Chapter 61: A Grand Departure from the Heavenly Prison

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Xia Yuanji arrived at Jian Yi’s residence. The two Ministers sat opposite each other in the study, exchanging glances charged with simmering rage. Not even during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor had they ever endured such a vile and aggravating New Year.

"Tell me, what on earth is Xu Jingchang plotting?" Xia Yuanji sighed heavily. "Why does he insist on making things difficult for the two of us?"

Jian Yi frowned deeply. "Hard to say. Perhaps he is merely executing the will from above?"

"No," Xia Yuanji shook his head. "If His Majesty favored his antics, he wouldn't have thrown him into prison in the first place... To my mind, this rascal's mischief isn't part of some grand scheme. He is simply rotten to the core. A malice born in his bones, an innate sinister cunning, and unforgivable craftiness... Tell me, how could someone as noble and upright as the Marquis of Wuyang have sired such a creature?"

Jian Yi rolled his eyes. "How should I know? Why don't you go down there and ask him yourself?"

Xia Yuanji shuddered slightly and hurriedly shook his head. "Forget it, I still want to live a few more years... Brother Yizhi, His Majesty told us to spare no effort in drafting detailed regulations to assist the Office of Transmission in increasing annual revenues. What are your plans?"

Jian Yi mused, "What more can the Ministry of Personnel do? Nothing more than inspect the officials, reform the civil service, and conveniently add some manpower to their Office of Transmission."

Xia Yuanji echoed, "The Ministry of Revenue has no better options either. I’ve pondered this for days, yet my mind remains a blank, with no clue where to begin."

After a brief silence, Jian Yi suggested, "We have no choice. Shall we go to the Celestial Prison?"

Indeed, Xu Jingchang was still locked up in the Celestial Prison.

The scoundrel had not left at all! Not even when Zhu Di himself went there had he walked out.

The two Ministers, forced by circumstances to revisit a most unwelcome place, found themselves once again standing before the Celestial Prison.

By the time they arrived, the past five days had transformed the surroundings entirely. Outside the cells, numerous fresh flowers and potted plants had appeared, and Xu Jingchang was busy tending to a potted Buddhist pine.

Seeing this spectacle, Xia Yuanji finally reached his breaking point.

"Transmission Commissioner Xu, are you quite comfortable here?"

Xu Jingchang turned his head, glanced at the two men, and immediately smiled. "Happy New Year! I am merely finding joy amidst hardship. Unlike you gentlemen, I felt the burden on my shoulders was simply too heavy and that I would surely fail to complete it. Therefore, I committed myself to prison in advance, which you might say is getting a head start on familiarizing myself with correctional life."

"Shut your mouth!" Xia Yuanji gritted his teeth in fury. "I was an utter fool! I shouldn't have walked out of there the other day. I should have stayed locked up inside with you."

Xu Jingchang lifted his eyelids. "Minister Xia, is your aunt an Empress too?"

Xia Yuanji froze, finally grasping Xu Jingchang's implication: without an aunt who was an Empress, how dare you try to copy me? Aren't you afraid of losing your head?

Old Xia was practically bursting with rage yet remained entirely helpless. This pest was simply too exasperating.

"Enough idle talk, Commissioner Xu. What do you expect us to do?"

Xu Jingchang paused, then shook his head. "It’s not a matter of what I want you to do, but how you intend to assist His Majesty. You were ordered to write detailed regulations, and several days have already passed! I am still waiting for you to finish writing them, for His Majesty to approve them, so I can leave this prison and return home for a sound sleep! Do you suppose I *want* to stay in here?"

Jian Yi stiffened his weathered face and flatly declared, "We cannot write them."

This time, it was Xu Jingchang's turn to be stunned. These two Ministers were acknowledged masters of statecraft; could it be they were incapable of even this?

Truth be told, the two of them had indeed never handled anything involving such macro-level coordination. Moreover, according to Xu Jingchang's blueprint—akin to an annual development plan complete with targets, priorities, and complementary measures—this was a systematic engineering project. For scholar-bureaucrats like Jian Yi and Xia Yuanji, raised on the Four Books and Five Classics, it was genuinely a bit too difficult. Of course, given another three or five years, they might have managed it. After all, the grand undertakings of the Yongle reign were all crafted by their hands; they were merely pressed for time at present.

"Minister Jian, Minister Xia, His Majesty's intent is to enrich the national treasury and improve the people's livelihood. What we must do is increase annual revenues and facilitate commerce. That is the core of everything. On the part of the Ministry of Personnel, we must demand that officials, especially local magistrates, refrain from bullying merchants, setting up private toll gates, or demanding arbitrary bribes that disrupt commercial exchange. In a word: merchants are the financial source of the court, not leeks for local officials to harvest!"

Jian Yi pondered this slightly. "I understand your meaning. During this year's metropolitan appraisal, I will incorporate these points."

Hearing the mention of the metropolitan appraisal, Xu Jingchang immediately said, "Minister Jian, this is precisely a golden opportunity. How do you plan to evaluate the officials?"

Jian Yi deliberated. "According to custom, incompetent officials are categorized into eight types: corruption, tyranny, idleness, lack of caution, old age, illness, volatility, and feeble capability... They are either dismissed, demoted, or forced into retirement."

Xu Jingchang thought for a moment and quickly added, "We can add livelihood metrics to this... such as the people's sustenance, commercial prosperity, with tax collection being of utmost importance. Surely an official who fails to submit the funds and complete his quotas cannot be considered a good official?"

Jian Yi's weathered face darkened, and he coughed lightly. "Sometimes, when officials cherish the people and voice grievances on their behalf, they genuinely win the praise of the literati circles, and the court will exercise discretion and leniency."

Xu Jingchang's face darkened instantly. Naturally, in places struck by disaster where taxes simply could not be collected and disaster relief was required, such leniency was justified. But in regions like Jiangxi, it was purely because there were too many scholar-gentry who could evade taxes entirely. In such places, when the taxes couldn't be collected, the officials were actually praised by the scholarly circles for showing empathy toward the common folk and acting as upright, benevolent fathers to the people!

What kind of logic was that?

"Minister Jian, let me make myself perfectly clear: this year's primary task is to enrich the treasury, and everything must revolve around this central goal. Anyone who dares disregard the overall situation is directly opposing the national policy!"

Jian Yi frowned and nodded firmly. "I understand."

Turning to Xia Yuanji, Xu Jingchang continued, "Minister Xia, although your Ministry of Revenue focuses solely on land taxes, head taxes, and salt taxes, how much revenue is retained locally, how those retained funds are spent, and what they are used for... must not be left to local discretion. The imperial Ministry of Revenue must conduct audits. If there are massive arrears that have not been remitted to the court, those responsible must be held accountable. Local retentions must have legitimate expenditures, such as repairing bridges, paving roads, and tending to the people's welfare. If these funds are merely embezzled by lower-level officials, they must be punished without mercy!"

Xia Yuanji trembled slightly. "I understand as well. However, these matters require the cooperation of the Ministry of Punishments and the Censorate. I suggest dispatching the censors of the Thirteen Circuits to oversee the localities and crack down with a few major cases to whip the local officials into shape. It makes no sense for us to suffer here in the capital while they live in carefree leisure out in the provinces! Am I right, Brother Yizhi?"

Jian Yi was similarly galvanized. Naturally, he strongly approved of any measure that could drastically expand the authority of the Six Ministries. Power was a curious thing: if those who ought to wield it failed to do so, those who should not would seize it instead—for power detests a vacuum. If local officials, inner-court eunuchs, or military officers of the Brocade Guard were allowed to wield power, the realm would descend into chaos.

"Commissioner Xu, you are truly a talent blessed by the heavens, born for officialdom!" Xia Yuanji said excitedly. "From now on, we must join forces closely to assist His Majesty, accomplish great deeds, and leave our names in history!"

Faced with Old Xia's flattery, Xu Jingchang remained entirely calm. "To be honest, I truly have no heart for officialdom... I am making all this fuss simply so someone will impeach me, allowing me to return home as a Marquis and live a peaceful, carefree life. That is the true life of an immortal."

So you tormented all the officials simply so you could become a peaceful Marquis? Who do you think you're kidding?!

"Very well, Commissioner Xu, we shall return to draft the strategy... Will you be returning home, or staying here?"

Xu Jingchang smiled. "I'll stay. After all, as long as I remain inside, everyone will still remember me. Once I return to my estate, there's no telling."

The two men exchanged glances, secretly gritting their teeth. This brat was truly a handful.

Transmission Commissioner Xu feared he would fail to complete the tasks assigned by the Emperor, and thus willingly chose to spend the New Year locked in the Celestial Prison... Meanwhile, the imperial palace was in utter chaos. The Empress was grieving over her nephew's ordeal, several imperial princes were airing grievances for their cousin, and His Majesty was filled with lingering resentment, cursing people daily... All this pressure eventually trickled down upon the civil officials.

Hurry and draft the strategy! Get Commissioner Xu invited out! Otherwise, once the fifteenth of the first lunar month arrived and formal court sessions resumed, if Commissioner Xu was still nowhere to be seen, the Emperor's thunderous wrath would land them inside those cells instead!

Forgoing their precious New Year holiday, the ministers cast aside even the grand family matters of procreating heirs, rising early and working late, busier than attending morning court. Every ministry and government office hurriedly drafted their respective plans.

Courtiers shuttled back and forth like a revolving lantern, heading to the Celestial Prison for Xu Jingchang's review.

The brat had stubbornly turned a prison cell into the Office of Transmission.

Moreover, imperceptibly, through directing the officials of various departments in formulating plans and strategies, Xu Jingchang had genuinely endowed the Commissioner of Transmission with the authority of a Chancellor.

By the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the plans of the Six Ministries and the Censorate were finally completed.

At dusk, the heavy locks of the Celestial Prison were opened, and the iron chains were removed. Although people had already been passing freely through the side doors for days, how could the Grand Transmission Commissioner possibly deign to use a small entrance?

Furthermore, to ceremoniously welcome Xu Jingchang out, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Zhanji, along with Duke of Cheng Guo Zhu Neng and Counselor Wu Shan, had been waiting for quite some time.

Who else could possibly command such prestige?

Yet, as if that were not enough, the waiting crowd first beheld a robust man leading a white horse out of the Celestial Prison. Across the white horse's saddle was draped a leopard-skin cushion.

Seated upon the horse's back was a young man clad in a qilin robe, looking exceptionally dashing and imposing.

Was that not Xu Jingchang?

Looking closer, the man leading the horse was none other than the Marquis of Jing'an, Wang Zhong!

A Marquis leading a horse!

That was going entirely too far!

"Wang, you shameless wretch!" Zhu Neng's face flushed red; the pride of the military nobility had been utterly disgraced!

Hearing this, Wang Zhong lifted his chin even higher. "To lead a horse and hold the stirrup for a true hero—even this old man feels honored!"