As soon as Zhu Youjian finished speaking, Yang Sichang let out a long breath of relief inwardly. Even the cold sweat soaking his body seemed to have dried somewhat.
An indemnity was a minor matter. If word of territorial concessions and a marriage alliance got out, the veteran ministers would surely kneel outside the palace gates again and refuse to rise.
Peace negotiations were good. Peace negotiations were good!
"I'll leave this matter to you!" Zhu Youjian waved at Yang Sichang, dismissing him.
Yang Sichang hurriedly answered, "Yes," and rose, only then realizing that his legs had gone numb. Enduring the aching pain, he shuffled out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity before letting out an "Ow!" and leaning against the stone balustrade.
He had been attending imperial audiences as a grand secretary for several years, yet never had he felt as anxious and fearful as he had today.
Thankfully, it was only a false alarm. His Majesty still wanted to negotiate peace!
Yang Sichang stamped his feet, summoned a junior eunuch to support him, and limped toward the palace exit.
Passing through Fengtian Gate and following the long passage to Meridian Gate, Yang Sichang went straight into the Ministry of War's duty room. He glanced around and waved all the attendants out.
"Grand Secretary Yang, how did it go?" Gao Qiqian, the eunuch military supervisor at Shanhai Pass, stepped forward inside the duty room and asked anxiously.
Unsteady on his feet, Yang Sichang walked to the table and poured himself a brimming cup of tea. He drank three cups in succession before setting the cup down and saying, "His Majesty has agreed for now, only..."
A smile that said "just as expected" had barely appeared on Gao Qiqian's face when Yang Sichang's "only" wiped it away. "Only what?" he pressed.
Yang Sichang recalled his audience in the Eastern Warm Pavilion. His Majesty had indeed opposed peace negotiations at first, so why had he changed his mind in the end?
Moreover, His Majesty's sternness and imposing presence seemed even greater than before, leaving him afraid to meet his gaze.
Yang Sichang could not make sense of it.
"Grand Secretary?"
When Yang Sichang did not answer, Gao Qiqian prompted him softly again. Yang Sichang came back to himself. "Nothing. His Majesty has agreed to negotiate peace. When King Yama Lu enters the palace later, I'll give him a word beforehand, lest that stubborn temper of his offend His Majesty again!"
"You've thought of everything, Grand Secretary." Gao Qiqian bowed slightly. "Then this servant will return to the military camp!"
In the Eastern Warm Pavilion, after dismissing Yang Sichang, Zhu Youjian was still turning over the plan that had come to him in a flash of inspiration. It was terribly risky and would require capable people to cooperate. Time was pressing now, however, and he did not know whether he could make it in time.
He could only hope that Yang Sichang would approach the peace negotiations with the urgency he had professed and get the news to Huang Taiji as soon as possible.
Outside the hall, the sky was gradually brightening. Having sat through half the night, Zhu Youjian was beginning to feel exhausted.
Wang Cheng'en had already gathered the scattered memorials from the desk. Looking at the mountain of documents piled before him, Zhu Youjian sighed inwardly. Chongzhen's workload truly lived up to its reputation. It exceeded even what he had read in the historical materials at the museum, and he suddenly felt keenly the lack of capable people at his side.
Only memorials that had received draft recommendations from the Grand Secretariat and approval in vermilion from the Directorate of Ceremonial's brush-holding eunuchs could reach the emperor's desk.
These memorials fell into several categories: requests for reinforcements against the Jurchens, requests for money and provisions for those reinforcements, requests for disaster relief from various regions, and mutual impeachments among court officials.
The grand secretaries would first read these memorials and offer specific recommendations for handling them, a process known as drafting recommendations. They were then sent to the Directorate of Ceremonial, where the brush-holding eunuchs assessed whether those recommendations were feasible.
One could say that this system allowed the grand secretaries and the Directorate of Ceremonial to check and balance each other. It was fairly advanced.
Yet even the finest system depended on people to carry it out. Whether it was the learned grand secretaries or the brush-holding eunuchs devoted to the emperor, if either side went wrong, even the best system could bring disaster.
Judging by Zhu Youjian's perspective and experience from a later age, Emperor Chongzhen had actually known little about ordinary people or their livelihoods. Everything he knew came from the grand secretaries or those around him, which had led some of his decisions astray.
Zhu Youjian could make up for this with his own knowledge and experience. The drawback was that his understanding of the Ming Dynasty also came from historical documents. He did not know every last detail and would have to explore and familiarize himself with them gradually in the days ahead.
As he read on, Zhu Youjian could not help knitting his brows tightly again. He truly began to understand why Emperor Chongzhen had grown more wrathful day after day. If he had spent eleven straight years reading such nonsense himself, he would probably have been driven mad with anger too.
Amid troubles at home and threats from abroad, ministers were still busy tearing one another down, seeking personal gain, and squeezing out their rivals. Worse still, shameless military supervisors inflated troop numbers and pocketed the pay of nonexistent soldiers.
If he did not reform things, then even with his knowledge of history, sooner or later he would follow the same old road to suicide on Coal Hill.
Reform in a time of chaos came down to money, people, and weapons.
As for money, the tax policies of this era were profoundly unreasonable. The imperial clan and the gentry paid no taxes, while the imperial clan kept swallowing up land.
Vast numbers of landlords and wealthy merchants placed themselves under the gentry's names to evade taxation, leaving the entire tax burden on the peasants.
With the flames of war rising everywhere, the court kept increasing tax rates to fund military pay, driving peasant laborers into a corner and ultimately swelling the ranks of the roving rebels.
As for weapons, although Great Ming had developed quite a few advanced weapons through study and exchanges with the West, officials remained hidebound. Manufacturing weapons also burned through money, and the quality of the firearms delivered could not be guaranteed. Their barrels burst from time to time. Who would dare take them into battle against the Jurchens?
Zhu Youjian had some ideas about these entrenched failings. In terms of finances, for instance, Great Ming was not actually poor. Its money was concentrated in the hands of the gentry and wealthy merchants of Jiangnan. Reforming the tax system alone could bring in a vast sum of silver.
Next, he would have to find a way to cut the imperial clan, which was proliferating like cancer cells, out of Great Ming's body.
Finally, there was overseas trade. The maritime ban not only deprived the court of a means of making money but also robbed it of the opportunity to understand a changing world. The worldview that all nations came to pay homage had also caused the Ming Dynasty to suffer enormous losses in tributary trade.
None of the policies Zhu Youjian was considering could be implemented quickly, however. A meal had to be eaten one mouthful at a time, and matters had to be dealt with one by one. He must not be too hasty!
Lu Xiangsheng walked with heavy steps. The gaze outside Meridian Gate had felt like a thorn in his back, filling him with unease and towering fury.
Peace negotiations?
Was that His Majesty's intention, or merely Yang Sichang's attempt to draw me into the pro-peace camp?
Lu Xiangsheng raised his head. Not far away, the bright yellow glazed tiles of the Palace of Heavenly Purity shone dazzlingly in the morning sun. The junior eunuch guiding him stopped and said with a smile, "Sorry for the trouble, Governor-General Lu, but please wait a moment. This servant will go announce your arrival!"
Lu Xiangsheng nodded and said, "Sorry for the trouble."
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