Ming Dynasty 1627

Chapter 37 The Ming Emperor's Diligent Governance... Half a Day (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
August 28th, the day before the regular morning assembly.

After having breakfast, Zhu Youjian stretched his limbs and eagerly sat down at his desk.

The imperial desk was piled high with petitions, waiting for his favor.

Within days of his ascension to the throne, all the memorials submitted by the officials were compiled by the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, and then the most important matters were selected and summarized for him.

But since it was his first time being emperor, he still wanted to experience what it was like to be a diligent emperor.

In addition, direct access to firsthand information allows for a more comprehensive understanding of this declining empire.

After all, practice makes perfect, and future generations have proven us right.

He casually flipped to the first book: "Memorial from the Governor of Huguang Requesting Commendation for the Virtuous Woman Pang".

The matter was not complicated, but this civil official, in his flowery language, wrote about a trivial matter in a long and tedious way.

The gist of the story is that Xiong Yuxuan, a local tyrant from Huangpi, Huguang, wanted to forcibly take Yuan Sancai's wife, Pang.

Pang refused to comply, first killing her two young daughters with her own hands, and then committing suicide.

Therefore, the local officials applied to award him the title of "Martyr".

Awesome!
Outrageous!

You son of a bitch!
Zhu Youjian sent three exclamation marks, and his initial good mood vanished instantly.

He turned to Gao Shiming, who was standing to the side, and asked, "What should we do with Xiong Yuxuan?"

Gao Shiming bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Justice originally sentenced him to exile on the frontier according to the law. The late Emperor felt that this was not enough to atone for his crime, so he specially ordered him to be executed, and the execution has already taken place."

Zhu Youjian's anger subsided somewhat, and he picked up his vermilion brush and wrote "Act accordingly" on the memorial.

He then flipped through a dozen more books, mostly trivial matters such as requests for assignments and official transfers, which made his temples throb.

He stood up to stretch his limbs, then glanced at Gao Shiming beside him without leaving a trace.

The other person remained standing as still as a wooden or clay sculpture, their face expressionless, devoid of joy or sorrow.

No wonder the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs could rival the outer court; it was forced into this situation.

If the imperial guards and secret police were the emperor's hands, feet, eyes, and ears, then the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs was his external brain.

After all, not everyone is like Zhu Yuanzhang, who could review two hundred questions a day without stopping for years.

If they are unwilling to delegate power to civil officials, then they can only delegate power to palace officials.

However, no matter how useful this external brain is, it can never be completely loyal.

Even those who are loyal will gradually develop their own selfish desires.

These selfish desires will inevitably find their most comfortable space for rent-seeking, and then slowly erode and expand.

This has always been the way things are in our dynasty.

He sighed, suppressing the inappropriate thought for the time being, and continued to bury himself in his workbook.

Even if changes are needed, that's for the future. Let's deal with the present situation first.

I still need the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs to review this exam paper tomorrow, otherwise, if this continues every day, I won't be able to get anything done.

After an unknown amount of time, when his eyes were glazed over and his mind was foggy, the name on a test paper instantly snapped him back to reality.

Sun Guozhen, Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, wrote an inscription praising Mao Wenlong of Dongjiang for his merits and eulogizing the minister.

Hey, Mao Wenlong!
It has been centuries since I last saw your name, and I miss you dearly.

He perked up and quickly opened it.

The document contains a battle report praising Mao Wenlong's great victory in the Dingmao Campaign.

The so-called Dingmao Campaign refers to the invasion of Korea by the Jurchen people of the Later Jin Dynasty this spring and summer.

Zhu Youjian flipped through the pages, his thoughts churning.

Unexpectedly, the first news I received about the Jurchens after ascending the throne came from Dongjiang, not Ningjin.

This is the Battle of Dingmao!

However, apart from him, no one else in the Ming Dynasty realized what this meant.

They even thought that Dongjiang had won another great victory.

However, this war in Korea profoundly influenced and propelled the global situation.

It is important to understand that the strength of the Later Jin Jurchens was completely different from that of traditional nomadic tribes.

They were not actually a nomadic people, but rather started out as a fishing and hunting people, and later promoted the development of handicrafts and agriculture.

Among them, Han Chinese from Liaodong were enslaved to cultivate land and smelt iron.

This allowed them to gain the natural productivity advantage of an agrarian civilization, enabling them to rival the Ming Dynasty in terms of provisions and military equipment, and even achieve slight victories in some areas. Their army consisted of Jurchens, Mongols, and a minority of bondservants, dedicated solely to warfare.

With the added advantage of superior military equipment and cavalry, coupled with the combat effectiveness brought about by high-intensity training.

Based on these two factors, coupled with the higher efficiency of the military-first system and the momentum of continuous victories, the Jurchens have achieved their current power and prestige.

During the Dingmao Campaign, the Jurchens forced Joseon to sign a humiliating treaty.

This perfectly alleviated their two current fatal weaknesses—supplies and the Dongjiang River.

From then on, the external environment of Dongjiang Town deteriorated rapidly, while the Jurchens obtained a stable supply of food from Korea and were able to free up their resources to confidently and boldly conquer the Mongol tribes to the west.

It was from here that the "Jisi Incident" of the second year of Chongzhen's reign began.

The Jurchens breached the Great Wall at Jizhou along three routes, and their cavalry swept into the capital region, causing widespread suffering and despair among the people.

Then Yuan Chonghuan was executed by slow slicing, the Donglin Party was completely purged, the secret police and secret police rose again, the Fushe Society was established in Jiangnan, until he hanged himself on Coal Hill in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign.

And all of this actually originated from the Battle of Dingmao.

Gao Shiming looked up in confusion at Zhu Youjian, who was sitting there in a daze, not understanding why he had been looking at this memorial for so long.

He glanced up and firmly memorized the name Sun Guozhen.

Zhu Youjian continued to turn the pages, and the heaviness of history was quickly replaced by a sense of absurdity.

Because the latter half of this Dengzhou-Laizhou governor, Lord Sun, was all about praising Wei Zhongxian and riding horses.

We are united under the banner of the factory manager and will do our utmost.

It is said that ministers and officials reside high in the imperial court, strategizing and winning battles from afar.

This is a classic example of the political landscape during the Tianqi era.

If you do anything and don't attribute the primary credit to Wei Zhongxian, then you are extremely out of touch with reality.

Conversely, as long as Wei Zhongxian is involved, minor offenses become no offenses, and minor merits become major merits.

If a few more shrines could be built for Wei Zhongxian, and people could kowtow to him as if he were their adopted son, then he would soar to great heights, and who would dare not recognize him today?

Zhu Youjian found it increasingly amusing and finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

He turned to look at Gao Shiming: "Who is this Sun Guozhen?"

He didn't intend to punish him; he simply felt that Lord Sun was both pitiful and laughable.

Wei Zhongxian's body had been cold for several days. If it were any other emperor, submitting a memorial at this time would have been tantamount to courting death.

Gao Shiming had no idea what Zhu Youjian was laughing at, so he could only reply cautiously.

"Your Majesty, Sun Guozhen was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the 41st year of the Wanli reign."

"In the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, he personally led dozens of ships to aid in the Battle of Penghu, defeated the Japanese invaders, and brought Penghu back to the territory of the Ming Dynasty."

"Afterwards, the court discussed and recommended the governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, and this person was selected based on his experience in naval battles."

Zhu Youjian's smile vanished instantly.

The affairs of this world are indeed not clearly black and white.

Unexpectedly, this governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, who flattered the eunuch faction, was once a brave warrior who fought against foreign invaders in Southeast Asia!

Nanyang, Hongyi, Zheng Zhilong...

In times of peace, these things would be major events, wouldn't they?

It was only in the final years of this dynasty, when the land was in ruins, that it seemed so inconspicuous.

He pondered for a moment, then picked up his vermilion brush and slowly wrote on the memorial: "I am fully aware of your merit in reporting this matter. The past affairs of the eunuch should not be mentioned again. I wish you..."

He paused for a moment, then earnestly wrote down a half-baked limerick.

—To carry on the heroic spirit of Southeast Asia and restore the old rivers and mountains of Liaodong!

　[Historical Materials in this Chapter]

　　1. Old Zhu was truly amazing. Zhu Youjian was only looking at the drafted memorials—those with comments from the cabinet ministers. Old Zhu, on the other hand, was looking at the original versions and had to provide his own comments.

　　2. The story of Pang is a historical fact, but the historical record only mentions it briefly in one sentence. Later generations can no longer know the extent of her despair that led her to commit such a tragic act.

　　3. Governor Sun's memorial was also genuine; it was submitted on the 27th, which was yesterday. At that time, Wei Zhongxian had only been dead for 3 days (joy).

　　4. The Dingmao Campaign took place in the first month of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign (1627). The Later Jin army, numbering 30,000, first defeated Mao Wenlong, and then formally attacked Korea on the 13th. Just over ten days later, less than two months later, they forced Korea to negotiate peace and form a brotherly alliance. This campaign has many details, which I won't go into detail about here; you can learn more later. This event will be the thread that connects the Liaodong border affairs—just like those three lists of corrupt officials.

　　5. The praise of Wei Zhongxian is all historical fact. Here's a random excerpt: "Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch, was devoted to serving the country and worked tirelessly to plan for the border... The ministers in the inner court were encouraged and prepared, and they were also good at understanding Wei Zhongxian's intentions." — Written by Huang Lijie (Huang Lijie was speechless on the spot, haha).
　　There might be another update later today; if I can't finish it, it will be at 6 PM tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)