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  Yongle’s sedan descends the central flight of stairs while his civil o‹cials and military personnel seek their way down the left and right flights, respectively.

  After going through an immense courtyard, which can accommodate several thousand people during state ceremonies, the imperial entourage passes through a marble-balustraded bridge (there are a total of five bridges, but only the emperor can use the central one) across the famed Golden Water River.

  Yongle is now entering the massive Meridian Gate (Wumen), which is surrounded by five pavilions. It is at the square in front of Meridian Gate that Yongle has his o‹cials whipped with bamboo rods when they o¤end him, and it is from the heights of the gate that he reviews his armies and watches his prisoners-of-war being paraded. At Meridian Gate, Yongle goes inside one of the resting chambers, removes his morning robe, and puts on a glittering outfit specifically tailored for the sacrificial ceremony. Before leaving the gate, he inquires if the eunuch-run Directorate of Outfitting (Sishejian) and the Bureau of Headgear (Jinmaoju) have prepared all the required gear, costumes, tents, cushions, canopies, tables and tablecloths, canvasses, and banners for the sacrificial rituals. He is also briefed by both the chief minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices (Taichangsi) and the eunuch who heads the Directorate of Imperial Temples (Shengongjian) that the various ritual foods and wines are well arranged for the occasion.

  Outside Meridian Gate, Yongle mounts a dragon chariot, and the imperial 6

  a day in the life of yongle’s court

  entourage shuttles straight southward like a loom. Along the road, the emperor can see the Ancestral Temple (Taimiao) on his left and the Altar of Earth and Grain (Shejitan) on his right. He is very familiar with these sacred places because on the first day of the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth lunar months, he has to go there to make state sacrifices. However, a year ago, because there was a solar eclipse on the lunar New Year, he was forced to cancel all court audiences and to change the sacrificial ceremony to the fifth day of the month.6 Yongle’s chariot then passes through Downright Gate (Duanmen) and the massive stone Following Heaven Gate (Chengtianmen; later renamed Tiananmen, or Gate of Heavenly Peace). It is always from the height of Following Heaven Gate that Yongle’s decree is first read aloud, then placed in a “cloud box” [ yunzha], which is tied to a dragon pole with colored rope. It is always a spectacle to watch the box lowered down to the ground and to see the o‹cials from the Ministry of Rites (Libu) dancing and kowtowing to it before removing the decree for promulgation in every corner of the empire.7

  After crossing the five sculptured white marble bridges at the foot of Following Heaven Gate, Yongle and his entourage enter a T-shaped courtyard called Heavenly Street (Tianjie, which was enlarged in 1651 and again in 1958

  to become what is present-day Tiananmen Square). Heavenly Street is flanked by a wall, ten and a half meters high, marked o¤ by towers at each corner. Two huge gates, the right and left Changan (Everlasting Peace) Gates, stand at the end of Heavenly Street and are heavily guarded day and night. Yongle’s o‹cials daily come through these gates to the august halls of the Forbidden City.

  Whenever Yongle picked the top three jinshi (civil service doctors) after the metropolitan exams, they were, by tradition, quickly ushered out Changan Left Gate and brought to the Northern Metropolis (Shuntianfu) o‹ce, where the Beijing prefectural governor would grace them with a banquet. The minister of rites would provide a feast for the rest of the new doctors within a day or two.8 Several blocks of buildings standing south of Changan Left Gate house Yongle’s six ministries, the Court of State Ceremonial (Honglusi), the Directorate of Astronomy (Qintianjian), and the Imperial Academy of Medicine (Taiyiyuan). Directly opposite these buildings are the o‹ces of the Five Chief Military Commissions (Wujun Dudufu), the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the O‹ce of Transmission (Tongzhengsi), and the Embroidered-Uniform Guard (Jinyiwei). While Yongle is passing by these buildings, the court musicians play many processional compositions until he reaches Great Ming Gate (Damingmen), which is open only on occasions such as today’s. After the imperial entourage drives through Sun at Midday Gate (Chengyangmen), Yongle can 7

  a day in the life of yongle’s court

  now see Great Sacrifice Altar (Dasidian), shining, about 1.6 kilometers away on his left.

  As the emperor’s chariot is driving on the paving stones from Sun at Midday Gate all the way to the terraced Altar of Heaven (Tiantai, later reconstructed to become the Temple of Heaven complex), he appreciates the fact that his architects and carpenters applied the most advanced technology to build a masterpiece structure on the spot three years earlier, in 1420, and that the preparations for this year’s event started months ago. Along the road, specta-tors erect their observation tents to catch a glimpse of the emperor. On the top terrace, Yongle notices several spirit-thrones, which represent the presence of the deities of the wind, clouds, thunder, rain, mountains, rivers, and so on.

  He also sees other ritual paraphernalia displayed alongside these statues of the deities. Food and wine contained in ritual vessels made of jade and bronze, emblematic of wealth and power, are conspicuously o¤ered to the deities these statues represent. While Yongle is standing at the gleaming center of the altar and inhaling the pleasant aroma of burning incense sticks, huge lanterns with intricate patterns beam their light to the sky, and the orchestra and male singers and dancers perform on and in front of the altar.9 Around the altar, thousands of imperial clansmen (including the heir apparent), civil and military o‹cials, eunuchs, and commoners gather, all seeking signs from heaven and hoping to receive their own special blessings from the deities. With horns and drums and twenty-three other kinds of musical instruments establishing a solemn cadence, the sacrificial o¤ering begins. Although the process is terribly complex, Yongle conducts it with ease, just like any other routine chore. Nevertheless, near the end of the ceremony, he begins to feel fatigued and experiences a spell of uncontrollable coughing. He is, however, pleased to hear the nine songs that his father personally composed for this kind of state sacrifice.10

  The rigid and long sacrificial ritual has worn Yongle to a frazzle. By the time he returns to the Forbidden City, it is well past ten o’clock. He feels tired and has become somewhat ashen, for the e¤ects of a mysterious illness in 1386 (when he was twenty-six) have never left him. He su¤ers from nausea, headaches, and occasional epileptic episodes. No one knows exactly what the maladies are, but every o‹cial dreads Yongle’s flashes of imperial anger. Among the hypotheses of later scholars were arsenic poisoning, a neurological disease, or even a psy-chological ailment (Yongle was indeed petulant, capricious, and erratic). Later in his life he will su¤er from rheumatism and other illnesses. Throughout these years he manages to maintain his health by regularly taking pills made by his eunuch herbalists. Trained in all aspects of medical knowledge, they grow and collect various herbs and animal products. They grind the prescribed ingredi-8

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  ents into powder and use honey as the binding base to make pills for the four seasons. They keep Yongle’s daily pills in his chief residential palace but store other commonly used herbs and drugs in the Imperial Pharmacy Room (Yuyaofang), an annex to Literary Flower Hall. Whenever and wherever the emperor feels like taking preventive or nutritional pills, his eunuch attendants can always make them available.11

  After returning from the state sacrifice, Yongle gets o¤ his sedan at Literary Flower Hall and immediately goes into the Imperial Pharmacy Room. In almost no time two royal physicians, wearing special “lucky gowns,” rush to the emperor’s chamber, where they burn incense before kowtowing to His Majesty.

  While kneeling, one physician feels Yongle’s pulse on his left wrist and another on his right, following the traditional Chinese “observe, listen, ask, and feel”

  method. They then change sides, asking His Majesty a few questions and feeling a few more pulses before consulting with one another. Together
they prescribe an assortment of plant, mineral, and animal products, which include cinnabar and amber for relaxing the nerves, peach pits and sa›ower for improving blood circulation, mahuang to induce perspiration, and ginseng root and deer penis to strengthen cardiac functioning. To fill the prescriptions, Yongle’s herbalists go to the strictly guarded pharmacy room and fetch the ingredients from row upon row of tidy drawers.12 After assembling all of the prescribed ingredients, two herbalists put them in one big pot and boil them with water.

  When the herbal tea is done, they pour it into two bowls and wait until it cools.

  First one physician and one eunuch together drink one bowl, and after a long while, Yongle drinks the second bowl.13 As the emperor begins to feel better, he gestures to the physicians and the herbalists to leave the chamber so that he can take a nap.

  The brief siesta refreshes the aging emperor, and he goes straight to the Imperial Wine Room (Yujiufang) for lunch. A building adjacent to Military Excellence Hall (Wuyingdian), the Imperial Wine Room prepares the best wine and beverages, the legendary white noodles, the most delicious dried foods (such as meat, salted fish, and fruit), and fresh pickles and bean curd for the emperor.14 It is just about high noon, and the rejuvenated Yongle is anxious to hold his midday audience at Right Obedience Gate (Youshunmen), a routine by which the hands-on emperor asserts control over his far-flung empire.

  Right after the audience, Yongle calls upon the Ministry of Personnel (Libu) for reports of new appointments, postings, promotions, and demotions. But the emperor feels somewhat awkward because in one of those flashes of imperial anger four months before, he had his long-time minister of personnel Jian Yi (1363–1435) thrown in jail. On this particular afternoon, the directors of the 9

  a day in the life of yongle’s court

  Bureau of Appointments (Wenxuansi) and the Bureau of Records (Jixunsi) report that there are a little over 1,500 capital o‹cials, 600 additional o‹cials manning the Nanjing auxiliary capital, and approximately 22,000 more stationed in the provinces.15 Yongle approves a list of recommendations for promotions and awards submitted by the directors of the Bureau of Honors (Yanfengsi) and the Bureau of Evaluations (Kaogongsi).

  He then turns his attention to the Ministry of Revenue (Hubu), whose long-time minister Xia Yuanji (1366–1430) is also serving a jail term. In 1417 Xia was so concerned about the fiscal conditions of the empire that he vociferously protested against Yongle’s proposed military campaign. The current minister is Guo Zi, who also faces the unenviable job of collecting tax grain and delivering it to Yongle’s troops throughout the empire. Guo reports that he is still using the old population figures, which show approximately 9.97 million households and fifty-two million people, as tax quotas. However, because he will not include the estimated six million people of Annam (northern Vietnam) in this year’s census, the tax grain will total slightly more than thirty-two million piculs.16 Guo also says that his ministry and the Ministry of War (Bingbu) have been working hand in glove in transporting grain and salt to the military posts.

  Yongle reminds Guo that last year’s heavy rains and floods caused severe damage to farms around Nanjing and Beijing and in Shandong and Henan, and that he has waived their grain tax for half a year. Guo acknowledges the short-fall of some 610,000 piculs of grain revenue from the disaster areas, but explains that it will be compensated for by bumper crops in the central and southern provinces. Yongle also seems pleased to hear that all eighty of the imperial commissioners—o‹cials as well as eunuchs—whom he dispatched last year to inspect state houses and granaries throughout the empire have returned and reported a generally rosy picture of the nation’s food supply and reserves.17

  Next the minister of rites is to report on the reception of envoys from various tribute states. Yongle is particularly interested in the dozen African and Arabian envoys who accompanied Admiral Zheng He (1371–1433) on return from his sixth naval expedition. Since Minister of Rites Lü Zhen (1365–1426) is also under incarceration, Yongle demands that acting minister Jin Chun scrutinize more carefully the examination and certification of all Buddhist and Daoist (Taoist) priests in the country. His Majesty then asks about the preparations for this year’s Lantern Festival outside Meridian Gate, a task that depends upon close cooperation with the eunuch Department of Entertainments (Zhonggusi). After the Ministry of Rites completes its report, Yongle announces that there will be no evening audience today and that this year’s national holidays will begin with the Lantern Festival, two days hence. (Normally, Ming 10

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  China’s national holidays began on the eleventh day of the first lunar month and ended on the twentieth.) From the fifteenth to the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, there will be no court audiences and no night patrol.

  However, if there are emergencies, the o‹cials in charge should report them in writing and send them through the O‹ce of Transmission.

  Yongle then asks Minister of War Zhao Hong if the aboriginal unrest at Liuzhou in the southwestern province of Guangxi has taken on political over-tones. Zhao Hong says that although social unrest has grown in size and stridency, minority activism appears to be a containable outlet for blowing o¤

  steam. Yongle accepts this, but because previous insurrections in adjacent Annam have caused Yongle di‹culty in the past, Liuzhou’s unrest stokes his worst fears. Therefore, he orders the army to use repressive measures against the aboriginal troublemakers. Yongle’s chief commander Marquis Li Bin had died in the area the previous year. Therefore, he asks the minister of war whether the Annamese rebel Le Loi’s movement will gain su‹cient mass appeal to turn the fortunes of war against the Great Ming. Zhao replies that all other Annamese pretenders have been eliminated, that Le Loi is now the sole rebel, and that he was recently beaten by the new Chinese commander Chen Zhi in Xa-lai County (in Ninh-hoa Prefecture, Annam) and is being chased to Khoi. The minister relays Le Loi’s request for a truce. His Majesty nods his head but does not immediately grant the request. Instead, he asks the minister about conditions in the postal system, the number of horse pasturages under the supervision of the Court of the Imperial Stud (Taipusi), and whether the Bureau of Equipment (Chejiasi) and the Bureau of Provisions (Wukusi) are developing any new weapons or building any more ships.

  When it is the turn of the Ministry of Punishment (Xingbu) to report, Yongle again feels awkward because the ministry remains leaderless due to the fact that its long-time head, Wu Zhong (1372–1442), is also in prison. Even in his declining years, Yongle is still known as “The Razor” for his decisiveness—and for his impatience with those who are not. His blame is, at least, extended consistently to every minister in his court. On judiciary matters, Yongle turns to Wang Zhang and Liu Guan, the two chief censors in the Censorate (Yushitai), and tells them to review all severe and lengthy sentences and to right those that were applied wrongly. In particular, he wants the censors to see if heavier sentences can be reduced and if there have been improprieties in judicial findings and procedures, or questionable verdicts or charges without solid bases. Yongle then asks if anyone in the government is unjustly holding innocent people in prison or has done anything immoral against his subjects. Wang and Liu indicate that because state penitentiaries in Beijing and Nanjing are not well 11

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  equipped to handle and incarcerate convicts serving jail terms, and because it is a burden for the government just to feed and care for the inmates so confined, they are requesting paroles and furloughs for several dozen prisoners. They then state that they have sent to the Court of Judicial Review (Dalisi) all of the charges, verdicts, and trial and sentencing records of death-row inmates.

  (Ironically, Yongle would not release his ministers of personnel, rites, or punishment from prison at this time.)18

  The last minister to memorialize His Majesty is Minister of Public Works (Kongbu) Li Qing, who, a year earlier, commanded some 235,000 porters to transp
ort grain for Yongle’s military campaign. As the joint minister of war and public works, Li’s main responsibilities continue to be conscripting artisans and laborers for periodic state projects such as maintenance of waterways and roads. Nevertheless, Yongle asks him about the conditions of the Armory (Junqiju) and the state Mint (Baoyuanju). Since construction of the palace complex, mansions for princes, and imperial tombs on Heavenly Longevity Mountain (Tianshoushan) and elsewhere is continuing unblinkingly, Yongle reminds the minister to work closely with the Directorate of Palace Servants (Neiguanjian), the largest of all the eunuch agencies in terms of personnel and o‹ce space in Yongle’s court. The minister instinctively understands that if he cannot provide enough construction materials—such as wood, stone, brick, sca¤oldings, paints, copper, tin, bronze, and iron—he will not only be at odds with the eunuch director of palace servants, but will definitely be in trouble with Yongle.19

  Finally, it is the turn of the Five Chief Military Commissions to report on the tactical direction of the army and the professional aspects of military administration, subjects on which the emperor is well-versed. Nevertheless, Yongle demands to be frequently briefed on the total number of his chief commissioners (rank 1a), deputy commissioners (1b), and assistant commissioners (2a).

  Moreover, because he has appointed tactically savvy eunuchs as regional commanders since 1411, he now names a few more eunuch grand defenders ( zhenshou) to be stationed at the northern borders. Yongle also charges the eunuch director of the Bureau of Armaments (Bingzhangju) to supervise the manufacturing of new firearms at the capital arsenal. In the meantime, he is reassured that the bureau continues to manufacture such items as keys, locks, hammers, needles, screwdrivers, and scissors. Yongle knows that by his organizing eunuch commandants into a formal military establishment, they will act as the minions of the throne and, by extension, the state. From now on, they will constantly rub elbows with career commanders and provide insurance for his new brand of absolutism.20