Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 68: Old Zhu: Jiajing? He must be a foolish and incompetent person! [Please read more]

Unable to contain himself any longer, Zhu Yuanzhang glared and said, "Liu Kuan, please don't tell us some unreliable unofficial history from later generations!"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, I know this may sound unbelievable, but it is indeed true."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "I heard you say before that Chongzhen was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Could it be that Jiajing was the reign title before Chongzhen?"

Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that the incident of dozens of Japanese pirates killing their way out of Nanjing City probably happened in the late Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty was facing peasant uprisings within and the Later Jin Tartars abroad. With internal and external troubles, it is not surprising that it did not bother to deal with a small group of Japanese pirates.

Liu Kuan shook his head and said, "Emperor Jiajing was the great-great-grandfather of Emperor Chongzhen. At that time, it was still nearly a hundred years before the fall of the Ming Dynasty."

"Then why did the strange story you mentioned happen?" Zhu Yuanzhang was even more puzzled.

Liu Kuan said, "There are many reasons for this. The first is that the Ming Dynasty had been at peace for a long time, and several provinces in the southeast had not experienced a major war for over a hundred years. As a result, the soldiers neglected training and the military preparations were in disrepair."

"Secondly, these pirates are mostly wandering warriors from Japan. They have survived the many years of war in Japan and are naturally very powerful."

"Plus, they are few in number, well-armored, and they burn, kill, and loot along the way, fighting on the move. This makes it difficult for the southeastern troops to unite and suppress them."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao said, "Even so, since the Japanese pirates have already reached the outskirts of the capital, the tens of thousands of government troops would not be afraid to go out and meet them, right?"

Liu Kuan said, "Perhaps the Nanjing garrison officials were unaware of the exact number of Japanese pirates and were worried that the defenders would be ambushed if they left the city, leading to the city's fall."

"Or perhaps there were other reasons, such as the pirates fleeing before the troops were dispatched to meet the enemy."

"There may be other internal factors that led to this incident - I don't know what they are."

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang slammed his desk and snorted, "The military is in such disrepair, and the court is likely to be filled with extravagance and idleness. It goes without saying that the descendant of the fourth son, whose reign is called Jiajing, is bound to be a foolish and incompetent person!"

Hearing Zhu's evaluation of Jiajing, Liu Kuan couldn't help but think of a historical drama in later generations, "The Ming Dynasty 1566".

He then said, "Your Majesty's guess is not accurate. Although Emperor Jiajing was not a good emperor in the eyes of later generations, he was not incompetent either."

"This person ascended the throne as a minor clan member when Emperor Zhengde died young and had no children."

"At the tender age of twenty, he imitated Emperor Yingzong of Song and, using the issues of his biological father's honorific title and sacrificial rites, launched the 'Great Ceremony Debate' and seized some real power from several powerful ministers in the cabinet."

"After assuming power, he was determined to make progress and eliminated some of the Ming Dynasty's bad policies, which led to a slight improvement in national affairs. This was known in history as the Jiajing New Deal."

"Unfortunately, he later suffered setbacks in his struggles with local gentry, and was also targeted by two assassination attempts, one in his bedroom and the other in his temporary palace. This dampened his ambition and changed his temperament."

"In the middle of the Jiajing reign, he became obsessed with Taoism, refining elixirs and taking elixirs in pursuit of immortality. He also appointed corrupt officials and treacherous factions, manipulated the situation behind the scenes, and competed with the gentry for interests."

"Because he was intelligent and extremely good at scheming, during the middle and late stages of his reign, he manipulated many court officials, local officials, and gentry into following his lead."

"Unfortunately, Jiajing was only concerned with satisfying his own desires, with little regard for the country or the people. His actions only led to the decline of the Ming Dynasty, with corruption and chaos plaguing the government."

"By the way, this Jiajing Emperor was the second longest reigning emperor among your majesty's descendants, a full forty-five years, second only to the Wanli Emperor, who ascended the throne at the age of ten."

"Most Ming emperors since Yongle have had short lives, and many have died in unclear circumstances."

"The Jiajing Emperor ascended the throne from a minor family, yet he was able to seize power and remain on the throne for such a long time, living to the age of sixty. This shows his intelligence."

"Some people in later generations even believed that after Yongle, the Jiajing Emperor was the most cunning and resourceful."

There are many things about Jiajing, but it is impossible for Liu Kuan to tell them all in detail. It would take three days and three nights to finish.

So he gave a brief talk and stopped there.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao looked at each other in surprise.

Zhu Biao originally thought that Jiajing was a foolish and incompetent person, but he never expected that he would be regarded by later generations as the smartest and most scheming Ming emperor after Yongle.

Judging from Liu Kuan's rough account of the Jiajing regime, in terms of political intrigue alone, Zhu Di might not be able to catch up with Jiajing.

"Perhaps only Father could have been better, right?"

Thinking of this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but look at Zhu Yuanzhang.

Old Zhu was thinking about something else.

He had previously heard Liu Kuan speak of the powerful influence of the gentry and local tyrants in the late Ming Dynasty, and the great harm they posed to the Ming Dynasty. Now, hearing that Emperor Jiajing had triumphed in the struggles at court, but had been defeated by the local gentry in the chessboard of the empire, and even faced two assassination attempts, he could not help but feel even more wary of the gentry and local tyrants, and his murderous intent grew even stronger.

"I originally thought that those wealthy people would become a disaster for the country, and now it seems that I was right."

"So, if we have the chance in the future, we must do our best to eliminate as many of these people as possible."

"Even if they are like weeds, they will grow back after being burned. If we kill a few of them, we can at least extend the Ming Dynasty's prosperity for a few more decades!"

After a pause, Liu Kuan returned to the previous topic.

"Although this group of dozens of Japanese pirates was annihilated shortly after leaving the outskirts of Nanjing as they headed south to Hushuguan, they still roamed across Zhejiang and Nanzhili provinces for thousands of miles, killing and wounding four to five thousand officers and soldiers along the way, ultimately causing a major event that shocked the government and the public."

"Similar rebellions by Japanese pirates occurred frequently in the southeastern coastal provinces, not only bringing suffering to the people but also causing the Ming court to lose its dignity."

"Emperor Jiajing finally made up his mind to pacify the Japanese invaders, and Qi Jiguang became a renowned general who rose to prominence through these battles."

"Because the terrain in the south of the Yangtze River is full of mountains, forests, and paddy fields, which is not conducive to the operation of cavalry and artillery, Qi Jiguang invented the tiger squat cannon."

"Although this cannon has a range of only two or three hundred steps, it weighs only a few dozen kilograms, and ultimately no more than a hundred kilograms. One or two soldiers can carry it or carry it away."

"Because it has a gun mount, like a tiger squat, and it mostly fires indirect fire, it can fire both live ammunition and scattershot, making it very practical in the southeast region, hence the name Tiger Squat Cannon."

Liu Kuan stopped here.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "The terrain in the southwest is more dangerous and complex than in the southeast, making it less suitable for cannon operations. The Tiger Crouching Cannon is light and compact, and is indeed more suitable for use in the southern battlefield."

"The war in the southwest will not end overnight. It could even drag on for a year or two."

"Now that we have this powerful weapon, we'll have Liuhe Steel Mill cast a batch. After verifying its quality, we'll send it to the Southwest Army to increase our chances of victory."

Since Liu Kuan mentioned the Tiger Crouching Cannon today, he naturally intended for the Ming army to possess this weapon as soon as possible.

He bowed and said, "I will write down the information about the Tiger Crouching Cannon and hand it over to Your Majesty."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and continued, "You should also write down the methods for making field guns and submachine guns. We can also reward you with a large amount of gold, silver, and fertile land. Tell me, how much do you want this time?"

Liu Kuan was slightly stunned when he heard this.

Fortunately, the technical content of these three types of cannons was not high, and he really had no intention of asking for a reward from Zhu Yuanzhang.

On the contrary, the iron mold casting method was more useful to the imperial court.

But since Lao Zhu wanted a reward, he had no choice but to accept it.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Your Majesty, this time, you only need to reward me with five thousand taels of silver."

"Five thousand taels of silver is enough?" Old Zhu was a little surprised. He thought Liu Kuan was going to take the opportunity to ask for shops and good farmland.

"That's indeed enough." Liu Kuan said.

"Then it will be five thousand taels of silver." Old Zhu seemed to be afraid that Liu Kuan would go back on his word, so he immediately decided on the reward.

Having said that, Liu Kuan prepared to leave.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "The army has already set out to conquer the southwest, and with the cabinet assisting us, Biaoer and I have fewer important military and political tasks to deal with."

"Since it happens to be today, how about you tell me more about the future?"

Liu Kuan knew that as long as Old Zhu had time, he would definitely take the initiative to ask about things in the future, so he was not surprised by today's situation.

He asked, "What does Your Majesty want to hear?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "You said before that Qi Jiguang was the military god of the Ming Dynasty and a national hero. Is that true? If he only quelled the rebellion of Japanese pirates, I'm afraid he doesn't deserve such praise, right?"

　I didn’t expect it to still be on the new book list. The rules seem to be different from before.

　　But the book is about to reach 200,000 words, so the chapters should be shorter in the next few days. I hope my readers will forgive me.

　　(Many books only have 120,000 to 30,000 words when they are listed on the new book list, but mine is 200,000. Although I update two chapters a day, it is definitely a lot.)
　　(I am just an ordinary author with limited talent, so I can only write slowly. Friends who have high expectations please don’t discourage me, and give me more encouragement and support, crab!)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)