prosperous age

Tan Lun had the idea of ​​retiring two years ago, but it was temporarily shelved because he had not found a suitable candidate.

During this period, I tried almost all the people close to me, but no one was suitable.

After all, it was a military matter, a national strategy, and Wei Guangde was not confident in handing it over to someone he trusted but who had mediocre abilities. That would be irresponsible to the country and would also cause trouble for himself.

If it was unimportant government offices like the Ministry of Justice, it wouldn't matter, but the Ministry of War is an important and powerful office, and Wei Guangde couldn't be so nepotistic.

Now that Tan Lun has proposed another candidate, who is an old acquaintance of his, Wei Guangde has to think about Zeng Shengwu's performance as the Governor of Sichuan over the years.

Zeng Shengwu's promotion was naturally not due to Wei Guangde, but to his fellow villager Zhang Juzheng.

Although his ancestral home is in Pengze, Jiangxi, Zeng Shengwu's registered residence had long been in Chengtian Prefecture, Huguang, and he only returned to Pengze to worship his ancestors that year.

Well, blood connection is a very important bond in China and is the most important thing in ethnic relations.

"First transfer him to the Ministry of War as an assistant minister and see how it goes."

Wei Guangde said something to Tan Lun, and then the two separated. Tan Lun returned to the Ministry of War to handle the next matters, while Wei Guangde went directly to the palace to report the results of the cabinet's discussion with the nine ministers.

In fact, this matter was proposed by Wei Guangde and supported by Zhang Juzheng. The palace naturally knew that the probability of it being passed at the Nine Ministers' Meeting was very high.

After all, the officials in several key positions are all Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde's men, and they will not disagree with them on this matter.

Empress Dowager Chen and Empress Dowager Li obviously did not think too much about it. They did not know that the fundamental reason why the court opposed the voyage to the West was the unreasonable distribution of interests.

They thought that going to the West would be a loss of money, so they were opposed by all the ministers in the court.

Now seeing that all the court officials support it, and thinking of the grand scene at the emperor’s wedding, they are naturally grinning from ear to ear.

"Okay, okay, Lord Wei, since the court has approved it, I won't say anything. I just hope you can be diligent in your royal duties and pay more attention to this matter."

Empress Dowager Chen said happily.

"I will obey your order and will not disappoint the Queen Mother."

Wei Guangde said loudly.

"Lord Wei, how long do you think it will take to go to the Western Ocean to invite the leaders of various countries to come?"

Empress Dowager Li asked at this time.

“The shortest time is two years and the longest time is no more than three years.

I believe that the Emperor will be able to return when he is seventeen or eighteen years old, and by then the Ministry of Rites will have prepared the wedding ceremony for him perfectly, without any mistakes."

Wei Guangde didn't dare to guarantee that he could complete the task within two years. After all, the sea had changed so much when he went to the West.

Although Zheng He's fleet usually spent more than two years at sea each time, it is always a good idea to leave some time in advance.

Therefore, Wei Guangde set the duration for this voyage to be three years, and perhaps he could also bring back envoys from some European countries.

The kings of those small European countries would most likely not come to the Ming Dynasty because the journey was too long and they did not dare to gamble on whether there would be turmoil in their country when they left.

In Wei Guangde's impression, Europe is full of small countries and seems to have always been in a state of chaos.

Of course, it was also because of this chaos that their military technology advanced rapidly during this period.

It’s like the Chinese invented all kinds of weapons for use in war, but after entering the Ming Dynasty, because the country was stable and wars became less frequent, military technology began to stagnate.

Don’t think that the threat from Mongolia is too big. In fact, it is nothing in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming army is able to cope with it with the existing weapons.

In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, the development of military technology stagnated.

After knowing that the Ming Dynasty had come into contact with Westerners in the middle and late period and discovered the Portuguese cannon and the bird gun, they immediately began to manufacture them on a large scale to equip the troops.

It can be seen how great an impact the nearly two hundred years of peace have had on military technology.

Speaking of which, the old saying "A country that loves war will perish, and a country that forgets war will be in danger" is somewhat contradictory. A war-loving country may not necessarily forget war, and may become stronger and stronger. It all depends on the control of the rhythm.

As long as the country does not declare war recklessly, but takes time to recuperate after each war and fully digests the war dividends, and then looks for the next war when the dividends disappear, the results will be completely different.

A war situation in which the strong bullies the weak is undoubtedly the best scenario for an expanding empire.

Now, the Ming Dynasty needs time to digest the dividends from the southwest. Only after the local situation stabilizes and the locals accept the Ming Dynasty's rule and can provide benefits to the Ming Dynasty, can the court look for the next target.

Wei Guangde left Ciqing Palace and returned to the cabinet with a warm smile on his face.

He thought his judgment was sufficient, but he didn't know how the Ming Dynasty would react when the Ming fleet entered the Indian Ocean, which Portugal regarded as an inland sea, on a large scale.

Yes, Wei Guangde ultimately lacked sufficient intelligence about the current international situation, and he, or the Jinyiwei, had not obtained any intelligence about Europe at the time.

Now the sea has been handed over to Spain and Portugal by the Pope.

If the Ming Dynasty expanded westwards, it would inevitably damage Portugal's national interests, while if the Ming Dynasty expanded eastwards, it would endanger Spain's maritime hegemony.

At this time, the Pacific Ocean was regarded as an inland sea by the Spanish.

Wei Guangde did not handle government affairs after returning to the cabinet. He was still looking through domestic ships.

To be honest, I'm somewhat disappointed.

Among the domestic ships now, only the six double-decker gunboats previously ordered by the South China Sea Navy can be regarded as maritime fortresses of this era, and the others are various Fujian ships equipped with cannons.

As for the ships used by maritime merchants, most of them are of this type.

Its combat capability was even inferior to that of the Western armed merchant ships that Wei Guangde knew about.

However, Wei Guangde did not know that in Spain, merchant ships actually had similar hulls to warships, but they carried fewer cannons, and the space and weight were used for loading cargo.

The galleon, a specialized type of warship, was still slowly developing and would eventually become a powerful weapon for Britain to replace Spain's maritime hegemony.

In this era, the sea was still dominated by caracas, or Spanish galleons.

When the Ming navy goes out to sea, it is bound to have a violent clash with the two current international hegemons. This is something Wei Guangde could not have expected.

However, at this time, the officialdom in the capital of the Ming Dynasty was in an uproar.

Yes, after the cabinet meeting, the news spread like wildfire and officials were talking about it.

Many officials did not understand the key to the court disputes at that time, so they blindly agreed with the old opinions of the previous dynasty and firmly opposed the navy's voyage to the West.

In fact, many officials have always been dissatisfied with Wei Guangde's efforts to promote the navy, including some officials from Jiangnan.

They supported lifting the maritime ban, but did not support the court investing real money in the navy.

The fact that the navy costs money is only one of the reasons for their opposition. The more important reason is that the government’s intervention at sea may not be a good thing for maritime merchants. It means that the sea will be supervised by the court, and they cannot do things recklessly at sea.

Later, the news that the Ming navy stationed in Xiaoliuqiu and obtained half of Luzon also spread quietly in the official circles of the capital.

It's just that the court didn't make a big fuss about it, and the top leaders seemed to let it go, so even those who wanted to impeach him had to give up. After all, the navy's move was also to expand the territory of the Ming Empire. Is it wrong to do so?

Just think about it and you will understand that impeachment will have no effect other than offending people.

But now that Wei Guangde wants his navy to sail to the West, which will once again "cost the people a lot of money and time", the situation is different.

Many officials have begun to collude privately and are preparing to start impeachment, and their target is directly aimed at Xiyang.

Such a memorial is easy to write. Just copy the Xuande court meeting and the matter can be finalized.

In the Ministry of War, after Tan Lun returned, he began to issue orders to transfer ships to Zhejiang, and also began to search for documents about Zheng He's voyages to the West.

When sailing to the West, one must know which places one visited, which countries one had contact with, and which tributary relations one established.

However, the problem was exposed after the investigation.

There are actually very few books recording Zheng He's voyages to the West, and even those that were found only contain minor details, which are not the most important information at all.

This is very fatal.

Tan Lun was furious and immediately scolded the doctor in charge of the documents and archives, asking them to search for it as soon as possible, even if they had to turn the entire warehouse upside down.

"Sir, this document was deliberately hidden. I'm afraid it will be difficult to find."

The doctor was scolded by Tan Lun. When Tan Lun was tired of scolding him, he started to defend himself.

"What do you mean? Who is so bold?"

Tan Lun was shocked and asked immediately.

"Sir, this happened many years ago. Anyone who knew the whereabouts of the document has long since passed away."

The doctor cried out with some grievance.

"Shut up and tell me what's going on."

Tan Lun continued to ask about this matter. What if the navy cannot find the information when sailing to the West?

You know, the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to archive management.

During the late Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the collection of Yuan Dynasty archives. During the uprising, he constantly ordered his subordinates to pay attention to collecting archival materials of the Yuan Dynasty. At the same time, he also encouraged Yuan Dynasty generals to surrender with archival books and maps.

Therefore, these archives played a very important role in Zhu Yuanzhang's military victory, consolidation of social order in the early Ming Dynasty, restoration and development of the economy, and establishment of various systems.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out careful and detailed management of archives, ensuring that the information was preserved intact and "never deleted."

In other words, the court's documents could never be destroyed. Even if they had been stored for too long or there was not enough space to store them, and a new warehouse had to be built to store them, destruction was prohibited.

The archive warehouses established in the Ming Dynasty mainly included the Imperial History Bureau, the Cabinet Library, and the Yellow Book Library. These were the storage places for central documents. Each ministry and local government also had its own archive warehouse - the Jiage Library.

Jiageku is a warehouse that stores archives in the form of cabinets. As a comprehensive archive institution at that time, Jiageku not only stored books but also documents. Some local governments even set up special areas in Jiageku to store the yellow books of the areas under their jurisdiction.

The crime of losing documents is also very serious, and the punishment may be dismissal from office at the least and death at the worst.

How could Tan Lun not be shocked by such punishment?

"These are all things that happened during the Chenghua period, and were passed down by word of mouth by the treasurer."

The person in charge had no choice but to tell Tan Lun what the previous person in charge had said when he took over.

It turns out that during the Chenghua period, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty favored the eunuch Wang Zhi, who established the Western Factory.

At that time, Laos in Southeast Asia was attacking Annan. In order to please Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Zhi instigated Emperor Xianzong to send troops to annex Annan.

Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty also wanted to expand his territory and was very attracted by Wang Zhi's suggestion.

During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Di sent Duke of Yingguo, Zhang Fu, to attack Annan, leaving behind many military archives.

Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty then summoned the Minister of War Yu Zijun and asked him to retrieve the military files of Zhang Fu's attack on Annan in preparation for his own expedition against Vietnam.

Yu Zijun sent someone to check for a long time and found that the file was lost.

It turned out that Liu Daxia heard that Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty was going to attack Annan, so he took the initiative to hide the file.

Yu Zijun, the Minister of War, searched for a long time but couldn't find him. Liu Daxia secretly said to him, "Once the conflict is started, the southwest will be in ruins."

That means that once the war breaks out, the people in the southwest will suffer terribly.

After hearing this, Yu Zijun immediately came to his senses and began to refuse.

In the end, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty failed to send troops, and the people in the southwest were spared from disaster.

Later, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty liked rare treasures, so eunuchs such as Wang Zhi advised him to follow the example of Zheng He's voyages to the West and send capable eunuchs to sea to search for treasures.

Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty believed the eunuch's words and sent people to the Ministry of War to retrieve the files on Zheng He's voyages to the West.

Perhaps having tasted success in hiding archives, Liu Daxia hid them again. This time, he hid the archives of Zheng He's voyages to the West.

Liu Daxia believed that Zheng He's voyage to the West would cost a huge amount of money and result in the casualties of thousands of soldiers and civilians. Even if he obtained rare treasures, it would not be of any benefit to the country or the people's livelihood.

"When I took office, I also said that Lord Liu told Minister Xiang of the Ministry of War that Sanbao's voyage to the West would waste hundreds of thousands of money and grain, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians would die. Even if he brought back rare treasures, what good would it do to the country! This is a particularly bad policy at the moment, and the ministers should strongly advise against it. Even if there are old cases, they should be destroyed to eradicate the root of the problem."

Hearing the chief say this, Tan Lun's heart immediately jumped, and he asked anxiously: "Can the document be destroyed?"

"No, I just don't know how it was hidden."

The person in charge replied hurriedly that he dared not say such words casually, because there was actually a record in the handover document, which would be clear if he checked.

This was also the reason why the warehouse manager at the time was worried that he and his family would be held responsible if the court investigated the matter and the search was fruitless.

If the files were really lost, the entire family would be doomed.

I'll leave a message for the successor, so that at least he knows what happened back then. As the saying goes, "every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor." If there is any problem, go dig up Liu Daxia's ancestral grave.

"That's good. Since it's hidden, we can always find it."

Tan Lun breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately said fiercely: "Arsenal. No, call all the people in the department to go to the cabinet warehouse, even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, you must find all the documents for me."

It was rumored in later generations that the documents related to Zheng He's voyages to the West were destroyed by Liu Daxia. This is actually difficult to say, just as there are rumors that tens of millions of Ming Dynasty archives were destroyed during the Qianlong period, including Zheng He's documents.

However, under normal circumstances, Liu Daxia should dare to hide the documents, but he would never dare to destroy them, because the crime was too serious and could not be washed away. However, Emperor Qianlong could burn everything with one fire.

All of a sudden, the officials in the Ministry of War who were originally discussing the matter were called by their superiors to look for documents in the cabinet library, and they had no time to discuss the navy's voyage to the West.

The situation in the Ministry of Revenue was similar, but it had not yet reached the point of a major war. It was just as busy as ever, sending letters to various places in Jiangnan and transferring items from local treasuries to Zhejiang.

Ministry of Rites, Ma Ziqiang summoned two assistant ministers to discuss the selection of envoys as soon as he returned.

When the news spread, some officials who wanted to make comments immediately stopped doing so. (End of this chapter)