After Zi Shou finished issuing his decree, Shang Rong popped out again, his face full of worry, with none of his earlier delight remaining. "Your old servant Shang Rong petitions Your Majesty! When a ruler follows the Way, the people live and work in contentment, obeying without being commanded. Besides, Your Majesty already has no fewer than a thousand beauties in the Imperial Harem, with royal consorts above the concubines and attendants. If you now seek more beauties, I fear the people will be disappointed!"
There certainly was no shortage of people offering remonstrations.
Some said that with so many floods and droughts, indulging the king's lust for women was hardly wise.
Others said that grasping at a moment's pleasure would plunge the hard-won peace of the realm back into chaos.
The ministers stepped forward one after another to remonstrate. Zi Shou saw it clearly: only a scattered handful refrained from taking a stance. Fei Zhong and You Hun, both remonstrance officials, held the highest offices among them. As for the military officers, perhaps they were all rough sorts; few spoke.
My mighty Shang Dynasty has talent in abundance, so why are there only these same few treacherous ministers, no matter where I look?
After the others finished remonstrating, Shang Rong finally bowed his head. "Your old servant occupies the chief minister's seat, bearing responsibility for his failings, and has served three generations of sovereigns. I must speak to Your Majesty!"
"Now that the fighting in the North Sea has yet to cease, you ought to cultivate virtue, cherish the people, conserve their wealth, and give due weight to your decrees. Even Yao and Shun did no more than this. Why must you select a few women to attend you before you can find enjoyment? Your foolish servant knows no restraint in his words and begs Your Majesty to accept them!"
Shang Rong had found a good reason. With the North Sea rebellion draining the people's labor and wealth, how could the king have the nerve to select beauties?
Zi Shou really had no answer. Being a foolish ruler was no easy task either. Every loyal minister under him stared with eyes wider than bronze bells, watching his every word and deed. He could not get a single policy through.
Other foolish rulers had built up a foundation first. They had not started out quite so incompetent; they had to seize power little by little and promote villains step by step before they could succeed.
Zi Shou wanted to be a foolish ruler, but hardly anyone among his court's civil and military officials wanted to be a treacherous minister!
With those above and below pulling in different directions, nothing could get done.
He could only make more moves like his last-minute replacement of the commander, establishing his image as an incompetent ruler while gradually promoting sycophantic ministers like Fei Zhong, who obeyed his every word. Only then could he openly become a foolish ruler.
There were too many loyal ministers at court. They really cramped his style.
Zi Shou sighed inwardly and had no choice but to drop the matter for now. Once Official Fei took command and lost in the North Sea, he would find a pretext to send all these loyal ministers to the front.
No, that probably won't work. Plenty of loyal ministers are capable too. What if they actually put down the rebellion?
He still needed to think carefully about how to deal with them.
At that moment, Zi Shou noticed something amiss. As an emperor, why did his words carry so little weight? He felt constrained at every turn.
After thinking for ages without finding an answer, he decided to dismiss court first.
The chancellor's residence.
Shang Rong was drenched in cold sweat.
The Shang Dynasty differed from other dynasties. Its succession had always combined two systems: "the younger brother succeeds the elder" and "the son succeeds the father." An elder brother passed the throne to his younger brother, the younger brother passed it to his son, and that son passed it to his own younger brother. Barring any accidents, the succession would continue in this fashion.
Looking at the last few generations, Wu Ding passed the throne to his son Zu Geng, Zu Geng to his younger brother Zu Jia, Zu Jia to his son Bing Xin, Bing Xin to his younger brother Geng Ding, and Geng Ding to his son Wu Yi. Wu Yi died suddenly, and his son Tai Ding succeeded him. Tai Ding passed the throne to his son Di Yi, and Di Yi to his son Di Xin. Di Xin was King Zhou, Zi Shou-but there was a problem here.
Zi Shou was Di Yi's third son. Ahead of him stood his uncle Jizi and his eldest brother Zi Qi, both renowned throughout the realm as great worthies. Under either succession system, whether younger brother succeeding elder or son succeeding father, Zi Shou should never have had his turn. Yet he had still become King Zhou.
One factor behind this was the vigorous support of veteran ministers such as Shang Rong, Mei Bo, and Zhao Qi.
Among them, Shang Rong had previously been the minister in charge of rites and music. Mei Bo was Tai Ding's younger brother, making him King Zhou's great-uncle, and had served as minister of education for three reigns. These veteran ministers wielded immense influence. Moreover, Zi Qi's mother had not yet been queen when he was born, so he was not a legitimate son. Thus, Zi Shou had ascended the throne.
Had Zi Shou ever shown the potential to become a worthy ruler?
Of course not. He had only performed the heroic feat of supporting a beam while a pillar was replaced to save his father-in other words, he had strong limbs.
Then why had the veteran ministers put Zi Shou on the throne?
For power.
Take Shang Rong, for example. After Zi Shou ascended the throne, he became chancellor.
The veteran ministers joined forces to monopolize court affairs. Together with royal family members such as Jizi and Zi Qi, who resented the succession, they constrained Zi Shou from every side.
Before Zi Shou transmigrated, his predecessor, King Zhou, had tried to resist and cultivate trusted followers, such as Fei Zhong and You Hun. Yet despite his power and standing as the Son of Heaven, when he wanted to promote a few men he trusted, he could only make them remonstrance officials or ordinary officials.
They were merely officials who offered counsel, with no real power to speak of.
No wonder Zi Shou felt that he lacked authority. He could not even manage to be a foolish ruler.
There were, of course, ministers at court wholly devoted to their sovereign, such as Wen Zhong. But more were neutral spectators like the King of Wucheng, Huang Feihu, watching from atop the walls.
Sending Wen Zhong to lead the army against the rebellion, thereby weakening the faction at court that blindly supported King Zhou, had actually been the idea of several veteran ministers.
Shang Rong sat cross-legged on the floor.
Today's court session had frightened him into a cold sweat.
King Zhou had never possessed the commanding aura of a sovereign. He had been helpless against the veteran ministers' monopoly on court affairs and lacked even the authority to promote his confidants.
First sending Wen Zhong on campaign, then invoking the worship of Empress Nuwa, had been the veteran ministers' way of testing how much King Zhou would tolerate from them.
But King Zhou had not played by the usual rules. He had never worshipped Nuwa before and should not have known who she was, yet he had suddenly taken the initiative to recount her merits and gone to Nuwa Palace to offer incense in the name of righteousness for all the people under heaven.
Shang Rong had been alarmed then. His delight and pleasant surprise had all been feigned to conceal his true feelings.
Had King Zhou seen through their entire plan?
Was everything already within King Zhou's grasp?
Shang Rong had not known. Only after following King Zhou all the way to Nuwa Palace in trembling fear and seeing him inscribe his poem had he realized that everything was over.
After seven years of patient restraint, King Zhou was about to launch his counterattack.
By inscribing a poem praising a female general, he was courting the power of women.
What power of women? The consorts of the three palaces.
Jiang, his first wife in the Central Palace, and Huang, his consort in the Western Palace.
Jiang was the daughter of Eastern Marquis Jiang Huanchu, while Huang was the younger sister of the King of Wucheng, Huang Feihu.
King Zhou was courting his consorts-and the neutral military faction behind them!
Wasn't Mulan a general? The hint could not have been more obvious!
At today's court session, King Zhou had made his intentions even more explicit.
That was precisely why Shang Rong's expression had kept changing.
At the very start of court, King Zhou had demanded a change of commander, replacing his blindly devoted loyalist Wen Zhong with Fei Lian and recalling Wen Zhong to the capital. This alone proved that King Zhou had seen through their plan.
And who was Fei Lian? An ordinary official. Like Fei Zhong and You Hun, he was one of King Zhou's confidants, without any real authority, usually so inconspicuous that he might as well have been invisible. With him as commander, defeat was certain.
But this was precisely King Zhou's declaration of resolve: he was determined to regain his authority even if it meant failing to suppress the rebellion!
Huang Feihu's subsequent stance had been equally clear. Could this seasoned military veteran possibly not know that Fei Lian was bound to lose?
Of course he knew. But he had accepted King Zhou's overture through the poem at Nuwa Palace, offering only a single remonstration before saying no more.
And the selection of beauties that followed-was that because King Zhou had been bewitched by feminine charms?
Of course not. It was a naked test!
Hadn't Fei Zhong, You Hun, and the others refrained from remonstrating?
Hadn't the military officers led by Huang Feihu barely tried to dissuade him?
This was about choosing sides.
Everyone who obstructed him was a target for King Zhou to purge or bring to heel!
Shang Rong's robes, which had long since dried, were soaked through again. Though he had worked all this out, it was already too late. He himself had been the most enthusiastic in leaping out to oppose the selection of beauties.
No, it isn't too late!
Shang Rong steadied himself. He resolved to change. Having served three reigns and risen to the highest rank a subject could attain, he was already satisfied.
All he wanted now was to end as well as he had begun.
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