Worthy Emperor, I respectfully submit my views and interpretations of the analect that is found in book 2, number 3. As you will find, I am a fellow Confucian scholar and wish to see to it that his great wisdom follows through the generations and is not lost with misguided and personal interpretations of the Master's words. I feel that adherence to this anelect and the values and rituals therein is essential to the solving of many problems facing the empire today.
For example, our empire is currently being racked with banditry. This is because these bandits do not behave in a moral fashion. This brings about the important question: why do they not behave with moral fashion? Dear emperor, it is because their superiors do not behave in a moral fashion. This example must serve as a caution. Not only must you be wary of your own actions, but we all as Grand Secretaries must be careful to abide by the teachings of the master. By no other manner can one fully demonstrate a life of moral fashion than by living his life following the Way.
We must not let our ancient rites and values go forgotten or allow them to be tarnished by the modern thoughts of men less wise than the master. In order to continue an established and educated ruling body, we must rear our future leaders in a path that is in accordance to the Way. The only way to examine this is to keep in place our current examination system. The master said: “At fifteen I set my heart on learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet firmly on the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of heaven. At sixty, I heard them with a docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.” Surely this is nothing other than following the Way. This is a course of action laid out by our great Master himself. What better way to truly gage this than our current examination system? What flaws are there in such a system when the exam is taken in the presence of our Illustrious Wanli himself? Surely, as the Son of Heaven, no one is more qualified to do so.
While we must be mindful of educating our future Grand Secretaries, we must also be mindful of the education of our future emperor. Son of the Most High, I implore you to be mindful of the ages of your sons. I feel that in accordance to the Way, the education of the one chosen to rule must begin soon so that he may be a man of moral force. While I do sincerely in no manner wish to insult the emperor and his expansive knowledge and wisdom, I realize that he is a very burdened man and would like to remind the Emperor of the Zhou emperor in 770. He neglected the law which had been passed that ruled the the eldest son of the principle wife was the heir of any family and that the children of concubines could not be named the principle heir. However, a concubine found considerable favor with the Zhou emperor and in an effort to please her, the Zhou emperor removed his eldest son from his principle wife as heir and chose instead the son of the concubine. Dear Emperor, do not follow in his footsteps. Trust your wisdom and continue to live your life in accordance to the way so that the same fate which befell this emperor might not come to you. For he became distracted by the concubine and found pleasure in making her smile. So he lit the emergency beacons, knowing that she would smile at this. When the troops arrived in order to aid (for they feared emergency due to the lighting of the bonfires) they found only the foolish efforts of the emperor in his attempt to woo his concubine. Eventually, the father of his principle wife formed an alliance with the barbarians and and attacked the emperor. As should be done in the state of an emergency, the emperor lit the bonfires. However, the nobles and troops assumed this only to be another frivolity for the pleasure of his concubine and did not come immediately to the aid of the emperor. While the dynasty did maintain rule, China was reduced to a time of warring states. Dear Emperor, I know that as the Son of the Most High, you are wise and can see the righteous path laid out before you. Though I would not disgrace he emperor to insinuate that he might fall prey to such foolishness, I feel that a humble Grand Secretary in your service, it is my duty to caution you against allowing yourself to get distracted and take any means necessary in order to prevent thus from happening. I implore you to be the noble, wise and worthy emperor that we all know you to be.
I hope that you have found my words helpful and inspiring, however, I recognize that I am but a scholar and a humble servant to both the words of the master and the Son of Heaven, and am only as helpful as my wisdom and education allows. Thank you, oh August Emperor for you request of my advice and for giving me of your time in order to present in in front of one as worthy as you. I would like it made known that I look forward to any other such opportunity in which I can be of service.