Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian had already had an idea about the governor-general of the three borders, which was to let Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi, take the position.

After several months of testing, Zhu Youjian had determined that Sun Chuanting was capable of serving as the governor-general of the three borders and stabilizing the situation in Shaanxi.

But before he could raise the issue, Yuan Keli, the Minister of War, said:

“The position of the governor of the three provinces has been confirmed to be replaced this year, and candidates have been asked to submit their policy manifestos.”

"Now that Shi Yongan has been transferred to the post of governor of Nangan, I think we should select someone to take over his term for the next few months."

"When the election comes in August, the official selection will be held formally."

This proposal blocked what Zhu Youjian was about to say. After all, it was he who promoted the term system for governors and governors-general and the policy guidelines.

It is impossible to directly appoint Sun Chuanting after letting the candidates submit their policy platforms.

So after thinking about it, Zhu Youjian said:
"Since there are only a few months left in his term, let Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting take over the post of Governor-General of the Three Borders!"

"Also, Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng have been acting governors for such a long time. They have made many contributions and the word "acting" should be removed."

"Do you have any objection to this matter?"

Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng were appointed as acting governors in November last year.

At that time, many governors and governors-general needed to be replaced, and the ministers were also worried about being labeled as eunuchs by the emperor. They had no objection to the emperor's appointment of two people as acting governors-general.

Now, after a few months, Sun Chuanting has made the Shaanxi Martial Arts Conference a great success and has recruited many Shaanxi bandits. In the three provinces' fight against bandits, Shaanxi suffered the most serious banditry and achieved the most significant results.

In the first month of this year, Lu Xiangsheng used a trick to capture the great thief Ma Pianpian. He also trained a group of local warriors as a reserve force to guard the Great Wall according to the emperor's request.

These two people did a good job as governors, and their achievements can be considered outstanding among all the governors and governors-general.

The ministers also believed that the emperor had good judgment of people, and agreed that the two would be removed from the acting positions and given real positions in the future.

One of the reasons for this is that Sun Chuanting once worked in the Ministry of Personnel and was recommended by Yang Jingchen, the current acting Minister of Personnel.

Lu Xiangsheng was a Jinshi in the second year of the Tianqi reign and a disciple of Yuan Keli, the Minister of War.

With the support of these two important officials in the court, they were able to move from acting position to actual position without any trouble.

From then on, Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng officially became governor-level officials, qualified to serve as governors-general, or even vice ministers and chancellors.

After this episode, Zhu Youjian began the main topic of today's meeting:

Dealing with famine and civil unrest.

In order to let his ministers know the severity of the famine, Zhu Youjian said:
"I have said before that Taizu Chengzu told me in a dream that there was too much killing in the world, which led to chaos in heaven and earth and the unpredictable seasons."

"It has been confirmed that a severe drought has occurred in the capital, and there is a high probability that a drought will also occur in Shaanxi."

"And I can tell you that this is just the beginning. Disasters will continue to occur frequently in the next 10 to 20 years."

"This is a reminder from Taizu Chengzu. All officials must be vigilant. The Ministry of Personnel should make disaster relief and quelling rebellions the top priority in the assessment of officials."

"In the future, when evaluating the performance of officials, this point must be examined first!"

The ministers were speechless, and many thought the emperor was playing tricks again. Zheng Yiwei, a cabinet minister who did not quite believe this, said:
"Your Majesty, Taizu Chengzu has been invited by Hou Tu Huang Di Zhi to send his incarnation to serve as the City God of the two capitals."

“Why don’t you pray to Taizu Chengzu to solve this drought?”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian frowned and looked at Zheng Yiwei, saying:
"Cheng Huang Tudi is a god under the command of Hou Tu Huang Didi."

"The God of Clouds, Rain, Wind and Thunder is a god in heaven, a god under the command of the Emperor of Heaven."

"There is too much killing in the world now, and it is difficult for the gods to take their place."

"Even Master Zhang's prayer for rain did not receive a response."

"Taizu Chengzu sent his incarnation to be the city god because it was difficult for the gods to take their positions." "You want to let the city god and the land gods solve the drought that the gods are responsible for?"

Zheng Yiwei listened to the emperor's explanation, but he still didn't quite believe it. But he looked at the emperor's gaze and felt that if he continued to question him, he might completely offend the emperor.

So he turned around and said:

"Your Majesty, what exactly do you mean by excessive killing?"

"I am not clear about this, please clarify it, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Youjian saw that he finally came to the point, staring at him, and finally turned his gaze to the ministers, and said solemnly:

"This killing is excessive, and it is not limited to the Ming Dynasty."

"Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu told me that Westerners, led by missionaries, invaded North and South America."

"Not only did they launch wars and destroy the American countries, they also spread plagues such as smallpox, which did not originally exist in the Americas, causing the deaths of a large number of indigenous people living in the Americas."

"The number of the indigenous peoples, whom the Westerners call Indians, has been reduced from tens of millions to millions. This is the main reason for this great change in the world."

This statement is not made up by Zhu Youjian. One of the speculations about the cause of the Little Ice Age in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is that the large number of Indians died, leaving a large amount of uncultivated land. The trees that thrived on these lands absorbed a large amount of carbon dioxide from the air, weakening the heat absorption capacity of the atmosphere. This in turn cooled the climate and triggered the Little Ice Age.

Zhu Youjian didn't know whether this conjecture was correct, but there was one thing he could confirm: if a few larger forests grew outside the Amazon rainforest, the impact on the earth's climate would be enormous.

So he attributed the Little Ice Age to this incident, believing that it was the Europeans' slaughter of Native Americans that led to chaos in the world, unpredictable seasons, and frequent floods and droughts.

The ministers had never heard of this statement before, and they were all shocked by what the emperor said:

First, they were shocked that the emperor seemed to be able to communicate with Taizu and Chengzu and explain the reasons for the frequent floods and droughts.

Secondly, they were shocked that the missionaries, whom they regarded as Western Confucianists, were so cruel and killed all the indigenous people in America as pioneers.

Some people find it hard to believe this when they think of the gentle and refined appearance of Matteo Ricci and others. Especially Ricci's disciple, Xu Guangqi, a cabinet minister, said:

"The loyalty and sincerity of the teacher and his friends are known to all the people in the capital."

"Emperor Shenzong also agreed with this and allowed Master Li to be buried in the capital."

"Why does your majesty say that they are the forerunners of the Tethys, and that their counterparts in America have killed many people?"

Zhu Youjian knew that some people would question it, but the mass death of Native Americans could not be concealed. So he said confidently:

"Among the people in America, some migrated from Shenzhou, and some believed in the Emperor of Heaven and the Earth."

"So Taizu Chengzu knew all about this matter from Hou Tu Huang Di Zhi, and told me in a dream."

"If you don't believe it, you can ask the Westerners who have been to America and lived in Xiangshan'ao and other places. Or you can send a ship to America to check."

After hearing the emperor's firm words, the ministers began to doubt the matter.

After all, the deaths of so many people could not be concealed. They believed that as long as they wanted to find out, they would be able to find out sooner or later.

However, Xu Guangqi still refused to accept and was unwilling to believe that missionaries such as Matteo Ricci were the forerunners of the Western invasion. They believed that these missionaries were Confucian scholars from the West, well-educated and well-mannered people.

In this regard, before Zhu Youjian could refute, the Minister of Rites Wen Tiren said:
"Taizu said: Most of the Western people have no moral integrity and are afraid of power."

"They feared the might of the Ming Dynasty, so they disguised themselves as Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty."

"But when faced with Americans who were inferior to them, these people showed their true colors and slaughtered the indigenous people on a large scale."

"There is also the fact that during the Wanli period, the Portuguese killed our overseas citizens in Luzon. This is a well-known fact, which shows the nature of the Western barbarians."

Directly regard Westerners as barbarians, and view them in the same way as barbarians have been viewed in the past dynasties. (End of this chapter)