Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 252 The shameless explanation of the Jiangnan civil servants!

To put it nicely, Emperor Xianzong knew how to judge the situation, had superb political skills, and knew when to advance and retreat.

So he did not fall out with the civil officials in Jiangnan. If he couldn't find the nautical chart, he would just give up looking for it and live his life as it came.

But to put it bluntly, Emperor Xianzong was relatively weak and not as strong as Emperor Yingzong.

Emperor Yingzong had the same character as Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong. He would never compromise or give in. If anyone tried to stop him from doing what he wanted, he would fight to the death.

The civil servants who tried to stop him were either demoted or dismissed, or went to hell. There was no third way.

Whether during the Zhengtong period or the Tianshun period, countless officials were executed by Emperor Yingzong.

If we make a statistics of the number of officials killed, Zhu Yuanzhang would rank first. For the second position, even Zhu Di would have to compete with Zhu Qizhen.

It is possible that Zhu Qizhen killed more officials than Zhu Di.

However, Emperor Yingzong was impulsive, rash, reckless, and extremely stubborn.

As the saying goes, things that have just happened are prone to breaking. The civil officials and border generals worked together to stage the Tumu Incident on him, and he immediately became obedient.

But after Emperor Yingzong was restored to the throne, his nature did not change. He was still as tough as ever and was not willing to compromise at all.

So eight years later, the civil officials replaced him with Emperor Xianzong, who knew how to compromise.

Politics is the art of compromise.

Emperor Xianzong was a political master and was well versed in this.

Because Emperor Xianzong compromised on the issue of sailing to the West.

The Ming Emperor's voyage to the West was once again successfully prevented by the civil servants in Jiangnan.

Three times in a row, the civil officials in Jiangnan successfully thwarted the Ming Emperor's idea of ​​traveling to the West again.

And now, Zhu Youtang ascended the throne.

Faced with Zhu Youtang's questions, the civil servants in Jiangnan, after panicking, could only answer them reluctantly in an attempt to fool them.

"Your Majesty, you may not know that the imperial court's voyage to the West is completely different from their private smuggling."

Zhang Ning quickly thought of an excuse in his mind and slowly told it to Zhu Youtang.

"Zheng He's voyages to the West represented the Ming Dynasty. His purpose was to enhance the Ming Dynasty's national prestige, intimidate the barbarians, and attract all nations to come and pay tribute."

"So Zheng He promoted the tribute trade at that time. The four barbarian countries only needed to pay tribute with some local specialties, and they would receive gifts ten or a hundred times more in return."

"And these civil servants in Jiangnan are only representing themselves when they engage in smuggling. They adopt an equal transaction, so they can make less money and avoid losses..."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Zhu Youtang sneered, "Since Zheng He's fleet suffered huge losses every time, why did Emperor Taizong send Zheng He to the Western Ocean six times?"

"Even Emperor Xuanzong sent Zheng He to the Western Ocean once?"

"Do you think that Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong were both ambitious and greedy, and they were incompetent rulers?"

When Zhu Youtang put this big hat on Zhang Ning, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat, knelt down on the ground and tried his best to deny it.

"Your Majesty, I have never meant that."

"It's just...it's just that Emperor Taizong's voyage to the West has a hidden story!"

Zhang Ning knelt on the ground, kowtowed and cried out for justice, while making up words and excuses in his mind.

Zhu Youtang sat on the dragon throne and watched Zhang Ning's performance, feeling both absurd and ridiculous.

"Oh? Is there anything else hidden?"

"Emperor Taizong...Emperor Taizong..."

Zhang Ning's mind raced, and in just a moment, he had already thought of what to say.

"In the 35th year of Hongwu, after Emperor Taizong successfully raised an army to quell the rebellion, Emperor Jianwen disappeared in a fire."

"It just so happened that rumors were circulating in the city that Emperor Jianwen had taken advantage of the chaos after the fire to escape from Nanjing and headed south."

"That's why Emperor Taizong ordered Eunuch Sanbao to form a fleet and sail to the West six times, just to secretly search for the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen!"

The thirty-fifth year of Hongwu was the fourth year of Jianwen.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he abolished the reign title of Zhu Yunwen.

From then on, the Ming government incorporated these four years into the Hongwu period, and Zhu Yuanzhang was able to be emperor for four more years.

Emperor Jianwen was also a nickname for Zhu Yunwen after the Hongxi Dynasty, at the suggestion of Yang Shiqi and other members of the Three Yang Cabinet.

During the Yongle period, everyone could call Zhu Yunwen by his first name without any taboos.

Zhu Di wanted to use this method to legally erase any trace of Zhu Yunwen being the emperor.

After hearing Zhang Ning's explanation, Zhu Youtang was silent for a while and suddenly laughed out loud.

“Ha, ha, ha, hahaha…”

Zhu Youtang was extremely amused and was tickled by the shamelessness of these Jiangnan civil servants.

Zhu Youtang felt deeply moved that when it came to being shameless and disrespectful, this group of civil servants from Jiangnan were the worst in the world.

This statement is surprisingly similar to the version that was circulated in later generations.

Zhu Youtang had never believed in such misleading rhetoric in the past, but now he had personally experienced the open and covert struggles and competition for interests between the Ming Emperor and his officials.

I don't even believe a single punctuation mark in this obviously fake statement.

Let’s not talk about whether Zhu Yunwen, with his weak character raised by civil servants, could escape from Nanjing City.

Just as if Zhu Yunwen really had sneaked out of Nanjing, which was heavily guarded and filled with soldiers and officials, and successfully boarded a ship to Southeast Asia.

In terms of time, it doesn't match at all.

Zhu Yunwen disappeared in the 35th year of Hongwu, while Zheng He's first voyage to the West was in the 3rd year of Yongle.

If they really wanted to find the next emperor in secret, would they need to prepare for it for such a long time and make it known to the whole world?

Did Zhu Di want to publicize his glorious deeds of raising an army to quell the rebellion and seizing the throne from his nephew to all countries in the world?

Moreover, Zheng He made many voyages to the West and for a long time, from the third year of Yongle to the eighth year of Xuande, a span of nearly thirty years.

Zhu Di's throne was already as stable as a rock, so why was he still looking for that deposed emperor?
Zhu Di led his troops and, with the overt and covert support of a number of meritorious generals, fought bravely to dethrone Zhu Yunwen from the throne.

It was the common wish of all military generals in the world that Zhu Di could successfully ascend the throne.

Zhu Yunwen vigorously promoted civil officials and suppressed military generals, who were eager to strangle Zhu Yunwen as soon as possible.

Even if Zhu Yunwen came back, would there be any generals and soldiers willing to fight for him?
Could Zhu Yunwen's existence pose any threat to Zhu Di's throne?
Zhu Di was not Kang Mazi, who was guilty of his crime. He was so scared that he couldn't sleep when he heard the name of Prince Zhu San.

It is 99% likely that Zhu Yunwen died in the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and the fire was just to cover up the truth, because Zhu Di did not want to be branded as someone who killed his nephew and seized the throne.

Zhu Di had only one purpose in his voyage to the West, which was to make money.

What about promoting national prestige, intimidating the four barbarians, expanding territory, and attracting all nations to pay tribute? It was just a side job. All the civil and military officials in the court were shocked by Zhu Youtang's sudden laughter.

They looked at Zhu Youtang quietly, with cold sweat dripping slowly from their bodies.

Zhang Ning, who was kneeling on the ground, was shaking like a sieve and was extremely frightened.

Cold sweat had soaked his back, and he felt extremely regretful as to why he was the first to take action.

But things have developed to this point, and he can only grit his teeth and continue to hold on.

"Hahaha, what an interesting statement. I haven't been this happy in a long time."

"This is a new excuse. I'm sorry to hear you come up with such an excuse to fool me."

Zhu Youtang gradually stopped smiling, and his eyes were full of coldness when he looked at Zhang Ning.

"Your Majesty, I dare not..."

Zhang Ning stammered, his heart filled with fear.

It seemed as if Zhu Youtang would execute him the next moment.

But surprisingly, Zhu Youtang didn't seem prepared to make things difficult for him.

"That's enough of the jokes."

With the atmosphere reaching this point, Zhu Youtang stopped beating around the bush and directly stated his purpose.

"Since going to sea is profitable, I have decided to open the sea, reorganize the manpower, build treasure ships, and sail to the West eight times!"

As soon as Zhu Youtang said this, all the civil servants from Jiangnan in the court felt as if the sky had fallen!
Zhu Youtang finally discovered the secret of sailing to the West. The good days of their Jiangnan smuggling group, which had lasted for fifty or sixty years, were about to come to an end!

There is no record of Emperor Yingzong ordering Jiao Hong to supervise the construction of seagoing ships in Minzhou in the Ming Dynasty.

He was afraid that the next emperor would know about his voyage to the West.

But now Zhu Youtang wants to go to the West again, which has proved that their strict defense of the emperor has completely failed!

The next moment, a group of civil servants from Jiangnan, fearing their own deaths, rushed out of the team one after another and knelt in front of Zhu Youtang.

"Your Majesty, you must not do this, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, the money you can earn from opening the sea is just a small profit, but the consequences will be endless!"

Huang Yun, the official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, kowtowed like crazy and said with tears in his eyes, "It costs a lot to sail to the West. The construction of the treasure ship and the expenses of the crew alone are a huge sum."

"Plus, the Western Ocean is long and the sea is extremely dangerous, with huge waves, violent storms, dark islands and reefs, all of which pose the risk of the ship sinking and cargo damage."

"Every time we go to the West, many, many people die!"

"Plus, the countries along the route are very backward and have no money to buy goods from our Ming Dynasty."

"Even if it's normal trade, a natural disaster or man-made disaster will result in a total loss. It's really not worth it!"

After Huang Yun finished speaking, another official knelt in front of Zhu Youtang and continued to cry.

"And the Japanese pirates are rampant along the coast."

"They sometimes gather together as bandits, gather on the sea, and rob ships along the way."

"They plunder towns and cities along the coast, not only robbing houses but also killing and abusing people, bringing heavy disasters to the people along the coast!"

"Since the Hongwu period, our Ming Dynasty has been committed to strengthening coastal defense."

"It was not until the Xuande period that the maritime ban policy was vigorously implemented, which greatly stopped the rampage of Japanese pirates and ensured the safety of the people along the coast."

"If Your Majesty insists on opening the sea, the Japanese pirates will surely wreak havoc on the coast of Ming Dynasty again, bringing great disaster to the coastal residents!"

"For the safety of the people along the coast of Ming Dynasty, please think twice, Your Majesty, and do not open the sea!"

The person who was speaking was named Xu Lai. He was the left deputy of the Dali Temple and a native of Wu County, Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili.

What he mentioned about the rampant Japanese pirates was actually true.

But now the impact of Japanese pirates on the coastal residents of Ming Dynasty is not as great as he said.

In order to attract Zhu Youtang's attention, he exaggerated.

The Japanese pirates really became a serious threat to the Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing period.

At that time, Japan officially entered the Warring States Period.

Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, three dwarfs, rode Japanese horses as tall as wild dogs and brought thousands of servants with them. Their dog brains were almost beaten out.

A large number of samurai class lost their land and became ronin, who followed smuggling merchant ships to the Ming Dynasty and made a living by looting.

But now, Japan has just entered the Warring States Period, and there are far fewer ronin who have lost their land.

After listening to this, Zhu Youtang nodded approvingly: "What you two ministers said makes a lot of sense."

Huang Yun and Xu Lan looked delighted, but before they could be happy for long, Zhu Youtang suddenly changed the subject.

"I am just a little curious, why do you know so much about going to sea?"

This sentence immediately made the two of them look pale again.

Why do they know these things?

That’s because their family is engaged in smuggling!
When asked about this by Zhu Youtang, they were suddenly frightened and tried to find excuses to make up for it.

"Your Majesty... this... this is because... because..."

"Because I...I heard an old sailor mention this when I was studying in my hometown."

"Your Majesty, I...I also heard this from the elders in my hometown."

Huang Yun and Xu Liang returned trembling and stammering.

From the tone of their voices, you can tell that they are both extremely guilty and don't even dare to believe their own words.

But they had to stand up and stop Zhu Youtang from opening up the sea.

Otherwise, until Zhu Youtang really reopens the sea.

They, including the families behind them, and the entire Jiangnan smuggling group, are all doomed!
Zhu Youtang nodded, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"So you all heard it from the elders in the village. It seems that smuggling in Jiangnan has been going on for a long time, not just today."

"If that's the case, then I really should conduct a thorough investigation of Jiangnan to see how many people are involved in smuggling."

Huang Yun and Xu Lai felt despair and extremely annoyed, and they wanted to slap themselves twice.

Originally they wanted to help, but why are they making more trouble now?
But now, these Jiangnan officials really have no time to care about it, as Zhu Youtang has to investigate the smuggling.

The crackdown on smuggling is about things of the past. The most that will happen in Jiangnan is the death of more people and officials. It’s no big deal.

Jiangnan has prospered for thousands of years, and what it lacks the least is people, that is, officials.

But when Zhu Youtang opened up the sea, he destroyed the future of all the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River!
Once this sea is opened, the imperial court will intervene in the trade to the West, and the money bags that they have made from lying around for decades will be taken away by Zhu Youtang!
Now, all the officials in Jiangnan were in chaos. They could no longer sit there and wait for death!
Even if they risk being beheaded, they must take action!
(End of this chapter)