Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 282 Pilgrimage (Part )

"Your Highness Huang Long bows his head in reverence and respectfully submits a report on the recent military situation in Liaodong. I humbly beg for your consideration..."

"...Since June, the Jiannu have been frequently deploying their troops. A major force of over 10,000 armored cavalry is stationed in Liaoyang, hinting at a potential large-scale invasion. Other small forces have been continuously harassing our Dongjiang border outposts."

"However, since last year, the Jiannu have been rampant and have repeatedly invaded our territory. The soldiers and civilians in the town have been exhausted. The war has been raging, the people have been displaced, the fields have been left barren, and refugees have been stationed there to support the troops in the town."

"This time, the Jiannu have gathered over 10,000 soldiers again, intending to invade the south. Their momentum is formidable and should not be underestimated. Recently, we have received a donation of artillery, muskets, and grain from the vassal state of Xinzhou Huaxia (Xinhua), which has provided some relief. However, although Xinhua is willing to help us, its resources are limited and it will be difficult for them to sustain."

"For the sake of Liaodong's overall situation, I earnestly request that we abandon the forts of Gaizhou, Fuzhou, Haizhou, and Yaozhoubao (now Dashiqiao, Yingkou City), and carefully defend the three coastal forts of Lushun, Yongning (now Pulandian District, Dalian City), and Xiongyue (now Xiongyue Town, Bayuquan District, Yingkou City), relying on our navy to resist the Jiannu army."

"Here, I implore the ministers of the cabinet to expedite the allocation of food, wages, and equipment to address this urgent need. Please also dispatch elite troops to aid Dongjiang to prevent the situation from collapsing."

"If I receive support from the imperial court, I will do my utmost to defend the territory of the Ming Dynasty to the death and live up to the emperor's grace."

"Your Majesty, Huang Long, hereby presents the truth and humbly requests your wise counsel. If the Jiannu invade in force, I will lead my people in a desperate fight to repay the nation's kindness. However, if we run out of food and money, and if we are short of troops, I fear it will be difficult to preserve Liaodong."

"I am deeply terrified and am reporting this to you."

"Snapped……"

Wu Zongta, the Grand Tutor of the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, and the Grand Secretary of Jianji Hall, slammed the memorial in his hand down on the desk with a loud bang. Several officials in the hall were immediately frightened and turned pale. They held their breath, fearing that they would be implicated.

Damn it, which official submitted this memorial that made the old man so furious? I’m probably in big trouble again!

"Have there been any official documents submitted by the Ministry of War today?" Wu Zongda watched indifferently as a clerk picked up the fallen memorials one by one and placed them respectfully on the desk. After a long silence, he suddenly asked.

"Reporting to the Lord, there are no memorials from the Ministry of War today." A cabinet clerk bowed and replied, "Ten days ago, the Jiannu army attacked Xuanfu. His Majesty was angry at the Ministry of War for missing the opportunity and ordered them to take responsibility. The matter is still under discussion within the Ministry, and no one is currently in charge of the Ministry of War."

"Uh..." Wu Zongda paused after hearing this and asked, "Do you have any memorials from the Liaodong governor or governor?"

"Replying to the Lord, there are no memorials from the Governor-General of Ji and Liao and the Governor of Liaodong today."

"Hmph..." Wu Zongda sneered twice, "The Liaodong Governor and his officials are really patient!"

The officials and clerks in the hall did not dare to respond and stood with their heads bowed.

"Huh?" Wu Zongta suddenly thought of something and took out the memorial he had just read from the desk.

"Last year, His Majesty ordered the Chinese envoys from Xinzhou to come to the capital to pay homage to the emperor. Have they arrived?"

"Reporting to the Lord, the Xinzhou Huaxia delegation arrived in the capital two months ago and is temporarily staying at the Huitong Hall, awaiting an audience with the Ministry of Rites and His Majesty."

"Hmm?" Wu Zongda immediately grasped a key word from the conversation, "They have been in Beijing for over two months, and still haven't been allowed to see the emperor?"

"Replying to the Lord, it is true that he has not yet come to the court."

"Why?"

"I... don't know." Sweat was already oozing from the official's forehead.

"Does the Prime Minister know about this?"

"I... don't know." The official replied, lowering his head even more.

“…” Wu Zongda sighed slightly, waved his hand, and signaled the official who answered to go back to his work.

In June of the sixth year of Chongzhen (1633), Wen Tihen replaced Zhou Yanru after overthrowing him. The following year, he was promoted to the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Hall and was also appointed as the Junior Tutor, firmly sitting in the position of the Chief Minister of the Cabinet.

However, after taking office, this Prime Minister did not try to rectify the government and reverse the increasingly decadent situation of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, he started a new round of political oppression, constantly eliminating dissidents and cultivating confidants.

In order to control the personnel power in the court, Wen Tihen tried to get rid of the Minister of Personnel Li Changgeng, who had always been at odds with him, and targeted him everywhere. For a time, the court was in chaos. Many appointments of officials from various departments and local governors could not be agreed upon, resulting in large-scale vacancies.

A month earlier, Emperor Chongzhen had issued an edict granting leniency to some officials who had been punished. Without waiting for the Ministry of Justice's list of commuted sentences to be approved by the imperial edict, Li Changgeng, under Wen Tihen's constant urging, drew up a list of officials to be dismissed, thus falling into a trap set by someone else.

Afterwards, Wen Tihen secretly impeached Li Changgeng based on this, saying that he "bent the law for personal gain, colluded with his friends to deceive the emperor", and deceived the emperor, which was suspected of deceiving the emperor.

Emperor Chongzhen was furious about this and dismissed Li Changgeng from his post as Minister of Personnel and handed him over to the Ministry for discussion.

After getting rid of Li Changgeng, the thorn in his side, Wen Tihen appointed his trusted confidant Zhang Jie, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, to temporarily take charge of the Ministry of Personnel. Later, when the court officials were nominating the Minister of Personnel, he instructed him to nominate Lu Chunru.

This move was met with great criticism from court officials. Wu Zongda, the second-in-command of the cabinet, rejected it on the spot, believing that Lu was a core member of the eunuch party involved in the "Imperially Decreed Treason Case" and how could he be appointed as the Minister of Personnel.

Amidst the huge controversy, some extremely emotional censors even wanted to beat Zhang Jie, saying that he was a remnant of the eunuch party and wanted to disrupt the government.

After failing to recommend Lü Chunru, Wen Tihen settled for the second best and proposed to use another of his close confidants, Xie Sheng, as the Minister of Personnel, but this was still opposed by some court officials, and Emperor Chongzhen did not make a clear statement.

For a time, the selection of the Grand Chancellor (i.e. the Minister of Personnel) became the biggest controversial issue in the entire court, causing the affairs of other departments to be pushed to the back or even shelved.

Now, the Jiannu army is attacking Xuanfu and threatening Liaodong. The situation in the north is not optimistic.

The riots of refugees from Shanxi and Shaanxi became increasingly severe. Not only were they not quelled, but they spread to Henan, Sichuan, Huguang and other regions, causing fires and smoke to fill the entire territory of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, disasters occurred one after another in various places and the people were in urgent need of relief. There were countless states, prefectures, and counties that needed relief, and the number of victims who needed comfort and assistance was even greater.

The Ming Dynasty was truly plagued by internal and external troubles, like a dilapidated house with leaks everywhere. It urgently needed to take a breath and have some repairs done.

But look at what the "capable ministers and generals" in the Ming Dynasty court are doing?
For the sake of power struggle, for the sake of party-building and for personal gain, they ignored the major issues of the world and put millions of people in dire straits!
What's even more ridiculous is that a small foreign country thousands of miles away wanted to pay tribute and have an audience with the emperor, but the emperor actually left them in Huitong Hall for two months without paying any attention to them.

Isn't this making a fool of ourselves in foreign countries?

"Someone come!" Wu Zongda took a deep breath and called a clerk in a deep voice, "Go and invite the Grand Master of the Imperial Household (the Minister of Rites)."

"Yes, Lord!" The clerk bowed and then turned and ran out of the hall.
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"My Lords, allow me to explain a few things."

In the reception hall of Huitong Hall, several officials from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory were having a debate with the Chinese envoys from Xinzhou about the calendar and astronomical theories. All of them had red faces and were spitting, and it was obvious that they were extremely excited.

Meng Shengxin considered his words, bowed to the "scholars" present at the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, and spoke aloud, "In the past, there was a Westerner named Copernicus who advocated the theory of earthquakes, arguing that the Earth we live on is not the center of the universe, but actually orbits the sun."

"Later, the Westerner Tycho Brahe, through extensive astronomical observations, discovered that the positions of the stars observed did not change much with the movement of the Earth. He decisively rejected this so-called heliocentric theory and proposed the geocentric theory." "Geocentric theory holds that the Earth is stationary in the center, with the sun, moon, and stars orbiting it, making it the center of the universe. However, observing celestial phenomena, the movement of the five planets sometimes moves fast, sometimes slow, sometimes forward, sometimes backward. To explain this with geocentric theory would require the establishment of numerous epicycles and deferents, which would be complex and difficult to understand."

"The heliocentric theory, on the other hand, is simple and clear. The five planets orbit the sun in orderly, orderly orbits, free of all the confusion. Moreover, today, when people observe the sky, they know that the Earth is a sphere suspended in space, orbiting the Sun once a year, and the Moon orbiting the Earth once a month."

"The sun is just one of the stars, one of the hundreds of billions in the Milky Way. Beyond the Milky Way, there are countless more galaxies, vast and boundless. The vastness of the universe is beyond the imagination of the ancients."

"Thus, the geocentric theory Lord Li just cited, while held by ancient sages and supported by Western reasoning and evidence, is truly absurd. The laws of nature are constant, not created by the Yaos or destroyed by the Jies. We must observe the principles of heaven and earth with a scientific eye, only then can we understand the true meaning of the universe."

"My learning is limited, so I offer this brief comment. I hope you will understand and understand. Do not criticize the present by comparing it with the past, nor criticize the past by comparing it with the present. Just follow the truth."

After saying this, Meng Shengxin bowed again to several officials from the Imperial Observatory and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Damn it, my tongue is about to cramp after saying this!
"Sir Tang, what do you think?" Li Tianjing, deputy director of the Imperial Observatory (fifth rank), turned his head to look at an official with a Western face beside him and asked in a low voice.

Johann Adam Schall von Bell's face was as gloomy as water and his expression was extremely serious. He wanted to refute the remarks of the Xinhua envoy, but the other party seemed to have some point. While speaking, he held a charcoal pencil and simply sketched an image of the movement of celestial bodies.

In addition, in the past few days, this Xinhua envoy has demonstrated profound attainments in mathematics, physics, chemistry, celestial evolution and many other fields, which made him feel a strong sense of fear. He was afraid that he would say something wrong and give others a chance to find fault with him, thus ruining his image as a person who is well versed in "Western law".

After more than ten years, he had just assisted the Imperial Astronomical Observatory in completing the voluminous "Chongzhen Calendar" two months ago, and was praised by the Emperor and the cabinet ministers. His own reputation also reached its highest point since he came to the Ming Dynasty, and he became an important "Western scholar" in this country.

However, just when he was feeling proud of himself, a month ago, Li Tianjing, deputy director of the Imperial Observatory, was invited by the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple to go to the Huitong Hall to meet the Xinhua envoys to make calculations and arrangements for the auspicious time for the audience. Unexpectedly, he started discussing academic matters with the other envoys and was immediately amazed by them. He recounted that the Xinhua envoys' calculations and astronomical theories were very profound and quite innovative.

They discussed geometry and trigonometry, and Xinhua not only had a deep understanding of them, but also derived and proposed many new concepts and theories.

Especially in plane trigonometry and spherical trigonometry, which were what Johann Adam Schall von Bell was best at, he could use them with ease and solve many difficult problems.

Xinhua also used the traditional Chinese fan-shaped analysis method to explain the profound knowledge about differentials and integrals in a very simple way, and systematically and rigorously preached the formal calculus theory that had not yet been formed in Europe to the public.

For a time, upon hearing the news, colleagues from the Imperial Observatory came to visit and discussed various "Western" theories with Xinhua people all day long.

Not only did Johann Adam Schall von Bell not master these theories, but he had even never heard of many of the theories and knowledge.

It was obvious that everyone had misjudged this small vassal state.

This new Chinese vassal state from a foreign continent is by no means a "barbaric country" or an "ignorant country".

They are clearly a civilized "kingdom" with an extremely civilized society, extremely abundant material resources, and extremely advanced science!
I heard that the craftsmanship and technology of the several glass mirrors they presented were no less than those of the glass produced in Venice.

The performance and power of the artillery they sent were also much better than the Portuguese-cast artillery in Oyster Mirror.

The dozens of steel knives they presented were tough and sharp, and could be called divine weapons.

The refined whale oil they paid as tribute not only burned brightly when used for lighting, but also produced less smoke and had a light odor.

All this shows that this overseas vassal state that calls itself New Continent China did not really come to the Ming Dynasty to "eat and drink for free" nor did it come to deceive rewards in the name of tribute.

I heard from officials from the Ministry of War that the Xinhua people deployed several gunboats in the Liaohai Sea, frequently helping the Ming army to resist attacks from the Tatars in the northeast.

More importantly, these new Chinese share the same language and ethnicity as the Ming people, all have Chinese blood, and have a natural sense of national affinity.

If the Xinhua people entered the Ming Dynasty, interacted with many officials and "Western French party members", and jointly studied what they called "science", there would be no room for the Catholic Jesuits to display their talents!

However, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, who claimed to be "erudite and versatile", was indeed inferior to others in skills and had no way, uh, to refute or question the "science" they preached.

The book "Tongwen Suanzhi" translated by him, former cabinet chief Xu Guangqi, and deputy director of the Imperial Observatory Li Tianjing was his greatest pride and support, but in the eyes of others it was just a "minor thing".

Xinhua people came up with a simple yet advanced algorithm using a "slide rule" as a tool, which is based on the principle of logarithm and performs calculations by sliding the ruler.

This method can perform operations such as multiplication, division, square root, and logarithm, and is superior to the written calculation method (Napier chips) he introduced from Europe.

Although he still felt a little unwilling, he had to admit that in terms of knowledge and insights alone, the Xinhua envoy was far superior to him.

"Mr. Meng, your Xinhua delegation still hasn't been granted permission to come to the court by the Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet?"

It was noon, and Meng Shengxin hosted a banquet at Huitong Hall to entertain a group of "scholars and experts" from the Imperial Observatory. After three rounds of drinks, Li Tianjing asked a question seemingly casually.

"Ahem, I'm deeply ashamed to say this." Meng Shengxin coughed lightly, a look of helplessness on his face. "Our country, Xinhua, is small and has few people. We have no influence on the Celestial Empire, so naturally, we cannot be allowed to meet with the emperor immediately. However, I think the officials of the Ming court must be busy with complicated political affairs and official duties and cannot find the time to meet with us at the moment."

"Mr. Meng..." Li Tianjing hesitated for a moment, then sighed, ready to offer some pointers to the Xinhua envoy. "Do you know Governor Sun Yuanhua, who was executed two years ago for the Denglai Rebellion?"

"Well, I heard a little bit about it."

"Sun Yuanhua became a 'Western-French Party member'."

"Huh?" Meng Shengxin looked at him in confusion.

"Rumor has it that Mr. Yizhai (former Prime Minister Zhou Yanru) was also a supporter of the 'Western Law Party' and had attempted to rescue Sun Yuanhua but failed."

“…” Meng Shengxin blinked.

Does this have anything to do with us?

"There's a rift between Lord Yuanfu (Wen Tiren) and Mr. Yizhai..." Li Tianjing gave a wry smile, "So, Lord Yuanfu deeply dislikes the 'Western-French Party.'"

"So..." Meng Shengxin seemed to have grasped the clue.

"Are you, Xinhua, promoting some strange and tricky methods?"

"Oh..." Meng Shengxin suddenly realized.

In short, our Xinhua country was founded on "Western methods", and therefore was hated by the chief minister of the cabinet, Wen Tiren.

What the hell is going on?

No wonder, even though he had given "red envelopes" to the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the eunuchs who came to inquire about the matter, he was still unable to enter the court.

This damn Ming Dynasty!
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(End of this chapter)