prosperous age

Inside the Qianqing Palace, a dozen eunuchs held candles in their hands and gathered around a huge map.

The map was already hanging on the left side of the palace wall. The map drawn on it with ink was basically similar to the world map of later generations, except that some islands in the South Seas were missing.

This map is a world map gradually pieced together by the Ming Dynasty based on data collected during its voyages to the Western Ocean and map information gathered from Europe. It is also a key for the Wanli Emperor to understand the world.

He never imagined that the world was so vast, and that his proud empire was merely a small corner of this enormous map.

On the map, the Wanli Emperor surveyed his territory, his gaze involuntarily extending westward.

He had read in a book that the Mongol Yuan army of over 100,000 marched west and conquered a vast territory.

Moreover, this conquered territory was eventually divided into several empires, each with strength no less than that of the Ming Dynasty.

Although everything has changed drastically over the past two hundred years, it now carries an even deeper, indescribable meaning in the eyes of the Wanli Emperor.

As an emperor, he seemed to understand the thoughts of the Mongol Khan.

With a strong and well-equipped army, they naturally wanted to conquer all the land they could see and turn it into their pastures.

And what about the Ming Dynasty?

"Zhang Hong".

The Wanli Emperor suddenly shouted.

"The old slave is here."

This was in the Qianqing Palace. Zhang Hong did not refer to himself as "your subject" as he would outside, but instead referred to himself as "this old servant."

This is actually because he was able to understand his place; a eunuch is the emperor's household servant.

Therefore, in front of the emperor who possessed the entire realm, they were subjects when meeting foreign officials, but behind closed doors, they were slaves.

"I remember reading in the ancient texts that beyond the Jade Gate Pass lies a barren land. What do the people there eat?"

"This old servant does not know, but I suppose there is food, it's just different from what we grow in the Ming Dynasty."

Upon hearing the emperor's question, Zhang Hong immediately replied, but then realized that it seemed somewhat perfunctory, since he genuinely did not know the answer.

Who would normally care what people from outlying regions eat?

"Oh, I remember now. The Agricultural Promotion Office under the Ministry of Rites is responsible for collecting various plant seeds for planting. They might know about it."

After a brief moment of thought, Zhang Hong immediately added his own explanation.

"The Agricultural Promotion Office, the government office established by Master Wei."

Upon hearing Zhang Hong's words, Emperor Wanli immediately remembered it.

Although Wei Guangde's initial goal was mainly to study the planting and storage of crops such as sweet potatoes and corn, and to promote the technology, once it was actually implemented, he was no longer limited to this. Instead, he extensively collected plant seeds from home and abroad and studied their cultivation within the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the Agricultural Affairs Bureau was indeed able to answer Emperor Wanli's question.

After all, if the crops grown by the foreign vassal states can be eaten by them, then the people of the Ming Dynasty can naturally eat them too; it mainly depends on the taste and yield.

Nodding slightly, the Wanli Emperor gently stroked the map with his hand, and after a long while, he finally said, "What a vast land! It's more than ten thousand miles long."

Although everyone talks about the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty, he actually knows that this statement is far-fetched and is just a embellishment.

"Master Wei has a keen eye; he can see into the outside world and knows that even if we are at odds with the Portuguese and Western barbarians, it would take them more than a year or two to mobilize warships in such a vast sea area."

In truth, our enemies, the barbarians, are not worthy of the title.

In today's era, with current technology, it's simply unrealistic to mobilize troops from afar.

At the very least, European countries cannot do that.

As for Spain and Portugal being able to establish large colonial governments in the Americas, that was a special case.

In fact, any slightly powerful and aggressive kingdom could drive them out.

After all, how many people did they have when they conquered the Inca Empire?

It was the infighting within the ruling class of the Inca Empire that gave the Spanish the opportunity to succeed, implement the decapitation plan, and subsequently control the entire Inca Empire.

"Zhang Hong, Zhang Cheng, Chen Ju, tell me, should we proceed with the Ministry of War's memorial submitted by the Cabinet today, as Master Wei suggested?"

Emperor Wanli asked again.

"This servant dares not interfere in state affairs."

The three people named by the emperor immediately knelt on the ground, not daring to utter a word.

"This is not your interference in state affairs. I have already made a decision in my heart. I just want to hear if you have any different opinions."

The Wanli Emperor spoke.

At this moment, Zhang Hong, Zhang Cheng, and Chen Ju looked at each other, and as Zhang Cheng and Chen Ju lowered their heads, Zhang Hong understood their attitude.

So Zhang Hong spoke up, saying, "Your Majesty, we servants think that Grand Secretary Wei's suggestion is good."

"I understand."

The Wanli Emperor spoke, his gaze now fixed on the island nation to the east of the Ming Dynasty.

The surrounding vassal states of the Ming Dynasty can be said to have all submitted to the Ming Dynasty. Even Burma, which had previously outwardly complied but inwardly defied the Ming Dynasty, is now part of the Ming territory.

Only the one to the east, Japan, has always been regarded as a small, insignificant country.

A mere Japanese king dares to call himself Emperor; he's truly courting death.

By subjugating Japan, the Ming Dynasty could firmly control the surrounding vassal states, and its influence would extend southward from the northern border to the southernmost point of the South Seas.

This seems to be the Chinese civilization sphere that Wei Guangde had been planning all along. With the entire East Asia under his control, this region is densely populated and rich in resources, enough to support the development of the Ming Dynasty for a long time to come.

In particular, spices from Southeast Asia and handicrafts from the Ming Dynasty were favored by Western countries and could generate a steady stream of revenue for the Ming Dynasty.

As for the Mongols, who posed the greatest threat to the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wanli knew that the cabinet had planned years ago to gradually weaken the Mongols' fighting power, send most of the Mongol men into temples, and control the Mongol population growth.

Although this placed a heavy burden on the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wanli still approved of it.

If these people were left outside, and their needs for massive amounts of supplies could not be met, they would inevitably have no choice but to plunder the Ming Dynasty.

Warfare costs just as much, or even more, and is far more destructive.

"Put it away."

The Wanli Emperor finally gave his orders, then turned and walked toward his throne.

Just as the eunuch was putting away the map, he looked back at it and memorized the map's image.

"Let the cabinet handle domestic affairs. Perhaps I should turn my attention to the surrounding areas."

Emperor Wanli silently reminded himself of this.

The next day, Wei Guangde went to the cabinet after leaving the mansion. In front of the duty room, besides Lu Bu, the Grand Secretary Zhang Hong was also standing in front of him.

"Why is Eunuch Zhang here, Lu Bu? Why don't you invite Eunuch Zhang in to rest?"

Wei Guangde hurriedly quickened his pace to greet Guo, bowing as he spoke with dissatisfaction to Lu Bu.

Lu Bu also looked aggrieved. He had invited Zhang Hong in, but Zhang Hong wouldn't go in, perhaps because the host wasn't home.

"Don't blame him, it was the clerk who said to wait here."

Zhang Hong said with a smile.

"Eunuch Zhang, please come in." After exchanging a few casual words at the door, Wei Guangde invited the man into the duty room.

After they were seated and tea was served, Wei Guangde asked, "May I ask what business brings Eunuch Zhang here?"

Zhang Hong slowly put down his teacup, reached into his sleeve and took out a memorial, saying, "This is a report from the Ministry of War. His Majesty has already approved it and ordered me to deliver it this morning."

Last night, His Majesty opened the map of the world again in the palace and privately asked, "What do the people in those barren lands to the west grow and eat? Does the Grand Secretary know?"

"Oh, then Eunuch Zhang can report to His Majesty that the food there is similar to ours."

The Silk Road has existed for thousands of years, and the two sides have long exchanged crop cultivation techniques.

As far as I know, in water-rich areas of the West, they also followed the example of our Great Ming Dynasty by diverting water to grow rice, while in dry land they grow wheat, except that they don't use wheat to make steamed buns, but rather to make bread.

I remember that the palace could also make that kind of thing; it was a common food eaten by the barbarians from the west.

As for the dishes, they are said to be very primitive, consisting of simply washing vegetables and either boiling or eating them raw.

If it weren't for the Silk Road's role in facilitating communication, we'd probably still be living a primitive, savage life.

Wei Guangde said with a smile that the content was half true and half false, but it best reflected the mentality of the people of the Ming Dynasty.

To say they have an advanced civilization, I'm sorry, it seems they don't really.

But to say they are primitive is not quite right; at least they have learned a lot from China, which has greatly improved their lifestyle.

It can be argued that the East was the driving force propelling the world forward during this period.

All of this is the result of contact between Eastern and Western civilizations.

"Indeed, I thought so too."

Then next time His Majesty asks, I'll know what to say, hehe.

Zhang Hong laughed.

Wei Guangde had already opened the memorial; the emperor had approved it.

Of course, this was actually within Wei Guangde's expectations.

The only somewhat unexpected thing was that the Wanli Emperor actually looked at the Map of the World.

After the painting was completed, it was kept by the Ministry of War and also collected by the palace, but it is said that Emperor Wanli only looked at it a few times at the beginning and then shelved it.

Wei Guangde could never have imagined that his words in the cabinet yesterday—that even if the Portuguese reacted, it would be more than half a year later—would open the young emperor's eyes to the world for the first time, making him realize how vast the world was.

Just as Wei Guangde and Zhang Hong were chatting, a large contingent of Mongol cavalry appeared outside Desheng Fort.

Upon discovering the enemy's presence, the Ming soldiers guarding the pass immediately went on high alert and sent a warning message to Datong City on horseback.

Many Mongol tribes were stationed dozens of miles outside the Great Wall. At such a distance, sending out scouts to monitor them was no longer very useful. The only option was to send the troops along the Great Wall to the walls to be on guard at all times.

At the Desheng Fort pass, the garrison commander was already fully armed and on the city wall, naturally cursing under his breath.

What kind of weather is this? It's freezing cold outside, and the Mongols still can't stop causing trouble.

Deshengbao is an important pass in Datong Town of the Ming Great Wall. It is more than 70 li away from Datong City and has been the main passage connecting northern Shanxi and Inner Mongolia since ancient times. Its geographical location is very important.

Nevertheless, the Mongols rarely used this place as their main battlefield; they mostly fought and defended at other passes on other protrusions of the Great Wall.

Because it is so close to Datong, it can receive support from the rear at any time.

Upon reaching the top of the city wall, before the garrison commander could finish his tirade, a patrolling officer reported: "Sir, there are rumors outside that an envoy is going to Datong to pay respects to Lord Zheng Luo. Accompanying him are not only Lady Zhongshun, but also Prince Shunyi."

"what?"

Hearing that the Mongols below were about to cross the border, and that the Shunyi King and Lady Zhongshun were among the crowd, he realized that they were about to cross the border.

Lady Chungshun crossed the border from here a couple of days ago, but she didn't say she would come back from here.

These border generals were naturally unaware of the imperial court's decision, and even within Datong City, not many people knew about it.

The news is not so easy to spread yet; it is currently only circulating in the vicinity of Gyeonggi Province.

The garrison commander immediately peered down from the city wall and saw three or four hundred Mongol cavalrymen. With such a formation, he absolutely dared not open the city gate.

However, such a guard lineup was in line with the scale of the trip undertaken by Prince Shunyi and Lady Zhongshun.

When Lady Zhongshun crossed the border last time, she was accompanied by more than a hundred horsemen as guards.

It seems reasonable for the Prince of Shunyi to have two hundred guards.

"Quickly send a message to Datong."

The garrison commander turned to his personal guards and instructed them that he could only try to appease the Mongols outside the city to prevent them from causing trouble.

The cabinet's decision had been communicated to Datong two days prior, and Zheng Luo informed Lady Zhongshun immediately upon receiving the document.

Although Third Sister had a high reputation in Mongolia, she dared not act alone on such an important matter. So she obtained a warrant from Zheng Luo and left the Great Wall to return to Mongolia overnight.

After that, the leaders of the various Mongol tribes gathered in the royal tent to discuss how to make a decision.

The Ming Dynasty's intentions were actually quite clear: to verify the population and issue household registration certificates, ostensibly to facilitate the court's assistance. However, Huang Taiji, San Niangzi, and the leaders of various tribes all knew the consequences of doing so.

Their control over the tribes under their control would weaken, and the Ming Dynasty would directly bestow favors upon its people.

Moreover, the consequence of doing so was that it revealed almost the most authentic side of Mongolia to the Ming Dynasty.

The tribe's population size, number of able-bodied men, and so on.

However, several tribes are currently facing food shortages. If they cannot obtain food from the Ming Dynasty, their tribes may face annihilation.

However, the surrounding tribes, despite having supplies, were unwilling to provide them, even if they were willing to pay a heavy price. In the face of this great disaster, no one was willing to help.

Therefore, the first to choose to support were those tribes that were already running out of food.

As for the future, they don't care.

If the people of the tribe starve to death or flee to other tribes, they will have no future.

Of course, given the current situation, other tribes may not necessarily take these people in.

After all, no one has enough supplies.

So after a heated argument, although most people opposed the Ming Dynasty interfering in the affairs of the Mongol tribes, when faced with a life-or-death decision, Prince Shunyi had no choice but to consult with the Third Lady and agree.

This is definitely not the time to annex other tribes. It could easily lead to fierce conflict, not only to prevent their own tribe from being annexed, but also to seize food from other tribes.

Those tribes without food are very likely to take the opportunity to cause trouble.

Once tribes go to war over food and survival, the consequences are truly unpredictable.

They cannot allow this uncertainty to exist.

As for rallying various tribes to march south and attack the Ming Dynasty to seize grain, well, under these circumstances, it's simply impossible to do so.

It's freezing cold; most people probably won't even get there before their bodies are numb from the cold.

After Huang Taiji and San Niangzi made their stance clear, the other tribal leaders had no choice but to agree and accept the Ming Dynasty's population verification.

They don't have accurate population data, nor can they estimate how much food support is needed.

So Huang Taiji arrived to discuss with Zheng Luo how to verify the aid and how to transfer the supplies. (End of Chapter)