Chapter 49: Grand Tutor Shi Resigns

Liu Jin returned to the Changle Palace by evening.

Grand Tutor Shi De and his father, Liu Ju, were sitting on stone stools in the mid-lake pavilion, raising their cups in a shared drink.

"I am inferior to His Majesty, and I am ashamed to be the Crown Prince's teacher. I wish to resign from my post as the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor."

Shi De spoke with utmost sincerity. Clearly, after the straight plow was invented without fully considering the practical difficulties faced by ordinary commoners—which led to discord between the Crown Prince and His Majesty—he felt that he had failed in his duty as the Crown Prince's mentor. He was apologizing to Liu Ju for this very reason.

Caught completely off guard, Liu Ju was momentarily stunned. He hurriedly stood up, grabbed Shi De's sleeve, and said earnestly, "You must not do this, Teacher!"

"The people I can rely on are growing fewer by the day. If you leave me, Teacher, who can I depend on in the future?"

"This is not your fault, Teacher."

Shi De bowed and said, "My learning is inadequate; I am unworthy of serving as the Crown Prince's teacher. I will also recommend the Three Elders of Shiguan to Your Highness as a teacher; he possesses far greater wisdom than I."

A look of distress crossed Liu Ju's face. Shi De did not seem to be putting on an act; he genuinely felt he had betrayed the Crown Prince's trust by failing to consider all eventualities, and he insisted on resigning to take the blame.

Yet, the number of people Liu Ju could rely on was dwindling. If Shi De also left him, there would be no one left to consult should troubles arise in the future.

"Your Highness, do not try to persuade me further. If I continue to instruct the Crown Prince, I will only be misleading him. I take my leave." Shi De bowed deeply, resolutely casting aside a brilliant future.

He was a proud Confucian gentleman and an old man with immense self-respect. When he realized that he had failed to help the Crown Prince foresee potential pitfalls—and that, due to his own oversight regarding the actual draft oxen problems of the common people, he had caused the Crown Prince to rush into an audience that provoked a quarrel with His Majesty—he considered himself the primary culprit!

Therefore, he felt he no longer had the qualification to continue tutoring Liu Ju. With a silent sigh, he bowed in formal courtly courtesy and resolutely departed the Eastern Palace.

Liu Ju found himself completely unable to persuade him otherwise.

When Liu Jin returned, he found his father drinking alone and brooding in the mid-lake pavilion. He walked over and asked, "Father, what is wrong?"

Liu Ju put down his wine cup and slowly stood up. Seeming to feel that the arrangement was improper, he neatly lined up the three wine cups and the flagon before sighing, "Master Shi has left me."

Liu Jin thought to himself that his father's condition was getting worse by the day. Mild obsession with cleanliness was one thing, but now he was developing full-blown obsessive-compulsive disorder.

However, he had no heart to dwell on that at the moment. With a sorrowful expression, he said, "Father, meetings and partings are a normal part of life; farewells are inevitable. Master Shi is a preeminent Confucian scholar and gentleman, but after all, he is advanced in years. Birth, old age, sickness, and death are the natural order of things. Please do not grieve."

"If the Shi family requires funds for Master Shi's final arrangements, we must not be stingy."

"I also ask that Father promptly submit a memorial to bestow upon Master Shi his posthumous and lifetime honors."

Liu Ju turned back blankly, looked at his son's serious expression, fell silent for a moment, and said, "He isn't dead yet."

Liu Jin: "..."

That heartbroken expression of yours a moment ago, tinged with nostalgic remembrance, coupled with the phrase "Master Shi has left me"... truly.

He awkwardly said, "Father, I misunderstood. What actually happened?"

Liu Ju recounted the events of a moment ago from beginning to end.

Liu Jin listened in speechless astonishment. Was all this really necessary? He could not comprehend Shi De's mindset. What did any of this have to do with you? How on earth did it become your fault?

If Liu Jin did not understand Shi De's character, then fine—let him resign as the Grand Tutor of the Eastern Palace.

But now he realized that Shi De was a genuinely capable Confucian gentleman, and not a pedantic one. At some unknown point in time, Confucianism had been attacked and painted as a pedantic image of rigid thoughts and swaying heads reading books. Yet during the Han Dynasty, Confucianism was not yet so deplorable.

Ritual propriety and moral education, benevolence, righteousness, love for the people, filial piety, fraternal love, a sense of shame—even without Dong Zhongshu's policy of proscribing all other schools of thought and revering Confucianism alone, during the great academic forum era of a hundred schools of thought contending and a hundred flowers blooming, Confucianism could still hold its own ground and commanded a vast following of adherents.

Particularly Shi De's previous commentary on Crown Prince Fusu of the Qin Dynasty was the one Liu Jin remembered most vividly, and he had acted in the exact same manner during the Witchcraft Crisis: since one did not know whether the Emperor was alive or dead, one should simply raise troops!

A truly pedantic scholar could never utter such words.

Yet Shi De also possessed his own stubborn and fastidious side—such as right now, stubbornly trapping himself in a dead end. He cast aside a brilliant future without a second thought. The Crown Prince's Grand Tutor! Even though the Crown Prince's household was currently in decline, his father was still the Crown Prince. Until he was deposed, he remained the heir apparent of the Han Dynasty and the future Emperor.

If his father were to ascend the throne in the future, Shi De would naturally secure the standard position of Chancellor. Yet he was simply abandoning it all now.

Thus, Liu Jin could not comprehend Shi De.

"Father, when I have a moment, I will go and persuade Grand Tutor Shi."

Liu Ju sighed, "You won't be able to persuade him. Teacher is far too stubborn. Unless he changes his mind on his own, goodness knows how long we will have to wait."

Liu Jin asked, "Has he ever been like this before?"

"No," Liu Ju replied. "Precisely because he never has before, it will likely be even harder to convince him this time."

Liu Jin nodded slightly. "Tomorrow I will go and try to persuade him. Father, do not worry."

"Very well!" Liu Ju sighed, bent down to take another sip of wine, and turned his back to the surface of the lake, his hands clasped behind him with a troubled expression.

...

Early the next morning.

Liu Jin rose early and headed straight for the Weiyang Palace.

Outside the Xuanshi Hall, Liu Jin requested an audience, and Su Wen entered the Xuanshi Hall to announce him to Emperor Wu of Han.

Emperor Wu was in the inner hall discussing the policy of relief work in lieu of taxation with Sang Hongyang.

The imperial court was not wealthy to begin with, and recently, among the ranks of refugees and disaster victims, there had also surged people who were neither refugees nor disaster victims. Sang Hongyang was discussing solutions with Emperor Wu to prevent the imperial court from disbursing excessive funds that would pointlessly squeeze the fiscal space.

Hearing that Liu Jin requested an audience, Emperor Wu waved at Su Wen and said, "Let him enter and wait in the front hall."

"Understood!"

Sang Hongyang bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this minister takes his leave."

Emperor Wu shook his head and said, "You do not need to leave. Stay right here and listen, and see what brilliant insights my grandson has."

Ah?

Sang Hongyang looked bewildered. What did it mean that the Imperial Grand Sun had brilliant insights? Could it be that he had come to offer strategies regarding the relief work in lieu of taxation?

Harboring doubts, Sang Hongyang silently stood before Emperor Wu, quietly waiting for the Imperial Grand Sun to enter.

"This grandson pays his respects to the Imperial Grandfather."

"Mm."

"Imperial Grandfather, this grandson has discovered that relief work in lieu of taxation still possesses significant flaws, and this matter urgently needs to be resolved."

Sang Hongyang was taken aback.

Emperor Wu wore a smile that was not quite a smile as he said, "Is that so? Let's hear it."

Liu Jin said, "Since the imperial court implemented relief work in lieu of taxation, many people who are not refugees or disaster victims have blended into the ranks, making up the numbers just to get three square meals, causing the commoners who genuinely need relief to fail to be recruited instead."

Sang Hongyang quietly raised his head to glance at Emperor Wu. Seeing Emperor Wu's playful expression—as if he had known all along that the Imperial Grand Sun was coming to report this matter—he felt even more astonished in his heart.

How did His Majesty know that the Imperial Grand Sun was coming to discuss this?

To foresee events before they happened? That was simply too incredible!

"And so?" Emperor Wu asked again.

Liu Jin said, "Naturally, we must devise countermeasures to resolve this. That is the very reason this grandson has come to seek an audience."

"This grandson has thought of a solution, though I know not whether it is feasible or not."

Having spoken, he quietly waited for Emperor Wu to speak. If Emperor Wu did not ask, he would not open his mouth either; his goal was to compel Emperor Wu to speak first!