Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 400: The Opportunity to Solve the Food Problem!
Since the establishment of the Office of Government Affairs, the vast majority of government affairs in the imperial court have been handled by the Office of Government Affairs.

As emperor, Zhu Yunwen usually only controlled the general direction and rarely interfered in specific matters.

However, the responsibilities of the administrative office are extensive and detailed, so Yao Guangxiao, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Xia Yuanji and others are often extremely busy.

Unless there was something particularly important, the four of them would never have come together.

Zhu Yunwen's gaze swept across the faces of the four men, and then he said, "If it's about the matter of offering sacrifices to heaven and praying for rain, I think there's no need to say more."

In feudal dynasties, it was customary for the emperor to offer sacrifices to Heaven and pray for divine protection to eliminate the disaster whenever the country suffered a major natural disaster.

Nowadays, the Jiangnan region of the Ming Dynasty has not received rainfall for a long time, and the drought is becoming increasingly severe.

Many officials in the imperial court have submitted memorials, earnestly requesting the emperor to go to the Temple of Heaven to offer sacrifices and pray for rain.

However, Zhu Yunwen was extremely resistant to this and did not want to go from the bottom of his heart.

First of all, he didn't really believe that praying for rain through rituals could have any real effect.

As the saying goes, "The course of Heaven is constant; it does not exist for Yao, nor does it perish for Jie."

Climate change is a natural law that is independent of human will. How could God change His mind and send rain just because he prayed to Him?
Secondly, if the rain-seeking ceremony was merely a formality, a brief worship ritual, Zhu Yunwen would have been willing to go through the motions.

After all, in this era, "the most important affairs of the state are sacrifice and war," and sacrifice was one of the most important affairs of the state.

As an emperor, one is required to participate in many seemingly useless but essential rituals.

He wouldn't care too much about one or two more things.

What truly deterred him was that praying for rain was not something that could be accomplished simply by kowtowing a few times and burning incense at the Temple of Heaven.

Instead, they would worship at the Temple of Heaven for several days and nights in a row.

This continued until the emperor's "sincerity" truly "moved" Heaven, causing it to send down timely rain.

Otherwise, it's highly likely that the emperor would only be helped down by his ministers when he was too exhausted to continue and had fainted.

Even so, they might still be attacked by rumors and gossip.

Because he failed to bring rain, he was criticized for not being devout enough and for letting down the people's expectations.

In Zhu Yunwen's mind, it was utterly absurd to brave the scorching sun and stand under it for days to pray for rain.

Whoever wants to do this kind of thing can do it; he definitely won't.

The Ming Dynasty is currently in the Little Ice Age.

Such climate disasters will certainly occur frequently in the future. If we have to deal with them in this way every time, it will be endless suffering.

Of course, there are ways to be flexible.

For example, the emperor could issue an edict to have the crown prince or other members of the royal family perform the ceremony on his behalf.

Alternatively, ministers could take the initiative to submit memorials, volunteering to offer sacrifices to heaven and pray for rain.

If the emperor agrees, he can be sent.

However, Zhu Yunwen was still young and had not yet been made crown prince.

He sent all the adult members of the royal family overseas to expand the territory and spread the culture of the Ming Dynasty.

Those who remain in the capital now are all young children who are not yet grown up, and are naturally not suitable to shoulder such a heavy responsibility.

Ministers were indeed sent, but Zhu Yunwen only instructed them to perform the sacrifices twice a day, instead of the traditional requirement to continuously stand guard at the altar until rain fell.

After all, in such scorching heat, with the sun so intense, prolonged exposure to the sun can easily lead to heatstroke and endanger one's life.

Zhu Yunwen couldn't bear to see his ministers lose their lives for such a foolish thing.

This is why the calls for rain to be made in the imperial court are growing louder.

The ministers dared not directly demand that the emperor must pray for rain.

They could only politely say that they were willing to go, or request the court to hold a large-scale sacrificial ceremony, leading all officials to worship heaven and pray for rain.

But in reality, their true intention was to hope that the emperor would quickly go and pray for rain.

They felt that only in this way could they demonstrate the image of the Ming emperor as loving his people like his own children, and show that the emperor was deeply concerned about the people and was willing to give everything for them.

Thus, they "moved" the heavens.

In their view, this is what a "wise" monarch should do.

As subjects, they also believed that they had the responsibility and obligation to advise the emperor to become a "wise" ruler.

As a result, these ministers submitted memorials one after another.

The memorials they submitted were naturally suppressed by the government affairs office.

This was actually one of the important purposes for Zhu Yunwen to establish the government affairs office.

To put it bluntly, the government affairs office was like a buffer between the emperor and his ministers, and would take the blame for the emperor when necessary.

If any order issued in the name of the Administrative Office goes wrong, the Administrative Office will naturally be held responsible.

In reality, the government affairs office merely faithfully carried out Zhu Yunwen's orders and did not have much power to make independent decisions.

But those below, whether officials or ordinary people, wouldn't bother to investigate these details.

In their minds, the emperor must be wise and powerful. If anything goes wrong, it must be because treacherous officials in the government are in power and have disrupted the court.

Take the matter of offering sacrifices to heaven and praying for rain as an example. Zhu Yunwen did not hesitate to order the government affairs office to suppress all related memorials.

This practice naturally made several ministers in the government affairs office a thorn in the side of certain officials who considered themselves upright and loyal, and they were subjected to their vehement criticism.

For this reason, several ministers in the government affairs office repeatedly and earnestly advised Zhu Yunwen.

They even suggested that, if all else fails, Your Majesty should at least make a show of it.

Even if you only stay at the Temple of Heaven for a few minutes, you could just pretend to faint.

But Zhu Yunwen's mind was made up, and he remained unmoved.

However, he did issue an imperial decree ordering the Ming Academy of Sciences to establish a specialized climate research institution to conduct in-depth analysis and research on the climate, while also collecting a wide range of data and attempting to predict future weather.

Although the ministers in the government affairs office did not oppose the establishment of a climate research institution, they still hoped that Zhu Yunwen would perform the ritual of praying for rain.

After all, in their view, this was a major event that conformed to the will of the people and followed tradition.

Confucian scholars "respect ghosts and gods but keep them at a distance," but they still take matters like worshipping heaven and ancestors very seriously.

Therefore, it's no wonder that Zhu Yunwen made it clear beforehand that the matter of offering sacrifices to heaven and praying for rain should not be mentioned again, as he really didn't want to get entangled in this matter again.

Yao Guangxiao, Yang Shiqi, and the others exchanged knowing smiles upon hearing Zhu Yuntong's words.

Yao Guangxiao stepped forward, his joy barely concealed, and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, we have come here together because we have some great news to report to you."

As he spoke, he reached into his wide sleeve and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to Zhu Yunwen: "This is a message sent by carrier pigeon that I just received today. The army that went on the expedition to Siam and Bagan has achieved a great victory!"

"Siam has signed an alliance with our Great Ming Dynasty. They not only intend to export grain to the Great Ming Dynasty with all their might, but also large quantities of pepper and sappanwood." "They have also agreed to use the Great Ming Treasure Notes as the settlement currency for trade between the two sides."

Yao Guangxiao's eyes gleamed as he continued, "This means that from now on, we can import at least one or two million shi of grain, as well as hundreds of thousands of jin or even more of pepper and sappanwood, from Siam every year simply by relying on the banknotes printed by the Great Ming Bank. This will be of great benefit to our Great Ming!"

"In addition, the Pegu Dynasty has been completely subjugated by our army."

Yao Guangxiao’s tone became increasingly enthusiastic: “Our army not only successfully rescued tens of thousands of Ming people who had been imprisoned and enslaved, allowing them to regain their freedom, but also successfully captured the jade mines of the Bago River.”

"According to preliminary investigations, this jade mine can produce jade worth at least several million taels every year."

Yao Guangxiao clasped his hands in a fist salute and said loudly, "We have come here to congratulate Your Majesty!"

Upon hearing these words, Zhu Yunwen was slightly taken aback, a hint of surprise and delight flashing in his eyes.

He quickly reached out and took the note from Yao Guangxiao's hand, exclaiming repeatedly, "Excellent! Excellent! Zhu Shou and Li Sicong have indeed lived up to my expectations!"

Logically, news and battle reports from the expeditionary force at the front should be submitted to the Military Affairs Department, which would then report them to the Emperor.

Although the Ming army had established maritime fast boat communication, its speed was still relatively slow due to factors such as the maritime environment and distance.

On the contrary, the Ming Dynasty's intelligence bureau, headed by Yao Guangxiao, was established earlier and was larger in scale than the intelligence agencies under the military affairs department, and its infiltration into overseas countries was also more extensive.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's intelligence agency possessed a large number of well-trained carrier pigeons used for delivering messages.

Although many carrier pigeons are lost, once a code is created, the letters are written in gibberish that outsiders cannot understand.

Without a corresponding codebook, it would be impossible for information to be leaked.

With enough pigeons and proper training, there will always be some that can deliver the mail.

For this reason, before the official military report even reached the capital, the Ming Dynasty's intelligence bureau had already received detailed intelligence.

Yao Guangxiao stroked his beard, a joyful smile appearing on his face, and said, "Your Majesty, now that we have grain transported from Siam and other places, our Great Ming will no longer have any worries about food shortages. Your Majesty can rest assured."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen could not hide his excitement. He jumped up from his chair and paced back and forth, saying, "Good! It's the height of summer now, and the autumn harvest is not far away."

"Your administrative office must expedite the arrangements to import large quantities of grain from Siam, Bagan, and Japan."

"It doesn't matter if the price is a little higher, and it's okay even if we have to sell it at a loss after buying it."

In Zhu Yunwen's mind, many other matters could be put aside for the time being.

The issue of food security has always been his greatest concern and worry.

Food is something that can be plentiful without problems, but a shortage can have unimaginable consequences.

If the food supply decreases by 10%, the price of food will skyrocket, eventually starving the poorest 10%, or even 30%, of the population to death.

Because once there is a food shortage, it will be like a domino effect, prompting countless people to hoard food.

This hoarding is not just a speculative act by a few wealthy merchants, but will evolve into a nationwide frenzy of panic buying and hoarding of food.

The more severe the famine and food shortage, the more grain will be "hidden" and the more people will starve to death.

What's even more troublesome is that, faced with this nationwide behavior, the imperial court finds it difficult to arrest and punish people in the same way it arrests unscrupulous merchants, thus curbing the spread of this trend.

Moreover, the credibility of the Ming Dynasty's paper money, which Zhu Yunwen had painstakingly built up with silver and grain as "guarantees," could very well collapse and vanish instantly due to the famine caused by this "grain shortage."

If paper money can't buy grain, or if grain prices increase tenfold, can paper money still be called paper money?
This is precisely the main reason why Zhu Yunwen has always been so worried.

People eat for food.

The prosperity that the Ming Dynasty is currently experiencing is based on a stable and inexpensive supply of grain.

If there is a food shortage, the entire country's economy will be like a machine without lubricant, inevitably falling into chaos and unable to function properly.

In the past, before the Ming Dynasty developed its industry and before its trade flourished as it is now, food shortages would cause large numbers of people in various regions to starve to death.

However, as long as the scope is not particularly wide, its impact on the overall national economy is limited.

Now, with the development of industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty, the impact of food shortages is not only that the common people will starve to death, but also that it will disrupt the operation of the entire national economy!
What does it matter if we spend a little more money as long as we can buy enough food?

In any case, the Ming Dynasty could later earn back the money used to buy grain by relying on its strong exports of industrial products and other types of trade.

Yao Guangxiao bowed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured, we have already begun to arrange the relevant matters, and everything is progressing in an orderly manner."

After a brief pause, an irrepressible smile of joy returned to his face as he said, "Not only that, there is another piece of good news to report to His Majesty."

"According to the information sent back by our intelligence personnel, since the expedition of our Great Ming army to the South Seas, all the countries in the South Seas have been awed by the might of our Great Ming and have great respect for our Great Ming."

"In the past, most of the Southeast Asian countries were not interested in using the Ming Dynasty's paper money, but things are different now."

"Not only Siam and Bagan, but also officials and merchants from other neighboring countries flocked to the Ming Dynasty's paper money."

"They were all willing to accept the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes as the settlement currency."

"Your Majesty is so concerned about food supplies. In my opinion, we should further expand the scale of food imports."

"While Siam may have grain available for our Ming Dynasty to purchase, other Southeast Asian countries can also serve as sources of our grain."

“We can sign trade treaties with them and import large quantities of grain to replenish the granaries of our Great Ming.”

Although purchasing grain is the most urgent task, it still requires spending real money.

Moreover, buying grain from Southeast Asia not only yields little profit, but may even result in losses due to transportation and spoilage.

Therefore, without the emperor's approval, these officials dared not make decisions on their own to purchase grain on a large scale.

Seeing Zhu Yunwen's deep concern about the food problem, Yao Guangxiao made this suggestion.

"Buy it!" Zhu Yunwen made the decision without hesitation: "Buy it regardless of cost or consequences."

"We will spare no expense or use any amount of resources."

"We would rather buy more grain than eat it all and let it rot in the granaries of the Ming Dynasty than let any of the people of the Ming Dynasty go hungry."

"Not only that, although we have suffered from drought this year, I hope that the grain sold in the official granaries will remain at the original price and will not increase by a single penny."

"The money lost in ensuring the grain supply will be fully subsidized by the Ministry of Revenue, and the necessary funds will be drawn from the national treasury."

Zhu Yunwen was well aware that grain was a basic necessity.

Generally speaking, price increases have little impact on food consumption.

If rising prices lead to a decrease in food consumption, then there must be people going hungry.

He wanted the Ming Dynasty's economy and the value of its currency to be stable, which meant he had to stabilize grain prices.

Once we get through this year's challenges, with the advancement of technology and the full-scale development of farmland irrigation, grain production will inevitably surge, and the Ming Dynasty will never again have to worry about food shortages.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid there are still many difficulties in this matter," Yang Rong said from the side as soon as Zhu Yunwen finished speaking.

……

(End of this chapter)