Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 589 Postscript: Hongzhi
"Dang...dang...dang..."

In March of the 23rd year of Chenghua, accompanied by the ringing of bells, Emperor Chenghua Zhu Jianshen was buried in Qianling Mausoleum on Tianshou Mountain after 54 days of rest.

Seven days later, the 43-year-old Crown Prince Zhu Youtang ascended the throne at Fengtian Gate in Beijing and changed the next year's reign to Hongzhi, becoming the Hongzhi Emperor.

On the same day, the thirteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao was named Crown Prince.

After ascending the throne, Zhu Youtang did not change any policies, but continued to implement the policies of the Chenghua period.

However, although his approach resolved the class contradictions among the subjects in the two capitals and thirteen provincial governments in the Central Plains, it also shifted the contradictions overseas.

Since the Chenghua period, people from outside the Central Plains have been migrating to occupy the living space of people in the west and overseas.

If we make a comparison, the increasingly inward-looking first-tier cities have eliminated a large number of people and sent them to second-tier cities.

Although these people are insignificant in first-tier cities, the Central Plains is the best educated region after all. The people who leave here are more competitive than those in remote areas in terms of academic qualifications and knowledge.

The employment problem will not disappear, it will only shift into a new form.

After being eliminated in the job competition, the people in the West and overseas began to work as farmers if they had land, or become hooligans if they didn't have land.

Rebellions broke out one after another in Persia, Shannan, Qibei, Xihai, Dongzhou and other regions, and a large number of state-run factories led by the imperial court were inefficient and frequently in debt.

At this critical juncture, there are growing calls for the reorganization of state-owned factories.

In April of the second year of the Hongzhi reign, Yang Tinghe, Yang Yiqing and others submitted a memorial suggesting the reorganization of state-owned factories and the reduction of their wages.

After the two men submitted their memorials, Wang Shouren immediately submitted his own memorial.

Wang Shouren believed that although the current situation was difficult, it was far from the point where the state-owned factories needed to be reorganized.

He believed that the low profits of state-owned enterprises were mainly due to the fact that many officials were in office but doing nothing, and that a Beijing inspection should be carried out on state-owned factories rather than reorganizing them.

His suggestion made Zhu Youtang waver, and the military heroes also strongly opposed the reorganization of state-owned factories. The reason was very simple.

Government-run factories are mainly distributed in the north and southwest.

If the state-owned factories are reorganized, it will inevitably lead to the unemployment of a large number of workers in the north and southwest.

Of course, this excuse sounds high-sounding, but in reality, military honors and their relatives occupy a large number of positions. Once the state-owned factories are reorganized, a large number of their people will inevitably be laid off.

They did not support Wang Shouren's factory reform, nor did they support Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing's reorganization of state-owned factories. Instead, they hoped to maintain the status quo.

However, the opinions of the military heroes were not important because as time went by, the last time the Ming Dynasty fought a foreign war was more than twenty years ago.

Although the direct territory of the Ming Dynasty expanded during the Chenghua period, it was mainly due to Zhu Jianshen's diplomatic means rather than the expansion of territory by the old nobles.

More than twenty years passed, and many of the nobles who fought with Emperor Xianzong in the expedition to Xizhou either grew old or died.

There was no injection of fresh noble blood, and without sufficient military merit to hold important positions and have the right to speak, even a large number of Bohai nobles such as the Duke of Yue, the Duke of Liao, and the Duke of Shen who had served as successors in the past only had empty names and wealth but no real power.

Their words are insignificant. The only ones who can truly decide the direction of policy are the stability maintenance faction represented by Wang Shouren and the reformists represented by Yang Tinghe, Yang Yiqing and others.

In fact, the reorganization of state-owned factories was inevitable, and the losses caused during this period were bearable, but the strange thing was that Zhu Youtang did not promptly choose the path represented by Wang Shouren and Yang Tinghe, but instead wavered and dragged it on for three years.

In the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign, a large number of state-owned factories accumulated a large amount of bad debts due to low efficiency and profitability.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue was more than 170 million taels, while the bad debts and debts of a large number of state-owned factories amounted to more than 264 million taels.

This may not seem like much, but the Ming Dynasty only had 20 million strings of cash in reserve each year.

That is to say, while maintaining basic administrative operations, it would take the Ming Dynasty at least thirteen years to resolve this large number of bad debts.

In July, Yan Song, the Imperial Censor, submitted a memorial to the emperor, suggesting that he believed that the Ming Dynasty's education expenditure had increased year by year and had now reached 25% of fiscal expenditure.

However, over the years, the imperial court only collected a small amount of tuition fees symbolically, which was not in line with the current national conditions.

Yan Song suggested raising middle school tuition to 20 strings of cash per year and university tuition to 40 strings of cash.

At the regular court session on the third day after the memorial was submitted, Zhu Youtang put forward this proposal, but it was strongly opposed by Wang Shouren.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty had more than 37,000 military officers and more than 77,000 civil officials, and the number of officials increased to more than 980,000.

Wang Shouren believed that an inspection should be conducted on state-owned factories and the whole country. This would not only solve the problem of redundant staff, but also solve the problem of officials in state-owned factories who were just sitting there doing nothing and had low efficiency and returns.

His suggestion was rejected by Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing, but Zhu Youtang thought it was worth a try.

On the seventh day of September, Zhu Youtang ordered the fifty-four-year-old Minister of War Wang Shouren to concurrently serve as the Governor of the Capital Inspection and select more than 18,000 officials to inspect the whole country.

This inspection lasted for a long time, starting from September of the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign. Wang Shouren led the inspection officials to conduct detailed inspections and rectifications in every place. However, the inspection actions were resisted by meritorious officials and a large number of middle and grassroots officials.

The Beijing inspection operation was difficult to carry out. When the Beijing inspection reached Jiangxi, a general workers' strike broke out in Jiangxi.

Two hundred and sixty thousand workers went on strike and took to the streets to protest, but Wang Shouren was not worried. He set up a makeshift stage in Nanchang and invited a large number of worker representatives to come on stage to raise objections, and he responded to them one by one.

Thanks to Wang Shouren's honesty, the Jiangxi workers' strike was resolved in less than thirty days.

Even though the matter was handled so quickly, the impeachment memorials against him continued to pour in like snowflakes.
On the third day of July in the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, Zhu Youtang finally could not withstand the pressure, so he stopped the imperial inspection and appointed Wang Shouren as the governor of Persia.

Upon hearing the news, Wang Shouren had no choice but to hand over the official seal of the Minister of War and go to the Persian Governorate to take up his post.

On the second day of August, Wang Shouren arrived at the port of Hormuz by boat. However, at this time, the people in Persia were filled with resentment, and 300,000 refugees gathered to cause chaos.

On the third day of August, while the main force of the Persian Guard was heading north to quell the rebellion, Ma Chengti, the remaining brigade officer of the Persian Guard, proclaimed himself Emperor Jianwen, changed his surname to Zhu Chengxi, and mobilized more than a hundred Seljuq soldiers in the army to launch a rebellion. He opened the armory, and called on the local Persian people to launch a holy war in the name of Allah.

With the support of religion and weapons from the Persian Guard Armory, they captured Persian Prefecture and Mengchi Prefecture, and their army grew to a huge size of 100,000.

At this time, the main forces of the Six Guards of Persia were mainly in the northwest to encircle and suppress 300,000 miners. Upon learning that a rebellion had suddenly occurred in the rear, the main forces of the Six Guards could only divide their forces to attack Ma Chengti.

At that time, Wang Shouren was on his way to Persian Prefecture. When he heard the news of the rebellion, he quickly returned to Hormuz. As the governor, he began to recruit the military forces and retired soldiers of Xiyang Prefecture within the jurisdiction of Hormuz, opened the armory of Qinanwei, and equipped this group of reservists with military equipment.

On August 17, Wang Shouren led less than 4,000 soldiers and retired soldiers, as well as second-line reserve troops, northward.

The troops led by Wang Shouren encountered the troops led by Ma Chengti who were heading south to attack Hormuz in the mountainous area near Heshun City (Kelden).

At this time, Ma Chengti had united more than 100,000 people, while Wang Shouren had only 4,000 people.

Faced with the powerful enemy, Wang Shouren stationed his troops on the high ground and pretended to retreat when Ma Chengti led his army to a place not far from the high ground.

Ma Chengti was originally a little worried that Wang Shouren was a person who could be a general or a prime minister. However, when he saw Wang Shouren retreating, he immediately arrogantly ordered the army to set up camp on the spot.

That night, there was a heavy rainstorm. The rebels were stationed in the lowlands, so the camp was very muddy.
After the heavy rain stopped, Wang Shouren led his troops to suddenly appear on the high ground, and took advantage of the enemy's fatigue to launch an attack, breaking more than 300 tents. Ma Chengti thought that the main force of the Ming army had arrived at the high ground, so he led his 4,000 troops with weapons to flee in panic.

In this battle, Wang Shouren led his troops to kill more than 7,000 people and captured more than 168,000 rebels.

After the war, he petitioned the court, saying that his power was too small and requesting that the six Persian guards be transferred to him for private orders.

Wang Qiong, one of the regent ministers, reported to the emperor after receiving Wang Shouren's telegram. Zhu Youtang not only gave Wang Shouren a flag to do his job conveniently, but also restored his post as Minister of War and allowed him to command the six Persian guards.

This was the first time since the founding of the Ming Dynasty that the Minister of War had both the power to mobilize troops and the power to lead troops. It was also one of the few cases where a civilian officer led the army.

Originally, Wang Shouren wanted to command the six Persian guards secretly, but he did not want to openly break the rule that civil officials were not allowed to lead troops.

However, the chaos in Persia had continued for nearly ten years, and Zhu Youtang could not bear it, so he gave him such power.

Although he has become a controversial figure again, Wang Shouren remains humble.

In September, he marched into Mengchi, conquered Hengxi and Gaoqiu, recaptured Mengchi Prefecture, strangled the rebels in Bosi Prefecture, captured Ma Chengti alive and sent him to the capital.

In October, Wang Shouren, who had just put down the rebellion, immediately led the six Persian guards to Gaoshan Prefecture in the northwest.

In less than three months, he destroyed 84 rebel villages, beheaded more than 6,000 leaders and sub-leaders, and captured more than 260,000 miners who participated in the rebellion.

After this battle, the people in Persia regarded Wang Shouren as the reincarnation of Zhenwu Emperor. In March of the tenth year of Hongzhi, Wang Shouren took the train back to Beijing after handing over his work to the new governor of Persia.

Wang Shouren gained a lot from the trip to Persia. When he passed Longbao Station in Luntai County, Beiting, he realized the principle of "unity of knowledge and action" and published this principle in the "Da Ming Daily".

Once the article on the "unity of knowledge and action" of the School of Mind was published, it quickly caused an uproar.

Some people regard the School of Mind as a sacred text, some do not care about it, and some even think it is heretical.

No matter what, at this moment Wang Shouren has undoubtedly reached the top he can reach.

In April, after he arrived in Beijing, Zhu Youtang conferred the title of Xinjian Marquis on him.

At this point, Wang Shouren became the only civil official who was granted a title while still alive during the Hongxi period after Sun Cheng.

However, just when he reached the peak of his career, he begged to return home on the grounds of old age and frailty.

You know, in today's world, the average life expectancy of the people of the Ming Dynasty has reached 64 years old, while Wang Shouren is only 58 years old. This reason is obviously not valid.

Even so, Zhu Youtang still approved Wang Shouren's request.

In July, Zhu Youtang, who felt that there were many rebellions in the west, appointed his other four sons to three places, namely, Qibei, Persia and Xihai.

Zhu Youtang doted on his children very much, so he gave each of them three guards.

At the same time, as the voice of meritorious officials was reduced, Zhu Youtang naturally thought of supporting the royal family to balance the court, so he deleted and revised the "Royal Family Regulations" formulated during the Hongxi period, which in disguise relaxed the restrictions on the royal family.

After the four kings were enfeoffed, the number of guards in the royal palaces was equivalent to the strength of half a dusi, so the court's military strength in the local areas increased in disguise, and it became easier to suppress local rebellions.

For the law-abiding princes, the relaxation of the "Royal Clan Regulations" meant that they no longer had to live their lives in a cautious manner every day, but for some ambitious people, the relaxation of the "Royal Clan Regulations" gave them an opportunity.

In April of the 12th year of the Hongzhi reign, Japan launched a 3,000-ton ironclad ship. Qi Jingtong, the Earl of Xihai, submitted a memorial to the court asking it to be on guard.

However, his memorial did not attract attention, because at that time the Ming Dynasty already had 24 8,000-ton armored cruisers and 446 cruisers, frigates, and destroyers of other tonnages, with a total tonnage of more than 2.8 million tons.

In comparison, Japan's largest armored cruiser was only 3,000 tons, and there were only 32 ironclad ships in total, with a tonnage of just over 57,000 tons.

In February of the 13th year of the Hongzhi reign, Yu Dayou, a brigade officer of the Kunlun Xuanwei Office, noticed that the number of Japanese immigrants in Kunlun Island had increased, and that they were building a shipyard in West Kunlun. He wrote a memorial to the Xuanwei Office, reminding it to pay attention to Japan's movements.

At that time, the Kunlun envoy was Yang An, the great-great-grandson of Yang Zhan, the Duke of Yue during the Hongxi period. When reminded, Yang An replied contemptuously: "How can a little military school be qualified to make a memorial to the emperor?"

In the 14th year of the Hongzhi reign, King Yi Gye of Korea sent an envoy to Chaocheon. After returning to Seoul from Chaocheon, the envoys commented that Emperor Zhu Youtang appeared to be arbitrary but was actually indecisive. Only the Crown Prince was resolute and brave and worthy of respect.

When reporting to Li Yi about the situation in the Ming Dynasty, the delegation also used the phrase "Although the weapons are sharp, the military preparations are slack, and there is no trace of the might of the Jingtai and Chenghua years."

Similar comments were also made by delegations from other countries.

But even so, they still believed that the Ming Dynasty was still the Celestial Empire. Even if it was not as good as it used to be, it was not something they could provoke.

The King of Joseon, Yi Gye, even said: "If the Celestial Empire collapses, we will probably perish."

In Li Yi's opinion, a huge, unified and law-abiding Celestial Empire is much better than a "Celestial Empire" that is divided into dozens of countries.

At least for vassal states, the Ming Dynasty basically accepted voluntary submission and provided them with sufficiently good treatment.

In the 17th year of Hongzhi, the 3,000-ton ironclad ship Diadelia (British) was launched.

In April of that year, Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao sneaked out to sea and headed for Nanzhou on the ironclad ship "Stork".

On the seventh day of June, on his first day in South Africa, he had a street fight with a kangaroo. He wrote in his diary: "Fought with the kangaroo, unfortunately lost!"

On the fifth day of July, Zhu Houzhao saw a platypus for the first time and thought it was a prank played by his eunuchs. But when he finally found out it was real, he was amazed.

On the first day of September, Zhu Houzhao set out on his journey back to Beijing, taking twelve kangaroos with him.

On the second day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Houzhao returned to Beijing and locked the kangaroos in the elephant house and had a yard built specifically for raising kangaroos.

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Emperor Zhu Youtang, who was strolling in the Elephant House, mistakenly entered the "Kangaroo Courtyard" and was chased by a kangaroo.

Afterwards, Zhu Youtang locked the kangaroos in a zoo for the people of Beijing to admire.

At the beginning of February in the eighteenth year, the Imperial College successfully experimented with internal combustion engine cars and tractors and put them into production. The cars used gasoline filtered from petroleum as fuel and could travel about thirty miles per hour.

After filling up with gas, the car can travel 70 miles, and a tank of gas costs about 200 wen.

In addition, factories for cameras, video cameras, films, etc. were established and put into production.

A large number of factories were established in Jiangnan, and Jinling Automobile became the first automobile brand in the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, countries such as Korea, Siam, France, Portugal, and Spain successively launched ironclad ships, but their tonnage was around 2,000 tons.

As other countries were catching up with the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's internal economy began to undergo major changes under the impetus of the Second Industrial Revolution.

As the trend of socialization of capitalist production intensified, production and capital began to consciously concentrate in areas suitable for development, and their choice of region was the Yangtze River Delta.

In addition to the capital concentration in the Yangtze River Delta, capital concentration trends have also emerged in the southwest, north, and Southeast Asia.

In this era, it seems to have become a common phenomenon that factories adopting new technologies squeeze out a large number of technologically backward factories and force them to move to areas with low labor costs.

As production and capital continue to concentrate, when they reach a certain level, monopolies emerge.

These capitals that grew stronger through competition also formed monopoly organizations of collusion between officials and businessmen at the local level. A large amount of social wealth was increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few big capitalists. Ordinary people seemed to have no chance to succeed except through the imperial examinations.

Zhu Youtang tried to stop this trend, but he could never make up his mind.

Before the end of the year, 30-year-old Zhu Houzhao became a father and Zhu Youtang became a grandfather.

Zhu Youtang named this grandson Zhu Zaigui, and after he was one month old, he canonized him as the Crown Prince and pardoned all the criminals in the world.

Zhu Zhishan of Nanzhou was pardoned. He was already in his octogenarian years and cried for joy. He stopped writing and died soon after at the age of 78.

After his death, his son Zhu Xu sold Nanzhou, returned to his hometown and continued writing "Zhu's Wild Notes".

In the 20th year of the Hongzhi reign, Japan launched a 5,000-ton ironclad warship. Xihai Bo Qi Jingtong again submitted a memorial saying:

"The Japanese navy has now reached 200,000 tons. If it continues for another ten years, it may become a threat to the imperial court."

At that time, Zhu Youtang had just announced that Zhu Houzhao would be regent, and Zhu Houzhao was obviously interested in Qi Jingtong's memorial.

Zhu Houzhao sent people to inspect the current condition of the warships, most of which have a history of more than ten years since they were launched.

Seeing this situation, Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and directly allocated 2 million strings of cash to build warships, and required the construction of 10,000-ton ironclad ships.

In September, Zhu Houzhao inspected the 16 guards of Shangzhi and found that except for the Yanshan and Jilin guards, the military preparations of the other 14 guards were neglected, so he ordered people to strengthen training...

"kill!!"

"Boom boom boom——"

In May of the 24th year of the Hongzhi reign, a dispute broke out between Japan and Korea in Kunlun Continent, which escalated into a war.

Zhu Youtang ordered the two countries to cease hostilities, and Korea complied. However, it was ambushed by the Japanese army and suffered heavy casualties.

Zhu Youtang was furious, and the Japanese ruler Ashikaga Yoshikazu sent envoys to Beijing, saying that the mainland was unaware of the situation and had already sent envoys to rebuke the Japanese troops in Kunlun Continent.

This month, Zhu Youtang was ill...

On the third day of the first lunar month in the twenty-fifth year of the Hongzhi reign, Zhu Youtang felt that his time was running out, so he summoned Zhu Houzhao to the Yangxin Palace and passed the throne to him.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, Zhu Youtang died of illness in the Yangxin Palace at the age of 68...

(End of this chapter)