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inhaled. I urgently ordered his aides to take him outside the the empire. While these two reigns marked a significant
Meridian Gate.’ departure from the policies of the Yongle reign, however,
His Highness did not wait for me to finish speaking and said to Yang emphasised a seamless continuity from one ruler to the
all the Hanlin officials, ‘Ci was a gentleman and the care for next.
him was insufficient. Have the eulogists send an official to With the latter two reigns, Yang further emphasised the
eulogise him.’ And he ordered the Works Ministry to send a closeness and intimacy that he enjoyed with the rulers. This
coffin. is most readily apparent in one of his last meetings with the
That evening, when Huang Huai and I finished memorialising Hongxi emperor, who died of a heart condition less than a
on matters and withdrew, His Highness called me back. And year after ascending the throne. After the ruler observed a
he said, ‘You should have come earlier and hinted something to baleful astronomical sign, he took it as an indication that his
me. We had misjudged Ci. From now on, when something is life was coming to an end. Yang recorded a last exchange
going on, just speak directly about it, without hiding it.’ with the emperor and another leading official, Jian Yi 蹇義
This account is a telling one. The death of Zheng Ci is (1364–1435). The emperor reminisced about his years as the
mentioned in the Veritable Records, along with a brief heir apparent, governing from the capital when his father
biography and a description of the emperor’s fondness for was on campaigns. These had been difficult times, as his
him, but not the circumstances of his sudden collapse. Here, more martial younger brother, Zhu Gaoxu 朱高煦, the
Yang portrays the Yongle emperor as caring and concerned, Prince of Han 漢王 (1380–1426), had persistently insinuated
regretful for his impatience, and worried that the weighty himself with the Yongle emperor by ridiculing and insulting
matters of his office have led him to overlook the welfare of him, in hopes of replacing him as heir apparent. Yang had
one of his ministers. The ruler gives his attention to the been sent to prison for a short time for defending the heir
details of propriety and thoughtfulness in dealing with the against his brother’s charges.
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dead official. And significantly, he calls for further direct ‘When I was regent (jianguo 監國) for those twenty years, with
and honest communication, greater intimacy, between the slander that was raised, and Our heart was troubled, we
himself and grand secretaries like Yang. three held together. Relying on the brilliance and benevolence
In another entry, this same intimacy is portrayed as the of my imperial father, we were able to bring things to
Yongle emperor is engaged in the personality dynamics of completion.’ His words trailed off. Yi and I were both in tears. I
his grand secretaries: said in response, ‘Now we are safe from danger and at peace,
thanks to the kindness of the former emperor, and the sincerity
In the winter of the fifth year of Yongle [1407], one day Hu of Your Highness. There is no more need for your Eminence to
Guang was alone at the Wuying Gate submitting a petition. worry.’ His Highness said, ‘After I depart from this world, who
His Highness read it and praised it repeatedly. Then he will know of the unity of mind and singular sincerity between
casually said, ‘Yang Shiqi’s literary talent is unmatched the three of us?’ And he thereupon issued two edicts and two
nowadays, but Huang Huai often can’t stand this. Why is it?’ seals to the two of us. I received a seal that said, ‘Yang the Pure’
[Guang] replied, ‘Huai has governing talents, but Shiqi’s (Yang zhen 楊貞), and the edict said such-and-such. We received
literary talent is superior in simplicity and clarity, harmonising these and withdrew. In a little over a month, the funeral took
the mind without forcing it. It seems that Xie Jin valued Shiqi place. Alas! How painful! 21
and myself and took Huai lightly, and so Huai is disgruntled.’
His Highness said, ‘I know that you also can’t stand Huai. I am Yang’s personal account of these private moments with
not fooled by all of this.’ the dying emperor present a jarring level of disclosure. In
this moment, Hongxi casts off the hierarchy of ruler and
Guang bowed his head and withdrew. He said to me, ‘May my
children and grandchildren, generation after generation, never subject, ‘the three of us’ (wusan 吾三) here delineating a
dare to forget this!’ After this, we two were more attentive to unified intimacy. Yang takes this as an apology for the times
Huai. that he and Jian Yi suffered on behalf of the heir apparent.
Throughout these stories, Yang’s portrayal of the ruler is
The emperor is, as always, the ultimate authority and far removed from the official imperial image. As David
arbiter at the court, but here, that authority is drawn down Robinson has shown, that public image was carefully
to a personal level. Deeply knowledgeable in the literary cultivated with a broader pan-Asian audience in mind, an
enterprise of his secretaries (again, Yang Shiqi is shown in image of martial vitality and awe. Military campaigns and
an impressive light), the emperor closely follows the hunting expeditions presented grand visual spectacles,
competitive relationships between them. celebrated in paintings and in poetry. The rulers in Yang’s
In anecdotes concerning the Yongle emperor’s son, the accounts, however, offer a striking contrast. As we have seen,
Hongxi emperor, Yang appears somewhat more assertive, they are intimately engaged with their civil staff and sharing
though carefully remaining within the bounds of propriety. in the values and culture of the ‘literati’.
In one anecdote in the first month of the Hongxi emperor’s One can well imagine that Yang Shiqi, at the end of his
ascent to the throne, Yang vehemently argues against the long distinguished career, compiled the Record of Imperial
extra titles and salaries granted to him. Even as the emperor Pronouncements to burnish his own credentials and to ensure
grows impatient, Yang insists that the added portion of his that history saw his service to these emperors in a good light.
salary could support 60 soldiers instead. Finally Hongxi But it is also clear that Yang produced his own private record
relents, declaring, ‘We will carry out your wish’. In the as a foil against the other powerful forces emerging at the
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anecdotes on the Hongxi and Xuande emperors, Yang was court of the impressionable Zhengtong emperor. The
more vocal in commenting directly on political and imperial image in the early Ming was always malleable,
economic issues faced by the court and on conditions within continually reshaped by the contending factions at court and

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