I'm really not doing business

Chapter 641 Only Arrogance Can Defeat the Ming Dynasty
Although the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy was sufficiently open under the trend of opening the sea, it still required a pilot to successfully enter the Ming Dynasty's ports. If a merchant ship did not have a pilot or a tribute ship did not have a permit, they would not be allowed to dock at the Ming Dynasty's ports, and would even be treated as pirate ships and boarded for inspection, expelled, and annihilated.

The galleons of Spain and Portugal were issued with kanhe (trade permits) every year, rather than ship permits. They were tribute ships, rather than merchant ships. Qualitatively, galleon trade was tribute trade, because galleons only traded with the imperial court.

Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and even England all had merchant ships operating in the Ming Dynasty's waters. They were unable to reach the five major maritime customs offices in the heartland of the Ming Dynasty and could only dock at the Port of Manila in Luzon. They were very curious about the Ming Dynasty, but because of the Ming Dynasty's conservative trade policy.

It has become a fantasy to let these believers of the Wisdom Religion make a pilgrimage to the Ming Dynasty.

The main believers of the Ming Cult are sailors.

Sometimes, people are always like this. What they cannot get will always make them restless. The less they can see it, the more they want to see it. These merchant ships made pilgrimage requests to the Governor-General of Luzon in the port of Manila. The Governor-General of Luzon had to pay attention to these requests, because if the Governor-General of Luzon did not respond, these merchant ships would take the risk of heading north.

Going to sea these days is an adventure in itself.

Therefore, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty received a memorial from Guo Xing Zhengmao, requesting the opening of a pilgrimage route for these merchant ships to come to the Ming Dynasty for pilgrimage.

The culprit behind all this is Xu Fan, who created the House of Wise Men.

"This question is very complicated. In the teachings of the Great Ming Cult, Your Majesty is not a god, but the embodiment of wisdom." As the Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe was already sweating profusely, but Wan Shihe still explained this question. Your Majesty is not a god in the narrative of the Great Ming Cult, but the embodiment of wisdom.

Xu Fan's House of Wise Men, the narrative of the Great Ming Cult he created, although hastily, is still extremely rigorous. The emperor is not a god. Fuxi of the innate Bagua is the creator god. The emperor is the son of heaven, that is, the human emperor entrusted by God to manage the world. It is very reasonable for the wisdom possessed by Fuxi, the creator god, to be incarnated as an emperor.

"As for the reason why Westerners believe it so firmly, it is actually very simple. That is, the Ming Dynasty conferred titles on kings of Korea, Annan, Ryukyu, Japan and so on. In the West, the king needs to accept the title conferred by the Holy See. In the far east, the Ming Emperor is also conferring titles on kings of foreign countries. In the eyes of Westerners, based on their understanding of the Ming Dynasty, it is the Holy See of the East." Wan Shihe explained why some people would believe in this fictional Far East Holy See created by Xu Fan, because this is also a fact.

The Vatican’s canonization was a way of shaping and maintaining order, and the Ming Emperor’s canonization of vassal states was also a way of shaping and maintaining order.

"Master Wan has found a reasonable reason for such a bizarre thing?!" Zhu Yijun frowned and said, "It's really bad luck to think of a way to stop the expansion of the Ming Cult."

As an emperor, Zhu Yijun believed that this was unlucky. Anything that had anything to do with gods and ghosts was undoubtedly unlucky. The emperor of the Central Plains did not need such illusory theories of gods and ghosts as the basis of his rule.

"I'm afraid I can't stop." Wan Shihe said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Your Majesty, when Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi were discussing the alienation of religion on people, they said that if you want to abolish religion, you have to get believers out of the environment that needs religion. Believers need a fictional other side to escape the cruel reality."

"Your Majesty, the reason why the Great Ming Cult was able to influence so many people so quickly, and even alarmed Your Majesty, is entirely because it did not invent an afterlife. The afterlife of the Great Ming Cult, that is, the Great Ming, is real."

The speed at which the Great Ming Cult spread was so fast that it was shocking. It was completely in its narrative. The other side was not fictional! It really existed. Even if one had not seen it with one's own eyes, the goods of the Great Ming were distributed in Lisbon, and the teachings of the Great Ming Cult were also spreading everywhere with the flow of goods.

Silk, mountains of cotton cloth, extremely hard iron pots, invincible firearms, invincible ships, etc. were all witnessed by these captains and merchants. They enjoyed telling the various legends of the Ming Dynasty to everyone they met, which further promoted the rapid spread of the Ming Cult in the West.

The Ming Emperor and the Ming court were powerless to do anything about it, because they could not free these believers from the environment that required religion.

"Your Majesty, Korea calls Ming the Parent Country and the Celestial Empire. Japan, Ryukyu, Annan, Siam, Ceylon and other places also call it that. I really have no choice but to accept it. Moreover, even if it is not Xu Fan, there will be others who will come up with something similar as the sea is opened." Wan Shihe told the emperor that this was the inevitable price to pay for opening the sea.

Because they had to deal with Westerners and the existence of cultural differences forced both sides to find rationality for each other's existence, the birth of the Daming Sect came about naturally. If Xu Fan hadn't come up with this narrative structure, it would have been someone else.

"Pilgrimage is bullshit! Ming Dynasty is not a holy land! Yuan Shen has been withholding the craftsmen's wages for five years just for such a small cost! If the craftsmen had not been unable to tolerate it this time, this beast would have continued to bully others! Is this what a holy land should look like?" Zhu Yijun was still very angry. As an emperor, he felt that 'the Celestial Empire' was just an insult, scolding Zhu Yijun, the lord of the country, for being incompetent.

"Your Majesty, there are all kinds of birds in the forest, but the Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty." Zhang Juzheng advised His Majesty not to get angry, as anger is harmful to your health.

This kind of thing happened yesterday, it happens today, and it will happen tomorrow. It is as normal as the widespread existence of contradictions. With so many people in the Ming Dynasty, it is normal for such things to happen. This does not affect the fact that the Ming Dynasty is the Celestial Empire, because at this moment, for all countries in the world, the Ming Dynasty is the most prosperous place, the holy land in their minds.

Zhang Juzheng mentioned a small detail that had gone unnoticed. He whispered, "Your Majesty, the merchants from the West are willing to pay."

"Oh? Pay? How much?" Zhu Yijun was stunned and then asked.

"A donation of 50,000 taels of silver for one ship." Zhang Juzheng had read Yin Zhengmao's memorial and knew that the pilgrim did not come empty-handed.

"Pilgrimage is not allowed, but tribute is fine. Let's talk business, don't make it so complicated." Zhu Yijun considered it again and again, and finally made an offer.

Zhu Yijun made this decision definitely not for money, but mainly for the stability of the maritime borders. If no loopholes are opened, these Western merchant ships will take risks in the Ming Dynasty's maritime borders every day. Wouldn't this cause trouble for the coastal defense inspections?

It’s definitely not for money!

Not everyone can pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. The Luzon Governor's Office will screen and identify all merchant ships. For example, merchant ships from the Goa Governor's Office, which has had conflicts with the Ming Dynasty and has been fighting for two and a half years, will not be allowed. For example, English merchant ships that still have not revoked their privateering licenses will not be allowed. Merchant ships suspected of carrying contraband goods or smuggling will not be allowed.

When reporting to the court, Yin Zhengmao, the Governor of Luzon, had already listed the conditions. After screening, there were actually less than twenty ships that met the requirements. And when they came to Ming Dynasty, they could only stay for a short time in the Wanguo City of the five major customs offices, and the longest time for trade would not exceed fifteen days.

Yin Zhengmao also provided more information about the Western Regions. These merchant ships could obtain a large amount of information that was difficult to distinguish between true and false without even paying any money. After Yin Zhengmao sorted out this information, he reported it to the court.

For example, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty finally figured out why Felipe was so crazy and determined to attack the English mainland.

Because English pirate ships attacked Seville and burned down the cathedral in the center of the city. In this cathedral were the remains of a man, that was Columbus, who established Spain's maritime hegemony and discovered the New World.

In the fifth year of the Hongzhi reign, Columbus was sent by King Ferdinand II of Spain, carrying letters to China and India, and embarked on the great voyage of discovery. At that time, Columbus estimated that the distance to the Ming Dynasty was about 10,000 miles, but in fact it was as far as 40,000 miles. If he had known it was so far, it would have been difficult for Columbus to make up his mind to set off.

Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean four times in his life, explored the route, and gave Spain a first-mover advantage in the Age of Discovery.

The Seville Cathedral was built for Columbus. The bronze coffin was lifted by four kings: Castile, León, Navarre and Aragon, which are also the four emblems on the Spanish coat of arms.

In the fifth year of Zhengde, Columbus's remains were moved to Seville by his son Diego. After Diego's death, his widow planned to move her husband's and Columbus' remains to the Dominican Republic in North America according to his will, but the Spanish royal family disagreed and built the Seville Cathedral to house the remains.

Columbus was poor during his lifetime, but was honored after his death.

The Seville Cathedral is as magnificent as the amount of gold and silver Columbus brought to Spain when he discovered the New World.

English pirate ships looted Seville, and the coffins of the four kings were pushed to the ground. Because the bronze coffin was too heavy, the pirates did not take it away. However, this incident still became a thorn in Felipe's heart, and he had to attack the English mainland no matter what.

Felipe II did not write these in the letter because it was a shame and would be looked down upon by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Nor did he explain this before Solon was beheaded in public, so the Ming Dynasty still learned the truth from the mouths of maritime merchants.

"After the ban on ironware was slightly relaxed, the price of ironware in the Ming Dynasty did not fall but rose instead." Zhang Juzheng reported some noteworthy situations in maritime trade.

The rule that ironware cannot be taken out of the pass has been a common practice since the Han Dynasty. According to the Han law, in the Hu market, officials and civilians are not allowed to take weapons and iron out of the pass. Anyone who dares to violate the rule will be beheaded and thrown into the market.

The Tang Dynasty added silk, satin, gold, silver and copper to the banned list. Anyone passing through the western and northern passes would be beheaded and thrown into the market.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was a maritime ban. The list of maritime bans was extremely long. When the sea was opened in the Longqing period, the Yuegang Maritime Customs changed the list of goods prohibited from leaving the country. In the second year of the Wanli period, the Ming Dynasty added an additional ban on raw silk, which meant that raw silk was not allowed to leave the sea. The outflow of silver was more strictly restricted, but the ban on ironware and silk was relaxed accordingly.

"If the ban is relaxed a little and supply increases, shouldn't the price go down?" Zhu Yijun asked doubtfully.

"Your Majesty, this is indeed true when looking at ironware alone. However, after the sales channels were opened up, the increase in supply was far less than the increase in demand, resulting in an even greater shortage of Ming Dynasty ironware." Zhang Juzheng briefly explained the phenomenon.

In short, trade has opened up the market and made demand grow more vigorously.

"Take the Guangzhou Maritime Customs as an example. For iron pots alone, the price ranges from one hundred to two or three hundred, and up to five hundred or even one thousand. The price of each iron pot has increased from one silver coin to three silver coins, and is still increasing rapidly." Zhang Juzheng took out Wang Jiaping's memorial.

In his memorial, Wang Jiaping gave a detailed introduction to the phenomena, problems, causes and solutions.

The reason for the price increase of iron pots is very simple. The world needs Ming Dynasty's iron pots. Iron pots, which were very common in Ming Dynasty, are rare items around the world, as scarce as silk.

A ship with a load capacity of 600,000 catties has more than 300,000 catties of iron pots, and one iron pot can be exchanged for three taels of silver, fifteen catties of sandalwood or spices from the Thousand Islands and Yuanxu Islands, twelve swords, and twenty catties of ivory. This is the price when leaving the Guangzhou Maritime Customs Port. When it reaches the overseas trading destination, it will be even more expensive.

In Wang Jiaping's memorial, there is another commodity in the Ming Dynasty that is worthy of the court's attention, that is, steel needles. In the Persian Gulf, a steel needle can be exchanged for a sheep. The premium is so terrifying that even Zhu Yijun was surprised when he saw it.

Akbar, the king of the Mongol Empire, was extremely flattering to the Ming Dynasty because he made so much money as a middleman. Silk, cotton cloth, and ironware were the three major export products of the Ming Dynasty, and the silver that could be brought back every year could be measured in tens of millions of taels.

"Governor Wang said in his memorial that strict limits should be set on seagoing vessels to prevent overloading." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in his hand and said with a sigh.

The Guangzhou Maritime Customs is checking overloading. No ship can be overloaded because overloading has become one of the killers of maritime trade. The killer of ships is human greed.

Iron has a high specific gravity, and overloading a ship will greatly increase the ship's own weight, reduce stability and operability, and reduce the ability to turn and resist wind and waves. Moreover, if the ship is overloaded and not placed properly, a big wave will cause the ship to capsize. Research by the Songjiang Royal Ship Design Institute has found that overloading can cause deformation of the overall structure, further reducing safety.

The more you load, the greater the profit. This is an irrefutable truth in maritime trade. However, if you only pursue economic benefits while ignoring the safety of maritime trade and rely on luck, the final result will often be a loss of both money and life.

"Governor Wang has done a great job. Let's follow what Governor Wang said and start a pilot program in Guangzhou. If it works, we will implement it in the five major Maritime Customs Offices in the spring of next year."

"But if this decree is issued, I'm afraid the court will be criticized for being too controlling." Zhu Yijun agreed to this management method. The opening of the sea was in full swing. New challenges and new problems emerged every day, and these rules formed by experience were constantly improved in practice.

Zhang Juzheng and Wan Shihe's quarrel ultimately ended in failure, because there was no way to resolve the dilemma. After reporting some trivial matters of the imperial court, they were about to leave Tonghe Palace when a eunuch slammed into the imperial study with a standard "threshold fall", holding a Tang newspaper in his hand, and said in great joy: "Your Majesty, great victory!"

"A great victory in the southwest. Duke Mu Changzuo of Qian, General Liu Jing of Sichuan, Marquis Zhang Yuanxun of Yingyang, and Governor Liu Shizeng of Yunnan attacked the capital of the Kingdom of Toungoo from four directions and conquered it in three days! The Burmese bandit Mang Yingli escaped alone!"

The eunuch explained the matter briefly in a very quick and clear tone. This was a piece of good news from the southwest, which was sent to the capital by the Duke of Qian's Mansion at an express speed of 800 miles. The Ministry of War did not announce the good news immediately, but waited until the coastal defense inspector reported the good news from the Jiugang Xuanwei Office to the capital. After confirming each other's information, they reported it to His Majesty.

The capital of Toungoo was captured by the Ming Dynasty.

"Good! Good! There will be huge rewards!" Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao: "The treasury will allocate 600,000 silver coins to reward the soldiers on the front line!"

There were less than 120,000 soldiers fighting on the Toungoo front, and each of them received a reward of more than five silver coins. This was an additional reward. The court needed to verify military merit when rewarding soldiers.

Zhu Yijun picked up the newspaper, glanced at it, and suddenly said, "Feng Daban, come back first, don't transfer the money yet."

It is true that they won the battle, but both reports said one thing, that is, after the Ming Dynasty conquered Toungoo City, it chose to retreat. This is why Zhu Yijun asked Feng Bao to come back. They did conquer the city, but could not hold it, so they had to retreat.

The territory of Toungoo was the three Xuan and six Wei of the Ming Dynasty, namely Mengyang, Luchuan, Menggen, Myanmar, Laos, Babetdadian, Dimasa, and Takula.

(Map of Sanxuan and Liuwei)
This time, the Duke of Qian, the Sichuan General, the Marquis of Yingyang, and the Governor of Yunnan attacked Toungoo from four directions. After conquering Toungoo, they had to retreat because the Ming Dynasty used two tactics, Tian Ji's horse racing tactics and the leaping frog tactics.

Tian Ji raced horses to the enemy's sturdy castle and sent a group of auxiliary troops, such as the local chieftains of the Shengmiao and Shumiao in Yunnan, to surround the enemy's sturdy castle without attacking it, and attacked it without breaking it, which played a containment role. Then the Ming Dynasty's superior forces bypassed the enemy's strong military town like a frog jumping over a lotus leaf and went straight to Toungoo.

But after taking Toungoo, they found that the supply line was too long, the military camps along the way had not been eliminated, and Toungoo's combat effectiveness was too low and it collapsed at the first blow. They did not effectively kill the enemy's manpower and could only retreat and make other plans.

Zhang Yuanxun, Marquis of Yingyang, and Mu Changzuo, Duke of Qian, did not agree on this matter. According to Zhang Yuanxun, holding on to Toungoo was not a problem and there was no need to worry too much about logistical supplies as they could be transported by sea. However, Mu Changzuo believed that the uncertainties of sea transportation were too great and ultimately Mu Changzuo ordered the evacuation of Toungoo.

"I ascend the throne in the Wenhua Hall and summon the five ministries and court officials to discuss the matter." Zhu Yijun highly recognized the results of this battle, but the Ming Dynasty was no longer concerned with bounties, but with battle lines. This attack was massive, but there were no substantial changes in the battle line. Whether it was a great victory required judgment by the court.

Zhu Yijun summoned all the court officials, and Liu Xian, Ma Fang, Shi Maohua and others who were idle in the Military Academy were also summoned to the Wenhua Hall. All the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty gathered in the Wenhua Hall to discuss this report.

Qi Jiguang, Liu Xian, Ma Fang, Zeng Shengwu and others had been reviewing the progress of the battle in front of the geomantic map. The three dukes who did not lead troops, Duke Yingguo, Duke Dingguo and Duke Chengguo, did not even gather in front of the geomantic map. They did not lead troops but only performed sacrifices in the suburbs and in the mountains and rivers on behalf of the emperor, which was the duty of the high priest.

Qi Jiguang discussed with everyone for nearly half an hour, and the military heroes finally reached a consensus.

"There is no doubt that this is an absolute great victory." Qi Jiguang first gave a clear characterization of this report: a great victory.

"This time, the four-pronged surprise attack on Toungoo dealt a heavy blow to the enemy's morale, effectively killing more than 7,000 enemy soldiers. After Toungoo fell, Mangyingli, as the King of Toungoo, had completely lost the support of the people. The entire Toungoo defense line against the Ming Dynasty was already shaky, and there had been several mutinies, such as camp collapse, mutiny, killing of the main general and surrender, and fleeing in all directions. This effectively hit the enemy's will to resist. From the collapse of many defense lines in Toungoo, it can be seen that the enemy's will to resist has collapsed."

"In fact, we can declare that Toungoo has been destroyed. After the new king Mangyingli was completely defeated in the war, the chieftains throughout Toungoo have actually broken away from the control of the Toungoo king."

Qi Jiguang elaborated in detail why the military heroes believed that this was a great victory, because Toungoo had been destroyed.

The country survived the attack and it was the Tang Dynasty that managed to survive, not Toungoo. Toungoo did not have such a stable dynasty.

After Mangyingli's father died, he took over the power of Toungoo, but he no longer had enough support. He attempted to consolidate his position by provoking and launching wars against the Ming Dynasty. After his defeat, Mangyingli fled the capital having completely lost the support of the people to continue to be king.

Qi Jiguang continued, "I personally think that after conquering Toungoo, it was a very rational decision to withdraw from Toungoo in order to reduce unnecessary losses."

"The reason why it is considered rational is that the goal of this operation is not to completely break through the Toungoo Royal City. The main purpose is to verify new tactics, Tian Ji's horse racing tactics and leaping frog tactics. Tian Ji's horse racing tactics require absolute control of the battlefield, while the leaping frog tactics require superior forces to have a huge advantage."

"During the expedition, Duke Qian and his men found that the enemy was vulnerable to collapse. They were able to remain calm in the face of such great success and chose to retreat. This was rational. Yingyang Marquis Zhang Yuanxun was a naval commander and had enough confidence in the ocean. However, we did not have enough knowledge of the local hydrology, and relying solely on the navy for supplies was a military adventure."

“So, retreat is rational.”

Qi Jiguang also analyzed the reasons for the capture of Toungoo and then the withdrawal. The enemy was too weak, so after the tactics were implemented, they directly overwhelmed the Toungoo Royal City.

In the face of a huge victory, the soldiers on the front line were not carried away by the victory. There are many uncertainties in war, especially in away battles. A plague may turn victory into defeat. The withdrawal is for better occupation in the future.

"Your Majesty, the current disagreements among the frontline generals are worthy of high vigilance. Your Majesty should inform the frontline that disagreements are extremely normal, but they cannot turn into internal strife. This is something the court will never allow to happen."

"The guards and foreign soldiers of the Governor's Office of Jiugang can continue to rely on the advantage of the navy to continue to attack Toungoo, while the Han soldiers of Yunnan and Sichuan of the Ming Dynasty will remain in place and wait for the internal strife to end before punishing the people and punishing the criminals."

Qi Jiguang gave further strategic plans. He recognized both Zhang Yuanxun's radical view on the superiority of the navy and the conservative view of the Duke of Qian's Mansion. This time, the capture of the Toungoo royal city would cause Toungoo to be in chaos for a while, so chaotic that no one could bear it. The Ming Dynasty would then continue its ground offensive, and before that, the navy would continue to exert extreme pressure on Toungoo.

"After General Qi's analysis, it suddenly became clear to me." Zhu Yijun was very satisfied and nodded, saying, "What do you think, my dear ministers?"

"I think that the soldiers on the front line should be rewarded. This is undoubtedly a great victory. Even if the front line remains basically stable, they should still be rewarded according to their merits." Zhang Juzheng added his own point of view, that is reward!
If you win, you win, and if you win, you should be rewarded. This is a clear distinction between rewards and punishments.

"That makes sense." Zhu Yijun agreed and said, "Feng Daban, send the reward to the Yunnan front."

The court's rewards according to merit were the court's, and Zhu Yijun gave him extra rewards. Since it was a great victory, each person would receive five silver coins, and Zhu Yijun would never be stingy. When it came to rewards, Zhu Yijun had never been stingy once.

There is no need to transport 600,000 silver coins to Yunnan. It is only necessary to send the acceptance bills to Yunnan. The acceptance bills can be exchanged for silver in the household registration offices in Yunnan. The Yunnan copper will flow to the hinterland, and the silver will flow to Yunnan, ensuring that there will be no silver shortage in Yunnan.

An acceptance bill is a kind of accounting currency, a paper currency based on silver. After Yunnan obtained the acceptance bill, it could purchase goods in the hinterland such as Huguang and Nanya, and could also withdraw silver.

Zeng Xingwu, who was born in the southwest, bowed his head and said, "I still think that a quick victory is not advisable in pacifying Toungoo. The terrain in the southwest is extremely complex. I have been in the capital for a long time and don't know much about the rain forest. I may have an illusion that Toungoo is just a jumping clown. If you talk about a quick victory, you will inevitably lose quickly."

When the battle reached this point, both the front and rear lines would have an illusion that Toungoo was a dilapidated house that would collapse completely with a kick. However, once they pursued a quick victory and ignored the objective unfavorable factors of the rainforest terrain, Toungoo would most likely become the graveyard of empires.

Zeng Xingwu was a conservative. The Ming Dynasty had only one possibility of losing the war against Toungoo, and that was recklessness and arrogance.

With the Ming Dynasty's huge advantage, only arrogance can defeat the Ming Dynasty.

"What the Grand Marshal said makes a lot of sense. A trapped beast will still fight. We should be careful." Zhu Yijun agreed with this very much. The Ming Dynasty was not in a hurry, but Toungoo was.

Until now, the southwestern front has still not asked the court to transfer food and salaries to Yunnan. In the early days of the country, many expeditions against Luchuan required food and fodder supplies from the hinterland. The loss of transferring salaries from half of the country was too great. In the eighth year of Zhengtong, just to transport food and fodder for the expedition to Luchuan, 500,000 civilians were recruited from Sichuan and Huguang at one time, and these 500,000 civilians also had to eat and feed the horses.

At that time, Yunnan was not fully developed and there were too few farmlands. Two hundred years have passed. Now there is no need to transfer military pay from the hinterland, and the cost of war has dropped sharply. The Ming Dynasty can now fully afford it. This is why the Ming Dynasty was able to attack Toungoo with such a slow and steady effort.

"Then if no court officials have anything to add, let's spread the victory report to all directions." Zhu Yijun stood up, clenched his fists and said, "The Ming army is mighty!"

"Your Majesty is mighty!" The military heroes led by Qi Jiguang immediately responded.

(End of this chapter)