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[Karen]
Episode 23 and 24 at least the first part wraps up a long yet brilliant con from the emperor, where his goal of removing the Chancellor Lin Ruo Fu is achieved. Not only that, but the entire structure of the Chancellor position where he basically rules on behalf of the Emperor is gone. At the end of Episode 22, the Chancellor resigned from his post in front of the Emperor and he is preparing to leave the capital. He has done all the heartbreaking preparations for his kids. Da Bao will be sent to live with Wan’er and Fan Xian while Wan’Er will marry Fan Xian so both of his kids are covered.
There are a few threads that happen at the beginning of the episode that I don’t really want to cover because especially this He Zong Wei piece, I’m like whatever I don’t want to give him too much air time so we’re actually going to skip to the middle of the episode where Fan Xian sends off this He Zong Wei character at his residence and he is surprised to see Chen ping ping behind him.
Chen ping ping arrives and the whole point of his visit is for the masked man, Ying Zi, or Shadow to give financially in a booklet that documents the Ins and outs or the orders and movements of the Black Knights, a highly powerful military group. Chen ping ping is very very cryptic as to why he wanted to give Fan Xian this booklet but reminded him that there is not only the chancellor who is being sent home from his post. He doesn’t elaborate on exactly who was the other person to be sent home, he just tells Fan Xian to take a look at the records and think more on this. The other super important piece of information that chin ping ping reminds Fan Xian of is that in the entire Qing Kingdom there are only two people who have the power and authority to order about or send orders to the black Knights. one is himself, the other is the emperor. Chen ping ping doesn’t elaborate further And departs. This leaves Fan Xian super puzzled as to why Chen ping ping left this book or these records with him but doesn’t have any insights into what exactly Chen Ping Ping was trying to tell him.
[Cathy]
The time has come for the chancellor to head home from the Capital. Apparently, he opted not to have any type of farewell send off so he is in his carriage with his servants alone trundling through the rural countryside out of the capital. However, Fan Xian hops on to his carriage and surprises the chancellor. He says that even though he knows the chancellor or his future father-in-law probably didn’t want to have a grandiose farewell party, he still probably wants to see his family before he leaves. So Fan Xian tells the chancellor to look outside out in the field a distance away from where the carriage currently is. Fan Xian brought Wan’Er and Da Bao to go out for a picnic right along the path of where the Chancellor must go to leave the Capital. Wan’Er sees the carriage procession from a distance away and calls for her brother to join her in a deep kowtow. She doesn’t explain why to Da Bao but it’s clear it’s to formally send off her father in a last goodbye.
It is a touching scene, one where the chancellor starts crying at the sight of his children. He IS cunning but I think he IS one of the best father figures in this drama. It is also nice of Fan Xian to help his future wife and brother-in-law orchestrate this farewell. Fan Xian knows full well everything the Chancellor has done for him and this is one way to repay him. Fan Xian wishes the Chancellor safe travels and jumps off the carriage to join Wan’Er and Da Bao as Lin Ruo Fu continues on his journey.
[Karen]
Once Lin Ruo Fu heads deeper into the forest, we see the ominous and chilling members of the Black Knights moving through the forest on horseback as well. At the same time, back at the picnic, Fan Xian is still rifling through the records of the Black Knights. When he offered Wan’Er to take a look, she said “No, that’s top secret”. Those words clicked something in him and he stands up quickly.
He rushes to find Wang Qi Nian to go over Chen Ping Ping’s words. There was another person who left the capital to return home. That person is Mei Zhi Li. All we need to remember of him is that, as Wang Qi Nian said, he was killed on the way home by bandits. But, if you look at the date he went home aka was killed, and the records of when the Black Knights were mobilized, they were the same date. Put 2 and 2 together. The other crucial information is that only Chen ping ping and the emperor can mobilize these soldiers. So, it is likely the Emperor who ordered the hit.
It clicks for Fan Xian that this was probably a warning from Chen Ping Ping. A warning that Lin Ruo Fu could face the same fate. Immediately, Fan Xian jumps on a horse, with Wang Qi Nian on foot, as they try to chase down Lin Ruo Fu to save him. The challenge is, they need men of their own. The 2 of them alone won’t be enough to stop all of the Black Knights.
Just as they were stressing about what to do, they run into another group of men. These men are led by none other than the first Prince. He is leading imperial guards for a training session out in the woods. It was Chen Ping Ping who organized it. Woooow Coincidence? Absolutely not. Chen Ping Ping is definitely here to help Fan Xian save the chancellor.
[Cathy]
Fan Xian Doesn’t think twice and tells the first Prince and his men to join him as they chased down the chancellor. As the chancellor and his men are trundling along, the black Knights are closing in. The upshot is that Fan Xian along with the Crown Prince and their imperial guards managed to stop any altercation between the chancellor and the black Knights. The leader of the Black Knights agrees to listen to Fan Xian’s orders to fall back. But then what was a tense moment turns into a comedic one as this masked leader asks for a signature from Fan Xian. Clearly, he’s a fan of Fan Xian’s work. Fan Xian does so in an awkward but hilarious encounter and this leader, or Deputy Commander Jing with no name, heads off.
All joking aside, Lin Ruo Fu informs Fan Xian that he misread the Emperor. He thought the Emperor wanted to remove himself. That is not actually the case after seeing the black Knights appear. Instead what the emperor wanted was to actually completely get rid of the chancellor position as a whole. So he gives his son-in-law a report or a memo with all of his proteges and his students. He will also send a memo detailing the harms of the position of chancellor so that the Emperor can remove it entirely. That was what the Emperor wanted from the get go. The in fighting between Fan Xian and the 2nd prince? The corruption case in the spring exam? All of it was done for this moment.
This is why I don’t care at all what is going one with He Zong Wei. We are dealing with masters right now. There is absolutely no way the chancellor didn’t know that he would be threatened or potentially killed by the emperor on his journey home. If you watch him during this entire exchange he is not scared he is not restless he is just calm poised and collected in his carriage he knew full well that something was going to happen to him whether or not his son-in-law and his children knew. That is why he had the memo prepared for his son-in-law at the exact moment to give him. He also knows full well that he is not going to be killed like the other official because as he states he is too important if he does die the emperor will not be able to completely change the history books.
[Karen]
The other person that we must marvel at is Chen ping ping. He gave all of the information that our Fan Xian needed to know in order to save his father-in-law or the chancellor but did so in the subtlest way. As our Fan Xian stated in episode 23 not one sentence was extraneous at least from the messages or the words that Chen ping ping gave to the Fan Xian. The fact that Chen ping ping had the first Prince and the imperial guards doing training right in the path of where fencing was supposed to be there is absolutely no way that was a coincidence. Chen ping ping was certainly trying to help financially save the chancellor.
Lastly let us appreciate the emperor as well. if you remember in the episode where Fan Xian was coming up to court to fight the Censors, at that point the chancellor said a line where he was saying how ohh it is my job to manage and coordinate all of the officials at court. You, the emperor, don’t need to see this complaint. I am sure that at that moment or even before the emperor was annoyed at the power that the chancellor had and was plotting to remove him from power and remove this position entirely so that no one in the future can say ohh you do not need to look at what is going on at court. The emperor was not perturbed at all with the Fan Xian showing up with the first Prince as well as the Fan Xian’s father showing up and putting on this whole joking fun display of you know trying to be angry at the Fan Xian. Both Fan Xian and the 1st prince thought they would be severely punished for insubordination against the Black Knights. Instead, the emperor just waved it off and was like, no I am not here to talk to you about the chancellor, I’m here to talk to you about your wedding. The emperor got exactly what he wanted after episodes and episodes and episodes of plotting. Fan Xian, the 2nd prince, the Chancellor, the students, they were all chess pieces to him.
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[Cathy
This was a rather plot heavy episode but there was still some pop culture and history so let’s discuss what we saw and heard in the episode!
First is the phrase 工具人 which, when you translate it literally, it means tool person. Fan Xian says this to He Zong Wei when he’s annoyed at He Zong Wei’s appearance at his home but can’t even be too mad because he knows he’s just a “tool”.
This is a popular internet slang that is used to reference people who are just used as a tool. There’s a lot of mockery and self depreciation when using this term. It’s basically when people see you as a means to an end and don’t value you as a person. So essentially the person is treated as a tool instead of a person. Some examples include, in a relationship, a guy might say, oh this girl only contacts me when she needs something. Others at a work place where someone is just given the grunt work without being recognized. Then in tv, film, and games, this is basically the NPC character or whose sole purpose is to give information to the main character. There’s no growth. The usage of Gong Ju Ren can be verbal or also written. This is a pretty modern day term though so you won’t be seeing this in books written 20 years ago.
[Karen]
Next is 镀金 or gilding. Fan Xian is incredulous at He Zong Wei for having such a thick skin as to enter the Fan Manor again after the stunt He Zong Wei pulled in the last episode.
He says, oh you’re here to 镀金 or get a gilding? In modern Chinese usage and how Fan Xian used the phrase, saying one person is here to du jin or get a gilding is often slightly critical, slightly mocking, or slightly ironic.
Think about it, gilding means to coat the surface of an object with a thin layer of gold to make something look shiny and valuable but is the actual object any better? Not really BUT people will think at first that it’s better.
So when people Du Jin, it’s often to pad one’s resume or experiences. Think about shining or gilding one’s resume with something of little substance. For example, maybe you think having an Ivy League on your resume is great so then you pick a 2 week course to attend at an IVY. It might not have been as difficult to get in or even truly a prestigious summer program but you nevertheless took the class and now stamp it on your resume. You took some time to 镀金 or gild your resume. People will say – oh! You went to an Ivy without looking at the details. Another example is study abroad. Some just go and party but still say they studied at a nice university.
Within the drama, Fan Xian slightly mocks He Zong Wei for making the many trips to the Fan Manor as a way for He Zong Wei to “Du Jin” or get that gilding so that he can claim a close relationship to Fan Xian. Honestly, in that scene, I half expected He Zong Wei to commit self-harm and accuse Fan Xian of it.
[Cathy]
Finally, with Lin Ruo Fu’s retirement, it means a potential end to the role of Chancellor in the Qing Kingdom. Let’s talk about the abolishment of the Prime Ministership and role of Chancellor and how this played out in Chinese history.
After Qin Shi Huang unified China in the 3rd century bce and established the Qin Dyansty, he reformed the bureaucratic system and established three top central offices: the chengxiang (Prime Minister), the taiwei (Grand Marshal), and the yushi dafu (Censor-in-Chief).
丞相、太尉、御史大夫
The prime minister held overarching administrative authority and ranked first among all officials. The Grand Marshal was in charge of military affairs. The Censor-in-Chief supervised and monitored officials.
Together, they formed a system that divided power among administration, military, and supervision.
The Qin dynasty thus marked the beginning of the prime minister system. From then on, the prime minister served as head of all officials and controlled civil administration. However, because the position carried immense power, it easily threatened imperial authority. As a result, successive dynasties sought ways to weaken the prime minister’s power.
Over thousands of years, variations of the Prime Minister and the Chancellorship continued throughout chinese history. The chengxiang and zaixiang are not the same. The chengxiang was a formal, specific official post, whereas “zaixiang” is a general term for the highest administrative authority in the state. Different posts throughout history such as chengxiang (prime minister), shangshu ling 尚书令 (Director of the Secretariat), Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat 内阁大学士, could all be referred to collectively as zaixiang.
During the early Ming dynasty, 14th century CE, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the office of chengxiang (prime minister), not the broader concept of the zaixiang (chancellor). But effectively the role disappeared after his reign.
So what happened? At the founding of the Ming dynasty, the office of prime minister was held by Li Shanchang 李善长, one of, if not the most loyal supporter of new emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang. Li Shan Chang gradually became embroiled in political battles with another political rival 刘基 and both sides began selecting proxies to represent their interests. Li Shanchang chose Hu Weiyong 胡惟庸.
[Karen’
Hu Weiyong lived up to Li’s expectations and emerged victorious. Liu Ji was forced to withdraw from politics and return home, and Liu’s remaining faction was completely suppressed. But without a rival, Hu Weiyong grew arrogant and believed he was superior to all others, even the Emperor! To safeguard his position, he aggressively cultivated ties with court officials, forging alliances regardless of prior connections and drawing them into his political faction. He took bribes, he killed people, he was objectively a bad person.
Hu Wei Yong grew so arrogant that he thought the Emperor couldn’t touch him but oh no, he did not know Zhu Yuan Zhang. I mean, this man became emperor after starting out dirt poor and as a monk for a few years. Zhu Yuan Zhang was not a softy and did not take kindly to anyone who dared encroach upon imperial authority.
Zhu Yuanzhang instead turned towards violence. He not only executed Hu Weiyong and his associates. This case was one of the 4 main cases of the early Ming dynasty.Tens of thousands of people died. There were huge ripple effects from this case including the abolishment of the Prime Ministership. Zhu believed that having fought so hard to win the empire, he had no reason to allow anyone else to meddle in his authority or claim a share of power. From then on the role of prime minister disappeared from court. There still existed forms of chancellorships but not prime ministers.
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[Cathy]
Lastly, let’s conclude with book differences! In last week’s episode, I mentioned that Lin Ruo Fu is not implicated, which is true at that time for the spring exams. He Zong Wei was originally working for the crown Prince but because the Guo Family fell, he instead turned to work for the Princess Royal. He Zong Wei brings forward the widow of 吴伯安, one of Lin Ruo Fu’s old advisors, who accuses the Chancellor of stealing her husband’s inheritance and destroying families. This is where the Chancellor saw the writing on the wall that even though He Zong Wei was sent by the Princess Royal, he understood that the Emperor also wanted to remove him from his post. The Chancellor promptly resigns from his post, puts all his backing into Fan Xian by even giving him some of his hidden allies, and retires elsewhere. Most of this is similar to what happened in the drama, but there’s no intense standoff between the Black Calvary and the Oldest Prince.