Beiping Prefecture.
June in Beiping was scorching hot.
The streets and alleys of the city had lost all signs of life.
Inside the Prince of Yan's Palace, Zhu Di sat upright in his room, leafing through a book on military strategy.
"Your Highness."
Qiu Fu, a guard commander of a thousand men serving the Prince of Yan, announced himself outside the door. Only after receiving permission did he enter. Looking at Zhu Di's striking, imposing figure, he said respectfully, "Your Highness, we have received word from the Capital. You are being summoned there."
"To the Capital?"
Zhu Di looked at Qiu Fu, surprise and suspicion showing on his face.
He had traveled a thousand miles to attend the funeral, only to be stopped in Huai'an by Mei Yin's men. Even his pleas had failed to secure passage, leaving him no choice but to send his three sons in his stead.
Unable to pay his final respects, Zhu Di had kowtowed several times in Huai'an facing the Capital, then returned to Beiping Prefecture with a heart full of grief and indignation.
He had barely enjoyed a few days of peace, and now the court was summoning him to the Capital?
"Where did this news come from?"
Zhu Di's voice was grave.
Qiu Fu hurriedly replied, "Your Highness, our informants in the Capital learned of it. And according to them, there is another major development."
"What is it?"
"The emperor is cutting the Capital's army by a hundred thousand men!"
"What?"
Zhu Di abruptly rose to his feet, fixing Qiu Fu with a piercing gaze.
Qiu Fu dared not meet his eyes. Lowering his head, he said, "Your Highness, the court's envoy could arrive within a day or two. I have heard that your summons to the Capital and the reduction of the army are already common knowledge there."
His brows tightly knitted, Zhu Di paced restlessly around the room. "I understand. You may leave."
Qiu Fu withdrew.
Zhu Di sat down in his chair, a trace of uncertain alarm in his eyes.
Zhu Di was thirty-nine that year. He had been invested as the Prince of Yan by Zhu Yuanzhang at the age of eleven, in the third year of Hongwu, and had taken up residence in his fief in Beiping at twenty-one.
In the early Ming Dynasty, although the Yuan Dynasty had been driven out of the Central Plains and fled to the Frontier Beyond the Passes, it still retained formidable strength and never stopped plotting another invasion of the Central Plains.
Beiping had been the heart of the Yuan empire, the site of its capital, and naturally remained a foremost priority for defense.
When Zhu Di first took up residence in his fief, he had joined the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Ning, and the other frontier princes in guarding the northern borders of the Ming Empire.
After purging a group of Hongwu-era military commanders, Zhu Yuanzhang had made his sons the empire's guardians. In the twenty-third and twenty-eighth years of Hongwu, he twice ordered Zhu Di to launch a Northern Expedition beyond the passes.
Zhu Di had lived up to everyone's expectations, winning complete victories both times, and his fame had soared.
Zhu Yuanzhang trusted Zhu Di all the more. In particular, after the deaths of his eldest son Zhu Biao, his second son Zhu Shuang, and his third son Zhu Gang, Zhu Di, the fourth son, had become the foremost of the enfeoffed princes.
A month before his death, Zhu Yuanzhang had even ordered Zhu Di to take command of the various armies and prepare to defend Kaiping. Instead of the order to march, however, Zhu Di had received news of Zhu Yuanzhang's death.
Zhu Di's return halfway through his journey to the funeral had baffled everyone in Beiping Prefecture and left his subordinates seething with indignation. Though none dared openly curse Zhu Yunwen, in private they had long hated him enough to grind their teeth.
"Your Highness."
A slightly weathered voice roused Zhu Di from his thoughts.
Zhu Di looked up to see a gaunt old monk standing at the doorway, his palms pressed together, wearing a pale red cassock with black bands.
"Master Dao Yan, please, have a seat."
Zhu Di hastily rose and returned the greeting with his palms together. "The summer heat is unbearable now. Traveling between the palace and Qingshou Temple must be quite tiring. Why not stay here for a while?"
Dao Yan thanked him. "Many thanks, Your Highness, but this humble monk has grown accustomed to the quiet of his meditation chamber at Qingshou Temple. This little bit of heat is nothing."
Zhu Di understood and did not press him further. He ordered tea to be served, then sat upright, sipping it gently as he considered how to begin.
Dao Yan remained unhurried, holding his prayer beads in one hand. Seemingly lost in thought, he watched Zhu Di in silence.
Although Zhu Di knew Dao Yan's background well, he still could not see through the man before him.
His original name was Yao Guangxiao, and he hailed from Changzhou in Suzhou. He had become a monk at fourteen, taking the Dharma name Dao Yan.
Though a Buddhist monk, Dao Yan did not confine himself to a single school. He was deeply versed in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and knew a great deal about astrology, the eight trigrams, physiognomy, and military strategy as well.
The two had met in the fifteenth year of Hongwu, when Empress Xiaoci, Ma, died. Zhu Yuanzhang had issued an edict selecting eminent monks to chant sutras and pray for Empress Ma, and the monk Si Zongle had recommended Dao Yan to serve the Prince of Yan.
Dao Yan believed Zhu Di possessed the bearing of an emperor, spoke with distinction, excelled in both civil and military affairs, and had a broad, generous spirit. He resolved to follow him and, by "presenting a white cap to an enfeoffed prince," became a man Zhu Di trusted.
Later, Dao Yan came to Beiping, where Zhu Di made him abbot of Qingshou Temple and took him into his confidence. Whenever an important matter arose, he would always discuss it with him.
After Zhu Di returned to Beiping, having failed to attend the funeral, Dao Yan had sought him out. He warned that the Jianwen Emperor intended to carry out the Abolition of the Fiefdoms and might well move against him. Citing "the court's wariness," he strongly urged Zhu Di to "prepare early" while also "probing the true state of affairs."
Zhu Di had wholeheartedly agreed.
But the court's sudden change of direction now left Zhu Di unable to gauge its intentions.
"You have heard the news from the Capital, I assume, Master?"
Zhu Di broke the silence.
Dao Yan stopped turning his prayer beads and said slowly, "I have heard something of it, but I do not know whether it is true."
Zhu Di sighed. "It should be true. But I cannot discern the court's intentions, nor whether this journey will bring good fortune or disaster."
Dao Yan considered for a moment, then said, "Your Highness, if the court truly summons you to the Capital, I do not believe there will necessarily be any danger. It might even be an opportunity."
"Oh?"
Zhu Di's eyes brightened as he looked at Dao Yan.
Dao Yan explained, "I hear that the emperor's summons to you and the reduction of the army by a hundred thousand men are already known to every passerby in the Capital. If this is true, he has told everyone under heaven that he has no intention of carrying out the Abolition of the Fiefdoms. At least, not for now."
Zhu Di looked at Dao Yan and asked gravely, "What grounds do you have for that, Master?"
Dao Yan said solemnly, "First, if the emperor uses the princes' arrival in the Capital for the funeral to forcibly detain them and carry out the Abolition of the Fiefdoms, it will chill the hearts of everyone under heaven and alarm the frontier generals. The slightest misstep could spark a mutiny."
"Second, the emperor's reduction of the Capital's army is clearly not a precursor to the Abolition of the Fiefdoms. The heart of such a policy is to strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches. Yet the emperor has weakened the trunk before weakening the branches. This shows that his aim is the people's livelihood, not preparations for the Abolition of the Fiefdoms."
"Third, no definite news of any plan for the Abolition of the Fiefdoms has come from the Capital. Although Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng have repeatedly urged it, the emperor has remained unmoved. Clearly, he has yet to make up his mind."
"Fourth, and most importantly, your former subordinates and men in the Capital have sent no warnings, nor have there been any signs of troop movements within the Capital's army."
Dao Yan weighed each point carefully.
Zhu Di nodded repeatedly as he listened, but still asked with concern, "What if the emperor risks the condemnation of all under heaven and forcibly carries out the Abolition of the Fiefdoms? What then?"
The corners of Dao Yan's mouth shifted slightly. "If Your Highness does one thing before going to the Capital, you will surely have nothing to fear."
"Oh? What is it?"
Zhu Di asked.
Dao Yan said slowly, "Make a grand show of it. Announce it widely to the townspeople and the armies."
Zhu Di fell silent.
Dao Yan's method was to have him travel to the Capital bearing the support of the people and the army. If Zhu Di became trapped there, it would inevitably provoke discontent among Beiping's people and troops. Beiping would then descend into utter chaos.
And that was an outcome Zhu Yunwen could not afford.
"In that case, I shall make this journey to the Capital."
Zhu Di made up his mind.
Dao Yan smiled. "Your Highness need not worry. Going to the Capital might well be an opportunity. Many in the Five Army Commandery are close to you. If you pay a few visits, you might make further preparations for the days ahead..."
Zhu Di nodded calmly. After inviting Dao Yan to stay for lunch, he arranged for men to escort him back to Qingshou Temple.
As Zhu Di walked through the Prince of Yan's Palace, he looked at Ma Sanbao standing guard and said, "Make preparations. In two days, you will accompany me to the Capital."
"As you command."
Ma Sanbao answered solemnly.
The Capital, the Hall of Martial Valor.
Zhu Yunwen summoned Wang Shen, an expectant official of the Hanlin Academy, and said, "The Imperial College is a vital source of talent for the court. Yet, looking back upon the reign of the founding emperor, it produced precious few outstanding men. This grieves me deeply. I hope you will enter the Imperial College as an erudite and select students who are quick-witted, innovative, and learned, to serve the court."
Wang Shen accepted. "I shall not fail Your Majesty."
Cheng Shizhou, the Imperial College's chancellor, and Zhang Zhi, its director of studies, naturally welcomed Wang Shen's arrival. Once he had been properly settled in, they each returned to their work.
Wang Shen was no hidebound pedant. He understood that the emperor wanted men who were quick-witted, innovative, and learned, not men who possessed knowledge but lacked ability.
But where could men who were quick-witted, innovative, and learned be found so easily?
After much deliberation, Wang Shen finally settled on a plan. He went to the records office to obtain a roster of the Imperial College's students and investigate their past performance and assessments.
Students of the Imperial College could receive official appointments directly from the court after completing their studies, but their lives were far from easy.
Under Ming Dynasty regulations, students at the Imperial College had two days off each month, on the first and fifteenth. The rest of their time was spent either attending lessons or studying on their own.
For instance, the second and third days were devoted to lectures, the fourth to recitation, the fifth and sixth to review lectures, and the seventh to recitation...
If they were not attending lectures, they were reciting texts or reviewing lessons.
Roughly thirteen days each month were spent reciting texts and eight reviewing lectures. The remaining time went to independent study, academic inspections, activities, and the like.
Compared with the well-rounded education of later generations, which did not demand rote memorization after reforms to exam-oriented teaching, the Imperial College could be said to have taken rote learning to its absolute extreme.
Every student had to memorize the texts and thoroughly understand their principles. They were tested every three days, and each test required them to recite a hundred characters from the Grand Pronouncements, a hundred from their principal classic, and a hundred from the Four Books...
Failure to recite them earned ten strokes of the paddle.
Make no mistake: those ten strokes were not delivered to the palms, but to the backside...
Each month, they also had to write six essays: two on the meaning of the classics, two on the meaning of the Four Books, and two selected from edicts and proclamations, memorials, policy essays, and judicial rulings...
Slacking off was not an option.
At the Imperial College in the early Ming, the students could at least be considered diligent.
However, many of them were orthodox Confucian scholars, commonly known as:
Bookworms.
Before you continue