Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2451: The Peace of the World (Three) Decades (Part )
After five years of hard work, the Ming Dynasty has achieved satisfactory results in both national strength and the emperor's teachings. Gao Youshi's authority is stable enough, but he has not taken any further steps to seize power. Instead, he has given up a lot of power that he had held due to his part-time job through the "Sixteen-Ministry Reform". The mother and son of the royal family have maintained the same attitude towards this chief minister as they did five years ago, which has also reassured the people inside and outside the court.

In the sixth year of Taichang (1609), Gao Youshi was years old and Zhu Changhao was years old.

Politically, Gao Youshi continued to steadily promote the reform of practical learning and promulgated the "Regulations on the Examination of Craftsmen", allowing craftsmen to obtain the honorary title of "Master Craftsman" (eighth rank treatment) through technical examinations. Among the first batch of conferrals, 300 blacksmiths, weavers, boatmen and other craftsmen were awarded the title of "Master Craftsman". The "Jinghua Weekly" promoted it with the title "Famous Craftsmen Enter the Stream, All Craftsmen Congratulate", which set off a "skill learning craze" among the people.

Russia had some problems this year. With the support of the Ming Dynasty, Russia gradually encroached on the Ottoman Empire's territory and sphere of influence on the northern coast of the Black Sea (mainly the Crimean Khanate and the Principality of Moldavia), but the division of interests in these newly acquired areas caused internal dissatisfaction, leading to the intense power struggle between Duke Mikhail Skopinshuisky and the Stroganov family.

Simply put, more than half of the battles to seize these areas from the Ottoman Empire were led by Duke Mikhail. However, because the central power of Russia was controlled by Alexei, most of the benefits were obtained by the Stroganov family and its allies, which caused great dissatisfaction among the conservatives headed by Duke Mikhail. The two forces even broke out an armed conflict in the Kherson region.

In this conflict, the Stroganov family's armed forces, which were affiliated with the Special Army, suffered losses. When the news reached Moscow, Alexei was furious and ordered in the name of the Tsar to revoke Duke Mikhail's post as "Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Army" and asked him to return to Moscow to "explain clearly."

Mikhail naturally refused to fall into the trap and simply did not respond. Instead, he gathered troops in Azov, pretending to be ready to launch an uprising to "clean up the court". Alexei was not to be outdone and also ordered the main force of the special command army to gather in Moscow, pretending to be ready to send troops to quell the rebellion.

At this point, if the Ming Dynasty did not intervene, a new round of civil war in the Russian Tsarist Empire would be inevitable. Erdemutu, who was in Jingxibao, a famous city on the Ural River, learned the news. He sent a pigeon to ask his generals for instructions on their next move, and at the same time ordered both sides of the Russian civil war to stop assembling troops at the same time and bring 500 people each to meet him.

Of course, considering that words alone might not work, Erdemutu ordered his adopted son, Prince Borjigin Suhe of Kazan of the Russian Tsardom, to assemble 20,000 cavalry and march to Voronezh, which is roughly in the middle of Moscow and Azov, in an attempt to divide the two sides.

At the same time, Erdemutu himself assembled more than 40,000 main infantry and cavalry in the Xiting Governor's Office, marched westward to Saratov, and again asked Alexei and Mikhail to go to see him. The two weighed their own pros and cons, and neither dared to hesitate (worrying that the Ming Dynasty would help the other side), so they had to accept the order and go.

After the two of them arrived in Saratov, Erdemutu imitated the "shooting halberd at the gate" and temporarily calmed the dispute. At this time, Gao Youshi's reply arrived, in which he first praised Erdemutu for his quick response, and then gave him a warning that he had not expected. Gao Youshi pointed out that we should pay attention to whether there is really an irreconcilable contradiction between Alexei and Mikhail, to prevent them from having a tacit understanding and playing a double act for the Ming Dynasty.

After Erdemutu broke out in a cold sweat, he sent the two men away from fighting, and at the same time strictly ordered the Russian branch of the Jinghua Internal Affairs Department, which had received Gao Youshi's order, to carefully investigate the facts of both parties.

In terms of economy, Gao Youshi continued to promote the "West Court Land Grant" policy, fully opening up Siberia for reclamation, and offering incentives that seemed extremely extravagant to the people of the Central Plains - 50 mu of land was granted to each adult male, and the court was responsible for food supplies along the way, rental of farm tools, and other convenient matters. As a result, more than 70,000 people were attracted to settle in Siberia each year, and a total of about 200,000 people brought their families with them.

However, Siberia is too big, and these 200,000 people were divided into several important strongholds and were digested in an instant, which could not change the situation of vast land and sparse population. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, after 50 years of migration, the number of Han people in Xiting (Siberia) was barely enough, and it could be considered to be controlled by the court - that is for sure, Siberia is so big that even with 10 million people, it is still sparsely populated!
But it doesn't matter. Gao Youshi did this not only to control such a large newly acquired territory, but more importantly to reduce the population density of the 18 provinces in the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, the land's carrying capacity would be a bit stressful under current technological and climatic conditions.

At the same time, Gao Youshi also vigorously promoted the Ming Liansuo paper money, which was a new version of the early Ming Liansuo small-denomination silver notes. Since it was stipulated that the issuance of paper money must have a corresponding proportion (of course not the full amount) of gold and silver reserves, gold and silver gradually withdrew from daily transactions, and the proportion of commercial taxes settled in paper money in various places reached 3%. The Ministry of Revenue's silver treasury had a reserve of million taels of gold and million taels of silver, which was truly a mountain of gold and silver, and the inflation rate was probably controlled within % (it is impossible to calculate accurately, it is Gao Youshi's estimate).

Militarily, apart from Erdemutu's coercion of both sides of the Russian Civil War, there were no large-scale operations this year. On the contrary, in Beijing, the Nanyang Fleet cruised the western Indian Ocean, reached parts of East Africa, and signed a bunch of "friendly trade treaties" with various leaders who were hard to say whether they were countries or tribes, exchanging cloth and ironware for gold, silver, ivory, gems and other items.

In these extremely backward places, the sales of silk were not as good as those of cloth, and the sales of porcelain were not as good as those of ironware, which was an eye-opener for the Nanyang Fleet.

The emperor also made further progress. For the first time, he independently annotated a memorial on "reducing and exempting commercial taxes in Shaanxi", and wrote, "If merchants are prosperous, the country will be prosperous. Since Shaanxi has suffered a disaster, commercial taxes can be reduced by 30% to facilitate circulation." The Shaanxi merchants and gentry jointly thanked him, and Gao Yousi also praised him for "knowing the suffering of the people and feeling fortunate to see him."

At the same time, as he was getting older, the emperor was finally allowed to learn how to disassemble and maintain a fire gun. Gao Youshi gave him a hand gun with the words "Knowing etiquette and knowing military skills" engraved on it. During practice, the emperor hit a human-shaped target at a distance of fifty steps for the first time, which was recorded by the historian as "the first manifestation of divine power."

In the seventh year of Taichang (1610), Gao Youshi was years old and Zhu Changhao was years old.

Politically, since Gao Yuan, the eldest son of Gao Youshi, was already 23 years old (actual age), and the southern Xinjiang region had never had any formal regulations, Xiao Liangyou petitioned the empress dowager and the emperor to pay attention and, in accordance with the promise of the late emperor, to establish the Dingnan Protectorate to govern the southern countries.

All parties in the court and the public also felt that the issue of southern Xinjiang must be resolved, so they all submitted petitions to express their agreement. The Queen Mother called the young emperor to discuss the matter. She did not expect her son to make any arguments, but unexpectedly the young emperor replied: "The merits of my father should be rewarded by the state. Instead of setting up a large protectorate, it is better to establish a state and divide it into fiefdoms."

Because the matter was of great importance, Queen Mother Wang took the extremely rare step of summoning officials of the third rank and above in the capital and all the nobles in the capital to discuss the matter. They finally came to the conclusion that Yuan Fu's contribution was enough to make an exception and be rewarded.

Therefore, after several days of consultation, the emperor issued a separate decree for the first time, designating Southern Xinjiang and Nanyang as fiefdoms, promoting Gao Youshi as the King of the South, Huang Zhiting as the Queen of the South, and Gao Yuan as the Prince of the South's Crown Prince. Gao's descendants would forever govern the south of the Ming Dynasty, and the court would not set up any officials to control them.

Gao Youshi declined three times but the emperor refused, so he was promoted to the title of King of the South.

In the same year, students majoring in practical science accounted for more than 20%, and practical school academies and schools were established in various places. Not only in Han and Mongolian areas, but even in Anxi and Xiting, the Han people had practical school schools to attend.

Economically, the Ural Iron Mine and Steel Plant were officially put into production, producing 2,000 tons of refined iron per year, of which 500 tons were shipped south to Anxi, and 1,500 tons were left in Xiting for agricultural use. The remaining 500 tons were resold to Europe by the Stroganov family, and the profits were used to support the military expenses of the Ming army in Xiting.

In the middle of the year, the weavers in Jiangnan went on strike at the instigation of the wealthy, but were soon suppressed. After a round of house confiscations and exile, Gao Youshi approved the proposal of the Yingtian governor to establish the "Da Ming Weavers Guild". Gao Youshi instructed that "the guild can negotiate wages, but it is necessary to submit technical improvement plans regularly", and promoted the institutionalization of the "30-70 profit split". After the reform, taking Jiangnan as an example, the average annual income of weavers reached 45 taels of silver.

Militarily, the Southern Palace cooperated with the Persian operation (Amerian Offensive). The South China Sea Fleet landed on the northern shore of the Red Sea with the garrisons of two towns and raided Cairo, forcing the Ottoman government and the local Mamluk military group (although the Mamluks were destroyed, the Ottomans still had to rely on the local Mamluk military group to maintain their rule in Egypt) to sign a treaty with the Southern Palace, allowing "Great South" merchants to do business in Egypt and enjoy "most-favored-nation treatment" (automatic minimum tax rate).

During this year, the emperor's growth was not only reflected in his insistence on making Gao Youshi a king, but he also began to study the art of war, using the "Battle of Feishui" as an example to explain that "speed is important in war, and it is also important to judge the situation", and simulated Erdemutu's command in the "Battle of the Oka River" in a sand table simulation, which won Gao Youshi's praise. In the eighth year of Taichang (1611), Gao Youshi was years old and Zhu Changhao was years old.

Politically, Jiangnan boatmen went on strike, demanding the establishment of a boatmen's guild modeled after the mechanics' guild. Since there was no mastermind behind the strike and it did not cause riots or chaos, Gao Youshi did not take coercive measures, but still ordered the governor of Yingtian to negotiate with the people. Eventually, the court proposed a "labor-capital joint decision" plan: allowing the establishment of guilds, and distributing profits according to the size of the workshops (40% to 60% for small workshops and 30% to 70% for large workshops), setting a precedent for "collective bargaining" in the East, which was included in the Taichang edition of the "Da Ming Hui Dian Gongshang Pian".

In the same year, the imperial court allowed students of Practical Academy to directly participate in local governance in the name of "internship". For example, students of Yingtian Academy led the dredging project of Nanjing moat, which took three months to complete and saved 34,000 taels of silver. Gao Youshi wrote a plaque with the words "Practical Learning for Use" as a gift.

Economically, overseas trade continued to grow, with the Nanyang trade route accounting for 70%, and high-end goods such as porcelain were sold at ten times their cost in Europe. As the Jinghua Trading Company could enter the Mediterranean trade through Egypt, it established a branch in Venice for the first time, almost monopolizing the market for high-end oriental goods in the Mediterranean trade.

Spain and Portugal were very dissatisfied with this, and stressed that their cooperation with Jinghua for many years should not be "betrayed". The Southern Prince Gao Yuan personally presided over the negotiations, and finally agreed to free trade in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast trade between Spain and Portugal.

There were no major military events this year, but there was a minor setback. The Nanyang Fleet landed somewhere in southeast Africa, intending to set up a trading post, but unexpectedly encountered an epidemic, killing more than 200 people. After Gao Youshi learned about it, he once again hoped to obtain South American cinchona from the Spanish, but after a long time of hard work, he found that the Spanish seemed to have not discovered it themselves... He had to give up for the time being.

With the support of Gao Youshi, Zhu Changhao began to independently review some memorials this year. For example, in the memorials related to the "Imperial Examination Reform", he supported "raising the proportion of practical examinations to 40%" and instructed that "the classics should be emphasized and practical work should be used". Since the practical school was almost the only one in the Ming Dynasty at that time, court officials praised him as "wise and decisive as a god".

In the ninth year of Taichang (1612), Gao Youshi was years old and Zhu Changhao was years old.

Politically, Gao Youshi submitted a petition to resign before his 50th birthday, saying "Your Majesty is wise and capable of governing the country". Zhu Changhao immediately wrote in red that "the Prime Minister must not leave the court" and gave him a jade pendant as a gift. When Queen Mother Wang learned about it, she also hurriedly issued an imperial decree saying "In accordance with the will of the late emperor, the Prime Minister should watch over Your Majesty until the ceremony of coming of age". People inside and outside the court were hotly discussing whether it was too early for "Duke Zhou to return to power".

This year, students studying practical science accounted for 30%. Xu Guangqi compiled "On the Convergence of the Two Schools" to reconcile the dispute between classics and practical science. Gao Youshi wrote a preface saying "The great way is not biased, it only benefits the people."

In terms of economy and people's livelihood, the second phase of the Yellow River soil consolidation and water conservancy project has been completed. This time, not only the main channel of the Yellow River, but also more than a dozen major tributaries have been included in the management, and good results have been achieved. There was even a sign of "clear water in the Yellow River" at one point.

Because there is a saying among the people that "when the Yellow River is clear, a sage will emerge", the governor of Henan excitedly reported that "a thousand-year-old disaster was cured in one day, which is the proof of the sage's reign and the assistance of sages". Zhu Changhao was also very happy to hear the news, and personally inscribed a golden plaque with the words "Sages Governing Water" and gave it to Gao Youshi. The people spontaneously built more than 70 shrines for Gao Youshi. The court also set off a trend of building shrines for Gao Youshi, but Gao Youshi firmly refused - he could not refuse the spontaneous actions of the people, but he could still control the actions of the court.

Militarily, after the internal conflicts of Russia were forcibly suppressed by the Ming Dynasty, it unexpectedly had conflicts with Sweden, and the Second Livonian War broke out. Since the Ming Dynasty also intended to open up the Baltic trade route, Erdemutu acquiesced to Alexei's launching of this war.

The timing of launching this war was very good, because Poland was fighting the Ottomans in Moldavia at the time and was unable to participate. As a result, the war became a one-on-one duel between Russia and Sweden. Russia, which had received technical support from the Ming Dynasty for several years, relied on its national strength to defeat Sweden, not only seizing Livonia and Estonia, but also the area near the Neva River - that is, St. Petersburg in the original history.

Through this battle, not only did Russia gain the long-desired Baltic Sea outlet, but the Ming Dynasty also benefited from it. Jinghua Commercial Company immediately established a branch in Neva and began to operate the Baltic Sea trade.

This year, Zhu Changhao personally presided over the "Autumn Sacrifice of the Taimiao", and the etiquette was complete and flawless. Gao Youshi secretly instructed that "personal sacrifice is the basis for the emperor to establish his authority." The emperor followed the instructions carefully, and later elaborated on the key points such as "respecting heaven and ancestors, and putting people first", which were recorded in the daily notes.

During the summer vacation of this year, Gao Youshi was taking a nap in Wenyuan Pavilion due to exhaustion. Suddenly, he felt someone fanning him. He thought it was a young eunuch, so he did not open his eyes. When he woke up, he found that the person fanning him silently was actually the emperor. Gao Youshi was shocked and then burst into tears, saying, "Your Majesty has finally become a wise ruler."

In the tenth year of Taichang (1613), Gao Youshi was fifty years old and Zhu Changhao was fifteen years old.

Politically, although the Queen Mother insisted not to allow it, Gao Youshi still took the initiative to "step back to the second line". Even though he was still the Prime Minister, the daily government affairs were handed over to Zhu Changhao for "training and decision". His first independent approval was to "pardon the arrears of taxes owed by Sichuan and Guizhou due to the famine this year", and he was praised by the court and the public as "the emergence of a benevolent monarch."

Economically, the national treasury statistics show that the annual revenue last year reached more than 68 million taels, the highest in the history of the Ming Dynasty. Because American crops were widely planted in various places, even though the extreme weather during the Little Ice Age was still raging, there were few starving people and refugees, and the people firmly believed in the "Taichang Prosperous Age".

The "Beijing-Moscow" post road was fully connected. According to Ming custom, there must be a post house within 200 miles. Led by the Stroganov family, a group of nobles and wealthy merchants emerged in Russia to engage in the "two capitals trade". They made a lot of money by transporting Russian specialties such as fur and amber to Beijing and exchanging them for silk, porcelain, tea and other items.

What’s even more interesting is that Russian conservative nobles such as Shuisky also began to actively participate, which was highly praised by Gao Youshi, who hinted that Jinghua and Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance should support them.

Militarily, the Ottoman Empire finally could not withstand the siege from all sides and began to actively seek peace. Since its conflicts with Europe were irreconcilable, it could only take the lead in reaching an agreement with the Ming Dynasty, allowing the Ming Dynasty to trade freely through the Ottoman Empire and its vassal states without any restrictions. In this way, it won the Ming Dynasty's consent to peace and determined that "it would no longer sell military or related equipment to the enemies of the Ottoman Empire."

The Persian Empire, upon hearing the news, became nervous and sent an envoy to inquire about the Ming Dynasty's intentions. Gao Youshi told the Anxi Governor's Office that except for military equipment, all other trade would remain the same and that they were willing to carry out more cooperation. The Persian side then proposed a further friendly treaty, and Gao Youshi approved that Anxi could sign it.

The Nanyang Fleet also made great gains this year, sailing to Oceania and, under the guidance of Gao Youshi, arriving in Perth in later times, discovering high-quality iron ore. As a result, the Nanwang Mansion began to formulate a development plan.

This year, at Gao Youshi's insistence, Emperor Zhu Changhao held a ceremony of coming of age and officially took power. Gao Youshi presented the "Ten Years of Advice", proposing that "the prime minister should not serve for too long. Although I was appointed by the previous emperor, I cannot stay in the center for a long time." He then removed his bedroom in Wenyuan Pavilion and moved out of the palace to return to the Southern Prince's Mansion.

The next day, Gao Youshi submitted a memorial to resign from the post of Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace, saying, "Since I have been granted the title of King of the South by imperial decree, I have the responsibility to pacify the south. It is not convenient for me to be away from this place for long. I now request to leave Beijing and become a vassal state."

On that day, the emperor's edict and the empress dowager's decree were issued at the same time: not allowed.
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PS: Do you readers want me to write a few more chapters? In addition, I wish all the readers and children a happy Children's Day, haha!
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