Xu Jie took a breath and looked joyfully at Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong. The three nodded together.
Xu Jie cleared his throat and read in an even more sonorous tone:
“From the Ninth Heaven, I receive Heaven’s mandate, how can my heart bear it?
Ruling the Four Seas, I grieve for the common people, my heart is wounded!”
“Qing…”
“Qing…”
“Qing…”
“Qing…”
“…”
“Qing…”
Nine tolls!
Nine consecutive tolls.
This had broken all previous records.
Yan Song’s Qing Ci, written at sixty, only had seven tolls.
The faces of the Qingliu officials were instantly alight with victory, while Yan Song, Yan Shifan, and Yan Maoqing’s moods plummeted to the abyss… They had intended to use this as an opportunity, to take advantage of the Qingliu’s embarrassment and impeach them, ideally to have Gao Gong or Zhang Juzheng expelled from the Cabinet… But now, the stone they had thrown had landed squarely on their own feet.
Next,
Xu Jie read the concluding poem:
“Your servant, deeply moved by Your Majesty’s grace, composes this poem:
At the altar, the Bu Xu chants rise together, to bless the nation and welcome auspiciousness with utmost sincerity.
On that day, pleas were made within the Golden Palace, today, fragrant mist burns in the jade furnace.
The Imperial domain is consolidated, mountains and rivers are majestic,
The Emperor’s Way flourishes, the sun and moon shine brightly.
Myriad people look up to the era of Yao and Shun,
The harvest is abundant, bringing joy and peace.”
As the lingering echo of the final word, "peace," faded, everyone in the Yu Xi Palace was left speechless. This Qing Ci had even become a classic in its conclusion.
Yan Shifan, being the most discerning, immediately understood that the first character of each line in this final poem, when strung together, formed a sentence—
“Shang, Zhu, Dang, Jin, Huang, Di, Wan, Sui” (Long live His Majesty the Emperor)!
This,
This was simply genius!
Yan Shifan first felt as if he had been kicked fiercely, and then felt the sensation of being pinned to the ground and ground into dust… Yan Song, however, was even more seasoned and astute. What unnerved him most were the first two lines—
“From the Ninth Heaven, I receive Heaven’s mandate, how can my heart bear it?
Ruling the Four Seas, I grieve for the common people, my heart is wounded!”
These two lines were undoubtedly the trump cards.
Based on his years of experience, he knew that these two lines would be the Emperor’s absolute favorites, without exception. With these two lines alone, even a commoner could immediately ascend to the court.
Even more frightening was the possibility that these two lines might awaken the Emperor to the plight of the common people. If that were to happen, it might very well herald an unavoidable moment of truth…
…
At this moment, Emperor Jiajing had not yet recovered.
“From the Ninth Heaven, I receive Heaven’s mandate, how can my heart bear it? Ruling the Four Seas, I grieve for the common people, my heart is wounded!”
These two lines struck a deep chord with his imperial sentiments, and also expressed a sentiment that the Yan father and son would never convey: the suffering of the common people! And the Emperor’s foundation lay with the common people.
Over the years, the common people had indeed suffered greatly. Although Emperor Jiajing could control corrupt officials and stabilize the gradually declining dynasty, he lacked the ability to relieve the suffering of the populace.
Forty years ago, he had inherited a mess.
At that time, the court was in chaos, and Yang Tinghe’s faction had openly attempted to usurp power. After more than a decade of fierce struggle, the situation had finally been stabilized. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do anything for the people, but every time he tried to rebuild the country, he was met with internal strife and external threats, natural disasters and man-made calamities…
The Wokou pirates and the Tatars, these two great scourges, had clung to him like maggots on a bone, preventing him from having the opportunity to act freely. Now, on the verge of exhaustion, was there still a chance to revive the Great Ming? Would the Great Ming perish just as he was running out of steam?
A series of deep thoughts swirled in his mind, bringing him moments of joy and despair. His breath rose and fell, and he could not find peace.
…
Yan Song, after all, was a man of deep calculation and soon regained his composure—
This Qing Ci was definitely not written by these few Qingliu ministers, nor by those scholars in the Hanlin Academy. It must have been someone else, someone else entirely! If it was discovered that it wasn’t written by someone from the Hanlin Academy, wouldn’t that be considered deceiving the Emperor?
Thinking of this, he subtly tugged at his son Yan Shifan’s sleeve and whispered, “Ask them who wrote this Qing Ci…”
“Right! Alas!”
Yan Shifan suddenly slapped his forehead. How could he not have thought of this? Wasn’t this a crime of deceiving the Emperor? He immediately spoke loudly,
“Eunuch Lu! And Grand Secretary Xu, may I ask who wrote this Qing Ci? Which great talent from the Hanlin Academy is it? Such talent, how could the Ministry of Personnel not recommend him!”
His words immediately reminded Emperor Jiajing.
“Indeed, who wrote this? Do those scholars in the Hanlin Academy have such ability? Even Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng lack this celestial nobility…?”
How could Eunuch Lu not understand Emperor Jiajing’s thoughts? He immediately pressed, “That’s right, Grand Secretary Xu, precisely which person from the Hanlin Academy penned this Qing Ci?”
…
Xu Jie immediately cursed himself for the oversight.
This Qing Ci was originally intended for emergencies. He hadn’t considered the Yan faction’s slander, but there simply wasn’t enough time! They hadn’t yet ascertained who wrote it. How could he answer now? It could very well be a crime of deceiving the Emperor! Even though Xu Jie had weathered many storms, he was at a loss for words at this moment.
Zhang Juzheng, living up to his reputation as a child prodigy, turned his mind and devised a perfect explanation. He smiled slightly and said aloud,
“Reporting to Eunuch Lu, Grand Secretary Yan, and Junior Grand Secretary Yan, this Qing Ci was indeed written by a person from the Hanlin Academy… This person is a scholar of profound learning who disdained fame and fortune his entire life. I met him by chance in the common populace, and several months ago, I engaged him as a guest scholar in the Hanlin Academy…”
Oh, so that’s how it is.
So, it was a Hanlin guest scholar…
At that time, to compile various books, the Hanlin Academy often engaged learned individuals from the populace. In today’s terms, they had no official positions but received a salary from the Hanlin Academy, akin to contract workers. Such people held no status within the system, and who cared about their names or origins? All the important figures in the Yu Xi Palace understood this well.
It was normal for Grand Secretary Zhang Taiyue to offer him a position and then not remember his name. If the Emperor hadn’t ordered everyone in the Hanlin Academy to submit Qing Ci this time, who would have even noticed such a person…
At this point, the assembled officials breathed a collective sigh of relief and began to chatter amongst themselves.
Emperor Jiajing, however, his eyes revealed a sharp glint—
“The person who could write this Qing Ci is absolutely no ordinary mortal…”