永 Yǒng

Crown Prince Zhuangke, Yong, was first made Prince of Lu in the fourth year of Dahe. Because the prince was young, the emperor thought he should have worthy tutors, and so summoned his Tutor, He Yuanliang. Yuanliang had risen from a clerk, and when questioned he could not answer. The emperor reproached the chief ministers, saying, "The prince can be taught. The officials of his household ought to be worthy scholar-officials; how can the likes of Yuanliang do!" So with great care the Vice Minister of Revenue Yu Jingxiu was chosen as concurrently the prince's Tutor, the Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Zheng Su as concurrently his Administrator, and the Director of a Bureau in the Ministry of Revenue Li Jianfang as concurrently his Marshal. In the sixth year he was made Crown Prince. The emperor, who had inherited the neglect and idleness of the Baoli era, set the realm an example by his own diligence and frugality. He had thought the Prince of Jin careful and quick by nature, and wished to make him his heir, but the prince died young, so for a long time the matter of the Eastern Palace was not discussed. When the Crown Prince was named, the whole realm set its hopes on him. In the third year of Kaicheng, an edict ordered the officials of the Crown Prince's household to present themselves at the Chongming Gate on the first and fifteenth of each month, and his tutors in reading to come in for audience on even-numbered days. The Crown Prince grew somewhat given to feasting and pleasure and could not keep strictly to the rules, and when his guardians and tutors admonished him, Edit

he did not listen. Moreover, his mother had lost favour, and Consort Yang, the Worthy Consort, who was then the favourite, slandered him again and again. One day the emperor, in a fury, came to the Yanying Hall, summoned the ministers and announced, "The Crown Prince has many faults and cannot be entrusted with the realm. Discuss his deposition." The ministers knocked their heads on the ground and said, "The Crown Prince is in the prime of youth; though he has faults, he can still mend them. Moreover, he is the root of the realm and must not be lightly shaken. We only hope Your Majesty will be pleased to pardon him." The Vice Censor-in-Chief Di Jianmo, in tears, argued firmly. The emperor did not decide, and the audience ended. The ministers then sent in memorial after memorial to plead for him, and the emperor's anger eased somewhat. An edict sent the Crown Prince back to the Shaoyang Court, with palace eunuchs to guard and watch him; several dozen of his favourites and intimates were put to death, and his tutors in reading, Dou Zongzhi and Zhou Jingfu, were ordered to go to the court to teach him the classics. But the Crown Prince was never able to clear himself of the slander, nor did he improve his own conduct. That year he died suddenly, and the emperor regretted it. The next year an edict made the Prince of Chen Crown Prince, and wine was set out in the palace hall. There was a young acrobat climbing a pole, and his father, afraid he would fall, ran round and round at the foot of the pole. The emperor was moved and said to those around him, "I possess the realm, yet I could not keep one son safe!" And he wept. He at once had the workshop artisan Liu Chucai and several others handed over to the Governor of Jingzhao to be beaten to death, and ten female entertainers of the palace were put to death in the Long Lane; all of them had slandered the Crown Prince. The chief ministers, Yang Sifu and others, had not been told in advance, and they said, "Chucai and the others deserved death for their crimes, but the Governor of Jingzhao killed them without memorializing for review. We venture to ask about this." The next day an edict ordered that thereafter, when the Governor of Jingzhao received an order of execution without review, he was likewise permitted to report it to the throne as precedent required. Edit