Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 49: The Eastern Center of the World Economy and the Mysterious Political Situation
August 1492, 8, the fifth year of the Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty.

With the financial support of the Spanish co-rulers, Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Italian navigator Christopher Columbus began sailing westward, attempting to explore a new route to India and China in the East.

On October 10, the fleet arrived at the Bahamas in America, but Columbus insisted that the place he had reached by sailing west was India, so he extremely wrongly called the Native Americans "Indians."

Later in 1498, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama opened up a new sea route from Europe to India based on Dias' discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

From this year on, economic ties between continents and countries gradually strengthened, and international trade volume increased rapidly. The world market began to take shape, and commercial globalization began to show its nascent potential.

Although Europe's importance in world trade has steadily increased since the 1500th century, it is certain that at least between 1800 and , that is, the era before the Age of Discovery and the European Industrial Revolution, the East, not the West, in economic globalization was the center of the world economy.

Whether from the perspective of economic weight, technology and productivity, per capita consumption, or even the so-called relatively "developed" and "capitalist mechanism" development, Europe cannot be said to be hegemonic in terms of structure and function.

Portugal in the 16th century, the Netherlands in the 17th century, and even Britain in the 18th century had no hegemony in the world economy. In all these aspects, Asia's economy was much more developed than Europe's.

For three hundred years, from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the mid-Qing Dynasty, China was the center of the world economy. With its unrivaled manufacturing and export advantages in silk, porcelain, and other products, China enjoyed a trade surplus with every country.

Not only did neighboring countries maintain tributary trade with China based on the relationship between the emperor and his subjects, but even distant European and American countries were involved in long-distance trade with China. This allowed Chinese goods, mainly silk and porcelain, to spread throughout the world, while silver, accounting for a quarter or a third of the world's production, continued to flow into China.

At the same time, Western Jesuits traveled thousands of miles to China and spread European science and culture to China in the process of missionary work, and started unprecedented close exchanges with traditional Chinese civilization.

Almost two months have passed since Xu Guangqi was promoted from the fourth rank of the Imperial Secretariat to the second rank of the Minister of Rites and sent an invitation letter to the Jesuit Society of Macau in the name of the court.

The letter was sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, first departing from Beijing and traveling along the Grand Canal all the way down to Hangzhou, and then shipped from Hangzhou to Guangzhou by sea.

Chen Bangzhan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Governor-General of Guangdong, was initially puzzled upon receiving the letter from Beijing. This was because in the 44th year of the Wanli reign, a case against the Jesuits had broken out in Nanjing.

The Nanjing Incident itself wasn't particularly problematic. The problem was that it was initiated by Shen, who had recently been promoted to Minister of Rites and concurrently a Grand Secretary of the Dongke Academy, and that the incident ultimately resulted in the Wanli Emperor, Zhu Yijun, issuing a rare decree ordering the governor of Guangdong to expel the Jesuits.

At the same time, the person who carried out this order was Zhou Jiamo, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, who was the Governor-General of the Military Affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi and the Governor-General of Yunnan. Zhou Jiamo was also in Beijing and served as the head of the Nine Ministers and the "Heavenly Official" Minister of Personnel.

What puzzled Chen Bangzhan even more was that the letter was stamped with the official seal of the Ministry of Rites, but signed by Xu Guangqi. In Chen Bangzhan's impression, Xu Guangqi was still a junior secretary of the Zhanshi Mansion, training troops in Tongzhou.

Furthermore, Xu Guangqi and Zhou Jiamo both belonged to the Donglin Party. Shen was a fellow townsman of Fang Congzhe, the current Prime Minister, and was only able to join the cabinet through the support of Qi Shijiao, a student of Fang Congzhe and leader of the Qi Party. In other words, Xu Guangqi, who invited the Jesuits to Beijing, and Zhou Jiamo, who expelled them to Macau, were members of the same faction. Shen, who initiated the Nanjing Incident, sided with the anti-Donglin Party coalition, but he also objectively collaborated with Zhou Jiamo, a member of the Donglin Party, on this very matter.

Chen Bangzhan pondered the letter for a long time, unable to comprehend what had happened at court. It seemed that Xu Guangqi's appointment as Minister of Rites and his invitation to the Jesuits were a glimpse into the Donglin Party's ascendancy. However, along with this letter, the imperial court's official bulletin had also arrived in Guangzhou.

The imperial court's bulletin indicated that the Donglin Party's "official recommendation" had been rejected. Regarding the matter of filling vacancies throughout the country, the emperor chose to adopt the joint advice of the Imperial Household Minister Fang Congzhe, the Minister of Personnel Zhou Jiamo, and the Minister of Punishment Huang Kezan. He ordered the current highest-ranking officials in each prefecture and county to temporarily serve as chief officials and announced the opening of a new imperial examination in the first year of the Taichang reign.

This imperial report made Chen Bangzhan's brain freeze. The two ministries responsible for the imperial examinations were the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel. It was normal that officials from both ministries were members of the Donglin Party. However, the prerequisite for the imperial examinations was that the Donglin Party's "recommendation memorials" were rejected.

The basis for rejecting this memorial, the Spring Examination, was jointly proposed by Zhou Jiamo of the Donglin Party, Fang Congzhe of the Zhejiang Party, and Huang Kezan, who was independent.

What the hell is going on? Chen Bangzhan, who had been in the political arena for many years, felt for the first time that the political situation was so confusing.

In fact, it is not surprising that Chen Bangzhan had such wild thoughts, because since Zhang Juzheng died of illness in the tenth year of Wanli, various struggles began in the reign of Emperor Shenzong.

The "Down with Zhang, Down with Feng Case" tore the civil service group into two diametrically opposed factions: "Pro-Zhang" and "Oppose-Zhang".

Afterwards, the "struggle for the foundation of the country", "struggle for enthronement" and "struggle for the simultaneous enthronement of three kings" surrounding the issue of succession to the throne caused chaos in both the inner and outer courts.

Finally, the "Pole-Attack Case" and the "Demon Book Case", which marked the intensification of the struggle between Concubine Zheng and Crown Prince Zhu Changluo, almost paralyzed the court.

The central government was in a frenzy of infighting, and the local governments were also trembling with fear. They feared that any incident would be seized upon by the enemy and used as a weapon to attack their own faction. However, the Wanli Emperor did have one good point: he rarely responded to submitted memorials. Whether it was a recommendation or an impeachment, the Emperor would keep them in his possession without issuing any.

Fortunately, his wild thoughts did not affect Chen Bangzhan's routine work. As the Governor of Guangdong, he ordered the Xiangshan County government to convey the imperial will to the Macau Jesuits, requiring them to send the invitation letter and use an order, not a request, to allow the Jesuits to enter Beijing immediately.

Chen Bangzhan had such an attitude because in the Ming Dynasty, foreigners living in Macau did not have sovereignty over this corner of the country. Portugal was only a tenant, not the owner.

At the same time, the imperial court implemented a "city-building, county-administered" system of governance for Macau. In other words, Macau came under the jurisdiction of Xiangshan County, which dispatched officials to establish three administrative offices: the Supervisory Office, the Anti-Japanese War Office, and the Patrol Office. The county also appointed a Coast Guard Assistant Governor and a Maritime Customs Supervisor to Macau to regulate Portuguese commercial and land-based activities.

In Chen Bangzhan's view, the Semites of Macau were no different from the subjects of a vassal state like Korea. If the imperial court wanted them to come to Beijing, they could simply issue an order, like conscripting corvée labor, and have the county magistrates carry it out. Xu Guangqi's "invitation" to them in the name of the Ministry of Rites was clearly overly flattering.

(End of this chapter)