning Yun Ye’s values, and in the blink of an eye he became this sort. Living long enough, one truly could have no taboos. Look how delighted Zhangsun was—light of longing shot from her eyes.
Well! Zhangsun’s wish to obtain the archives room today would absolutely come to nothing, because over a hundred students were rapidly copying in the archives room. Li Gang and Yuanzhang spoke nicely, but actually just wanted to leave more copying time for those students. The academy couldn’t even finish educating its own students—who had time to educate the Three Departments?