Chapter 190: Mysterious ancient, modern, modern, ancient

The Palace has been without laughter for many days, and everyone is waiting for the Emperor’s mood to improve.

Ma Enhui waved her hand, gesturing for the palace maid to step back, and stepped onto the corridor. She walked along the winding path, paying no attention to the lively lotus flowers in the pond.

At the end of the corridor was a pavilion-style hall with no shelter around.

Zhu Yunwen was reclining in the middle of the hall, leaning on his arms, watching the lotus flowers swaying in the wind in the pond.

“Your Majesty.”

Ma Enhui called out softly.

Zhu Yunwen looked up at Ma Enhui and said calmly, “Empress, have a seat.”

Ma Enhui shook her head slightly, made a graceful salute, and said, “Your Majesty should prioritize your health. The night is cool now, and it’s not suitable to stay in the Cold Fragrance Hall. I earnestly request Your Majesty to return to the Kunning Palace.”

Zhu Yunwen sat up straight, helped Ma Enhui up, and said, “I just want some peace for a few days, to think about things.”

Ma Enhui’s eyes showed sadness as she gently said, “Think in Kunning Palace.”

“I might lose my temper.”

“I can bear it.”

“I might hit someone.”

“I can bear it.”

“I…”

Zhu Yunwen looked at Ma Enhui’s watery eyes, and couldn’t help but soften. He gently embraced her and said, “Alright, I’ll go back tonight. Come, accompany me and talk.”

Ma Enhui held Zhu Yunwen’s hand, and with deep affection, she said, “As long as Your Majesty’s mood can improve, I’m willing to do anything and accept any punishment.”

“I have no faults to punish you for. Why talk about punishment.” Zhu Yunwen looked at the lotus in the pond and sighed, “Empress, I’m just a bit afraid, afraid that I can’t control my temper and emotions. Ultimately, my state of mind is not enough.”

Ma Enhui gently leaned on Zhu Yunwen’s shoulder and said, “Your Majesty is always right.”

“Even if I lose my temper?”

“Yes.”

“Even if I kill someone?”

“That person deserves to die.”

Zhu Yunwen looked at Ma Enhui and said with bitterness, “Empress, you should have your own standpoint, and point out my mistakes…”

“To stand by Your Majesty’s side forever is my stance, unchanging until death,” Ma Enhui said resolutely.

Helpless and moved, Zhu Yunwen gently patted Ma Enhui’s back and said, “I didn’t intend to kill Li Sen on purpose; I was just too angry at that moment.”

Ma Enhui knew Li Sen, the censor sent to outside by the censorate. He was not a good official. Despite rampant corruption and oppression of the people in the region, he chose to turn a blind eye and cover up for local officials.

“Such people deserve to die.”

Ma Enhui said through gritted teeth.

That’s right, he deserved it!

Ma Enhui wished all the corrupt officials in the world would perish, sparing the Emperor from anger.

Zhu Yunwen shook his head slightly, saying, “Whether he should live or die should be left to the Three Law Departments for judgment and punishment, rather than me using the court beating to directly punish him.”

In a sense, what saddened Zhu Yunwen was not Li Sen’s death but his own excessive use of power.

As the emperor, the weight of authority in his hands was too heavy, to the point that Zhu Yunwen was even somewhat addicted to the feeling of controlling life and death.

This feeling was pleasant, but extremely dangerous.

Zhu Yunwen was well aware that if he couldn’t restrain himself, the road ahead would be one of paternalistic dictatorship!

Over time, he would no longer tolerate any opposition, any opinions, becoming increasingly self-righteous. Believing he knew it all, he would make all decisions himself. Once someone made a mistake and angered him, their fate would be death.

This kind of dictatorial rule might bring pleasure to oneself but would not lead to true prosperity and a golden age.

An era is not built by one person but is the result of the collective efforts of everyone in that era.

Zhu Yunwen needed ministers, officials, people who understood restraint and constraint. He needed an open and clear atmosphere in the court, rather than a group of timid lambs who dared not speak up.

“Using the court beating is also a system established by Emperor Taizu…”

Ma Enhui pursed her lips, thinking that Zhu Yunwen was right to administer the punishment.

Zhu Yunwen felt depressed. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a visionary emperor, he lacked the concept of rule of law. When it came to killing people, he didn’t ask questions. It became a habit to behead tens of thousands without hesitation.

“The Great Ming Law” was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang. He demanded that officials and the common people adhere to it. As for himself, when he wanted to comply, he did so, and when he didn’t, no one could stop him.

He completely embodied the style of an emperor who believed, “Those who follow me prosper, those who oppose me perish.”

“I dare not compare myself to Taizu. Well, I’ve decided to abolish the court beating. There won’t be such absurdities in the future.”

Zhu Yunwen made up his mind.

Ma Enhui smiled at the corner of her mouth, deeply looking at Zhu Yunwen. She stood up and saluted, saying, “Long live the wise emperor. I congratulate the Ming Dynasty for having such a enlightened ruler.”

“Don’t praise me too much. Who was just talking about the system of Taizu?”

Zhu Yunwen rolled his eyes.

“If Your Majesty decides to reinstate the court beating in the future, I might say…”

Ma Enhui’s eyes sparkled mischievously.

“You’re plotting against me. Can I take back my decision…”

Zhu Yunwen frowned and patted his forehead.

Ma Enhui saw Zhu Yunwen’s relief, swirled lightly, and said, “Once the move is made, there is no regret. Your Majesty, let’s go pick lotus seeds.”

Zhu Yunwen held Ma Enhui’s delicate waist, walked to the edge, and said, “Only with green lotus and red water lilies can we freely unfold and bloom, truly innocent. I hope that the Empress can be more innocent and carefree.”

“Better to know the inch inside the heart, harboring purple and holding red. I hope Your Majesty can perceive the subtle feelings and see through everything.”

Ma Enhui gracefully lifted her skirt and stepped onto the small boat.

Zhu Yunwen smiled and boarded the boat, untied the rope, took up the bamboo pole, and gently paddled; the boat started moving.

Looking at Ma Enhui, who was rowing with her arms red, expressing her anger, Zhu Yunwen’s heart became more at ease.

What lay before him was nothing but the issue of corrupt officials and malpractices.

It needed rectification, so let’s rectify it.

Whether it’s a court official or a local official, let’s have an assessment.

Zhu Yunwen didn’t know how corrupt the officialdom of the Great Ming had become, but just from the perspective of the incident in Huaiyuan County, it was definitely not a problem of Huaiyuan County Magistrate alone; it was likely a systemic corruption.

According to the court regulations, the assessment of a county magistrate requires assessment by the prefecture and the provincial government, and the assessment results are submitted for review by the Judicial Office and the Censorate. After the review, it is reported to the Ministry of Personnel’s Assessment Office, which conducts another round of verification.

Huaiyuan County was under the jurisdiction of Fengyang Prefecture, and Fengyang Prefecture was directly accountable to the court in Nanjing, without an intermediate level like the provincial government. This meant that the county magistrate of Huaiyuan would at least have to go through a double assessment from Fengyang Prefecture and the Ministry of Personnel’s Assessment Office. However, based on the assessment documents, both Fengyang Prefecture and the Ministry of Personnel’s Assessment Office had not found any problems with the Huaiyuan County Magistrate, and the evaluation on the assessment document was “ordinary.”

If there were issues with Fengyang Prefecture, the Ministry of Personnel would also have problems. Additionally, since Li Sen was an official from the Censorate, it implied that even the Censorate had problems.

Great, just one county magistrate’s death exposed so many problems.

It was time. He didn’t have the patience to wait for the once-in-three-years or once-in-six-years assessment!

This year, there must be an assessment!

Without investigating the bottom of these officials, the people of Huaiyuan would die in vain!

Dingyuan.

Jing Qing, with his men, arrived outside Zhang’s Rice Shop. Looking at the tightly closed door, Jing Qing couldn’t help but furrow his brow. He glanced at the guard beside him, and the guard stepped forward to knock on the door.

“Who’s there?”

A middle-aged voice came from inside the shop.

“Buying rice!”

The guard shouted.

“No more rice. Go buy from another shop.”

The person inside replied impatiently.

The guard looked at Jing Qing, and with a cold and low voice, asked Xie Gang, “Is there any more?”

Xie Gang shook his head and said uneasily, “Sir, this is the last one.”

“The eighteen rice shops in Dingyuan City, each one has no rice! I’m curious how they do business!” Jing Qing said angrily, pointing at the door of the rice shop. He gritted his teeth and said, “Break open the door for me. I want to see if they really have no rice or they just don’t want to sell!”

“Sir, isn’t this inappropriate…”

Xie Gang hurriedly said.

“What’s inappropriate? If we can’t find enough rice, what will the refugees from Huaiyuan eat? You should know, the county office accepted three thousand refugees yesterday. The rice bought from the people won’t last them a day! If there is no rice, the people won’t have anything to eat, and things will be troublesome!”

Jing Qing said sternly.

Pointing at the rice shop, Xie Gang sighed, “Sir, you’ve been walking for so long, haven’t you figured it out yet? The rice shop really has no rice.”

Jing Qing looked at Xie Gang, was about to speak, and suddenly realized something. Following Xie Gang’s pointing direction, he looked at the plaque of Zhang’s Rice Shop. Besides the four large characters “Zhang’s Rice Shop,” there were four small characters below: “Ancient, Modern, Modern, Ancient.”

Outside the “Ancient, Modern, Modern, Ancient” characters, there were also inlaid decorative patterns.

This was a badge!

Jing Qing suddenly remembered that under the plaques of the eighteen rice shops, there seemed to be the same emblem.

“It seems that I won’t be able to buy rice!”

Jing Qing squinted, his face becoming serious.

Someone was controlling the rice shops, hoarding grain!

Jing Qing looked at Xie Gang, but before he could ask, he saw Xie Gang shaking his head slightly. He said solemnly, “Sir, please return to the county office.”

Fear?

Jing Qing didn’t understand why Xie Gang was so cautious and what he was afraid of.

Returning to the county office, Yu Xin looked at Jing Qing, who had returned empty-handed, without reproach. Instead, he seemed to have anticipated it, calmly drinking his tea.

“Sir, someone is hoarding grain, and we can’t buy any food.” Jing Qing, full of anger, sat down and picked up a bowl of tea, saying, “I wonder if Sir knows who Ancient, Modern, Modern, Ancient is?”

Yu Xin narrowed his eyes and said, “Ancient, Modern, Modern, Ancient?”

“Yes, the eighteen rice shops in Dingyuan City all have the emblem of Ancient, Modern, Modern, Ancient. Regarding the identity of this person, the clerk was not clear in his words, seemingly filled with fear.”

Jing Qing was quite puzzled.

The entire Dingyuan City knew that the highest authority was County Magistrate Wu Caimao^[1]Tl’s note: Dear reader, this is not mistake in translation, in the previous chapter author wrote Wu Maocai, in this chapter author wrote Wu Caimao, so I decided to follow the raw instead.. Now that Wu Caimao was imprisoned, who else could the main clerk be afraid of? In this small Dingyuan City, could there be an official higher than the magistrate?

Huang Zicheng spoke up, ” Ancient, Modern, Modern, Ancient sounds like a pair of couplets I’ve heard before.”

“What couplet is that?”

Jing Qing was a bit surprised.

Huang Zicheng pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said, “I can’t recall where I heard it, but I know the couplet: ‘今古今古今今古，古今古今古古今^[2]Tls’ note: basically Ancient and Modern’.”

Jing Qing is also a scolar, naturally understood the literal meaning of this couplet:

“Today has passed, becoming history; history continues, and thus it is today.”

However, as he contemplated, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the couplet carried a hidden meaning:

“If you treat me this way today, I will treat you the same way in the future.”

Paired with the horizontal inscription: Let’s wait and see.

With this interpretation, it aligns better with the four characters “古今今古.”

As Jing Qing shook his head, he realized he might be too tired. He felt he had overthought a simple couplet, thus spoiling the profound sentiment of the present and past.

After a moment of silence, Yu Xin spoke with a solemn expression, “It seems there is a Mr. Ancient and Modern here in Dingyuan. Bring Wu Caimao for questioning. Time is running out for us.”

“My Lord, something bad has happened.”

A guard rushed into the hall.

“What happened?”

Yu Xin asked coldly.

“Wu Maocai has died in the dungeon.”

The guard hastily reported.

Yu Xin widened his eyes, looking at the guard in disbelief.

Wu Maocai is dead?

It appears the situation in Dingyuan City is getting more complicated.

However, it remains unknown who is behind all this and how they possess such extraordinary abilities!