Volume Two: The Mighty and the Petty Chapter Thirty-Two: An Exchange Across the Void with the Lonely Emperor

Though Huang Ming found his father’s sudden solemnity strange, he still smiled and nodded. “Ask whatever you wish, Father. I shall answer without reserve.”

As he spoke, he naturally sat in the chair beside him and, with equal ease, picked up the teacup.

To his surprise, Huang Jin’s face hardened, and he gave a sharp rebuke. “Kneel and answer!”

“Huh?” Huang Ming’s movement froze. He blinked at his father. What had gotten into him?

“This is the Emperor’s command. How dare you, as a subject, sit so brazenly while answering?”

It’s just the two of us. Is there any need to be this grave and proper, this rigid and doctrinaire?

This time Huang Ming was truly startled, and almost blurted out a line from some joker’s famous quip: why so serious?

In the end, however, he did as his father ordered, rose at once, and knelt with due solemnity. Who made him the son and his father the father?

To play along, Huang Ming even imitated the manner of people in dramas, bowing respectfully as he said, “Your servant, Huang Ming, greets Your Majesty and hopes all is well.”

Huang Jin, for his part, was quite practiced at this. He promptly lifted his clasped hands in salute. “The Sacred Person is at peace.”

After a pause, he looked rather complicatedly at his son, who had already straightened his back of his own accord, and, with a twitch at the corner of his mouth, said, “The Emperor’s first question for you is this: do you know about the recent matter concerning the Ministry of Rites?”

“Yes. Does Your Majesty mean the affair in which he intended to place the spirit tablet of Prince Xing in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, so as to fulfill more of his filial duty, only to be obstructed by the Ministry of Rites?”

Huang Jin nodded. There was no need for him to explain further. “Then the Emperor asks you this: what is your view of it?”

Huang Ming pondered for a moment before answering gravely, “I believe Your Majesty’s action is entirely human; to show filial devotion to one’s parents is the duty of a son, and no one else has cause to criticize it.”

He paused, then glanced at his father again. “As for me, if I ever amount to anything one day, I should at least wish to rebuild my own father’s grave and make proper offerings there, to show the longing and filial affection of my heart.”

Huang Jin’s expression shifted slightly, only then remembering that his own household had something much the same.

Yet he was not displeased by this. He only asked, “Is that all?”

Of course there are other ways to say it. Though the Emperor’s intention is indeed a natural one, I think he moved too hastily this time…

“How do you mean?”

Huang Ming quickly chose his words and said slowly, “Because the Emperor is not merely a son, but the sovereign of the realm. Every word and deed of his represents the entire Great Ming, or at least that is how the officials of the court see it.

“In that light, what he regards as a private act of longing for his parents will be magnified beyond measure by them, until they believe it can affect the moral order of the whole empire, especially in the matter of imperial succession.

“If Prince Xing is allowed into the Imperial Ancestral Temple, then where does that leave the former emperors, Filial Emperor and Martial Emperor? One must remember that all the officials in court today were cultivated and promoted by those two previous sovereigns.”

Before his father, Huang Ming had no need for restraint, so he laid bare everything he knew about the Grand Rites Controversy of the Jiajing reign.

“Moreover, power in the court is still firmly in the hands of these officials. Since the Emperor has made such a probe, they will of course move to block him with all their strength. By then it is inevitable that the whole court will rise in opposition.”

Speaking thus far, Huang Ming could not help feeling a little sorry for the Jiajing Emperor, who was of much the same age as himself.

At least at this moment, the Emperor was lonely; truly a lone ruler with no one to rely on.

Though he seemed to be the most exalted man under heaven, in the city of Beijing he was only a lonely and helpless child. Whatever he wished to do was met with fierce resistance from the officials of the court.

He really could find no one else to consult, which was why, in his distress, he had sent Huang Jin back to ask him—after all, he had previously seemed to stand on his side, and, being of similar age, they at least shared a common language.

...

“Was Huang Ming really that blunt in his answer?” Jiajing’s voice from above carried no trace of joy or anger. Huang Jin knelt some distance away, pressed flat to the ground, making it impossible to read his expression.

That only made him more nervous, afraid that some word from his son might have offended his master. Still, he had to answer. “Your Majesty, these are indeed Huang Ming’s words. Your servant repeated them without omitting a single one.”

A long silence followed, and Huang Jin grew even more anxious, sweat spreading across his back. At last Jiajing gave a faint sigh. “He alone understands me, this Huang Ming.”

Before Huang Jin could truly relax, the Emperor went on, “And what of the final question? How did he answer that?”

Only then did Huang Jin ease slightly. He lifted his head a little. “May Your Majesty forgive me. I also asked him how to respond to the present situation, but Huang Ming’s abilities are limited. He could hardly truly be of help to Your Majesty…”

“Just tell me how he answered. Whether he can help or not, that is for me to judge.”

“Yes.” Huang Jin answered respectfully, “This time Huang Ming gave only two words: perseverance and waiting.”

Jiajing’s brows drew together at once, then slowly loosened as something occurred to him. A trace of a smile even appeared at the corners of his mouth. “Did he explain what those two mean?”

“Your servant asked him. He said perseverance means that Your Majesty must not entertain thoughts of giving up merely because of a momentary setback. Your decision is undoubtedly the correct one. Filial piety is always right. Since it is not yet possible to place Prince Xing directly into the Imperial Ancestral Temple, it would be better to begin from some other angle.”

“From what angle?”

“He did not say. He only said that these matters of ritual and ceremony are best understood by the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and perhaps they must be brought in to help Your Majesty.”

Jiajing nodded as though half-understanding. “So that is what he means by waiting? Waiting for the winds of court opinion to shift, waiting until my authority in the halls of government grows so strong that I can change the ministers’ minds?”

“Your Majesty is sage indeed. That is exactly what Huang Ming meant!”

Having said this, Huang Jin let out a long breath. At last he had reported everything that needed reporting to his master, and it seemed the Emperor had not blamed his son for it.

Yet Jiajing gave a bitter laugh. “But how long must I wait for that day? And this time I truly did make a grave mistake. I have reminded Yang Tinghe and the others, and I fear that next they will certainly devise some measures that will place me in extreme difficulty.”

Though still young, he was exceedingly intelligent, and from the present situation he could already infer what would come next.

Huang Jin did not dare react, remaining prostrate on the ground and hardly daring to breathe.

Jiajing looked at him and gave another distant sigh. “Indeed, just as Huang Ming said, I have no one around me whom I can trust or use... Get up.”

After Huang Jin thanked him and rose, uncertain again what he should do, he saw the Emperor take up a sheet of paper from the imperial desk. On it was written a single sentence, which Jiajing handed to him.

“Take this to him the next time you leave the palace. Tell him to think on it carefully and mull it over. It will be of great benefit to him.”

Huang Jin received the paper with both hands and cast a glance at it, only to see two lines written upon it:

The governance of the Han by Emperor Wen was stronger.

And Confucius said: if, for three years after the father’s death, a son does not alter his father’s ways, that may be called filial piety.