prosperous age

In real history, the Third Lady was persuaded by the Ming Dynasty to become Huang Taiji's wife by appealing to his emotions and reason.

After Huang Taiji's death, in order to maintain the superficial peace between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols, the Ming court still chose to support the Mongol tradition and made Huang Taiji's eldest son, Chelik, the Prince of Shunyi.

In the end, after Chelik died, the Ming court once again chose to support Chelik's eldest grandson, Bushitu, as the Prince of Shunyi, who took over the military seal, mount, and the seal of the Prince of Shunyi. This disappointed the Third Lady, who had made great contributions to the peaceful coexistence between the Mongols and the Ming Dynasty for many years.

As a mother, she naturally wanted to secure better benefits for her own son and grandson.

Wei Guangde had no idea how Third Sister viewed the Ming Dynasty's choices until her death.

But at this moment, he made the decision to support Lady Zhongjin's son in taking over the Mongol Khanate.

Wei Guangde found it hard to believe that Lady Zhongjin, who had always loved Han culture, would raise a son who wanted to be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty at any time. He even showed goodwill by suggesting that Lady Zhongjin send her grandson to study in the Ming Dynasty.

This is absolutely not a formal appointment. The Ming Dynasty does not need hostages. As long as it continues to demonstrate its strength, no one will dare to act recklessly.

If the Great Khan of Mongolia were to learn Han Chinese culture, the divide between the two sides might be resolved, and Mongolia would truly cease to be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps due to the patriarchal ideology in Han Chinese culture, San Niangzi's efforts to protect her children's interests were seen as "political chaos," and some even said that San Niangzi destroyed the foundation built by Anda Khan.

Ultimately, after Chelik's death, Mongolia descended into civil war, with one side led by Chelik's eldest grandson, Bushitu, and the other by San Niangzi.

"ShanDai, do you know what you're saying?"
Third Sister had no intention of becoming independent; if she did, she wouldn't have left Guihua City.

When Zhang Juzheng heard Wei Guangde say that the court should promise Butashiri that he could choose to support him to become the Khan of the grasslands when he comes of age, he immediately said anxiously.

"Uncle, if the court wants to expand its influence over the surrounding areas, it must support forces that are loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Even if they... well, they may not be in line with our cultural traditions, we must still support them unequivocally."

Otherwise, who will still be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and speak and act on its behalf in the future?

Perhaps, in the eyes of the scholar-officials, they should have voluntarily submitted to the Ming Dynasty, and they seemed to have no other choice.

However, the world is changing too fast, and the tentacles of the barbarians have already reached the periphery of the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty does not make some changes to its foreign policy, the surrounding powers will soon find that they may have other forces they can rely on to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

Although there were huge differences in appearance and ideology between the Yi people and the Ming Dynasty, the Yi people were actually far superior to the Ming Dynasty in terms of both military and economic strength at that time.

The only advantages the Ming Dynasty had left were its geographical advantage and its so-called tradition.

At the very least, Wei Guangde knew that when Tsarist Russia first moved eastward, the Mongols were hostile towards them, and there were even several battles between them.

Ultimately, however, some Mongol tribes chose to cooperate with Tsarist Russia.

The reason was that the Manchu Qing court failed to win in foreign wars, exposing their military disadvantages. In addition, they often divided and weakened the Mongol tribes and acted unfairly in many ways, which ultimately led to their alienation and disunity.

The Ming Dynasty will not repeat the mistakes of the past, at least not Wei Guangde.

When it's time to provide support, we should clearly support the forces that are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, allowing them to gain overwhelming power within the regime and deterring those who are not worthy.

Moreover, this era had another advantage: the Ming Dynasty was the nominal suzerain state, so there was no such strange option as peaceful coexistence or non-interference in internal affairs.

As the suzerain state, there is nothing we cannot interfere with. The nominal supreme ruler of your country is a king appointed by the Ming emperor.

If the Ming Dynasty says you are you, then you are; if it says you are not, then you are not.

The idea of ​​not bullying the weak is something Confucian scholars say, not something politicians should say. Although Wei Guangde's words were harsh, they were indeed one of the political tools available.

Zhang Juzheng merely frowned slightly and did not press the matter further. Instead, he asked, "What if Butashiri no longer has any loyalty to our Great Ming, or what if his descendants choose not to?"

"Dismiss him and choose another leader who is loyal to the Ming Dynasty."

Wei Guangde answered decisively, "When our Great Ming can arbitrarily determine the ruler of the grasslands, that place will already be the true territory of our Great Ming."

By promoting Buddhism to weaken the Mongol power and controlling the succession of Khans to strengthen ties between the two sides, the Ming Dynasty indeed gained an advantage through mutual infiltration and had the opportunity to completely annex the Mongols when their power was waning.

"That's a bit daring."

Zhang Juzheng only said one sentence before lowering his head to think.

By observing that San Niangzi left Guihua City, Wei Guangde could almost conclude that she did not want to continue the Mongolian tradition, namely the custom of "transfer marriage," and marry Huang Taiji, the son of Anda Khan.

Besides, the other person is old enough to be her father; how many more years does he have left to live?

Zhang Juzheng naturally saw this as well. His initial idea was to persuade the Third Lady to compromise in order to ensure that the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols could continue to coexist peacefully.

After all, she was a woman, so sacrificing herself was acceptable, especially since she was a woman from a different race.

He never expected that Wei Guangde would raise such a difficult question, which was practically saying that the Ming Dynasty wanted to cultivate a Wu Zetian in Mongolia.

Wei Guangde's interference in Mongolian affairs was more about setting a precedent.

The Ming Dynasty's cabinet often followed established practices in its work.

In the future, if there is internal strife among the vassal states, the Ming Dynasty can use this precedent as a basis to choose who to help and who not to help, and may even intervene by force.

This is what he wanted to achieve.

The centralized model of the Ming Dynasty was only suitable for controlling East Asia. If it were to expand into West Asia, it would encounter resistance from religious and tribal forces, making it difficult to establish a foothold.

Even a small country like Annam once posed a significant challenge to the Ming Dynasty.

It's not that I can't afford to fight, but rather that I think it's not worth it when I do the math.

The Ming Dynasty's inability to subdue Annam was simply a matter of finding it uneconomical to mobilize a large army and incur significant costs in terms of supplies and resources.

It was originally a conflict of loyalty. Annam was in turmoil, and the Annamite royal family needed the Ming Dynasty to take charge. As a result, the Annamite royal family was killed, and the Ming Dynasty envoy was also killed. Only then did Emperor Yongle get angry and send troops.

In fact, this was already a military intervention in the outer vassal states. It just evolved from maintaining the dignity of the Celestial Empire to occupation, dividing up prefectures and counties in preparation for actual control, and then the local powerful clans instigated a rebellion.

Both the Ming troops stationed there and the reinforcements suffered defeats, forcing them to withdraw, thus setting a precedent for failure.

After that, when other vassal states of the Ming Dynasty sought help, they mostly offered verbal support, which was due to this incident.

Wei Guangde's plan was to set a successful precedent.

How many more years does Huang Taiji have left to live? Can he outlive him?

Wei Guangde believed that he could remain in power for another twenty years and that as long as he did not make any major mistakes, the emperor would not replace him.

Twenty years later, Huang Taiji was over eighty years old. Given the environment of the grasslands, Wei Guangde didn't believe he could live that long.

As for why not now, it's simply because the conditions don't allow it.

The Ming Dynasty could not possibly support Third Sister becoming the King of Han, and the grassland people would not rise again.

Her son, Butashiri, is still a minor, making it difficult for him to convince the public.

Most importantly, Third Sister herself ran away; she had no intention of doing so at all.

A forced marriage will not be happy. Before Third Sister grows old and before she has any thoughts of seeking benefits for her descendants, the Ming Dynasty cannot take the initiative.

"We must inform the palace about this matter."

Zhang Juzheng concluded by looking up at Wei Guangde, which could be considered an implicit agreement.

"Has the briefing been sent to the palace?"

Wei Guangde turned to Liu Shouyou and asked.

"It's already been sent in; that's when I arrived at the cabinet."

Liu Shouyou said, bowing his head.

He could still distinguish between the two kings. When delivering a message to the palace, he couldn't go directly to Wei Guangde's side. He had to go to the Qianqing Palace first. However, the young emperor didn't summon him, so he came to the cabinet.

It was thanks to Wei Guangde's reminder that he came to this realization.

"I imagine the palace will take the time to discuss the previous memorial, and we'll report this matter then as well," Wei Guangde continued.

He wasn't sure if the young emperor would summon them or if they would discuss it after the lecture in the Wenhua Hall, so this was a safer bet.

"Very well, but what if something changes in Mongolia and His Majesty has not yet summoned me?"

"Then let's go directly to the Qianqing Palace to see His Majesty."

Zhang Juzheng was interrupted by Wei Guangde halfway through his speech.

He was determined to carry out this plan; he couldn't allow the old Annam precedent to continue to influence the Ming Dynasty's foreign policy.

In fact, when the Portuguese conquered Mantsga, Mantsga sought help from the Ming Dynasty. The warlike Zhengde Emperor merely issued an edict to sever trade with the foreigners, which was mostly because of this matter that the matter was put on hold.

If Emperor Zhengde had sent troops to Southeast Asia at that time, Palembang might have been recovered long ago.

Given Emperor Zhengde's personality, this is most likely how things would have developed.

We can do without the full-price bonus, but we will definitely take back the old port.

"In that case, your scheduled shift was originally scheduled to begin at the Wenhua Hall next month, but I've changed it and arranged for you to give a lecture three days later."

It just so happens that His Majesty was quite interested in matters concerning Jiangnan last time, and it seemed that the discussion at that time was not yet finished.

Zhang Juzheng spoke to Wei Guangde.

"Alright."

Wei Guangde nodded in agreement without caring.

After taking Liu Shouyou out of the Grand Secretary's office, Wei Guangde instructed, "Don't worry about things in the palace. I will explain to His Majesty when the time comes."

"As for the grasslands, quickly dispatch people knowledgeable in medicine to infiltrate Huang Taiji's inner circle and keep an eye on him."

Previously, the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent people to Guihua City, but their target was Altan Khan. Now, Huang Taiji has been added to their list.

"Yes, I will go and do it immediately."

Liu Shouyou followed along for a while, saying little, but he already understood the cabinet's plans for Mongolia.

We don't pay much attention to Mongolian affairs now, but things will be different later; everything will have to wait until Butashri comes of age.

"What about the Ministry of War?"

Liu Shouyou suddenly asked another question.

"As is customary, when it involves Mongolia, we should give them a copy."

Wei Guangde did not believe that Altan Khan's death would have any impact on the Ming Dynasty's border defenses in the short term.

In reality, Huang Taiji at this time should have been more afraid of the Ming Dynasty interfering in the succession of the Prince of Shunyi.

"However, tell Zhang Ke that the Ministry of War can issue a document to the border towns to strengthen their defenses, but there is no need to worry."

Wei Guangde continued.

"Yes, Grand Secretary Wei."

Liu Shouyou agreed, but did not follow him back to the duty room. He immediately took his leave.

He still had to go back and arrange for spies to deliver the man to Huang Taiji.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard has already made efforts to plant spies among the princes and ministers of Mongolia, so it is not too difficult to arrange for someone to get close to them now.

However, careful planning is still necessary to avoid any accidental exposure that could lead to the loss of all previous efforts.

In the afternoon, the young emperor Zhu Yijun saw some intelligence about Mongolia in the palace, but he only glanced at it briefly and put it aside.

He didn't have a deep impression of Anda Khan, after all, he didn't have a profound understanding of him.

If the Longqing Emperor were reading the memorial, he would probably immediately order fine wine and singing girls to be prepared for a good time.

That incident in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign really terrified him, especially after he learned that the army sent to defend the emperor had suffered a defeat in a surprise attack by Mongol cavalry.

In reality, most of the Ming army reinforcements at that time were avoiding battle and dared not advance. Being ambushed by the enemy cavalry was just an excuse for their delayed reinforcements.

After that, Qiu Luan gathered reinforcements from all sides, and during this time, the enemy cavalry completed their looting of the area around the capital and prepared to return home.

The Ming court scared itself, but it terrified the emperor and princes in the capital.

Zhang Juzheng also took this matter too seriously, thinking that the young emperor would summon the cabinet ministers upon seeing the news, but in reality nothing happened.

However, in the afternoon, Zhang Juzheng still carried out the arrangements he had made earlier, canceling the lecture given by a lecturer from the Hanlin Academy and arranging for Wei Guangde to take over.

The young emperor only saw the cabinet's arrangement on the second day, and he was quite pleased.

Having never been to Jiangnan and rarely even leaving the palace, the young emperor was genuinely curious about the outside world.

My last trip to Tianjin didn't extinguish this curiosity; on the contrary, it seemed to intensify.

"The day after tomorrow, hmm, that's good."

The young emperor thought to himself, then put the memorial aside and looked up at the bookshelf, where several stacked memorials came into view.

"Ok?"

The young emperor had a sudden thought. He remembered seeing the cabinet's memorial and then thought about this notice about adjusting the schedule. He immediately guessed the cabinet's intentions.

Zhu Yijun was somewhat excited about this.

Yes, he felt he had seen through Master Zhang's scheme and was somewhat smug.

Soon, two days passed, and it was Wei Guangde's turn to give a lecture at the Wenhua Hall.

He sat in the duty room for a while, and when he saw that it was almost time, he got up and headed towards the Wenhua Hall.

Not long after arriving at the destination, the young emperor, accompanied by a group of eunuchs, entered the palace.

After exchanging greetings, Wei Guangde was about to check the homework that had been assigned several months ago.

At that time, the Hangzhou mutiny had not yet occurred. Wei Guangde's last lesson for the young emperor was to ask him "Why did the Japanese pirates break out?"

This question sounds simple; you can easily find the reason by looking up the memorials submitted to the emperor around the 30th year of his reign.

However, this question was not meant to test the young emperor's ability to order eunuchs to search through memorials, but rather to test his understanding of the relationship between opening the seas and the Japanese pirate threat.

The fundamental question is why the Japanese pirates have transformed into maritime merchants.

Ultimately, it was Emperor Jiajing's ban on "maritime trade" that caused smugglers to suffer huge losses and take desperate measures.

The young emperor's answer was that the defenses in Jiangnan were lax and the coastal defenses were weak, which gave the Japanese pirates an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. There were also spies working within the country, which is why the pirates could not be stopped despite repeated attempts.

This is actually what the Ming Dynasty wanted people to see. The real reason, of course, could not be that the emperor banned maritime trade and a large number of gentry were engaged in smuggling.

These things wouldn't even appear in the memorials to the emperor.

"Has Your Majesty given this much further thought? Why is there a traitor?"

The drawbacks of the garrison system are a fact, and Wei Guangde does not excuse them.

However, a large number of spies emerged, seemingly continuing into later generations. (End of Chapter)