My father is Jiajing

Wanshou Palace Retreat

Zhu Zaiji finally had time to visit the Jiajing Emperor again. The Jiajing Emperor, who had been living a life of luxury for a year, even looked a little fatter.

It is evident that during the year he abdicated, his life was infinitely more comfortable than before.

The aging Huang Jin no longer needs to serve the Jiajing Emperor at all times. The tasks he used to have are now being done by younger, stronger, and more perceptive eunuchs.

So, in ordinary times, Huang Jin would simply stay by the side of the Jiajing Emperor, talk to him, and reminisce about the past.

At the same time, the Jiajing Emperor also thought about his work on compiling the Veritable Records during his spare time.

It should be noted that the veritable records of emperors were usually compiled by the Hanlin Academy at the behest of the new emperor after his death.

Therefore, when compiling these historical records, even if the succeeding emperor was filial and protective of his predecessor, he would inevitably write down some of the faults of the previous emperor to warn future generations.

But now, the Jiajing Emperor has only a year since abdicated and is not yet dead, yet he has already set his sights on compiling his own Veritable Records.

Therefore, when Zhu Zaiji came to visit him this time, the Jiajing Emperor implied that he wanted Zhu Zaiji to issue an order to organize a group of compilers from the Hanlin Academy to help him revise the draft of the Veritable Records so that he could review his achievements and mistakes during his forty-five years on the throne.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zaiji immediately understood what Emperor Jiajing was really up to.

He wanted to portray himself as a benevolent and righteous sage ruler.

However, this image of a sage ruler cannot be self-proclaimed; it must be recognized and acknowledged by others for it to be truly reliable.

Otherwise, besides becoming a laughing stock and being ridiculed by future generations for altering and falsifying history, it won't leave behind much of a good reputation.

For example, the History of Yuan, compiled by the founding emperor of this dynasty, has been ridiculed for many years because of its numerous errors and omissions.

If this History of Yuan Dynasty had not had such a strong political character, it might have been revised and rewritten as early as the Jianwen and Yongle reigns.

But none of that matters. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang truly had the great achievement of creating a new world. It doesn't matter if the History of Yuan is poorly written. In any case, apart from its territory and Kublai Khan, which can be singled out for discussion, the rest of the Yuan Dynasty is really not worth mentioning.

Anyone who dares to praise the Yuan Dynasty or speak a fair word in its defense will inevitably be attacked by a large number of radical populists.

Therefore, regarding the attitude towards the History of Yuan, although Zhu Zaiji had considered ordering a revision, he ultimately abandoned the idea due to considerations of the political impact and the ideological influence hundreds of years later.

Now that one problem has finally been solved, another one has surfaced: the Jiajing Emperor. This is truly giving Zhu Zaiji a headache.

However, Zhu Zaiji could not ignore Emperor Jiajing's wish, but he could also compile a meaningless "Veritable Records of Jiajing" to please Emperor Jiajing, and then bear the infamy of glorifying and distorting history.

Therefore, Zhu Zaiji finally came up with an even more outrageous plan.

Zhu Zaiji coaxed the Jiajing Emperor, saying, "Father, I have long had a plan for the compilation of the Veritable Records, and I have already issued an edict to the Hanlin Academy to retrieve all the edicts and memorials from the forty-five years since you ascended the throne."

"However, so much has happened in these forty-five years that the Hanlin Academy is finding it difficult to make a decision and has drawn up a detailed charter and plan."

"Therefore, I issued another decree ordering them to first compile all the imperial edicts issued by Father over the years, and then to extract some of the important speeches Father made in his daily records."

"I plan to first compile a volume of the Hadiths for Father, then publish it and distribute it throughout the world. This will allow everyone to see Father's glorious and great side, his concern for the people, and his efforts to benefit the nation."

Upon hearing Zhu Zaiji's answer, the Jiajing Emperor's eyes lit up.

This one seems pretty good too.

Emperor Jiajing said with delight, "Alright, let's do it this way first. We will compile all the imperial edicts and important speeches of my reign over the past forty-five years into a book. I also want the people of the world to see how I have devoted myself to the country and the people for the past forty-five years, working tirelessly day and night, managing countless affairs of state, and being diligent in governing and loving the people."

Zhu Zaiji smiled and said, "Father is wise. When I get back, I will issue an edict to have Zhao Zhenji lead the Hanlin Academy and the Office of Transmission to handle this matter. At that time, I will have them compile several volumes so that every official in the Ming Dynasty can have a copy. They will always remember Father's earnest teachings when he ascended the throne, and they will be able to appreciate Father's brilliant and profound thoughts, so that they can better strive for the Ming Dynasty and better bring happiness to the people."

The Jiajing Emperor laughed heartily, as if he could see the praise and reverence he received from all under heaven.

If this matter can be handled well, then when we compile our own historical record in the future, wouldn't it be even more glorious and great?
The Jiajing Emperor couldn't help but feel excited at the thought.

I feel that my decision to abdicate was truly brilliant.

Otherwise, if he waits until his death before his son takes the throne, who knows how those officials who were once so thoroughly swayed by him will portray him in the official records.

Now that he has abdicated, he is still alive and can still influence and control some things, so of course he cannot allow those officials he once dealt with to write down his dirty secrets in the official records.

It's important to know that historical records are crucial references for future historical writing. If they contain too many bad things, they can directly affect how future generations will evaluate the author.

What if he receives a poor evaluation from later generations? Wouldn't his image as a sage ruler throughout the ages collapse?
Therefore, in order to protect his image as a sage ruler and to safeguard his posthumous reputation, the Jiajing Emperor cherished and cared deeply about his current fame.

After discussing the historical records and literary selections, the Jiajing Emperor turned his attention to the recent news in the capital about the Japanese silver mines.

The Jiajing Emperor asked, "Third son, is Japan truly wealthy?"

Zhu Zaiji reached out and took a cup of freshly warmed ginseng tea, handed it to the Jiajing Emperor, and said, "This matter is true. I have already sent Zhao Wenhua and Tan Lun to Korea to negotiate about the three million taels of embezzled silver that Luo Longwen is hiding in Korea."

"This silver was the huge profit that Luo Longwen made on the sea route to Japan after he fled and worked for Yan Shifan at sea."

"Originally, this silver was to be secretly transported to Yan Shifan's hometown through clandestine channels for distribution. But man proposes, God disposes, and Yan Shifan ultimately fell before justice."

"As a rootless duckweed, Luo Longwen naturally had nowhere to go and could only hide in Korea to make a living. But Heaven would not let such a person have an easy time, so when Qi Jiguang and his men led the Eastern Ocean Fleet to Jeju Island, they accidentally discovered his whereabouts." "Now Luo Longwen is imprisoned in the Eastern Depot's prison, and he has confessed everything, which also explains the important source of his three million taels of silver."

"Therefore, after discovering this matter, I ordered Qi Jiguang's Eastern Ocean Fleet to closely monitor the movements of Japan. Once Zhao Wenhua and Tan Lun bring back the three million taels of silver, I can issue an edict to expand the size of the navy in preparation for future expeditions against Japan."

Hearing Zhu Zaiji's words, Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but gasp. Although three million taels of silver didn't seem like a significant fortune to Emperor Jiajing at the moment.

But when you think about how Luo Longwen, with just Yan Shifan's help, managed to get three million taels of silver from Japan, it's clear that Japan is not only not as impoverished as people imagine, but is actually an inexhaustible treasure trove overseas!
The Jiajing Emperor lamented, "Since Japan is so wealthy, why do they continue to cause trouble along our coast?"

Zhu Zaiji smiled and said, "The issue is both complicated and simple."

Emperor Jiajing became interested and said, "Then I'll give a brief explanation."

Zhu Zaiji gathered his thoughts and began to speak: "Geographically speaking, Japan is a small country with many mountains. Although it is rich in silver, it is severely lacking in plains that can provide them with food."

"Moreover, being isolated overseas, apart from the close ties with the Central Plains during the Sui and Tang dynasties, during which they learned some of the Central Plains' technology and culture, they haven't learned anything else."

"Now, hundreds of years have passed, and Japan, which originally learned our Central Plains technology and culture, has reached a bottleneck that it cannot break through."

"In addition, their internal separatist rebellions naturally made the country even more difficult. So even if they occupied the treasure mountain, they did not have enough ability to excavate it."

"Moreover, even if they are able to mine some silver, they are limited by their smelting technology and cannot effectively mine and smelt more silver."

"So their current predicament is almost unsolvable. Apart from robbing our Ming Dynasty's coastal wealth and resources to make a living, they have no other good way to survive."

"But now, with the strengthening of our Ming Dynasty's border defenses and the establishment of the Eastern Ocean Navy, those Japanese pirates who can no longer survive in Japan can no longer come to our borders and seas to cause trouble in a small boat as before."

"Therefore, I conclude that as our Ming Dynasty's maritime borders are consolidated and our naval forces grow stronger, Japan will inevitably fall into an even more frantic internal conflict in the near future."

"And this is precisely the important opportunity for us to send troops to take down Japan. Otherwise, once their internal strife has come to a conclusion and they have formed a unified force, it will take many times more effort to deal with them again."

"So, what I mean is that while all the opportunities and advantages belong to our Great Ming, I will provide more support to the navy in the shortest possible time, build more warships, and train more naval officers and soldiers who are familiar with and skilled in naval warfare."

"To provide strong support for the next strategic development of the Ming Dynasty!"

The Jiajing Emperor listened to Zhu Zaiji's words and nodded in deep agreement.

If these things had happened ten or twenty years earlier, we could only watch and not do them.

However, after one or two decades of national strength accumulation, the country had two giant warships, the Yongle and Jiajing, as well as a group of military officers skilled in naval warfare, such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou.

Then, what happened next became simple and natural.

The Jiajing Emperor said, "You are right. Now is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With the investment of time and the strengthening of our navy, what Kublai Khan failed to accomplish can be done by my father and me."

Thinking of this, the Jiajing Emperor couldn't help but get excited.

Although in earlier years, due to the unfavorable war between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars, the Jiajing Emperor was so angry that he removed the ancestral tablets of Yuan Dynasty emperors such as Yuan Shizu from the Temple of Chinese Emperors, no longer recognizing their status as the legitimate successors of the Chinese dynasty.

However, as the situation changed, the Jiajing Emperor naturally returned to the magnanimous attitude of a great nation that embraces all rivers. On the advice of Zhu Zaiji, he restored the ancestral tablets of Yuan emperors such as Emperor Shizu to the Temple of Chinese Emperors and expanded the order of vassal states throughout history.

Now that the Ming Dynasty is about to surpass the Yuan Emperor and conquer Japan, a country he had never been able to subdue, one can only imagine the pride the Jiajing Emperor felt.

It should be noted that as an emperor who ascended the throne from a princely family, the Jiajing Emperor placed greater emphasis on the legitimacy of his "name" than any previous emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

One of the most important means to make the legitimacy of a "name" indisputable is to achieve great deeds and establish a career!
Apart from that, it's really hard to stand out with other methods.

After all, while Emperor Wen of Han's script was easy to learn from, it was difficult to replicate.

However, replicas of Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Chengzu of the current dynasty are relatively easier to replicate. As long as the national strength is reliable, even a pig could create unparalleled achievements.

So now that the opportunity was so lucratively presented to the Jiajing Emperor, it was impossible for him not to be tempted.

The Jiajing Emperor said, "This is a major matter. Although I have abdicated, I cannot ignore it. After Zhao Wenhua and Tan Lun bring back Luo Longwen's three million taels of illicit silver, I will also allocate three million taels from the imperial treasury as military expenses for strengthening the navy and for the eastern expedition against Japan!"

Upon hearing Emperor Jiajing's words, Zhu Zaiji's eyes widened, and he looked at Emperor Jiajing in surprise.

Although Zhu Zaiji didn't covet the money in Emperor Jiajing's private treasury, he did hear Emperor Jiajing say that he would allocate three million taels of silver as military expenses for the navy, to be used for the eastern expedition against Japan.

Zhu Zaiji couldn't help but be surprised.

It's important to understand that while the Jiajing Emperor wasn't as stingy and money-loving as the Wanli Emperor in history, it was still quite difficult to get any silver out of him.

After all, the original Jiajing Emperor himself was very extravagant, as he was involved in alchemy and the construction of palaces and temples.

These expenses alone would easily amount to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year.

It is truly unexpected that the Jiajing Emperor would now be willing to withdraw three million taels of silver from the imperial treasury in one go.

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