The Prince, Flood Dragons Aiming for Ascension (2)
Jin Myeong launched into his story without waiting for Princess Ju Jeong-won's reply.
"Your Highness, far to the west of the Central Plains there stands a mountain called Kunlun, where the immortals are said to dwell upon its peak. So high is that mountain that it remains forever veiled in cloud, and the immortals ride those very clouds as they wander the world below."
Not a word followed.
Zhu Gaochi's family and Zhu Gaoxu's party alike found themselves so blindsided by the turn of events that not a soul among them could find their tongue. To behave as Jin Myeong had just done — in the presence of the Crown Prince, and right under the nose of Zhu Gaoxu, a man infamous for his savage temper, while the two of them stood locked in confrontation — was a thing no one had ever dared. Not a single person. And the one who had just committed this astonishing act was a young eunuch who had not even reached his twentieth year. Small wonder that, for a moment, every mind in the pavilion lost its way.
"The Yellow River, the very watercourse of the Central Kingdom, is born upon that Kunlun Mountain. Follow its current down, and at a place called Hejin at the mountain's foot there lies a waterfall, and beneath it great fish and serpents and turtles beyond all counting."
Kunlun was the legendary mountain where the Yellow Emperor, god among gods, was said to dwell alongside the Queen Mother of the West. So famous was it in Daoist myth that Zhu Gaochi, Lady Zhang, and Zhu Gaoxu all knew the name at least.
"Great fish…? How great…?"
Drawn at once into the tale carried on that warm voice, Princess Ju Jeong-won's trembling ceased. Clouds and immortals, great fish and serpents — the combination seized a ten-year-old girl's curiosity in an instant. And once the fearsome Zhu Gaoxu was hidden from her sight behind Jin Myeong, her composure returned just as quickly. After looking upon a face like a vicious wolf's, to rest her eyes on features as finely wrought as a master potter's work… a beautiful face, it seemed, remained an immutable truth.
Jin Myeong's story went on.
"They are creatures that have gathered from the rivers and the seas, and they are said to be twice as large as this humble servant."
"Bigger than Jeonbu? Wow…! Royal Father, he says there are fish bigger than Jeonbu!"
"Haha! Your father is astonished as well."
Zhu Gaochi offered his little daughter a gentle smile, then turned his gaze upon Jin Myeong.
He has this side to him as well? How admirable. The more I see of this inner-court official, the more he pleases me.
Zhu Gaochi was impressed, yes — but more than that, he was grateful. Jin Myeong belonged to the Directorate of Ceremonial; he would have been drilled and made to memorize the particulars of countless personages, from members of the imperial house to high ministers to local magnates. He would know better than anyone what manner of man Zhu Gaoxu, his own younger brother, truly was. And yet he had stepped forward of his own accord to become a shield for Zhu Gaochi's wife and children, willingly shouldering a danger he had no obligation to bear, and in doing so had preserved the dignity of a husband and a father. How could Zhu Gaochi not be grateful?
The story continued. The heart of it was only now approaching.
"There is a reason, Your Highness, why those scaled creatures gather there in such numbers."
"Tell me, tell me quickly."
"It is so that they may swim up that waterfall, reach Kunlun Mountain, and become dragons."
"Dragons?"
"Just so. Those who fight their way up the savage current at Hejin ascend along Kunlun Mountain and become dragons — and for that reason, Hejin is also called the Dragon Gate."
The moment the word dragon left Princess Ju Jeong-won's lips and Jin Myeong's, something stirred. Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu, Lady Zhang, Zhu Zhanji, and even the eunuchs and palace maids waiting to one side — a peculiar light rose in every face. Was the dragon not the emblem of the emperor and the throne itself? Had this young eunuch laced a bone of meaning through his little tale? Was this no mere folktale, but a story carrying some design? That was the thought that took hold of nearly every mind present. The bewildered atmosphere of the pavilion was sucked back into tension once more.
"The scaled creatures throw themselves against the current until their skulls split, climbing and climbing again. Some attempt it for a thousand years."
"Heeeh…? A thousand years?"
The only person who remained purely immersed, without a trace of such calculation, was Princess Ju Jeong-won. The way she gaped, her mouth as round as a rice bowl, was incomparably adorable — and the only person looking upon that adorableness without a shred of ulterior motive was Jin Myeong. Everyone else's head was stuffed with dragons, emperors, thrones, power, and every other worldly thing.
"It is so, Your Highness. Most of them die or give up before that. But there are rare ones that neither die nor surrender."
"And if they still cannot become dragons in the end? What happens then?"
"Despairing that they could not become dragons, they turn vicious. They slaughter the other scaled creatures around them, and they harm the beasts of the land and the common people besides."
That was the story Jin Myeong had wanted to tell. A creature that had cultivated for hundreds of years and still failed to become a dragon: the jiaolong, the flood dragon.
A vicious flood dragon that never becomes a true dragon in the end. That is your future, Zhu Gaoxu.
Jin Myeong had no fondness for the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, or the Prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu. The temperament those three generations shared was savagery and cruelty. In the course of purging founding meritorious officials such as Chancellor Hu Weiyong, Li Shanchang, and the Grand Preceptor of the Crown Prince Lan Yu, the Hongwu Emperor had taken tens of thousands of heads. After his accession, the Yongle Emperor had visited brutal retribution upon the great and lesser officials of the Jianwen era — Qi Tai, executed together with his entire clan; Huang Zicheng, torn limb from limb. And the crowning horror had been the slaughter of Fang Xiaoru's ten degrees of kinship, some nine hundred souls, in the course of usurping the throne. A sovereign who counted even a man's friends and disciples as kin, beyond the nine familial degrees, and cut them down to the last — in all of history, the Yongle Emperor had been the first. And the son who had inherited that savage, cruel streak in its purest form was Zhu Gaoxu.
I'll be damned if I stand by and watch a bastard like you run roughshod over our Brother Zhu.
What Zhu Gaochi meant to Jin Myeong was this: he was the man who held the key to Jin Myeong's purpose in entering the imperial palace. He was the man who possessed the supreme-yin elixir, the Gong-eun Snow Lotus Thread. A wretch already thoroughly disliked was now treating Jin Myeong's former lord and present patron with contempt — as if Jin Myeong would simply let that pass. That was why he had stepped forward. He was also the sort of man who had no objection to being arrogant himself, but could not abide watching someone else put on airs.
"The common people too? Then the people of the Great Ming…! Royal Father! Come with me to His Majesty the Grand Emperor. We must petition him to send soldiers, capture the flood dragons of the Dragon Gate, and set the realm at peace."
"Hahaha! Our princess's heart for the people is truly profound. How splendid!"
"The princess's thought is wonderfully earnest — is it not, Your Highness?"
Zhu Gaochi found his daughter's innocent reaction so dear he looked ready to nibble her cheek, and Lady Zhang was no different.
"Indeed it is, my lady. Hahaha! But there is no need for that."
"Why not, Royal Father?"
"Is that not so, Jeonbu?"
When Princess Ju Jeong-won asked, Zhu Gaochi turned the answer over to Jin Myeong. Possessed of a keen mind from the first, Zhu Gaochi had already perceived that the flood dragon, despairing and turned vicious, was meant to signify Zhu Gaoxu.
"It is so, Your Highness. Your Highness the Princess — the flood dragons of the Dragon Gate were already disposed of long ago by His Highness the Crown Prince, together with His Majesty the Emperor."
"Royal Father did? Wow…!"
From of old, a father was the strongest person in a daughter's world. Jin Myeong had never known the faces of the parents who had given him life, but he understood that truth well enough. His consideration brought color flooding back into Zhu Gaochi's face and Lady Zhang's.
"That is so, Your Highness. And so long as we inner-court officials remain, no flood dragon shall harm the people or set its sights upon the realm."
It was a remark that implied, so long as the brotherhood of eunuchs endured, Zhu Gaoxu would never be able to reach for Zhu Gaochi. Zhu Gaochi, Lady Zhang, and Zhu Zhanji would have caught it — and Zhu Gaoxu as well. Any adult who knew the imperial palace's peculiar manner of speaking would have.
"The Sunflower Manual!"
"Just so."
"Jeonbu will protect Brother Zhanji and me with the Sunflower Manual…!"
Sure enough. Zhu Gaoxu, who had been watching the scene unfold with an expression of keen interest, burst into roaring laughter at that juncture.
"KHAAHAHAHA!"
He laughed as though Crown Prince and Crown Princess were not even there, laughed until it seemed he might lose his breath. Then, all at once, he cut it off as if with a blade, and the face of a vicious wolf returned.
"Elder Brother, you've taken in quite the entertaining specimen while I wasn't looking. You lowly eunuch scum…!"
He was pouring out his fury, glaring at Jin Myeong as though he meant to tear him apart and devour him — except the party in question was not even listening. Jin Myeong had already bent at the waist toward Zhu Gaochi. The timing was so exquisite that one could not quite call it a snub of Zhu Gaoxu's words, nor quite say it was not. Not quite ignoring him, and not quite acknowledging him either — precisely that.
This bastard… eunuch? Has he lost his mind? So you want to try your footwork and see who dies, is that it?
For an instant, Jin Myeong's lid blew clean off. To say eunuch to a eunuch's face, outright —
Fine. You want to dance with death? Then I'll dance with you.
He had meant to go easy, this being their first meeting since his return to the past. He folded that intention neatly away, turned to Zhu Gaochi, and bowed.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince! This humble servant, as Jeonbu of the Directorate of Ceremonial, wishes to briefly discipline an inner-court official. I beg Your Highness's leave."
"Your Highness — leave this to your humble servant."
He sent the transmission to Zhu Gaochi, whose face was full of questions, and set him at ease.
"Permission granted."
Zhu Gaochi nodded, deciding to trust him this once. Considering everything Jin Myeong had accomplished thus far, the young eunuch's record was a history of success, rank be damned. There was cause for concern — but there was also a genuine curiosity as to how this boy official intended to break through the present crisis.
"Your Highness's grace is boundless."
The moment Zhu Gaochi's leave was given, Jin Myeong turned around. To be precise, he turned toward the attendant eunuch standing behind Zhu Gaoxu.
A slow, satisfied smile spread across Jin Myeong's face.
When a eunuch who looked not quite in his right mind suddenly grinned at him like that, the attendant eunuch was, for a moment, simply baffled.
Me? Why?
The eunuch in his thirties parted his lips in bewilderment and cocked his head. In that interval, Jin Myeong set his hastily assembled plan in motion.
"Your Highness the Prince of Han! This humble servant is Jang Jinmyeong, Jeonbu of the Directorate of Ceremonial. To behold Your Highness, who has rendered such illustrious service in driving the Northern Yuan barbarians from this land, is the glory of three lifetimes."
"Spare me the flattery. And?"
"The eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial bear the duty of supervising and disciplining every office and every inner-court official. I mean only to fulfill that duty, and I beg Your Highness's understanding."
"…?"
Zhu Gaoxu was still turning over what on earth this was supposed to mean when Jin Myeong, having finished speaking, walked straight up to the attendant eunuch.
"You there! His Highness the Crown Prince, Her Highness the Crown Princess, and His Highness the Prince of Han are present — and you dare release your true qi?!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Insolent wretch! Did you think you could deceive these eyes? Whose true qi was that just now? Was it this side's guard?"
"I beg your pardon? What are you saying?"
This time it was Zhu Gaoxu's guard officer who started and shot back. A bolt from a clear sky — that was what this was. He, intimidate the Imperial Grandson with true qi? Who in their right mind would intimidate the Imperial Grandson in front of the Crown Prince himself, besides the Prince of Han, Zhu Gaoxu? The guard could not begin to comprehend what this lunatic eunuch had been playing at from the start.
"Surely His Highness the Prince of Han, who knows the laws of the imperial palace better than any man alive, would never have done such a thing! Or is it that you do not know that anyone who wantonly uses martial arts within the inner court is, by His Majesty the Emperor's command, to be put to extreme punishment?!"
The young eunuch and the guard officer were speechless, but they could offer no rebuttal. The instant they did, it would amount to admitting that the Prince of Han had done it. They could move neither forward nor back.
"That you attend His Highness in such a manner is, in the lesser measure, disloyalty to the Prince of Han, and in the greater measure, disloyalty to His Majesty the Emperor — how can you not know this?!"
Meanwhile Zhu Gaoxu, who had been watching to see what the boy would try, found himself at a loss. At first he had taken him for a green eunuch who knew nothing of the world. A castrate whose guts had spilled out of his belly from putting too much faith in the Crown Prince the moment he set foot in the Eastern Palace. That was why, even knowing what the Dragon Gate story was driving at, he had felt interest more than offense.
He had been mistaken. Looked at closely, the creature was thoroughly cunning. Clever enough to pin this side in place with a handful of words, leaving no room to so much as twitch. He was doing, and doing well, the very thing the Crown Prince's family could not stoop to, given their position.
This one can't possibly not know what manner of man I, Zhu Gaoxu, am — and he still has the gall to work his little schemes in front of me!
At last, concluding he had been had, Zhu Gaoxu was about to unleash the ferocity he had been holding down — when it happened.
"Jeonbu of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Jang Jinmyeong!"
A voice carried across from the far side of the pond. The new arrival was none other than Huang Yan, the third-ranking figure of the Directorate of Ceremonial, a Brush-Holding Grand Eunuch. One of only four Brush-Holding Grand Eunuchs currently serving, and a power among powers. He was the man who had once selected Consort Kwon, formerly favored by the Yongle Emperor, as a tribute maiden from Joseon and brought her to court.
"Grand Eunuch Huang. You've come."
That Zhu Gaoxu was the first to greet him, recognizing him at once, said enough about how deep the understanding between the two men ran — which was to say, Huang Yan was a man who supported the Prince of Han, Zhu Gaoxu.
The imperial palace was at present split in complicated pieces. The civil officials, who held the teachings of the Confucian school in high regard, naturally supported Zhu Gaochi, the legitimate eldest son. Conversely, the military officers who had ridden the battlefields alongside Zhu Gaoxu — a man who, like the Yongle Emperor, possessed outstanding martial bone and an indomitable temperament — supported Zhu Gaoxu.
And whom, then, did the ghosts of the imperial palace support? Eunuchs supported whoever was powerful. Whoever it might be, the first condition was power, and the second was that the man not reject eunuchs. They had tasted suppression and persecution enough in the eras of the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and the Jianwen Emperor. Go a little deeper, and they supported the man with whom they themselves had formed a good connection, or the man they personally served. When such a man ascended the throne, their own influence rose with him.
Huang Yan mounted the pavilion.
"Yes! Your Highness the Prince of Han. Your Highness the Crown Prince, Her Highness the Crown Princess — I trust you are in good health."
"What brings Brush-Holder Huang here?"
Zhu Gaochi, receiving the courtesy as representative, asked the question.
"I was passing by when a great noise carried over the wall. Listening, I found it to be a discussion of an inner-court official's fault, and as a Brush-Holding Grand Eunuch I could not simply walk on."
"Is that so. I see. It is nothing of consequence — you may go."
Zhu Gaochi, who found Huang Yan, a man opposed to him, thoroughly unwelcome, issued a dismissal without hearing another word.
"Yes! However, it seems Jeonbu Jang Jinmyeong, whose education has only just concluded, is laboring under a considerable misunderstanding. I shall discipline him briefly and then take my leave."
"As well you should. Elder Brother, you heard what that inner-court official — Zhang, or whatever his name was — said a moment ago. That as a eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial he has a duty to discipline. Grand Eunuch Huang."
The moment Huang Yan appeared, a look of utter triumph spread across Zhu Gaoxu's face. How could the man have arrived at so perfectly opportune a moment? From of old, a eunuch was to be controlled through a eunuch. Whatever else they might ignore, eunuchs as a breed obeyed the words of another eunuch as if they were ironclad law.
"Yes! Your Highness!"
"That Jeonbu there was arrogant before this prince beyond all endurance. He is a eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, which supervises and disciplines all ten thousand eunuchs. Has the discipline of the Directorate of Ceremonial grown slack of late?"
Zhu Gaoxu and Huang Yan had not been in concert for a mere year or two; their timing meshed without a seam.
"I am mortified, Your Highness. Jang Jinmyeong."
"Yes, Gonggong!"
Jin Myeong answered, his mood thoroughly soured by Huang Yan's unexpected appearance.
This rotten, stinking eunuch — instead of doing his work, he crawls over here to throw a wrench in things?
Huang Yan was one of the eunuchs Jin Myeong most despised. Had Zheng He not existed, this man would have become, thirty years on, exactly what Wang Zhen, the Eunuch Emperor, became. The incarnation of ignorance and greed.
"You dared, in a place where so many Highnesses are present, to raise your voice in the name of discipline until it carried beyond the wall?"
Huang Yan, for his part, found Jin Myeong equally displeasing. He himself had endured every hardship under heaven to become a Grand Eunuch only in his twilight years — and this one, from the moment he entered the palace, had piled up promotions without precedent.
Insolent little whelp.
On top of that, he enjoyed the favor of the Crown Prince, who stood on the opposite side from Huang Yan, and of Zheng He and any number of other Grand Eunuchs. The mere sight of him twisted Huang Yan's guts.
"That is not the heart of the matter, Gonggong!"
"You still dare—!"
There was no need for a war of words. On this side stood a Brush-Holding Grand Eunuch, a figure no different from the heavens themselves. He could have simply struck the boy and not a soul would have called him on it; nor was there anyone who would restrain or interfere when a Brush-Holding Grand Eunuch disciplined a eunuch. The Emperor, perhaps — but no one else. Huang Yan raised his hand.
A flash. In the same instant, Jin Myeong's eyes flared —
As if by miracle, Zheng He appeared.
In a certain sense, here was a man who could control Huang Yan even more effectively than the Crown Prince or a prince of the blood. To Huang Yan, Zheng He was poison itself.
Everyone was stunned. That a Brush-Holding Grand Eunuch had come to the Crown Princess's palace was astonishing enough — and now the Grand Director as well? Zhu Gaoxu's face and Huang Yan's hardened in an instant, and of the two, Huang Yan was forced to lower the hand he had raised.
"The Grand Director? What business does the Grand Director have at Yeongan Palace?"
Zhu Gaoxu asked.
"Your Highness the Prince of Han, I trust you are in good health. Business? Hardly. Jeonbu Jang Jinmyeong is an inner-court official registered Under my Name."
Under Name: the placing of a eunuch who had completed his education beneath a high-ranking eunuch. In other words, to put it in a figure, Jin Myeong's responsible master as a eunuch was none other than Zheng He.
"I merely came to see whether he was doing well. O-hong!"