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Southerners: Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Jin Youzi, Hu Yan, and Yang Shiqi were from Jiangxi; Huang Huai was from Zhejiang; and Yang Rong was from Fujian.50
Since Yongle’s power base was in north China, there must have been a reason that he surrounded himself with a southern brain trust.
During the second half of the fourteenth century, Jiangxi was known for its literary excellence and produced much talent for the early Ming government. For instance, in the national examination of 1400, the top three graduates, including Hu Guang, were natives of Jiangxi. And among the top thirty, sixteen were from Jiangxi. Consequently, the so-called Jiangxi clique, headed by Huang Zicheng, had dominated the Jianwen court, but because of this association, the Jiangxi people also su¤ered a great deal during the civil war. In the war’s aftermath, squalor and instability lingered in the region. After Yongle seized power, the Jiangxi people, who possessed ample material and intellectual resources, continued to deny his legitimacy.51 It is against this backdrop that Yongle, a master of the impossible, decided to gamble again, as he had so many times in his career, by boldly appointing a substantial number of Jiangxi elites to his court.52 His message was loud and clear: he wanted the cooperation and support of the Jiangxi folks. Indeed, his newly acquired political stock would ultimately pay o¤. These young and well attuned Hanlin scholars, hungry for success, would serve him with skill, dedication, and unquestionable loyalty.
Once, in a convivial mood, Yongle was gloating over their services to his court and said,
You labor with me day and night diligently, and the help and assistance you render me are equal to those of the six ministers. . . . You should continue to do your best, and don’t worry about your ranks. Confucius said,
“The ruler treats his ministers with decorum, and the ministers serve their ruler with loyalty.” You and I should follow the respective proper ways and perform our prescribed roles.53
Among the seven grand secretaries who constituted the upper reaches of the Yongle court, Xie Jin was probably the most influential, the most talented, and also the most daring. Xie earned his doctorate when he was only nineteen years old, and at the time he joined Yongle’s secretive “kitchen cabinet,” he was barely thirty-four. It was Xie and Huang Huai who “often stood at the left side of the emperor’s bed, giving His Majesty advice until midnight; sometimes even after His Majesty was lying in bed, they were asked to sit in front of his bed, learning before anyone else every bit of intelligence and all of the important decisions.”54 Yongle also charged Xie with the most important task of chair-97
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ing a committee to edit The Hongwu Veritable Record (Ming Taizu shilu; 1418) and to help Empress Xu compile the three-volume Biographical Sketches of Women of Chastity from Ancient Times to the Present (Gujin lienü zhuan), a collection celebrating women noted for their accomplishments, humility, devotion, and chastity. Using precision, simplicity, and fluid language, Xie por-trayed the striking images of many deserving women. To show her pleasure and appreciation, Empress Xu invited Xie’s wife to the palace for a special audience. From his perch at the Hanlin Academy, Xie also contributed to the compilation of The Grand Encyclopedia of Yongle and The Great Collection of Literary and Historical Works (Wenxian dacheng) and authored a genealogy of the imperial family and a biography of Yongle’s mother. Xie was straightforward, saying exactly what he had in mind, and was utterly honest and patriotic. It is believed that Yongle’s decision to install his eldest son as the heir apparent was principally due to Xie Jin’s relentless lobbying.
Yongle’s first three sons were borne by Empress Xu, and his fourth son, Gaoxi, mother unknown, died before receiving a title. The eldest son, Gaozhi, was not from the same physical mold as Yongle and interested himself primarily in literature and poetry instead of physical fitness and warfare. The second son, Gaoxu, on the other hand, was tall, strong, and athletic and had also distinguished himself in battle. The third son, Gaosui, was mediocre in character and ability and was to be involved in an attempted rebellion only two years after the death of Yongle and to die in 1431. Many of Yongle’s influential advisors time and again urged him to install his second son as heir apparent. Among these advisors was General Qiu Fu (d. 1409; one of the few dukes invested by Yongle), who pointed out that Gaoxu possessed all the vigorously physical qualities of leadership that so notably characterized Yongle and Hongwu. The duke also reminded Yongle that on several occasions Gaoxu had rescued Yongle from personal danger and had turned imminent defeats into victories during the civil war. But before making his critical decision, Yongle secretly sought Xie Jin’s advice. Xie said, “Your eldest son is noted for both his humanity and filial piety and has won the heart of the whole world.” While Yongle remained silent, Xie added, “Moreover, you have a splendid grandson to succeed your eldest son.” Xie was referring to Gaozhi’s six-year-old son, Zhu Zhanji, the future fifth Ming Emperor Xuande (r. 1426–35), who was Yongle’s favorite grandson.
Yongle finally nodded his head and the di‹cult decision was made.55
Gaozhi was soon summoned from Beijing to Nanjing and invested as the heir apparent to the throne on May 9, 1404. The next day, Yongle appointed his most meritorious general, Qiu Fu, the Duke of Qi, the nominal grand preceptor of the heir apparent and his number one advisor, the monk Dao Yan, 98
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the junior preceptor of the crown prince. He also named his son Gaoxu the Prince of Han, with control of Yunnan, and his son Gaosui the Prince of Zhao, to reside in Beijing. By making these appointments, Yongle clearly signified that the successional issue had been resolved and that he could proceed whole-heartedly with his reconstruction program. However, Gaoxu continued to jockey for his father’s mantle and refused to go to Yunnan. Yongle allowed him and his family to stay in the capital, where Gaoxu undermined his older brother and inflicted political wounds on the heir apparent’s tutors. Ultimately, Gaoxu found an opportunity to accuse Xie Jin of violating the sacred traditions of confidentiality and impartiality in favor of his fellow Jiangxi candidates during the doctoral civil service examination. Early in the spring of 1407, Xie was demoted and sent to Guangxi and to Jiaozhi (Annam) to serve as a lowly assistant administration commissioner.
Three years later, Xie returned to Nanjing for state business when Yongle was directing a campaign in the north. Soon after Xie was received by the heir apparent, his old enemy Gaoxu set out to get him with a whole new set of charges. Gaoxu charged that Xie’s audience with the heir apparent was “a secret meeting without proper cause” and had Xie arrested for further investigation.
During interrogation, Xie was tortured and then convicted on the basis of questionable evidence, thus ending his meteoric political career. Five years later, in 1415, the commander of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard, Ji Gang, presented a list of prison inmates for Yongle’s perusal. Yongle went through the whole list and asked, “Is Xie Jin still alive?” Taking the cue, Ji Gang invited Xie for a drink. After making Xie drunk, the commander had the forty-six-year-old Xie buried in the snow and left there until he stopped breathing. Xie’s property was confiscated, and his family was banished to Liaodong in southern Manchuria for several years.56
Of the original seven grand secretaries and concurrent instructors of the heir apparent, Hu Yan was probably the luckiest, as he, after only a brief stint in the household of the crown prince, was reassigned to head the National University. During his more than two decades as chancellor there, he devoted his energy and time to higher education and to the publication of almost every major scholarly work of the early Ming, including The Grand Encyclopedia of Yongle and Geography of the World (Tianxia tuzhi). And since he chose to stay away from the treacherous successional politics, he was able to live until 1443, when he died a natural death at the advanced age of 82.57 But Gaoxu continued to find faults with his elder brother’s other advisors, and several of Hu Yan’s colleagues were victimized in the co
urt intrigues. For instance, early in the autumn of 1414, when Yongle was returning from his northern campaign and 99
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the heir apparent’s entourage was late arriving at the welcome-home ceremony, Gaoxu seized the occasion and urged his father to punish the responsible o‹cials. As a consequence, several instructors in the household of the heir apparent were thrown in jail, including Huang Huai and Yang Shiqi. Huang would be imprisoned for ten long years until the heir apparent ascended the throne in 1424, whereas Yang was released after only a brief incarceration. Both Huang and Yang would continue to serve Yongle’s son, grandson, and even great-grandson until their deaths—Huang at eighty-two sui and Yang at seventy-nine. Yang left a book, Collections of Imperial Instructions during the Past Three Reigns (Sanchao shengyulu), depicting the intense, secretive working conditions of the Grand Secretariat. Yang’s writings were later collected in The Four Treasuries (Siku quanshu) by the Qing emperor Qianlong (r. 1736–95) under the title The Complete Works of Yang Shiqi (Dongli quanji).58
In 1416 the Prince of Han, Zhu Gaoxu, was given a new fief in Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong, but again he protested. This time it was more than a spat, as Yongle severely rebuked him. The louche and ambitious Gaoxu then assembled a private army of three thousand without the knowledge of the Ministry of War and committed all sorts of abuses and o¤enses, including the murder of an army commander. Yongle could no longer tolerate such dastardly behavior and was said to have considered stripping Gaoxu of his princely title and demoting him to the status of commoner. But after a tearful appeal by the heir apparent, Yongle ordered the imprisonment of Gaoxu inside the West Flower Gate (Xihuamen) and had several of Gaoxu’s bodyguards and advisors executed. One year later, Yongle banished Gaoxu to Lean, Shandong, and started more methodically to groom the heir apparent. For the next seven years, Gaoxu bit his bullet and waited. In the late summer of 1426, after both his father and his older brother had passed away, the ambitious prince decided that it was time to challenge his nephew, the young emperor Xuande. He was hoping to repeat what his father did to Emperor Jianwen some twenty years before. But the time and circumstances were entirely di¤erent, and after only three weeks of action, from August 28 to September 17, 1426, Gaoxu’s rebellion was crushed.
He and his sons were stripped of their noble ranks and imprisoned inside the Xi’an Gate until their deaths.59
The person who most helped Emperor Xuande to e¤ectively deal with the Gaoxu rebellion was Grand Secretary Yang Rong. He and the two other grand secretaries, Hu Guang and Jin Youzi, received imperial patronage and enjoyed Yongle’s confidence at one time or another. All of these three men possessed a solid classics background, but each had unique traits and expertise. For example, Hu Guang, who placed first in the doctoral class of 1400, was discreet and 100
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could be trusted with the most sensitive information. Noted also for his polished calligraphic style, he was often asked by Yongle to scribe memorials on stelae. Jin Youzi, on the other hand, was a flexible and modest man. Jin also earned his doctorate in 1400 and was a specialist on The Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu), one of the five Confucian classics. He accompanied Yongle on every one of the campaigns against the Mongols and wrote a two-volume book on the subject, Recording the Northern Expeditions ( Beizeng lu).60 Finally, Yang Rong, the youngest (nine years’ Yongle’s junior), brightest, and ablest of the brain trust of the Yongle court, had already become a legend. Yang was not as flashy as Xie Jin, but was very sharp and a quick study. It was he who reminded Yongle to visit his father’s grave first before declaring himself the new emperor.
He was a consensus-builder by style and a pragmatist by instinct. He radiated good cheer and alacrity in Yongle’s court and always contributed a positive approach toward di‹cult problems. It is reported that during Yongle’s declining years, whenever the moody emperor saw Yang Rong coming he immediately felt calm and relaxed. Yang loved military science and geography, and also accompanied Yongle in every campaign against the Mongols. In between the campaigns, Yongle would send Yang to Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia to inspect and plan border defense. During Yongle’s northern campaign in 1410, the emperor asked Yang Rong to command three hundred specially trained soldiers, and four years later, when the Ming troops were engaging the Oirat Mongols, Yongle asked his grandson—the future Emperor Xuande—to go along. At the camp, Yang gave regular lectures on history and classics to the young prince. Yongle also made Yang Rong concurrent director of the Seal O‹ce, making sure that “no decrees, orders, banners, insignia, or documents could be issued without first reporting to Yang Rong.” In 1416 Yongle promoted both Jin Youzi and Yang Hanlin chancellors and, two years later, after the death of Hu Guang, made Yang the head of the Hanlin Academy. In 1420 Yang was further promoted to the post of grand secretary of the Literary Erudition Pavilion with concurrent Hanlin chancellorship. Two years later, during another northern campaign, Yongle asked him to take part in “making decisions on all military matters,” virtually appointing Yang general chief of sta¤.
Finally, in 1424, the very year that Yongle weakened and died, he delegated all military matters to Yang, literally making him commander of all Ming forces.
During campaigns Yang Rong kept a diary, Journal of the Northern Expeditions (Beizeng ji), in which he recorded Yongle’s strategic thoughts, generalship, and courage. Like some of his fellow grand secretaries, Yang Rong would become another multigenerational imperial counselor, continuing to serve Yongle’s son, grandson, and great-grandson until 1440, when he died at the age of seventy.61
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Yongle’s legacy of management is mixed. He demonstrated that he was a shrewd judge of character with the ability to choose many “gentlemen” who were cultivated, attentive, meticulous, and could be trusted with secrets. He was an engaged and indefatigable executive, often rising at dawn and laboring until late in the evening. When otherwise not engaged, Yongle berated himself for idle living. He said of himself,
I get up at 4:00 every morning, put my clothes on, and meditate. At that time, when my head is clear and my spirit good, I ponder over all the matters from the four corners of the empire. I prioritize issues and make big as well as small decisions and then send them out to appropriate ministries and agencies for execution. After the audience with my o‹cials, I never go straight to my private chambers. Instead, I read every memorial and report from the four corners. Those concerning border emergencies, floods, and droughts require my immediate attention, and measures are quickly taken to solve the problems. I generally put o¤ matters of the Inner Court until I’ve finished the matters of the Outer Court. And whenever I can find the time, I read history books and the classics so as to avoid idle living. I constantly remind myself that the world is so vast and state a¤airs so important that I cannot succumb to laziness and complacency for even a moment. Once one has succumbed to laziness and complacency, everything will become stagnant.62
Since Yongle was alert to the dangers of complacency and indulgence, he trusted only those who had exhibited a combination of talent, profound scholarship, passion for service, and good moral character. He created an emotional environment for elite politics and demanded mutual trust and collegiality among his grand secretaries. Unlike his paranoiac father, Yongle was capable of sustained relationships. In fact, several of his carefully selected advisors ended up serving as multigenerational counselors to his family. Yang Shiqi retained his post in the Grand Secretariat for forty-three years, Yang Rong for thirty-seven years, and Jin Youzi for thirty years. In addition, Jian Yi served thirty-four years as the minister of personnel, while Xia Yuanji headed the Ministry of Revenue for twenty-nine years. These conscientious and righteous men provided for not only the continuity of Yongle’s policy but also the general political stability of the Ming empire in the first half of the fifteenth century.
However, Yongle was also a flawed mortal.
In spite of the fact that he appointed several of Jianwen’s o‹cials to top positions, he often lacked magnanimity and tolerance. He roughly handled and ruined several of his outstanding and innocent counselors, such as Huang Fu and Xie Jin. He inherited 102
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his father’s cataclysmic temper and impetuously jailed many of his courtiers, such as Huang Huai and Yang Shiqi, even though there was no complicity in the court. He even put to death several of his hatchet men, including the notorious senior censor-in-chief Chen Ying and the cruel Embroidered-Uniform Guard commander Ji Gang, who were responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people. Nevertheless, it is di‹cult to ascertain whether Yongle’s record of management was more a result of his personality or of his intellectual guidance. One might argue that Yongle’s political philosophy derived as much from legalism ( fajia) as it did from Confucian ideology. It is a fact that Yongle would have loved for the whole world to associate with him the Confucian ideal of sage-king instead of the legalist, tyrannical unifier of China, Qin Shihuang (259–210 b.c.e.). But he was prepared intellectually for a di¤erent mode of rulership, as he learned not only from his father but from legalist philosophy. Legalists emphasized the role of penalty in government, the supremacy of the ruler in interactions with o‹cials, and control and close monitoring of the bureaucracy.63 In order to secure his own interests and powers and to advance China in the historic transformation that had begun in 1368
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