CH 46

Minister Zhang praised, “This ought to be the way. During the reign of the Zhengtong Emperor, the state established military institutions to guide the younger generation of military officials and the Emperor also permitted martial students and Confucian scholars alike to take preliminary rounds of imperial examinations in order to earn merit. This was precisely to encourage them to be well-read and well-mannered. However, those of the younger generation are just somewhat lacking and overshadowed, how can they be worthy of the right path towards a future as an official? Later, I will discuss with Li da-ren[1], transform the military institution’s academic atmosphere, using strict rewards and punishment. This way, they will become proficient with the Sage’s subtle words laced with profound meaning and become adept in military strategy, becoming resourceful and courageous.”

Xie Ying approved and flattered, “With the Minister’s love and care, this is a blessing to these students.”

Minister Zhang shook his head, “How is this a blessing? If one were to truly and rigorously try to determine how things have come to this state, they would find a way to blame me somehow. However, the military academy’s academic discipline and atmosphere is indeed not as orderly as before. The shengyuan[2] are idle and unwilling to advance their learning. As for the 《Seven Military Classics》, they are unable to even understand that and are not diligent in their drills——Today, I made an inspection after class, I unexpectedly found out that there were at least ten senior students, who are set to inherit titles, were cutting classes. It is time to punish them severely, set them right on the path of learning.”

Xie Ying cupped his hands together to pay obeisance and grinned, “Then his official will not delay the da-ren’s official business.”

Minister Zhang nodded slightly, lowered his head and saw the book he was clutching in his right hand. He could not help but sigh, “A youth from the countryside who has yet to enter college is actually willing to delve into the scriptures so meticulously. This military academy was constructed by Imperial order, and all selected instructors are jinshi[3], yet we are only able to produce some mediocre and inferior disciples, which truly causes one to be alarmed. Later, I will tell people to put these books into the lecture hall and let those shengyuan read them, so they are embarrassed and become ambitious to improve themselves!”

Xie Ying’s eyebrows jumped up and as if he was greatly astonished, he explained, “This Cui Xie is not actually from the countryside…”

Minister Zhang slowly shook his head and his fingertips traced the sentence ‘Qian’an Cui Xie’s extracts’ printed on the book cover and looked at Xie Ying, “Is he not currently residing in Qian’an county and currently studying with a fine talent in the county? Divine grasses must grow among the mountains and fields in order to be seen as an auspicious sign. If one were to grow up in a wealthy and prosperous family, it would be nothing more than Chinese Jade grown in the main hall’s gardens, one will not find it novel anymore.”

Xie Ying seemed as if he somewhat comprehended something as he looked at the other and Minister Zhang’s smiling expression deepened. Looking at the book, he said, “Since he has compiled and written this book in the county, he is more than sufficient to act as a model student for this military academy’s shengyuan. What does his family lineage have to do with anything?”

Minister Zhang rolled up the book into a cylindrical shape, leisurely rapping it on the hollow of his palm as he walked out of the inner room.

Xie Ying stood at attention behind him and watched him leave. Once Minister Zhang had left, did he faintly exhale a puff of air and turn to leave the lecture hall. Upon exiting the hall, he caught sight of Sun Yingjue who had been searching for him. He cupped his hands in greeting and called out, “Sun Heir Apparent.”

Sun Yingjue returned the greeting, “I just came in to look for you, when I saw you were conversing with the Minister da-ren so I did not dare to interrupt. As such, I just retreated and waited outside. This is not a convenient place to talk, shall we find a place to rest first?”

Xie Ying agreed and walked out of the military academy with him. They then mounted their horses and headed to a nearby restaurant. Sun Yingjue had accumulated quite a few handfuls of questions in his belly and as they settled into a private room, he immediately asked the attendants to clear out. Unable to wait any longer, he impatiently asked, “Earlier, I overheard a few things——Xie da-ren is planning on relinquishing his military learning and planning on becoming a zhuangyuan[4]?”

With a cultured and refined air, Xie Ying replied, “How can there be such a thing? It is merely that after being moved by another’s diligent and untiring enthusiasm for learning, I have implemented a few policies in my own heart, no longer daring to waste my available time like before.”

Sun Yingjue gasped in surprise, “Just what is the origin of this child prodigy? It is as if you have bumped into some demonic spirit. Just reading one book from him has caused you to go into closed-door learning?”

Xie Ying’s lips parted slightly, and the words “Cui Beauty” fluttered on the tip of his tongue, but he suppressed it and simply said, “It is just that righteous citizen Cui Xie that the Jinyiwei[5] requested a commendation on his behalf. I originally thought he was a brave and resolute individual, and didn’t understand scholarly culture. But unexpectedly, later after just studying for a little while in his ancestral home, he was able to publish a book, it is rather touching.”

Sun Heir Apparent still hadn’t recalled who this righteous Cui Xie was yet and exclaimed in admiration, “Is he Zhou Chu[6] then? Able to eradicate the Three Scourges[7] and then after studying for a couple of decades and pass all the imperial examinations, become a famous minister…”

Xie Ying laughed a little and said in a confident tone, “What studying for decades.  He is truly a child prodigy. In my opinion, it will only be a couple of years before he is admitted into the capital.”

“It is unimportant how many years it will take for  him to enter the capital. Don’t try to copy him and study bitterly for a few years. As an active fifth-rank qianhu[8], even if you were to read two rooms full of books about the Analects, you wouldn’t be able to take the examinations.” Sun Yingjue shook his head and suddenly clicked his tongue twice. Leaning on the table towards Xie Ying he asked, “How old is Xie da-ren this year?”

Xie Ying did not mind the other’s helter-skelter way of asking questions and only replied solemnly, “This official is 23-years-old this year, older than the Heir Apparent by two years.”

Sun Heir Apparent commented, “You are already 23-years- old. At your age, my father already had two sons and a daughter. Although I have less children, I also have a little girl. As I see it, could it be since you do not have a person to accompany you at home, only then did you start missing your studies again?”

The smile plastered on Xie Ying’s face remained unchanged, as if the person being teased was not him and he asked, “Is this why the Heir Apparent is looking for me today? I feel that I am still young and am not in a hurry to establish a family.”

Sun Yingjue took a careful look at him, “You are still young?”

Xie Ying leisurely replied, “In ancient times, women married at twenty and men married at 30, so that they would have adequate energy and blood. Afterwards, they practiced humanitarianism and therefore, the ancients tended to live longer. Calculating like this, aren’t I still young? As for the Heir Apparent’s good intentions, Xie-mo appreciates it. As for marriage, there is no hurry. I should take advantage of this good age to read a few more books so that later on, I can manage the Emperor’s assignments well in the future.”

Forget it, Colonel Xie had been bewitched by that child prodigy’s book!

Sun Yingjue left the restaurant while shaking his head and told his father that Xie Ying wanted to read about things that he had even disregarded the thought of marriage.

Marquis Huaining was put into a panic after hearing the words come out of his son’s mouth earlier and had been worried about what kind of marriage arrangement to make for Xie Ying. As such, after hearing Xie Ying’s explanation, he breathed a sigh of relief and glared at his son out of the corner of his eyes, recklessly scolding a few phrases, “Other people are aware that one must nurture themselves to have enough energy and blood as well as cultivating one’s own learning when young, but you play around in a women’s boudoir at the age of 15 or 16, causing your body to suffer a loss. After so many years, you only produced a granddaughter for me. How do you want this Marquis Huaining residence to be inherited in the future? Go! You should also go to the study to read quietly for two days, you are not allowed to meet with women during that time!”

Sun Yingjue was locked up in his study for a long time and he had endured it for a long spell before he was allowed to come out. He deeply regretted telling his father all of this earlier and by borrowing his father’s connections when he had assumed office, he found Marquis Yongkang’s son Xu Qi and Marquis Wu’an’s son Zheng Gang and so on to complain a few words. Everyone shook their heads and sighed, “You have been in the Peach Blossom Spring[9] these past few days so you are unaware of the current happenings in the real world. How could you know about those at the military academy who are even more tormented? Everyone does not know about peace these few days.”

Surprised, Sun Yingjue inquired, “Why, are the shengyuan just as determined as Xie Ying to be admitted as a jinshi?”

Marquis Xiangcheng’s grandnephew Li Yan lamented, “It would be great if they were taking the exam out of self-will! Now, the Minister of War, Zhang da-ren, and the Admiral of the academy,  Imperial Censor Lin, wants to correct the current atmosphere——

“There is now both morning and evening roll call, and all those who have not arrived exactly by chenshi all have their names recorded down and are sternly reprimanded by the camp officers; those who run into the camp officers are punished to do drills, but they must go request a leave of absence from school and then go back to finish the drills. After they are finished, they must go back to school for the day. There is also an assessment at the beginning of each month, which was originally overseen by the academy’s own military instructors, but now the Minister of War is personally devising questions about contemporary policy and is even asking the minor officials to correct and criticize them as well. Tell me, just how can one live like this?”

Sun Yingjue rubbed his nose, secretly rejoicing that he was over 20 and didn’t need to attend the academy anymore.

Another son of an official who was still studying said, “Minister Zhang personally wrote an ‘Encouraging Learning’ essay  that is hung in the middle of the lecture hall. Written on it, there are things like, ‘Although born poor and unadorned, can one still study?’, ‘To restrain oneself, but flourish with distance and study afterwards’? Or phrases like ‘Man’s path is endless, much like how even Sages still must pursue knowledge’….and they even obtained a few books compiled together by some unknown child prodigy from the countryside to put them on the bookshelves in the lecture hall. The instructors will always mention ‘fifteen and yet ambitious to learn’ at the drop of a hat. We are not like those scholars who rely on reading to eat!”

Xu Qi’s eyebrows pranced up and he said, “That is not just any unknown child prodigy from the countryside, have you forgotten? It is that righteous citizen whom the Jinyiwei requested an Imperial commendation for, the one involved in the White Lotus Society case, the son of Cui Que in the Ministry of Revenue! At that time, I even wanted to offer him a toast to thank him, but he didn’t even drink the wine before running away, it really dampened one’s spirits!”

Another said, “Who can remember the son of a subordinate official so clearly. Although I do know of someone else in Qian’an county and their surname is also Cui——

Everyone understood tacitly and hoots of laughter rang out for a while.

Someone asked, “Could the surname Cui be a common surname in Qian’an? Not to mention the birth of the Cui beauty, but also a child prodigy surnamed Cui?”

Xu Qi answered, “This child prodigy surnamed Cui who wrote the book seems to have been born to Official Cui. That outstanding Cui beauty is most definitely not raised by such a shallow family. From what I remember, Official Cui only had two daughters and the eldest daughter has already been married over to someone in the Sichuan province, so it is unlikely that she is the Cui beauty.”

Everyone turned to look at Sun Yingjue——his father knew of the Jinyiwei’s affairs best and he was still mingling with those from the battalion nowadays. They hoped that he would know more about the matters of this Cui beauty.

Sun Yingjue spread his hands in a helpless manner, “These days, my father locked me in the study and the door could not even be opened. Marquis Xu knows much more than me. Besides,  how is it possible for a young and beautiful lady to publish a book, as well as engage in business transactions by themselves in addition to being a beauty. I am afraid it is just a middle aged, but still attractive woman. I do not dare to investigate for myself. If I am not going to investigate , I will just treat her as a goddess from Mt. Tai; If it is investigated and discovered that she is just an aged woman with a good appearance, how will I read her books in the future?”

Everyone shook their heads, unwilling to believe that this good name and reputation arose from thin air. But now, everyone’s hearts were choked up with the lingering shadow of a beauty past one’s prime and it felt useless to continue discussing the topic. Marquis Wu’an’s Heir Apparent said that Qian’an had another Tranquil Bamboo Hall that could print colored images and that the Diamond Sutra was printed well. The Bodhisattva portrait was extremely dignified and beautiful. His household’s Old Dowager requested a few scrolls to be supplied as offerings at the Tanzhe Temple. Even the eunuchs in the palace asked his family where they had requested the scriptures from.

After talking about the Four Books and then the Buddhist scriptures, these were all completely serious and dull matters. This group of royal relatives with meritorious service found it all boring, so they all said, “No matter how good the portraits are in the classics, it is much better to look at the portraits of beautiful women. It is better to talk about what kind of story Cui beauty will release next…”

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Cui Xie was indeed currently at home researching to make a new book.

《Three Kingdoms》had a total of 120 chapters and 14 volumes. If they were to engrave it all by themselves, they wouldn’t be able to finish engraving them even after next year. Consequently, much like with the Diamond Sutra, they bought woodblocks from the Southern Bookstore but proofread, calibrated and revised it themselves.

The old version was also available with portraits and annotations so Pengyan immediately accompanied the printers to revise the text and then printed a version. After Cui Xie came home, he took the time to examine the typesetting and add illustrations based on the storyline. He also asked the craftsmen to cut off any extra blocks or arrange two blocks to become one; or, take apart a woodblock and piece them back together into a new block.

As for the commentaries he received, it was inconvenient to insert a new engraved block into the frame, so he asked the craftsman to carve out a narrow plate and connect it to the outer side of the printing block. He ordered 1.4 feet wide and 1.4 feet long paper to be made. After they were bound together into a book, in the margins, an inch wide white border was left in the remaining space.

When the book was flipped open, the commentaries were printed on either the left or right margins connected exactly with the center of the page. Individual commentaries were printed in different colors, content and coloring colliding with one another. Some commentaries were mutually complementing each other while others mutually refuted each other, both eye-grabbing and attractive. If there weren’t enough commentaries on a page, a lengthy argument was attached at the end of the chapter. It was also printed in a distinct color so it would not distract the readers from reading the main text.

Because the commentaries and portraits were not yet placed in the intended location, they first tried to print the first few chapters and matched it with portraits of Empress Dowager He, Empress Fu, Diao Chan, Er Qiao and other beauties. They then invited veteran Tang Ning and Young Master Wang, a big client, to test it out.

Gifted scholar Tang found a few friends who enjoyed the same interests for them to look at together and wrote a voluminous review on how comfortable the book was to look at and how fascinating the commentaries were to read. Young Master Wang was a bit more honest and ran to Cui Xie’s residence with silver taels tucked in his sleeves asking, “Is this enough to print a set? I will first deposit a few hundred taels, and request an order for 20 sets first!”

With this, Cui Xie was relieved and grinned, “Thanks to Wang xiong[10]’s good fortune, my set of 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》has already made enough money. This book is only short of drawing and a final review, there is no shortage of workers or funds.”

In fact, he had  been mainly worried that the famous generals he painted would not be recognized by the people of the Ming Dynasty——The heroic men in Ming Dynasty paintings all had a long waist and big belly. If the belly was not big enough, it would seem like one did not have the bearing fitting of a famous general or official. He was not accustomed to drawing protruding bellies, so he took in Lu Bu[11]’s waist, but several of the artisans disliked it and felt that the generals he painted did not have powerful-looking figures. Fortunately, the big customers and critics were appreciative of the arts and helped him to regain his confidence again.

Acting cautiously but with motive, Cui Xie probed Young Master Wang, “I painted Marquis Wen’s belly to be a bit smaller, it looks alright?”

Young Master Wang casually said, “Who is looking at his belly, is his face not enough? Besides, your gege[12] does not have such a stomach, but who dares to say that I am not strong and magnificent?”

Official Wang was absolutely right.

Cui Xie sent him away with satisfaction and picked out that cross-page portrait of ‘Diao Chan tricks Lu Bu’ and asked the printers to print a few more copies to send into the store. This way, Shopkeeper Ji could show them to customers and ask if they could digest this style of painting.

Who would have expected that the portraits hadn’t even been sent there when Shopkeeper Ji came. He had already arrived from noon and had rigidly sat down, waiting until Cui Xie got off from school. He hadn’t even touched the table to eat a few bites of tea or food in between.

Cui Xie looked at him with an expression that showed he was frightened out of his mind, nearly thinking that the Imperial court was about to ban the《Three Kingdoms》. As such, he hurriedly asked Pengyan to serve a new cup of tea and sat across from Shopkeeper Ji, asking in a harmonious manner, “Just what has happened? When our store was on the verge of bankruptcy, didn’t it also survive? How is it that with so many books flying off the shelves, you still seem to be frightened?”

Shopkeeper Ji wiped his face, handed the scroll he had been gripping for the entire afternoon, which had been a damp copy of the 《Jinghua Record》[13]. With a trembling voice, Shopkeeper Ji said, “Young Master should take a look. This is what was bought by my inferior son in the capital. On it, a copy of 《Encouraging Learning》written by Zhang Peng, the Minister of War, is included. If Young Master takes a look at the preface at the beginning of the article, the Minister of War da-ren….da-ren unexpectedly mentioned you…..”

Cui Xie’s heartbeat slightly quickened and he reached out to take the《Jinghua Record》and opened it to find the preface,《Encouraging Learning》. After taking a closer look, he saw there was a sentence in the preface: “After reading the antithetical couplets compiled from the Four Books written by a child prodigy surnamed Cui from Qian’an county, it elicits appreciation. As such, this piece was written for the shengyuan of the Beijing Military Academy.”

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