Ming Dynasty: The Jingnan Rebellion has just been successful, and Zhu Yuanzhang has been resurrected

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had a keen eye for detail, there were still some things he didn't see clearly, such as the most terrifying aspect of the Ming Dynasty's paper money.

If the Ming Dynasty's paper money were to be used in the grasslands and Annam in the future, the Ming Dynasty would be able to destroy these two places instantly without losing a single soldier.

Of course, that was a last resort, and the Ming Dynasty would never do that unless absolutely necessary. But even without such violence, a slow and steady approach could gradually reap the potential of these two regions.

"I understand about this matter," Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand at Jiang Huan.

Navigation and the Ming Dynasty's paper money—one a cause for concern, the other a cause for celebration. However, given his current situation, he was unable to participate in any affairs of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, knowing about it was enough for him.

Of course, there are benefits to him knowing these things; it allows him to find something to think about when he's bored, so he won't feel too lonely.

Jiang Li bowed, turned around and walked away.

"I have a feeling that Yunhu is playing a long game!" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned after Jiang Huan left.

The main issue was navigation. Although he couldn't fully understand the intricacies of the Ming Dynasty's official paper money, he could still grasp some of its secrets. However, he had little understanding of navigation.

However, he knew that since Zhu Yunwen was pushing this matter so hard, he must have some confidence in his heart.

"The sea." Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze was somewhat lost in thought. He was bewildered by the sea, and even felt a slight fear of it.

On the vast ocean, there wasn't a soul in sight. Moreover, people in this era knew far too much about the ocean. How could one not feel fear in such a situation?

Suddenly, a thought popped into Zhu Yuanzhang's mind: "What if the sea really does contain countless riches, as Yuntong said?"

The moment this thought crossed his mind, he froze.

Although this idea sounds incredible, what if it is?
Although the Yuan Dynasty had fallen, he knew something about the prosperity of its coastal trade; it was practically a gold mine, producing wealth in an endless stream.

He was always very clear that Zhu Yunwen's style of doing things was not the steady and reliable type. Zhu Yunwen had a great adventurous spirit, which was clearly demonstrated when he personally led an expedition to the grasslands.

The emperor's personal expedition was extremely dangerous, but high risk meant high reward. Zhu Yunwen's expedition to the grasslands was a great success, which instantly boosted his prestige among the people and in the court.

Of course, he also knew that Zhu Yunwen was leading the expedition in person because he had the invincible Great Snow Dragon Cavalry and Tiger Leopard Cavalry. However, no matter what, an imperial expedition is an imperial expedition. Most people only care about the result, and they don't care about the process.

It's like the saying goes, "Ten years of hard work offstage for one minute onstage." Without ten years of silent dedication offstage, there would be no one-minute moment of stunning brilliance onstage.

But besides the person involved, who cares about the ten years of silent dedication behind the scenes? No one, absolutely no one. People only see the success. As for what happens if they don't succeed? Nothing!
This is a rather harsh reality: nobody cares about losers.

The same principle applies to Zhu Yunwen at this moment.

For example, Zhu Qizhen, the war god of the Ming Dynasty, was undoubtedly a loser, and his life was marked by shame. But what if he had succeeded in another scenario?
If successful, the Ming Dynasty might never have had its so-called era of famous ministers. Zhu Qizhen's prestige would overwhelm everything, and any petty schemes would be crushed in the face of absolute imperial power.

Unfortunately, Zhu Qizhen failed. He failed because he listened to the eunuch Wang Zhen, failed because he lacked the responsibility of an emperor, failed because he did not have a clear understanding of his own strength, and failed for other reasons.

There is only one path to success, but there are countless reasons for failure. However, no matter how you try to justify it, failure is failure, and that is an unchangeable fact.

In my previous life, there were countless discussions online about Zhu Qizhen's Tumu Crisis, and inevitably some conspiracy theories emerged.

If we consider the perspectives of those who benefited from the situation, the conspiracy theory surrounding the Tumu Crisis is plausible. After the Tumu Crisis, civil officials completely suppressed military generals, and even the emperor was firmly suppressed by court officials. So, who can guarantee that there was no conspiracy involved in the Tumu Crisis?

It's worth noting that even when Zhu Qizhen was alive, Zhu Zhanji was also plagued by the troubles caused by his court officials, and in order to avoid them, he simply pushed out the eunuchs.

The regency of eunuchs led to a situation where the previously allocated distribution of benefits was disrupted, and the eunuchs even took away the interests of civil officials.

As a result, the civil officials would naturally not comply. Therefore, during this period, the civil officials were probably very dissatisfied with Zhu Zhanji, but they did not show it.

Looking back from the Battle of Tumu, Zhu Zhanji's promotion of eunuchs to power certainly had objections from the civil officials. However, the civil officials were cunning, and they directly pushed the benefits of military generals onto the eunuchs. As a result, military generals disappeared from the court after the Battle of Tumu.

However, the civil officials also made some miscalculations. They did not expect that the eunuchs were much more cunning than the honest military generals. After all, the eunuchs who could help the emperor had all been trained in the inner court, and the situation instantly became chaotic.

To put it bluntly, the nobles and other such people are the foundation of a dynasty. However, after the Tumu Crisis, the Ming Dynasty directly removed the military nobles from the central government. As a result, the ultimate fate of the Ming imperial power was basically predictable.

Unlike military generals, eunuchs were literate and knew how to weigh the pros and cons. They were not blindly loyal to the emperor. This also occurred in the later period of the Ming Dynasty, when eunuchs and civil officials became entangled. Although eunuchs and civil officials fought in the court, it was a power struggle between two groups, which was not a big deal.

It's like only the civil officials are left, and they still have to fight each other. For example, they are divided into various factions, such as the Donglin Party and the Zhejiang Party, and they fight in the general direction. It is a power struggle. However, the civil officials who stand out have eunuchs serving them, and the eunuchs who stand out have civil officials serving them. This situation has arisen.

At this point, the staunch royalist nobles were directly ousted. Without the support of the nobles, the imperial power began to gradually become unbalanced. This led to a situation where, in the later period of the Ming Dynasty, whether there were incompetent or capable emperors, the imperial power could never stand firm.

In comparison, it's better if there's a foolish emperor; his life isn't in danger, he's just being misled by civil officials and eunuchs. But if it's a capable emperor, then it's troublesome. Power has already been seized by civil officials and eunuchs. The emperor wants to take control? Impossible. At worst, they can just replace him with a new emperor.

Don't assume that the emperor is all-powerful. That was the founding emperor or an emperor supported by nobles. In reality, by the later period of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's power was practically nonexistent. The so-called emperor's ability to kill at will was just a facade; behind the scenes, it was simply that some people wanted to use the emperor to commit murder.

This situation is like a group of people fighting, with the emperor as a sharp sword. Whoever can get the emperor's support can kill the opponent. This is also the helplessness of Emperor Chongzhen in the end of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, long before Chongzhen, someone had already foreseen this situation and made the best choice; that person was Jiajing. To be able to suppress the court officials so quickly after ascending the throne, with no real power, to change Zhu Di from Taizong to Chengzu, and to have his own father moved into the Imperial Ancestral Temple—the methods of such a person are terrifying to contemplate.

In fact, Emperor Jiajing was indeed a very capable person, but there was no way around it. By the time of Jiajing, the power structure of the Ming Dynasty had been completed. Once the emperor left the palace, it was a situation where death was inevitable. Emperor Jiajing was almost strangled to death by a palace maid in the palace.

This situation would be absolutely absurd in any other dynasty in history, but it was not uncommon in the Ming Dynasty, since the imperial power had fallen into the hands of civil officials and eunuchs.

Eunuchs were originally vicious dogs kept by the emperor, but Zhu Zhanji's brain-dead actions turned them into hungry wolves. They learned to fight for power and profit, and gradually dared to turn against their master and kill him.

The nobility, a class that was originally closely tied to imperial power, were kicked out of the highest hall of power, which made the problem serious.

However, Jiajing was very ruthless. In a situation that seemed almost unsolvable, he found a way out. He did not personally intervene to do anything, but instead became the biggest tyrant.

Since everyone is exploiting the Ming Dynasty, then let me, the emperor, be the biggest mastermind. In this way, the eunuchs will once again become the emperor's vicious dogs and begin to fight with the civil officials, and imperial power will slowly begin to recover.

This is not nonsense. You can see Jiajing's ability from Hai Rui's case. If Jiajing was really a foolish emperor, how could Hai Rui have survived after all his actions?
Moreover, if Jiajing Emperor were truly incompetent, he would not have left Zhang Juzheng to his grandson.

The Wanli Emperor, who left a significant mark on the history of the Ming Dynasty, owes much of his success to the Jiajing Emperor's strategic planning. The Jiajing Emperor saw through the power structure of the Ming Dynasty, realizing that imperial power had been eroded and would be difficult to regain.

A study of the Jiajing Emperor reveals that he never possessed true imperial power, the power of life and death. His actions were a matter of using others' strength against him. However, given the power structure of the Ming Dynasty at that time, being able to use others' strength against him was already a very rare occurrence. At least at this point, everyone began to fear imperial power.

Zhu Yuanzhang let out a long breath and calmed down.

He didn't know the situation at sea, but since Zhu Yunwen had so much confidence in Ma Sanbao, why not give it a try and see if he could win?

Of course, he also had some grievances in his heart about this matter.

He could barely accept setting sail on the high seas, since the losses wouldn't be too great. But what was the point of letting Ma Sanbao build the Ming Dynasty's navy? Moreover, he was expected to lead this Ming Dynasty navy to sea in the future.

Letting a eunuch lead the Ming Dynasty's navy might be something Ma Sanbao was capable of, but he was still uneasy about it, as he naturally harbored prejudice against eunuchs.

Of course, in some respects, Zhu Yuanzhang's thinking was not wrong at all.

If Zhu Zhanji had not allowed eunuchs to take the throne, then civil officials might have been able to occupy the court for a time. However, sooner or later, military generals would have been able to return to the court. After all, without military generals, how could the Ming Dynasty fight its wars against foreign powers?
The Song Dynasty provides a case in point.

Most importantly, not all civil officials only knew how to talk about power and profit. Some were loyal to the emperor and served the country. Moreover, these people were generally very capable. As members of the civil officials, the things they had to do were easier, since this situation would then fall under the category of internal struggles among civil officials.

But here's the problem: Zhu Zhanji allowed the eunuchs to take the lead, and they occupied the positions that originally belonged to the military generals. Under these circumstances, the opportunity for military generals to return to the court was completely lost and could never come again.

The eunuch group has grown up and established its own system. Some eunuchs may serve under civil officials, but when someone tries to harm the interests of the entire eunuch group, they will surely band together.

Time passed quickly, and the day arrived for the Ming Dynasty to send troops.

On the school field.

Zhu Gang looked at the soldiers before him with a calm expression.

Chen Tianping and Pei Boqi, who were not far away, were extremely excited. They could both see the strength of the Ming army in front of them, and their fierce and brave aura was overwhelming.

"Third Uncle, be careful in everything you do on your journey to Annam!" Zhu Yunwen said.

Zhu Gang's expression was solemn as he said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will surely take Annam!"

Zhu Yuntong nodded, took out a package from his bosom and handed it to Zhu Gang, saying, "Third Uncle, please keep this safe. If everything goes smoothly on your trip to Annam, that's fine. But if things don't go well, you can open this package. Perhaps it will help you get out of this predicament."

Zhu Gang was taken aback by Zhu Yunwen's words, then solemnly took the package and said, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, the auspicious time has arrived!" Ma Sanbao stepped to Zhu Yunwen's side and said respectfully.

Zhu Yunwen nodded, picked up a cup of wine from a tray held by a eunuch, and said to Zhu Gang, "Third Uncle, the time has come. I wish you all the best in your campaign against Annam!"

"Your Majesty, I will certainly live up to your expectations!" Zhu Gang also straightened his posture and said in a deep voice.

After downing a glass of wine.

Zhu Gang mounted his horse and said, "Your Majesty, please take care!"

"Boom boom boom!"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

The war drums sounded, accompanied by the deep, muffled sound of horns.

The Ming army mobilized; 100,000 troops, like a long black dragon, slowly departed to conquer Annam! (End of Chapter)