Perpetual Happiness
Page 3
It is almost two o’clock in the afternoon, but Yongle notices a few o‹cials 12
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who have not yet spoken. Before he gestures to adjourn the noon audience, the ceremonial o‹cial proclaims that any other matters that require His Majesty’s attention should be reported to the O‹ce of Transmission. During the early morning, over four hundred memorials and petitions had already reached that o‹ce, which is directed by a commissioner (rank 3a).21 The documents were quickly turned over to the palace at Following Heaven Gate, where some ten eunuchs from the Directorate of Ceremonial performed the first screening. There, the eunuchs color-coded the files to sort out documents from the Six Ministries, military agencies, and princely establishments. They then decided whether to immediately send the documents to the managing grand eunuch of the directorate or to forward them through normal channels to the Grand Secretariat (Neige, or Inner Cabinet), from which they would ultimately return to Yongle for final imperial decision.22
Paying his personal attention to such memorials and reports indeed imposes on Yongle the daily burden of details. That is why he needs secretarial assistance from his scholars from the Hanlin Academy. The academic talents and skilled administrators he relies on have developed into the Grand Secretariat.
Of his original seven grand secretaries, both Xie Jin (1369–1415) and Hu Guang (1370–1418) have died, Hu Yan (1361–1443) has left to become the chancellor of the National University, and Huang Huai (1367–1449) is serving a jail term.
Thus, the only grand secretaries who can help Yongle deliberate on state documents and draft decrees and instructions are the brilliant but pragmatic Yang Rong (1371–1440), the pliable Jin Youzi (1368–1431), and the straight-arrow Yang Shiqi (1365–1444), who was released from jail only a few months ago. At the end of the noon audience, Yongle gives them the usual signal that they should immediately get to work and mark those cases that require o‹cial imperial sanction with “red ink” ( pihong). Yongle then goes directly toward Eastern Peace Gate (Donganmen), where, less than three years earlier, in 1420, he established a secret police agency called the Eastern Depot (Dongchang) for the purpose of silencing his political opponents, stopping vicious rumors, and gathering intelligence about the state of the empire.
Accompanied by the managing director of ceremonial and the commander of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard, Yongle arrives at the Eastern Depot and is greeted at the entrance by the depot’s eunuch director, a most trusted confidant. Yongle immediately sees a plaque reading “Heart and Bowels of the Court” (Chao ting xin fu) hanging in the main hall. He first inspects the Inside Depot, which is used to detain the most serious and dangerous suspects, and then looks around the Outside Depot, where some of his dismissed ministers are “temporarily housed.” Yongle inquires about the general health of these 13
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talented people who had previously worked for him at the top and exerted their rightful dominion. The depot director assures him that they have not been tortured. Yongle then examines a grotesque and intimidating prison called the Bureau of Suppression and Soothing (Zhenfusi), in which the o‹cers from the Embroidered-Uniform Guard routinely elicit confessions (without which no one could be convicted) from suspects. Because of the notorious brutality of the methods used here, it has earned the epithet “torture chamber.”23
After the emperor is seated, he interviews a dozen depot agents, one assigned to watch over troublesome imperial clansmen, two who spy on ambitious military commanders, three who keep tabs on the normally fastidious literati bureaucrats, and three others who conduct surveillance on mysterious religious leaders. Yongle then inquires if there has been any unusual tra‹c observed at the city gates, fires or other incidents in Beijing and Nanjing, or if any agent has overheard treasonous conversations. In addition, Yongle wants to know the market prices of such foods as rice, beans, oil, and flour. The depot’s ubiquitous agents wear plain clothes and go around Beijing and Nanjing almost daily, canvassing the streets for suspects. They also visit government o‹ces and listen to and take notes at the trials. Yongle seems quite sure that nobody will ever find out about the brutal and nefarious handiwork provided for him by the depot agents. Of course, it is the Eastern Depot that helps to engender Ming despotism, and it is there that future historians will find other legacies of Yongle—of cruelty, political scheming, corruption, scandal, and murder.24
By the time Yongle prepares to leave the Eastern Depot compound, a eunuch from the water-clock room arrives and informs him that it is three o’clock in the afternoon. Yongle’s entourage is met by the eunuch head (rank 4a) of the Directorate of Imperial Stables (Yumajian), who tours His Majesty around a few stables for horses and other animals just outside the palace wall.
All his life, Yongle has loved the finest horses, often calling them his “wings.”
He examines the fodder—rice, millet-straw, and beans—to see if they are of high quality and checks a few saddles and horseshoes. He is amazed by the many elephants and exotic animals such as zebras and ostriches that Admiral Zheng He brought home from overseas last year. He is also pleased to see that all the cats that belong to his concubines are well-fed and thriving. Before leaving the stables, the eunuch stable-director reports that he will put the horses to pasture in about two months.
The cats—which frequently are given as gifts—remind Yongle that this is the gift-giving season and that he ought to pick up some imperial presents for his relatives, foreign guests, and meritorious o‹cials, particularly those princes and princesses who demonstrated their loyalty to him during the bloody civil 14
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war against his nephew Jianwen. Yongle’s entourage now comes to the Imperial Treasury (Neichengyun Ku), which is located near the Imperial Stables. There, the emperor sees precious items such as gold, silver, jewels, satin silks, fine wool fabric, jade, ivory, and pearls. In only a short time, he fills a long list of orders, but he tells the managing director of ceremonial that he wants to send some especially delicate gifts to his daughters, daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law, and other palace ladies. In response to this spontaneous request, the imperial entourage swings quickly from the area northeast of the palace to the southwestern part of the Forbidden City, where the Bureau of Silverware (Yinzuoju) is located. Inside this building, popularly known as the “Palace Mint,” Yongle watches his eunuchs cut gold and silver bullion into shapes such as peaches, needles, and bean leaves before setting them with gems and crystals. As usual, Yongle’s orders are immediately and completely filled. And it is to no one’s surprise that he is not altogether satisfied with all of the gifts he has just picked.
Almost without hesitation, he orders the managing director of ceremonial to select a few dozen castrati from Nanhaizi—an imperial preserve southeast of the Forbidden City where surplus young eunuchs are detained—and send them to five or six princely establishments as gifts.25
The above activities have taken the emperor roughly one and a half hours, and by 4:30 p.m. he is back in the Imperial Pharmacy Room after his physicians have successfully “persuaded” him to drink another bowl of herbal tea.
On his way, the emperor sees his eunuchs on duty passing small ivory tablets to a new group who will work in their respective posts for the next twelve hours.
He then rushes to visit his favorite grandson, Zhu Zhanji, the future Emperor Xuande (r. 1426–35), making sure that the young prince is studying hard under the guidance of imperial tutors. Yongle is impressed with the poise and intelligence of his future heir. After asking Zhanji a few questions from The Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing) and the Four Books—the Confucian Great Learning (Daxue), Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), Analects (Lunyu), and Book of Mencius (Mengzi)—Yongle goes straight to Literary Erudition Pavilion (Wenyange), where his eunuchs have prepared dinner for him and his three grand secretaries—Yang Rong, Jin Youzi, and Yang Shiqi. (From 1420 until Yongl
e’s death in 1424, this pavilion was the only o‹ce of Yongle’s grand secretaries.)26 It is a working dinner, because the grand secretaries have, since the noon audience, carefully scrutinized every one of the more than four hundred petitions and memorials and have drafted “suggested rescripts” for Yongle’s proper responses. Yongle approves several of the rescripts outright and changes a few others, but writes out the majority of them with entirely di¤erent responses.27
There are a few remaining cases that Yongle chooses not to approve or dis-15
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approve but simply pigeonholes. One such case is a petition from a censor who has begged His Majesty to set free before the Lantern Festival all of the imprisoned ministers, in particular, Minister of Personnel Jian Yi, who, the censor insists, has maintained his unswerving loyalty to the emperor even in the darkest days of his incarceration. (About a month later, Jian Yi will be released and reinstated to his ministerial position.) Another pigeonholed case is a remonstrance from a regional inspector in the Northern Metropolitan Area urging Yongle to wear newer and better ornamented clothes more frequently.
The remonstrance points out that during the twenty-one years of Yongle’s reign, His Majesty has celebrated only twelve birthdays in the palace, has consistently refused to use jade utensils at his dinner table, and has lived like the common folk. It goes on to suggest that because the economy has generated geysers of revenue and the livelihood of the people has improved so much, His Majesty’s parsimony could be construed as an attempt to make o‹cials around the country swoon. Yongle’s personal life is like that of a Bauhaus func-tionalist, the soul of simplicity compared to the rococo elaborateness of so many other great historical figures. Much of the emperor’s agenda, however, concerns military strength and the security of the empire. It was precisely because of this agenda and because there are four memorials concerning national security issues that Yongle decides to hold an unscheduled court deliberation ( zhaodui) that night.
It is already pitch dark when Yongle’s eunuch couriers go outside the palace wall to fetch the functional heads of the Six Ministries, the five chief military commissioners, and a handful of dukes and marquises to a conference room inside Meridian Gate. In the room, a special group of eunuchs provide Yongle, the three grand secretaries, and the conferees with tea, fruit, cakes, wine, and other beverages. The conferees are asked to deliberate and to suggest (1) a new defense policy in Liaodong, (2) how to exploit the bickering between the Tartar Mongols and the Oirat Mongols (Wala), (3) measures to deal with the rioting at Liuzhou in Guangxi, and (4) most important of all, how to respond to the latest Annamese request for a truce. Each participant is given an equal voice while Yongle listens. Even though it takes a long time before the conferees can reach a consensus on all of the matters, Yongle seems satisfied with their suggested solutions. On the issue of Liaodong, the Earl Zhu Rong (d. 1425) will be retained at his post but should be instructed to treat the Uriyangqad Mongols as enemies rather than allies of the Ming and should also do everything in his power to prevent the dispute between the Jurchen and the Koreans from erupting into a border war. On the issue of Mongols, decrees will be sent to all northern regional commissioners, instructing them 16
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not to let the Tartars lull them into a false sense of security, and the eunuch-envoy Hai Tong will be dispatched to lure the Oirat into the Ming’s imperial fold and to further strain Tartar-Oirat relations. On the issue of the Liuzhou rioting, an edict will be sent to the Guangxi regional commissioner instructing him to capture only the aboriginal leaders and never to harm ordinary people. Finally, in responding to the urgent memorial from Huang Fu (1363–
1440), the Ming’s highest civilian authority in Annam, Yongle accepts the suggestion of Grand Secretary Yang Shiqi that the controversial grand eunuch Ma Ji be recalled from there. In addition, an instruction is to be dispatched to Earl Chen Zhi not to pursue the Annamese rebels into Cambodia, and Huang Fu is to be told to appoint the rebel leader Le Loi “Prefect of Thanh-hoa” as soon as he lays down his weapons.28
Yongle stays at Meridian Gate long enough to give his “red ink” to all the decrees, edicts, proclamations, notes, and instructions scribed by his grand secretaries. The documents are then filed by the personnel in the Directorate of Ceremonial and immediately sent to the O‹ce of Transmission, from which Yongle’s will will be conveyed to every part of his empire. About the time the eunuchs beat the drum for the second geng, the emperor has exhausted himself for the sake of the country, and it is time for him to drink another bowl of herbal tea. On his way back to his living quarters, he is served by a new crew of eunuch attendants, and when he arrives at the Palace of Earthly Tranquility (Kunninggong), the chief residential palace of the empress, he tells the managing director of ceremonial to go home. After the death of Empress Xu in 1407, Yongle decided not to install a new empress but to keep the Palace of Earthly Tranquility as a meeting place and library for his palace women. After that his chief consort had been Lady Wang from Suzhou, who was able not only to soothe the temperamental Yongle but also to command the respect of Yongle’s relatives in the Inner Court. But unfortunately for the emperor, Lady Wang, too, passed away three years ago, in 1420. Even though he is still served by some sixteen imperial concubines and has not seen them for three days, he chooses to visit Lady Sun in the Western Palace tonight.29
There is no way of ascertaining the details of Yongle’s nocturnal relations with his women. However, we know that his concubines’ menstrual cycles, vom-iting, and miscarriages are all closely monitored and recorded by his eunuchs.
It is likely that, after a long day of travail, Yongle simply needs to talk to some-body feminine, beautiful, and gentle, and to touch something soft, tender, and warm. It is almost a certainty that his aging body needs a nightly massage and that his dulled ears welcome sweet whispers, but Yongle’s virility is a big question mark at this point in his life. He has four sons and five daughters, all born 17
Sakhal
Nuerkan
in
Island
r
e
iv
R
u r
A m
MONGOLIA
Daning
Liaodong
KOREA
BEIJING
Shazhou
Jinan
Yellow
Taiyuan
T
Liangzhou
Sea
Kaifeng
Xuzhou
,,
EAST CHINA
X ran
Nanjing
Xi an
SEA
Suzhou
Wuchang
W
Chengdu
Changsha
Fuzhou
Ryukyu
Islands
TIBET
Guiyang
Kunming
K
Guangzhou
SOUTH CHINA
Dongdu
Gulf
SEA
of
Tonkin
H a i n a n
Bay
Xidu
of
Bengal
CHAMPA
Great Wall
Chinese border
map 1. Yongle’s Empire, 1403–1424
a day in the life of yongle’s court
before he became the emperor in 1402. He maintains the Chinese tradition of imperial concubinage by continuing to bring young girls, many of whom are Koreans, to his harem. By the time he returns from the Inner Court to Heavenly Purity Palace, it is well past 10:30 p.m.
Ever since he was a young man, Yongle has needed to read something before falling asleep. On this silent and melancholy night, he looks at his white hair and his somewhat ruined constitution in the mirror and, all of a sudden, begins to wonder if he has fulfilled his destiny. He then says to himself, “Yes, I’ve saved my father�
�s empire and, yes, I’ve more than adequately redeemed myself for what I did to my nephew Jianwen.” What seems to concern him the most, however, are two questions: How long will his glory last? And will future historians be harsh on him?30 With that kind of mood, Yongle orders a eunuch attendant to go to the Imperial Library (Huangshicheng) and find him his personal copy of The Book of Changes (Yijing). He studies the sacred book for a long while, then decides to play a divination game. On the future of the Great Ming, the augur guide points to zhun Ÿ, the third hexagram, Q, which shows how a plant struggles with di‹culty out of the earth, rising gradually above the surface. This di‹culty, marking the first stage in the growth of a plant, is used to symbolize the struggles that mark the rise of a state out of a condition of disorder but that gradually lead to long and lasting stability.31 Yongle is delighted with the implications of this hexagram for his family and state, but as he tries to find another one for his own life and future, he falls asleep. A few minutes later the eunuchs at Xuanwu Gate hit the midnight drum, but Yongle’s dreams randomly transport him to a confrontation with his father, a vision of the deposed emperor Jianwen weeping streams of blood, and . . .
19
2 / The Formative Years, 1360–1382
In the middle ofthe fourteenth century, when the English and the French were engaged in an early stage of the Hundred Years’ War, various Chinese rebel leaders raised armies of di¤erent sizes, hoping to throw o¤ the rule of the Mongols, who were by then corrupted and softened by the wealth of the nation they had conquered back in 1279. One great seat of insurrection was in the lower Yangzi valley, where large numbers of tough, poor, and thrifty Han Chinese attempted to free themselves of the alien gaze. Among the rebels—