Chapter 35: “The Proclamation to Pacify the People” (2)

Zou Fulai had never seen such a massive crowd for his storytelling. What began as a few hundred people had swelled to at least ten thousand, turning the usually spacious Bell and Drum Avenue into a packed, impassable throng. The commoners were spreading the word to one another, terrified of missing a single detail concerning their own livelihoods. Hou Liu handed him a megaphone fashioned from an iron sheet.

In Kaifeng, over two hundred other storytellers like him were beginning the same performance in every corner of the city.

"Is there more? Mr. Zou, is there more?"
"I see plenty of text left! Hurry up, Grandpa Zou."

Zou Fulai raised the megaphone and shouted, "Don't be impatient, everyone! The fifth article concerns land rent and commercial taxes: land rent will be one-tenth of the harvest, and commercial tax will be three percent. This shall be a permanent rule, never to be increased."

Boom—another bombshell dropped, and the crowd erupted completely.

"My dear mother! Am I dreaming?"
"Pinch me, I'll pinch you."
"In all the dynasties, has there ever been such a master? I don't think so, right?"
"The first since the dawn of time."
"We commoners of Kaifeng are saved!"

In the early years of ancient dynasties, the official taxes were rarely the problem; the true terror lay in the endless array of miscellaneous levies and the labor service, which acted as a bottomless pit that crushed the people. Zou Fulai understood their joy, but he wasn't even halfway through. He quickly signaled for quiet.

"Wait, there is more! The sixth article: all areas under the jurisdiction of the Military Governor's Office shall implement the 'taxation per acre' system; officials and gentry shall be treated the same, paying grain taxes and performing labor service just like the commoners."

"What is 'taxation per acre'?"
"It means the abolition of the poll tax," a scholar explained.
"Good heavens! Hasn't the poll tax been around for nearly a thousand years?"
"Yes, even those of us without land had to pay that."

The scholar cupped his hands and asked, "May I ask, sir, what is meant by 'officials and gentry paying taxes and serving like commoners'?"

Zou Fulai waved his hand. "I have no official rank, so there is no need to call me 'sir.' It means exactly what it says: they shall pay grain taxes and perform labor service just like the commoners."

The scholar was incensed. "If we are no different from the commoners, what is the use of us scholars attaining rank? This man has betrayed the literati and shall be condemned by the world!"

Nearby, the shifty-looking Master Tong, an old scholar, chimed in, "Such a tyrannical policy that harms the people has never been heard of since ancient times. I see this Prince of Qin, Zhu Shuang, as a tyrant on par with Jie or Zhou."

The surrounding commoners glared at them with fury. Even the guards on duty gripped their swords until their knuckles turned white; had their Commander not forbidden them from punishing those who cursed him, they would have rushed forward to hack these two wretches to pieces.

The self-satisfied Master Tong suddenly felt a rotten cabbage leaf fly into his face.
"Who dares throw things at me?"
*Splat!* A rotten egg hit him, covering his face in foul-smelling yolk.

A middle-aged woman brandished a head of rotten cabbage, raining blows upon him while cursing, "You ungrateful wretch! If we commoners have to pay, why shouldn't you arrogant pedants pay too?"

The crowd, eyes blazing with rage, rolled up their sleeves. Terrified, Master Tong shrank into a ball and rolled away into the distance. Despite his agility, he still took plenty of kicks and punches.

High above on the Bell and Drum Tower, Zhu Shuang said to Yang Shiqi, Tie Xuan, and Jin Zhong, "You see? As I said, the eyes of the people are sharp. They know better than any of us here, and better than the ministers in the imperial court, which policies are truly beneficial to them."

"Do not fear their opposition. If we do what is right, the people will naturally support us. If we do wrong, we must have the resolve and the action to correct our mistakes."

"Zhu Neng, go take a look. It would be a bad omen to have a death on such a joyful New Year's Eve—even if it is the life of a dog."

Zhu Neng acknowledged the order and headed downstairs.

Yang Shiqi suggested, "My Lord, will you really not go down to see them yourself? In this situation, the moment the people see you, their hearts will be won over."

Zhu Shuang waved his hand. "I do not do these things to buy hearts. If I wanted to fight for the throne, I could simply hide in the Forbidden City and curry favor with the current Emperor; power and wealth would be within my grasp."

"Why did I come to this barren land under Yuan rule? Jin Zhong and you have both asked if I have ambitions of self-reliance. My ambitions are written all over my face. When I was fifteen, my father placed me on the dragon throne in the Qianqing Palace, looked into my eyes, and asked: 'Do you want to sit in this seat?'"

Hearing such a royal secret, Tie Xuan and Yang Shiqi instinctively ducked their heads. Zhu Shuang continued, "Do you three know how I answered?"

Cold sweat beaded on Tie Xuan's forehead, and Yang Shiqi instinctively wiped his own brow with his sleeve. *My Lord, my little ancestor, is this the kind of thing two small fry like us, who can't even enter the gate of the Fengtian Hall, should be hearing?*

Tie Xuan stammered, "Your Highness... surely you didn't say... you wanted it?"

Yang Shiqi thought, *Isn't that obvious? How many people dream of that chair? The Ancestral Injunctions of the Ming were written by the Hongwu Emperor himself—if he went mad and decided the second-born son should succeed, who in the world could defy him?*

Zhu Shuang chuckled. "My answer at the time was that I was not worthy, and that when I felt the people of the world all agreed I should sit in that chair, I would immediately tell Zhu Yuanzhang to get lost. Those were my exact words."

Yang Shiqi, though a former scholar of the Yuan dynasty, was well-informed and knew the fiery temper of the Hongwu Emperor. He asked curiously, "And what did His Majesty say?"

Zhu Shuang replied, "He laughed heartily and said, 'Go ahead, stir things up! Let’s see how much of a ruckus you little monkey can make. Even if you poke a hole in the sky, as long as I’m alive, I’ll find a way to patch it for you.'"

Tie Xuan and Yang Shiqi let out long sighs of relief. *So it turns out you’re rebelling under imperial decree! You’ve had us terrified all these days, fearing we might wake up one morning to find ourselves attacking the city of Nanjing.*

Jin Zhong said helplessly, "Uh, since we are acting under imperial mandate, should we stop using the name 'Anmin Army'? It makes us look like warlords carving up territory."

Zhu Shuang shook his head. "No. We are rebelling, but we are rebelling against the landed gentry of this world."

The faces of Jin Zhong, Yang Shiqi, and Tie Xuan turned even darker. *You really aren't afraid of poking a hole in the sky?* Then, thinking of the giant figure standing behind Zhu Shuang, they relented. *Fine, the world will soon belong to your Zhu family anyway. Whatever you two want to play at, just go ahead.*

"Tie Xuan."
"I am here, Your Highness."
"I entrust all judicial power within the Military Governor's jurisdiction to you. Use the 'Anmin Code' to punish all lawbreakers, including myself."

Zhu Shuang handed Tie Xuan a thick volume, the result of over a decade of work, compiled by selecting laws from future generations and adapting them to the local circumstances.

"This is my life's work, entrusted to you. Do not fail me. If heaven smiles upon us, this volume may one day become the 'Ming Code'."

"I obey your command." Tie Xuan felt the book weigh as much as a thousand catties, his heart surging with emotion.

"Mr. Yang, I gift this 'Education Manual' to you. The responsibility for the education of all under the Military Governor's office is also entrusted to you. It contains not only the Four Books and Five Classics but also mathematics and science. I hope you will help me refine the teaching materials. It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person. The nomadic influence has lasted for a century; restoring the attire of the Han is easy, but reviving the orthodox path of our civilization is hard. The importance of education is no less than the merit of expanding the territory. If one day you achieve even a sliver of merit, after you pass, the world will surely cast a golden statue for you in the Temple of Literature."

"I, Yang Shiqi, am willing to carry on the orthodox path of our civilization, even unto death, without regret."

Zhu Shuang finally looked toward Jin Zhong and produced a golden seal. "You were the first to follow me. Though we have not known each other for long, you know me and I know you. After the New Year, I am determined to send troops to recover the entirety of Henan. This seal of the Military Governor's Office, along with the safety of all the people of Kaifeng and the lives of my wife and children in the Prince of Qin’s mansion, I entrust to you."

Jin Zhong wept, "Your Highness's grace in choosing me is something I shall never forget."

Zhu Shuang patted him on the shoulder and said softly, "I truly hope the three of you can work together with one heart to guard our home."