[Lightscreen]
[The death of Yuan Crown Prince Zhenjin? Its impact rivals that of Zhu Biao's demise.
No need to belabor Zhu Biao's case, he was basically half an emperor already, groomed with every ounce of Old Zhu's blood, sweat, and tears. The guy was near-perfect in every way back then. His sudden croak slapped a thick layer of blood-red gloom over the Hongwu reign and straight-up triggered the massive upheaval of the Jingnan Campaign in early Ming.
Zhenjin's death? That's a bit more tangled. Short version: it slammed the door shut on the Yuan Confucians' shot at climbing the ladder.
We mentioned before that one of Yuan's major problems was the suspension of the imperial examinations.
It was not that Yuan never held examinations. During the Mongol Empire period, the promoted official Yelü Chucai joined with Ögedei Khan to conduct examinations. In a single effort they selected four thousand talents to fill the Mongol administrative system, and the results were excellent.
But later Ögedei died suddenly. His wife Töregene Khatun controlled the government. In order to secure the throne for her son Güyük, she courted without restraint the Mongol old nobles who held voting rights in the kurultai.
As a result, the eminent minister Yelü Chucai was stripped of power and died in distress, and the examinations were abolished.
In the Yuan period, after Kublai destroyed Southern Song, he attempted to discuss restoring the examinations.
The result was predictable. The Mongol nobles joined forces to resist.
The primary reason was that by then a custom had arisen in Yuan of promoting clerks directly into officials.
For most of the feudal era, officials and clerks were clearly separated. Unless one rebelled, a clerk could not rise to the rank of chancellor. To become an official one had to pass the examinations, and the examinations were controlled by the central court. That was the simple logic of talent selection in the feudal age.
But Yuan was different. If a Mongol lord thought you capable, a stroke of his brush could elevate you from clerk to official. As for what counted as capability, that included many things. Flattery counted. Bribery counted.
The essence of this trend was that the power to select officials, which should have been controlled by the center, had scattered into the hands of meritorious nobles. Naturally they would not surrender it. On the surface they even had a fine excuse. The fall of Southern Song was the fault of Confucian scholars harming the state. Great Khan, do you still wish to practice Han law?
As mentioned earlier, when the other khanates opposed Kublai, one of their rallying cries was that he practiced Han methods. In the end Kublai could only endure it.
Crown Prince Zhenjin was meant to be the later move for gradual reform. Now that move was gone. The ones left bewildered were not only Kublai, but also the more than one hundred thousand Confucian households of the time.
The Confucian households were established by Kublai at the founding of Yuan. Once registered as a Confucian household, so long as one studied, one received stipends and tax exemption. The status could even be inherited.
After the fall of Southern Song, Jiangnan scholars joined in. Confucian households surpassed one hundred thousand. Wealthy Jiangnan, under stipends and tax exemption, rapidly recovered its vitality. Soon they discovered a glass wall before them.
If you wished to become an official, studying was useless. You had to learn how to serve the Mongols as a dog.
Some true scholars refused. With material support and no offices to obtain, Yuan literati among the people fused Song ci poetry with popular tunes. Thus Yuan qu was born, ancestor of modern opera.
When people mention Yuan qu, they instinctively recall Ma Zhiyuan's Tianjingsha Autumn Thoughts and feel that Yuan qu declined compared to Tang poetry and Song ci.
In fact Yuan qu encompassed sanqu and zaju drama. If one speaks of zaju, even setting aside the embryonic Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Water Margin, the representative works of the Four Great Masters of Yuan qu such as Dou E Yuan, Autumn in the Han Palace, Rain on the Wutong Tree, and The Orphan of Zhao still shine today.
Among Yuan qu, the real crown jewel? Zhang Yanghao's "Shan Po Yang: Lament at Tong Pass."]
In Guangzheng Hall, Zhao Kuangyin watched the words of Zhuge Liang and Li Shimin drift across the light screen. He then turned a thoughtful gaze toward the Hanlin medical officer Liu Han.
Liu Han waved both hands in refusal.
"To treat patients several hundred years in the future is neither feasible nor reliable. One is Zhang Zhongjing, the Sage of Medicine. One is Sun Simiao, the Medicine King. How could I be compared to such sages, especially when they have already drawn wisdom from the light screen?"
Zhao Kuangyin sighed in regret.
He had hoped to speak more with the Hongwu Emperor.
After all, Ming could be considered an inheritor of Song. Tracing Zhu Hongwu's origins by a winding path, there was even a faint connection to Song.
For now, however, Zhao Kuangyin focused on Yuan qu.
At first glance, Tianjingsha Autumn Thoughts felt coarse. The more he read it, the more lingering flavor he sensed.
He sighed inwardly. No wonder later generations singled it out. Though it did not conform to strict ci prosody, it carried a distinct charm.
He slung an arm over Li Yu's shoulder.
"Can you compose one?"
Li Yu frowned in disdain.
"Vulgar. Such concluding lines are supreme writing, condensed with the heart-blood of worthy men. How could one produce it lightly?"
Zhao Kuangyin laughed.
"Then copy it. Spread it through Bianliang so scholars know it widely. In time it will have its effect."
"We shall borrow your name. Say that this Ma Zhiyuan is your friend."
Li Yu suddenly understood.
So that was Zhao's intention.
And it seemed feasible.
In Huagai Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang skipped past the familiar matters of Yuan and fixed upon several words.
"Blood-red? Jingnan? Great upheaval?"
"Jing what rebellion?"
"Who dares trouble my Ming?"
He spoke thus, yet a wave of weakness rose within.
To lose wife and son was a situation he had never imagined. Having endured such losses, what decisions would he make? What measures would he take?
Was someone unwilling to accept Xiongying?
Was Xiongying Yongle? Or that Good Grandson?
For a moment the Son of Heaven felt that what he thought he understood grew more obscure.
[Lightscreen]
[Born humble, entering office through letters, understanding the sufferings of the people, concerned for livelihood, frugal in conduct, impeaching corruption. This was Zhang Yanghao.
Placed in any dynasty, Zhang Yanghao might well have realized his ideals. Yet he was born in Yuan.
He sympathized with the people and was ostracized by colleagues. His frugality was mocked by Mongols. When he impeached corruption, had he not fled quickly, he might have been executed on the spot. He changed his name and went into hiding.
When the throne changed hands, he returned unafraid and once more pressed for the reopening of examinations. After success, having seen through Yuan officialdom, he withdrew quietly.
For eight years the Yuan court summoned him seven times. He refused the post of Minister. He declined the position of Tutor to the Crown Prince. He ignored the offer of Academician. He did not accept the post of Surveillance Commissioner.
Until 1329 came a summons. Guanzhong suffered great drought. The starving ate one another. He was specially appointed Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Shaanxi Branch Secretariat.
Zhang Yanghao obeyed without hesitation.
During four months of disaster relief, he sold all his property. It vanished like flowing water. He fought local magnates to wrest funds and saved countless lives. Only he grew poorer, his body dragged down. Emaciated upon the sickbed, he still asked whether any people had starved that day.
After two months bedridden, Zhang Yanghao died. The eight hundred li of Qin plain mourned.
In his family instructions he left two lines that best annotate his life.
All suffering, treat as if borne by oneself. Once the will is established, nothing under heaven cannot be accomplished, much less study.
Tongguan Nostalgia was written on his journey to Shaanxi, passing Tongguan. It is a masterpiece where thought and artistry unite perfectly. Eight short characters revealed the essential feature of feudal society.
Compared to Zhang Zai's lofty Four Sentences of Hengqu, Zhang Yanghao used eight plain words to state a truth that worthy ministers for centuries had not grasped.
From then on, discussion of order and chaos under heaven became only sighs of rise and fall.
Zhenjin's death led Jiangnan Confucian households to be temporarily forgotten by Kublai, fostering the flourishing of Yuan folk literature. Ironically it placed a splendid literary veneer upon Yuan.
This was likely something those Mongol nobles who could not even speak Chinese had never anticipated.]