Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Even more disappointed than Duke Chengguo and Marquis Yangwu are the nobles who don’t even have fiefdoms.

Normally they didn't feel anything, but after getting together this time, many people suddenly discovered:
The hottest topic among the nobles has changed from enjoying entertainment and participating in court affairs to opening up fiefdoms.

The feudal nobles gathered together to talk loudly, shouting "how many ships you have" and "how many soldiers I have", which they found extremely irritating, and they gathered together to ridicule these people who did not know etiquette.

But deep down, many people felt lost because they knew that these sailors were the source of power for these new nobles.

Even court ministers need to be careful when dealing with these upstarts.

Because if these people are pushed into a corner, they will really take action. With the emperor and the aristocratic parliament protecting them, the court officials can't do anything to them easily.

This reminded many nobles of their ancestors' glory in the early days of the country. At that time, civil officials were so humble in front of the nobles.

But they haven't had this feeling for a long time since the death of their nobles in the Battle of Tumu.

Unexpectedly, these upstarts whom they looked down upon actually showed signs of being a rising star.

This even caused some civil servants to be quite worried, and they would submit memorials to impeach them from time to time.

Fortunately, these new nobles spend most of their time in their fiefdoms, so there are not many things they can be impeached for. Even if their representatives in the capital can act on their behalf, they can't easily become domineering.

This made the conflict between civil officials and nobles less prominent and it was easily suppressed by the emperor.

But everyone knows that the feudal nobles have only just begun to gain momentum. In the future, they will become even stronger and become a force that cannot be ignored in the court.

If the old nobles had not transformed into fiefdom nobles, their fate would most likely have been marginalization, just like the Nanjing nobles.

Funing Marquis Zhu Guobi was surrounded by a group of people and seemed quite absent-minded.

As the admiral of the Shenji Camp and likely to become the governor-general of the Jing Camp in the future, he felt what it meant to be no longer in glory.

In the past, with this status, he would have been one of the most successful people among the nobles, if not the most successful.

But after working for the past two years, he felt that his power was getting smaller and smaller, and his influence was gradually declining.

In the structure set up by the emperor, although the Beijing Camp was still nominally managed by the nobles, the specific training was handled by the General Staff Department. The selection of officers and logistics affairs were also managed by the Guard Department.

Although he is a high-ranking admiral, he actually does not have much power.

For example, he could not say much about Li Banghua's cleaning up of false accounts and rectifying the Beijing camp. The officials of the Privy Council and the Ministry of War were more inclined to Li Banghua.

Even the emperor only asked him to maintain the stability of the Beijing Army. The army he really cared about was actually the new army of the patrol camp.

This made Zhu Guobi feel a strong sense of loss. He felt that even if he became the governor of the Beijing camp after Zhang Weixian's death, he would not have much power:

"Your Majesty, you arranged this to treat me as a figurehead!"

"If you really want to be a mere figurehead, you might as well go to Nanjing and serve as a garrison commander."

Governor-General of the Beijing Camp and Garrison Commander of Nanjing are the highest positions that a nobleman can hold, and these two positions were also the most prestigious in the past.

Now Zhu Guobi felt that the Governor-General of the Beijing Camp was becoming a useless position. Under the exclusion of the General Staff and the General Guard, he did not have much real power.

Thinking of the prosperity of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing City, he began to consider going to Nanjing and serving as a garrison there in the future.

But thinking that Nanjing City was not his no matter how prosperous it was, he looked at the nobles with fiefs, wondering whether he should ask the emperor to open up a fiefdom overseas.

If he didn't take action now, he was worried that the places close to the Ming Dynasty would be seized by the new nobles. Even if he wanted to open up a vassal state, he couldn't find an opportunity.
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This premonition was correct, because Yu Risheng, Qi Changguo and others all wanted to open up fiefdoms. Those who could not obtain the nobility status without opening up fiefdoms were actually the most lost group of people.

No matter what, Zhu Guobi and other old nobles still had aristocratic status. Even if the emperor marginalized them, he would not easily strip them of their titles.

However, although Yu Risheng and others’ ancestors were posthumously granted titles and the emperor allowed them to inherit the titles, before opening up their fiefdoms, their identities could only be hereditary officials.

Before they successfully opened up their fiefdoms, they would not be granted titles by the emperor. Some even only had the empty title of Jinwu Guard, without any power.

This made Yu Risheng think of the questions the emperor had asked him and Zhang Tongchang, and he felt a little regretful.

If he had been more proactive at that time, the glory of the Zhang family of Jiangling would now belong to their Yu family.

Unfortunately, it is too late now. He is only a hereditary commander, far inferior to the famous Duke of Jiangling.

Yu Risheng, who had sensed this last year, was already preparing to go to Southeast Asia to establish a fiefdom.

At this gathering of nobles, he asked Zheng Hongkui, the representative of the Zheng family:

"What exactly is so difficult about opening a fiefdom in Nanyang?"

"Why hasn't there been much movement in this past year?"

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Yu Risheng had a good relationship with Tian Ergeng and others. The Zheng family had some friendship with them because they helped Tian Ergeng and other eunuchs to develop Dongning.

Zheng Hongkui had received a lot of care from the Jinyiwei in the capital, so he explained to Yu Risheng in detail:

"The opening of the Nanyang vassal state was smooth but also somewhat unsuccessful."

"Prince Jingjiang has already established ports and supply points in Champa and Cambodia. It won't be difficult to reach Southeast Asia by following the coastline."

"But Borneo, Java and other places are now controlled by the Dutch. They have been seeking revenge since they were driven out of Tongning."

"After defeating the Kingdom of Matram again last year, the Dutch dispatched their fleet to reoccupy the island of Anbuna that had been recaptured by Li Guozhu, the envoy to Java."

"The ocean routes in the South Seas have been blocked by the Dutch, so it is naturally impossible to open a fiefdom in Borneo now."

This was what made the Zheng family very angry. They had never expected that the Dutch would actually stop them from establishing a fiefdom in Borneo.

Even the Spanish in Luzon were unwilling to see the Ming Dynasty re-intervene in the South China Sea and refused to allow their ships to dock at Luzon ports.

This made Zheng Zhilong, who was preparing to establish a fiefdom in Southeast Asia after the Battle of Ryukyu, very angry. He planned to fight the Dutch to decide the position of overlord of Southeast Asia.

Li Guozhu and others also strongly supported this because the Governor-General of Nanyang, Guo Shangyou, had already ordered that Anbuna Island must be recaptured, otherwise it would be reported to the court for punishment on the charge of losing territory.

This made Li Guozhu feel very stressed and he fully realized how difficult it was to be an official of the Ming Dynasty:
If the emperor had not stipulated that overseas areas were martial law zones, many court systems would not have to be implemented overseas. When he lost Anbuna Island, he might have been executed.

Therefore, this time he tried his best to persuade Liu Xiang and others to help Zheng Zhilong fight against the Dutch.

The South Seas are now shrouded in war clouds, even affecting shipping.

Dutch merchant ships were even driven away from the coast by the Zheng family, completely cutting off trade with the Ming Dynasty.

Even Japan's trade was affected and blocked by Zheng's fleet.

This made it difficult for the East India Company, which was making money, to bear the loss. They had already dispatched warships to actively seek out the Zheng family fleet for battle. (End of this chapter)