Yu Qianlou rebuked him, "Nonsense! Father cares about your affairs more than anyone. Just now, he told me you were back and told me to come see you before going to the government office. After you moved out that day, he even wrote to his friends to arrange for you to enter the Academy of State Sons-"
"That was because he wanted to send me away! If Father cared about me even a little, he wouldn't have ignored my desperate pleas and refused to say so much as a word for the Commandery Academy! Even without me, he and my teacher have been friends for decades, yet he still wouldn't help! And even setting personal friendship aside, the Commandery Academy concerns the very lifeblood of learning in our province. Never mind the local scholar-officials-even outsiders like Fourth Lady Xie have lent their full support!
"But Father? Everything he's done has truly chilled my heart!"
Seeing the anguish on his younger brother's face, Yu Qianlou shook his head and waved to the attendants. "Stand back."
Once the attendants had withdrawn some distance, Yu Qianlou said, "Last time, I told you to read the 'Treatise on the Partisan Prohibitions' in the Book of the Later Han. Did you?"
"I did."
"What did you think?"
Yu Yuling's face shone with righteous conviction. "A scholar should temper his integrity and take cleansing the world as his duty!"
"Wrong!" Yu Qianlou said firmly. "What I wanted to tell you was that factions have been impossible to stamp out since ancient times! And those caught in factional struggles are the most likely to suffer disaster! You must learn to assess the situation through the lens of factions. Otherwise, you're looking at flowers through fog, always separated from the truth by a veil."
"Factions? What factions does our dynasty have?!" Yu Yuling was startled.
"A faction doesn't need to call itself one to be one. Open factions are easy to see; hidden ones are hard to discern." Yu Qianlou sighed softly.
"Hidden factions? Who are you calling a hidden faction, Brother?"
"I'm not saying anyone is a hidden faction. Rather..." Yu Qianlou paused in thought before saying, "What I'm about to tell you must pass from my mouth to your ears and no further. You must not tell a third person, not even your teacher. Can you do that?"
Yu Yuling considered it, then said, "As long as it isn't something that would harm my teacher, I won't say a word."
"Master Liu has truly taken in a fine disciple." Yu Qianlou could not help sighing with feeling. He looked at his younger brother and said, "Ajie, you'll soon be studying at the Academy of State Sons. It's time I told you something about affairs at the Imperial Court."
Yu Yuling thought, If the Commandery Academy can't be saved, I'll never go to the Academy of State Sons!
His elder brother continued, "The reigning emperor has twenty-one sons in all. Excluding the sixth, twelfth, and fifteenth princes, who died young, eighteen are still alive. Though his offspring are numerous, most are young. Only six have truly reached adulthood.
"The eldest son, who is also the crown prince, Xiao Changmao, is thirty-two;
"The second prince, the Prince of Jingling, Xiao Ziliang, is thirty;
"The third prince, the Prince of Luling, Xiao Ziqing, is twenty-two;
"The fourth prince, the Prince of Badong, Xiao Zixiang, is twenty-one;
"The fifth prince, the Prince of Anlu, Xiao Zijing, is eighteen;
"The seventh prince, the Prince of Jin'an, Xiao Zimao, is eighteen.
"In fact, their ages alone tell you that the crown prince and the second prince are a good deal older than the rest. They're in the prime of life, their sun high at noon. None of the other princes can compare with them in either power or prestige.
"Ever since the second prince was granted the title Prince of Jingling, he has enjoyed tremendous prominence. He serves as Minister over the Masses, opened the Western Residence, devotes himself to his guests, and recruits talented scholars from across the realm. He has earned a reputation as a worthy prince. The scholars at his Prince's Residence can even stand alongside the erudites of the Academy of State Sons! He also honors eminent monks, discusses Buddhist teachings, compiles the writings of the hundred schools, and gathers literary works from throughout the realm. Such a flourishing of letters and learning has never been seen east of the Yangtze!
"Just last year, the emperor even asked the Prince of Jingling to serve concurrently as Libationer of the Academy of State Sons! Though the Prince of Jingling declined, the emperor rewarded him with the Three-Hope Carriage. The favor he enjoys, the reputation he commands, and the power he wields have gradually begun to press upon and overshadow the crown prince..."
"Brother!" Yu Yuling jumped in alarm. He had never expected his usually steady elder brother to speak with such disregard for taboos!
"It's all right. It's just the two of us here. We can say whatever we please."
"But... but everyone says the Prince of Jingling and the crown prince share great brotherly affection. Is that all a lie?"
"I don't know whether it's true or false. I'm only describing the situation objectively. The crown prince established the Six Ailments Hospice to support the poor, and the Prince of Jingling opened his private granaries to relieve the poor of Danyang.
"The Prince of Jingling submitted proposals to lighten punishments, reduce forced labor, and ease taxes and labor levies. The crown prince then went personally to Xuanpu Garden, reviewed the prisoners held by the three offices, and granted sweeping pardons.
"The crown prince visited the Academy of State Sons and tested its students. The Ministry of Personnel then recommended the Prince of Jingling as its Libationer.
"The Prince of Jingling invited eminent monks to hold fasting assemblies and lectures to spread the Dharma. The crown prince then convened a great assembly of monks to debate the scriptures.
"You can certainly call this mutual encouragement, advancing shoulder to shoulder. But there may be many brothers, while there can only be one heir. In the imperial family, the very idea of advancing 'shoulder to shoulder' already signifies a strained relationship."
Yu Qianlou's words parted the fog, allowing Yu Yuling to see a landscape he had never glimpsed before. "Brother, do you mean there are two factions at court-the Crown Prince Faction and the Prince of Jingling Faction?"
"Let's call them that for now.
"When two factions contend, they must win over other forces to strengthen themselves. The other four adult princes, for example.
"Of those four, two are in the capital: the third prince, the Prince of Luling, serves as General of the Central Army, while the fifth prince, the Prince of Anlu, serves as General of the Army Guard.
"The other two hold regional commands: the fourth prince, the Prince of Badong, commands Jingzhou, and the seventh prince, the Prince of Jin'an, commands Xiangzhou.
"These are all men whose weight can tip the scales.
"Whichever faction they join, they can greatly increase its strength."
Seeing a dawning look of understanding on his younger brother's face, Yu Qianlou stressed again:
"Let me repeat myself. Everything I've just said is an inference based on the limited information I've obtained. It doesn't necessarily reflect the truth.
"Since this is an exercise in inference, there may be other possibilities concerning those four princes. For instance..."
Yu Qianlou deliberately stopped there and gave his younger brother a testing look.
Yu Yuling ventured, "For instance, the four princes might form a faction together, or each might form his own?"
Yu Qianlou smiled. "You can be taught! Let's take the fourth prince, the Prince of Badong, as an example. If he wanted to gather his own forces and weave himself a pair of wings-"
"His Highness doesn't seem to have that sort of calculating mind. He won't even meet Jingzhou's civil and military officials. How could he weave himself a pair of wings?"
The Prince of Badong was wild and unrestrained, or, in the common people's words, somewhat "off the rails." Yu Yuling had heard plenty of rumors about this prince. He found it hard to believe that such an absurd man would gather forces and secretly form a faction.
"If even you could see his calculations, they wouldn't be calculations at all. The Imperial Court keeps a strict guard against regional commands. Jingzhou's senior civil and military officials are either appointed by the Ministry of Personnel or controlled by local aristocratic clans. Some are simply the Imperial Court's eyes and ears. If he openly tried to win them over, one careless move could send word back to the Imperial Court.
"Instead, His Highness only meets people from his own Prince's Residence. He seems to act on a whim, entirely according to his likes and dislikes, yet he always stays within the rules and does no serious harm. The scholar-officials all say he behaves frivolously and makes missteps, but when you get down to it, they're all trivial faults. That's why the emperor has continued to indulge him.
"What's more, His Highness has placed his personal guards in military posts. Would you call that favoritism, or does he have some other purpose? He also frequently displays a rough, martial side. I hear he has quite a good reputation among the middle- and lower-ranking officers."
Yu Yuling thought it over, but still found it rather far-fetched. He sighed. "The man you're describing hardly sounds like the Prince of Badong at all."
Note: It's fine if you can't yet keep all these princes and their titles straight; the picture will become clearer little by little. Also, Yu Qianlou's official rank isn't particularly high-he's roughly a mid-ranking local official-so his guesses about the situation at the top may not necessarily be accurate.
Before you continue