Chapter 104: You Wait Outside First

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“The county magistrate is so devoted to his duties, and even selects talent for the good of the nation?” Su Lu was rather taken aback. Could it be that the “damned Lu Zhaoye” his father always cursed was actually a good official?

“Selecting talent for the nation? You could certainly put it that way,” Zhu Liu said with a smile. “But Magistrate Lu has been in office for eleven years, and he is practically mad with longing for promotion. They say that, to bring himself good fortune, he had his pillow made with one end large and the other small. He even hired a Cantonese chef to make him bamboo-raised noodles every day. When his concubine bore him a son, he named the boy Lu Dingsheng—‘Lu Will Rise.’”

“What?” Su Lu wondered inwardly. How could anyone be this abstract? Still, officials of this sort had existed throughout history. Apparently, becoming an official was a branch of metaphysics…

“That is why, whenever you consider anything he does, you must first ask whether it can help him rise in rank,” Zhu Liu said.

“Will this help him get promoted?” Su Lu asked.

“It will. The present emperor values literary achievement. As long as the county performs well in the imperial examinations, the assessment of the magistrate’s administration will naturally include phrases such as ‘masterful moral instruction’ and ‘meritorious cultivation of talent.’ Those are first-rate achievements. At Hejiang’s current level, there is no need even to produce a Presented Scholar. If a single examination yields two more Recommended Men, he can earn an Exceptional rating. With a little maneuvering, his wish may well come true.” Zhu Liu clearly understood every rule of officialdom, which showed that he was indeed determined to pursue a political career.

“But Recommended Men cannot be produced by relying on Heaven’s favor,” Zhu Liu continued. “One must discover talent in advance and nurture it with care. Waiting until someone has become a Licentiate is already too late, because anyone who passes the Licentiate examination will have established connections in the prefecture and provincial offices. Such a person no longer needs to look to the magistrate for favor, and naturally cannot be counted among his achievements. One must therefore begin selecting and recommending students from the level of Classical Scholar. Only then will their success count toward his credit.”

“Isn’t that simply the recommendation system of the Han dynasty?” Su Lu could not help clicking his tongue.

“Nothing that has existed for a long time ever vanishes completely. It merely takes on another form,” Zhu Liu said with a long sigh. Then, with grave earnestness, he reminded Su Lu, “To pass the provincial examination, one naturally needs personal talent and hard work. But one also needs the support and promotion of family elders and local officials. No Recommended Man rises through study alone. You must learn to cultivate your own examination career.”

“Yes, Master. I shall remember your instruction.” Su Lu hurriedly bowed and agreed. After receiving his elder brother’s lesson, he found these words especially easy to take to heart.

“The reason my uncle has always fared poorly in the metropolitan examinations is largely that the capital is too far away for our family to exert any influence.” Zhu Zihe dared to say anything at all, treating Su Lu as no outsider. “Fortunately, the scholarly tradition in Shu has flourished in recent years. We have not only produced Grand Secretary Yang, but Academician Liu has also begun receiving disciples. At last, there is a glimmer of hope.”

Zhu Liu coughed several times before managing to make the fool stop talking.

Yet Su Lu had followed Zhu Liu for nearly half a year and heard him relate many bits of court gossip. He knew that Grand Secretary Yang was Yang Tinghe, while the other Academician Liu was no ordinary man either. He was the top scholar of the Sichuan provincial examination in the nineteenth year of the Chenghua reign, placed second in the metropolitan examination the following year, selected for the Hanlin Academy, and, like Yang Tinghe, appointed as a lecturer to the Eastern Palace. He was Liu Chun, one half of the famed Twin Jades of Shu.

Judging from the pointed remarks Zhu Liu had made before, he must have sought the help of both men when he went to the capital. He had probably met with a rebuff at the Yang household, and might even have quarreled with that young prodigy Yang. Otherwise, why did he always speak of Young Master Yang in such a sarcastic tone?

Combined with Zhu Zihe’s words, it seemed that Zhu Liu had managed to establish a connection with Liu Chun. Over the past two years, the cold hearth had grown warm again, and it was finally time to set the pot over the fire and begin cooking…

Had Zhu Zihe known that his few brief remarks had led Su Lu to infer so much, he would probably have rolled his eyes in exasperation once more.

“All right, class is beginning. Enough nonsense. In any case, prepare yourselves properly. Just do not make me lose face when the time comes.” Master Zhu ended the discussion and decided that, should he speak of such matters again, he would be sure to keep his eldest nephew away.

“Yes.” The two boys hurriedly agreed.

“Did you finish the essay on ‘An Analysis of the Song Dynasty’s Collapse’ that I assigned last time?” Zhu Liu asked.

“We did.” The two boys presented their respective assignments.

Zhu Liu nodded and first opened his nephew’s essay. As usual, he began reading it aloud with practiced cadence and emphasis:

“The Song dynasty did not perish because its armies were weak or its granaries empty. Its calamity began with the Xining reforms, while factional strife grew savage and the pursuit of profit spread everywhere! Then came the Jingkang catastrophe: the Jurchen cavalry crossed the river, the two emperors were carried north, and a century of foundations collapsed in a single day…”

“…Some say that ‘the new laws were originally intended to save the times.’ This is nonsense! The ancestral institutions were like a regimen for preserving life, while Wang Anshi recklessly administered powerful medicine, causing the nation’s vitality to wither! Factional strife put the loyal to death and corrupted the habits of the scholar-officials. Even without the Jurchen armies, the dynasty would still have disintegrated! Alas! The Song was strong when it preserved what had been handed down and placed the people’s livelihood first; it declined when it treated reform as paramount and morality as light. Let later generations take warning: in governing, steadiness is more precious than sudden change; talent, loyalty, and integrity are more precious than the pursuit of profit. Those who slight ancestral institutions and entrust the state to private factions will perish, no matter how wealthy they may be!”

Zhu Liu read the long essay straight through, then nodded despite himself. The “thickheaded nephew” seemed considerably more pleasing now.

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The essay was sound in argument and concise in language, its literary spirit consistent throughout, with memorable lines appearing one after another. It was, without question, a forceful piece of writing.

Its ideas were not particularly novel; they merely repeated the final judgments reached by the ministers and rulers of the Southern Song. Yet for a fourteen-year-old boy, it was already quite impressive. Zhu Liu had also read Yang Shen’s imitation of “An Essay on the Faults of Qin.” Though overflowing with talent, it likewise consisted of familiar platitudes and offered no new insights.

Of course, expecting children to produce thunderous revelations or opinions never before conceived by their predecessors was asking too much. Everything they were doing now, like this imitation of an ancient essay, was simply an exercise in learning from those who had come before and improving themselves.

To put it less kindly, they were merely chewing over what others had already chewed.

Zhu Liu glanced at his eldest nephew and thought, So Zihe has made considerable progress over the past six months. Why have I failed to notice?

Then he looked at the other student standing nearby—the other specimen…

Well, one need not fear ignorance, only comparison.

Zhu Liu picked up the other essay. After finishing the first page, his throat had gone dry. He raised his teacup as he read, intending to moisten his throat before continuing.

But as he read on, his movement suddenly froze. He stared fixedly at the booklet, holding the teacup aloft for a long while without lowering it.

Seeing his uncle’s expression as though he had encountered a ghost, Zhu Zihe grew curious. He went around behind the desk, wanting to see what Su Lu had written that could frighten his uncle so badly.

But when Zhu Liu noticed him approaching, he promptly closed the booklet, refusing to let his eldest nephew see it.

“Let me have a look,” Zhu Zihe said.

“No. Go back.” Zhu Liu shook his head firmly.

“If an essay is written, isn’t it meant to be read?” Zhu Zihe muttered, but obediently retreated.

Still, that was not enough. Zhu Liu added, “Go back for now. I will discuss your essay with you tomorrow.”

“Uncle…” Zhu Zihe stared blankly. What did this mean? Was he no longer worthy of sharing the same desk?

“Tsk…” Zhu Liu frowned and waved him away, signaling him not to dawdle.

Only then did Zhu Zihe withdraw, casting Su Lu a look of indescribable resentment.

Su Lu remained helpless. He had never acted opposite the boy in any scene, yet the little fellow had become addicted to performing a monologue.

After Zhu Zihe had left, Zhu Liu slapped Su Lu’s essay down on the desk and stared at him.

“Who taught you these words?”

“What words?” Su Lu asked.

“These words!” Zhu Liu pointed at the essay. He did not even need to read it again; the lines had already left an indelible impression on him.

“Mencius said, ‘The people are the most precious; the altars of state come next; the ruler is the least important.’ The Song reversed this order when it established its institutions and founded the state. Everywhere, it made the stability of the ruling house its foremost concern. In the military, it strengthened the trunk while weakening the branches, so soldiers did not know their commanders and commanders held no independent authority. In government, offices were piled upon offices, men outnumbered duties, and internal strife grew ever more fierce!”

“…Internal exhaustion overwhelmed defense, and struggles for power prevailed over governance. When disaster came, there was no aid; in the end, the dynasty perished beneath autocratic rule. The Jurchens rose in revolt and the Golden Realm was shattered; the two emperors were carried north, leaving an everlasting shame. Why? Because private interests of one ruling house were placed above all under Heaven!”

After reciting Su Lu’s entire essay, Zhu Liu gave a wry smile.

“Your essay rivals one by Chen Kongzhang. I had a slight toothache today, but after reading it, it mysteriously vanished.”

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“Master, you exaggerate. It was only a careless exercise,” Su Lu said, fully aware of his own limitations. “How could it be compared with ‘A Proclamation Against Yuan Shao to the Province of Yu’?”

“In literary brilliance, it naturally cannot compare with Chen Lin,” Zhu Liu said, shaking his head. “But the ‘Way’ contained in this essay is something Chen Kongzhang could never have understood.” He stared intently at Su Lu. “Who taught you these things? Or what book did you read them in?”

“…” Su Lu could only smile bitterly. “I can only say that Mencius taught me. I discerned them from ‘The Continued Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government.’”

“Truly?” Zhu Liu was still unwilling to give up.

“Since I first bound my hair and began receiving instruction, I have never spoken falsely to my teachers or elders.” Su Lu put on a solemn expression.

“Indeed…” Zhu Liu finally abandoned the matter. Rubbing his forehead, he sighed, “How could some great sage be living in seclusion in these remote mountain valleys? Playing the lute to oxen every day—what misery!”

“Master, we are people, not oxen…” Su Lu corrected him.

“That is not what I meant. Do not misunderstand.” Zhu Liu waved his hand, then said solemnly, “You possess far greater insight than I imagined. In the mere three days since you began reading history, you have grasped the crucial point that no one else ever understood. You have resolved, in a single moment, a perplexity that has troubled me for years!”

Only then did Su Lu realize what had happened. He could not help feeling secretly ashamed. It was true that this was his first time reading the history of the Song dynasty—but he had once listened to Professor Wang lecture on it in the popular history program *The Forum of a Hundred Schools*…

His historical perspective had actually been shaped by several hundred years of reflection by later generations. It was perfectly natural that it should have stunned Master Zhu.

“And although you speak of the Song dynasty, every sentence strikes at our own,” Master Zhu continued, sighing with profound emotion. “I now feel that if our dynasty does not change, it too may be unable to escape the fate of the former Song!”

“I did not, I have not, and please do not say that.” Su Lu hurriedly issued a disclaimer. “I truly meant only to discuss the matter itself. I was speaking solely of the Song dynasty and had no intention whatsoever of making insinuations about our own.”

“Events of the past are lessons for the future. Is that not precisely why one uses history as a mirror and antiquity to criticize the present?” Master Zhu did not believe him in the least. Assuming that Su Lu was merely worried, he smiled reassuringly. “You need not be concerned. His Majesty is exceptionally enlightened. No one will be punished for their words.”

Su Lu smiled bitterly. “But I truly had no intention of criticizing the present through antiquity. Besides, our dynasty has already undergone a fundamental transformation compared with its founding days. It has nothing to do with the Song dynasty, and even less to do with this essay.”

“How so?” Master Zhu asked humbly.

To shake off the accusation of criticizing the present through history, Su Lu had no choice but to explain.

“I have heard that the core interest of a state is taxation, and that the underlying purpose of every institution designed by a state is the collection of taxes.”

“That seems rather one-sided. Our Great Ming was founded to defend against the northern barbarians and protect the Chinese realm!” Master Zhu immediately objected.

“It was merely a ruler protecting his own tax base.”

“Er…” Zhu Liu was rendered speechless by the reply. At last, he understood the helplessness Zhang Yanqiu had once felt.

Postscript: The books mentioned in the previous chapter, *A Critical History of the Song* and *A New Compilation of the History of the Song*, were both written during the Jiajing era. I was mistaken. My memory has grown poor, yet I was blindly confident, assuming that writing about the Ming dynasty would be effortless and require no fact-checking. The result was this embarrassing blunder. My apologies.