Stoking the Fire
Before long, Gao Demu came hurrying back at a quickened pace, wiping the cold sweat from his brow with a handkerchief, and dropped to his knees on the floor.
"Your Majesty, outside the Wude Gate, the scholars who failed this year's metropolitan examination are beating the Dengwen Drum. They claim there was fraud in this examination, and they demand that you retrieve the sealed examination papers."
The Emperor paused. It was as if the stifling weight that had filled his chest suddenly lifted, and he asked with a grave expression, "Is there proof?"
"Your Majesty, there is no hard evidence, but the seven men shouting loudest at the front are all sons of meritorious noble households who, it is said, were guaranteed places within the top ten. They insist that Ye Yuanjing, Ye Yuanbo, Wu Anbang, Zhang Yaohui, Lin Zhaodong, Wang Shengyu, and Zhen Cuilu are certain to rank in the top ten. They do not question Ye Yuanjing, Ye Yuanbo, or Zhen Cuilu—but they declare that Wu Anbang, Zhang Yaohui, Lin Zhaodong, and Wang Shengyu are talentless fools who could never have placed within the top ten by any honest means!"
Gao Demu lifted his head, saw the Emperor's face growing darker by the moment, and pressed on.
"The scholars leading the appeal say that Wang Shengyu and Lin Zhaodong bought mansions in Dadu before the results were even posted, and that Wu Anbang, who had been staying at his maternal grandmother's house, along with the others, purchased vast quantities of celebration goods. They bought grain in bulk to distribute porridge to the poor, and they are even said to be preparing to scatter coin in the streets."
Ye Yuanjing, Ye Yuanbo, Wu Anbang, Zhang Yaohui, Lin Zhaodong, Wang Shengyu, Zhen Cuilu—weren't these the very seven names that had just been listed within the top ten?
The Emperor ground his teeth and demanded, "Where are Wen Jingang and the other deputy examiners now? Order the Imperial Guard to seize them all. Not one of them leaves the palace!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Gao Demu scrambled to his feet and rushed out.
As the Grand Eunuch at the Emperor's side, Gao Demu could not possibly have been ignorant of such corruption. In examinations past, it had been commonplace for noble families to bribe the examiners with silver ingots and have substitutes sit the test in their sons' stead. During the last examination, he had thought to himself that if these official clans kept up such behavior, the Emperor was bound to find out sooner or later—and sure enough, the day he had always known would come had finally arrived.
Suppressing his fury, the Emperor spoke in a voice that cut to the bone.
"Crown Prince, bring me every policy essay from the palace examination! Summon the Chancellor of the Guozijian, the Directors of Studies, and every doctor of the academy. I will personally oversee the inspection of each and every paper!"
"Your son obeys."
The Crown Prince hastily accepted the command and hurried out.
The Emperor was so enraged that even his hands trembled. If there had truly been fraud in the examination, then Wen Jingang deserved to die!
The Yan King of Xiliang had not yet departed, and the Emperor of Yan was scheduled to leave tomorrow. And yet Wen Jingang had dared to fabricate fraud like this—had he set out to smear the Emperor's face before foreign sovereigns?
Since time immemorial, the examinations had been held to recruit capable men for the court and strength for the state. The Emperor did not particularly favor ministers of exceptional talent like Bai Weizheng—if anything, he preferred sycophants—but even he understood the principle that a court could not function without able men. Only when capable ministers did work that truly served the nation could Jin avoid sliding into crisis.
"Summon the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Yu Zhen!"
A thick killing intent lingered in the Emperor's eyes.
Outside the Wude Gate, more and more failed scholars were gathering by the minute, kneeling and crying out that there had been fraud, demanding the sealed papers be brought forth. Drawn by the unexpected commotion, the people of Dadu began streaming toward the gates in droves.
The families whose names appeared on the list began to tremble with anxiety. They wanted to dispose of the celebration goods they had bought in advance, yet they were terrified that any rash move would only get them caught red-handed, and they could not sit still for worry.
Even Chancellor Yu grew restless. He summoned his sons and their wives and demanded to know whether they had sent gifts to the chief examiner, whether they had purchased celebration goods in advance, whether they had bought grain to distribute porridge.
Lu Yuanfeng, who had been released from the family shrine not long ago, was idly sipping his tea when he learned that his parents had been called before his grandfather.
Worrying that his grandfather might be cooking up some new scheme to keep him confined, he rolled his eyes, set down his teacup, and crept after them. Then he peered through the gap in the window frame of the study.
"You wretched fools!"
Chancellor Yu flung his teacup to the floor in his rage.
"Are the four of you in your right minds? Yuanjing and Yuanbo are boys of extraordinary talent! They would have placed in the first class with room to spare even without sending a single gift! What did Wen Jingang ever amount to, that the head of this household would send presents to a lapdog like him!"
"Father-in-law, every other family sends gifts. If ours alone did not, even sons with the talent to place in the first class could be pushed down to the third! Who knows what that man Wen might do? The boys might not have passed the metropolitan examination at all. Such things have always been done—practically a matter of custom…"
Chancellor Yu's eldest daughter-in-law spoke up cautiously.
"How can your thinking be so shallow!"
Chancellor Yu felt his blood pressure climbing.
"I am the Right Chancellor! What right does that man Wen have to act against me!"
Yu Xiang's third son—Lu Yuanfeng's father—said with a frown, "As for what kind of man Wen Jingang is… others may not know, but surely Father cannot claim ignorance. There is a saying: better to offend a gentleman than to cross a petty man. His Majesty favors Wen Jingang above all others at present. That is why my elder brother and I had no choice but to do what we did. We never hoped for Wen Jingang's help. We only wished that he would do our two boys no harm."
"Yes, Father. Besides, as you yourself said, the two boys were certain to place in the first class, so after consulting with Third Sister-in-law, we went ahead with the purchases! Having two gongsheng come out of one household is surely great cause for celebration, is it not?"
Chancellor Yu's eldest daughter-in-law continued.
Lu Yuanfeng's mother shot her sister-in-law a darting glance. She would never include her in anything good, but the moment something went wrong, she dragged her into it without hesitation.
"Yes, Father. I felt the same, which is why I agreed at once when Elder Brother raised it first. But I never dreamed it would blow up into a disaster of this size. Father, please tell us what we must do."
Lu Yuanfeng's mother bowed to Chancellor Yu and went on with an expression of deep remorse.
How could a man as seasoned as Chancellor Yu fail to hear the two daughters-in-law sidestepping blame and passing it back and forth between them? His anger only burned hotter.
"A disaster has broken out, and instead of working together on a solution, you pass the blame between you? What is the matter with you all? The daughters-in-law of the Yu household have certainly turned out splendidly!"
Chancellor Yu's face darkened.
"I will enter the palace myself and confess everything to His Majesty, just as it happened!"
"Then… what becomes of the two boys' honors?"
Lu Yuanfeng's father started in alarm.
"If their father goes before the Emperor, the boys may yet be given another chance to sit the examination. But if I do not go, their futures may be finished for good!"
Chancellor Yu gripped the armrest of his chair with a clenched fist and set his jaw.
"The Emperor is certain to entrust the matter to Yu Zhen of the Court of Judicial Review. You two—go to the Court of Judicial Review immediately and find Yu Zhen. Confess truthfully that you bribed the chief examiner! The faster you move, the lighter the punishment the Emperor will hand down!"
"Father, if we do that, we will earn the enmity of every noble official family that bribed Wen Jingang."
Chancellor Yu's eldest son said with a frown.
"More than that—didn't the scholars themselves say so? They declared that if Yuanjing and Yuanbo truly belong in the top ten, that much at least they would concede!"
"The scholars are willing to concede our two boys' worth, and we still sent bribes. All the more reason to go before the Emperor and the Court of Judicial Review and confess!"
Chancellor Yu swept his gaze over his two sons, then turned to look at his deeply reluctant daughters-in-law. He barely suppressed the urge to roar at them and continued in a grave voice.
"Only then can the fraud case be resolved, and only after this year's results are all annulled will the boys be granted another chance to sit the examination. If you do not, the Emperor will likely never give the students who sent bribes this year another opportunity. That would be you blocking your own children's path with your own hands!"
Every time Chancellor Yu recalled the foolish blunders his daughters-in-law had committed, his blood boiled.
"Yuanbo, I might forgive—but Yuanjing is the future of the Yu family. Do you mean to ruin your son over a matter like this?"
Chancellor Yu's voice rose higher and higher.
"The scholars have beaten the Dengwen Drum. Do you think the noble families who bribed Wen Jingang will escape unscathed? The resentment of those families—versus your sons' futures and the future of this house! Which matters more? Choose for yourselves!"
"We were wrong."
Chancellor Yu's eldest son bowed his head hastily in apology.
"There is no time for this. Go to the Court of Judicial Review at once! I am going to the palace!"
Chancellor Yu said decisively.
Hearing this, Lu Yuanfeng's heart pounded in his chest. His parents had sent bribes to a high official, of all things. So his elders had nerve to spare after all?
When he heard that the scholars were beating the Dengwen Drum outside the Wude Gate, Lu Yuanfeng thought it sounded like great fun, and the moment he returned to the courtyard, he called a servant and slipped out of the house.
In any case, his grandfather was home, and his grandfather always had a plan—surely nothing serious would come of it, he reasoned.
The movements of the Yu household were swift as lightning. When Chancellor Yu's two sons reached the Court of Judicial Review, Yu Zhen had already been summoned by the Emperor and taken to the palace; at that moment, he was said to be outside the Wude Gate, appeasing the scholars who were beating the Dengwen Drum.
Chancellor Yu, the moment he entered the palace, threw himself before the Emperor, weeping and wailing. He confessed that his two sons had carried bribes to Wen Jingang, that he had given them a terrible scolding for it, and that his sons had harmed a grandson he had raised with all his heart's devotion—then he begged the Emperor to punish himself and his two sons together.
The Emperor had read the policy essays of Chancellor Yu's two grandsons and judged them to be boys of solid, well-grounded learning.
Chancellor Yu went on to say that every noble official family sitting the examination in Dadu had sent gifts to Wen Jingang, and that for this reason his own two sons and daughters-in-law had felt compelled to send gifts as well—for fear that otherwise the two boys would be disadvantaged. At these words, the Emperor's face grew steadily grimmer.
He had never imagined Wen Jingang ran such an elaborate racket. The man had dared to collect bribes right under the Emperor's nose.
So that was it… he had wondered why the caliber of this year's gongsheng was so markedly lower than in years past.
"When I learned of this, I was overcome with shame. I felt I had no face to look upon Your Majesty. Your Majesty—punish me! It was my failure to teach my sons properly, and I will bear the blame with them!"
The Emperor opened his eyes, suppressing his fury. Chancellor Yu was wiping away tears. He had always been a man of caution and scrupulous care, and the Emperor understood that he had come because he feared the conduct of his sons and daughters-in-law would bring calamity down upon his grandsons.
"The court opened the examinations for one purpose: to recruit talent for Jin on a grand scale. I have read your grandsons' essays. Very well written! But when you return, you are to give those two boys a proper tongue-lashing!"
Hearing this, Chancellor Yu breathed a silent sigh of relief, then bowed deeply to the Emperor.
"Your Majesty has been gracious, but as I said that my sons' poor judgment stems from a father's poor teaching, this old minister feels nothing but shame.
Your Majesty, I beg you to strip me of my office—one punishment to warn a hundred! Must we not show it to the men of the court? They must look upon me and take warning! Only then will the air of the court grow clean and bright. Grant this old minister the chance to add what little strength he has left to Your Majesty's service one final time. With this, I wish to repay, in some small measure, the grace Your Majesty has bestowed upon me through the long years."
At Chancellor Yu's words, even the last lingering embers of the Emperor's anger died away. Heaving a sigh, the Emperor spoke in gentle tones.
"Gao Demu, help Chancellor Yu to his feet.
Chancellor Yu, I know full well how you have attended and assisted me since the day I took the throne! This affair sprang from the rotten customs of the examinations. That you valued righteousness above your own interests and came to the palace yourself to confess your sons' fault—I will pardon this transgression in recognition of that merit. Return home!"
"This old minister thanks Your Majesty for your heavenly grace! Though I died a hundred times over, I could never repay your sacred benevolence. From this day forward, I will teach the grandsons of my house well and raise them into men who may one day be of use to Your Majesty. With that, I shall repay your imperial kindness."
Chancellor Yu wept aloud, overcome with gratitude.
The Emperor nodded, looking well satisfied.
"Gao Demu, see Chancellor Yu out."
Gao Demu respectfully ushered Chancellor Yu from the hall. Chancellor Yu bowed once more with perfect courtesy and withdrew slowly from the great hall.