Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 287 The Poor Ming Dynasty "Workers"

While Tian Xiaodong was sorting the books and intelligence materials he had collected in Beijing on his desk, he stole a glance at his teacher who was absorbed in reading the official newspaper by the window.

Meng Shengxin sat in a rattan chair by the window, clutching a copy of the imperial gazette in his hand, his gaze gazing through the window lattice at the distant horizon. His expression was calm, as if he hadn't expressed much frustration or disappointment at the "reward" bestowed upon him by the Ming court.

After more than half a month of negotiations, the Ming court did not agree to all of Xinhua's demands, but only granted restrictive permission for four conditions: trade, immigration, military cooperation, and running schools.

Moreover, trade was limited to the two Ming Dynasty ports of Guangzhou and Quanzhou. Like other overseas vassal states, free entry and exit from other coastal port towns was prohibited.

As for immigration, the Ming government initially directly rejected it.

What a joke! How can the people of our Celestial Empire be abducted and taken out to sea by a foreign vassal state at will?
You should know that during the Hongwu period, our Ming Dynasty promulgated an extremely strict maritime ban policy, which almost completely prohibited any civilians from going to sea.

Even during the Yongle period, when the Ming Dynasty organized several large-scale voyages to the West, the ban on private maritime activities was still very strict.

It was not until the Longqing period that the maritime ban policy was relaxed due to the gradual easing of the Japanese pirate problem, the needs of the imperial court, and the appeals of "sea merchants" in coastal areas. Private smuggling trade began to rise, especially in coastal areas such as Fujian and Guangdong.

Up to now, with the arrival of Western barbarians and the proliferation of private maritime merchants, the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy has become a dead end, and there are no restrictions on the people's travel.

However, the Ming Dynasty court still strictly prohibits its people from emigrating to the sea.

Anyone who leaves the Ming Dynasty without permission is an abandoned citizen of the Celestial Empire and even a "barbarian".

Otherwise, why would you abandon your motherland?

However, when the Xinhua envoys tactfully suggested that the countless refugees who had suffered from the disaster be transferred out to sea and sent to Xinhua to reclaim wasteland and live there, it would also help relieve the worries of the Ming Dynasty and solve the difficulties of the court.

Everyone can imagine what the consequences would be if there was no relief for tens of thousands of refugees.

After hearing this, the Ming officials who participated in the negotiations were silent for a long time. Then, after consulting the cabinet, they adopted a tacit attitude towards the issue of immigration to the sea.

That is, our government will still not allow the people of the Ming Dynasty to go out to sea privately, but will not strictly prohibit Xinhua from recruiting Ming Dynasty refugees to go overseas for "colonization and work".

However, this behavior must be reported to the local prefecture and county officials, and only after approval can the "recruitment" activities be carried out, and the entire process must be carried out under the supervision of the local government and the garrison.

As for military cooperation, it goes without saying that the Ming government welcomes Xinhua to provide the Ming army with corresponding firearms and equipment, and also accepts the military support that the Xinhua Navy provides to Dongjiang Town in the Liaohai region.

However, out of preferential treatment for Xinhua, the Ming government allowed Xinhua envoys to travel between Guangzhou, Nanjing and the capital after obtaining certificates issued by the Ministry of Rites, and required them to report to the local authorities in a timely manner.

Logically speaking, after the Xinhua envoy expressed his "loyalty" in front of Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Chongzhen was very pleased and took the opportunity to ask for more than ten "rewards". However, in the end, he only got these few small requests and should have been very disappointed.

"Actually, it doesn't matter whether the Ming government agrees to our requests or not." Meng Shengxin put down the official report in his hand and said with a smile, "With the current control of the Ming central government over the local areas, even if we don't obtain their many permissions, we can still carry out immigration and trade (smuggling) as before."

"The main purpose of this pilgrimage is to obtain formal official recognition from the Ming Dynasty. In other words, we in Xinhua will establish a close vassal relationship with the Ming government. Then, using this identity as cover, we can do things in the coastal areas that we couldn't do before."

"Teacher, then why do we have to put forward so many conditions to the emperor?"

"As the ancients said, 'If you take the best, you get something in the middle; if you take the middle, you get something below; if you take the below, you get nothing.'" Meng Shengxin said with a smile, "When we negotiate terms with the Ming Dynasty, we naturally ask for a high price first, then bargain down to the lowest possible level. The best we can get is the lowest possible price."

"Think about it, among the many vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, how many were able to ultimately help solve its problems? Previously, Korea was one of them, and during the war against the Jiannu, it provided a lot of military assistance to Liaodong. However, after the Jiannu brutally defeated Korea a few years ago, they no longer dared to openly support the Ming Dynasty, let alone send troops to help the Liaodong garrisons attack the Jiannu."

"On the contrary, over the past few years, we in Xinhua have actively dispatched naval vessels to assist Dongjiang Town in countering the Jiannu invasion. We have also helped General Huang Long stabilize the situation in Liaohai, enabling him to establish a solid defense line in coastal forts such as Lushun, Yongning, and Xiongyue. We also cooperated with the Dongjiang Navy to defeat the Denglai rebel navy."

"More importantly, we at Xinhua can provide the Ming Dynasty with some of its most valuable weapons for defending the city—artillery—at a relatively favorable price. This will provide tremendous support for the Ming army in consolidating and stabilizing the situation in Liaodong. This alone is enough to make the Ming government look up to us at Xinhua."

"You know, after the Denglai Rebellion, the Ming Dynasty not only lost a large number of artillery pieces painstakingly forged over several years, but also lost hundreds of skilled artillery craftsmen from the Armory Bureau. This meant that the Ming Dynasty was unable to obtain sufficient artillery to resist the Jiannu invasion in the short term. And without the support of heavy firepower, the officers and soldiers of the Liaodong garrisons seemed less capable of defending the city."

"It's quite sad to say. Since ancient times, the dynasties of the Central Plains have been renowned for their proficiency in both attacking and defending cities. The numerous barbarian tribes, whether originating in the northeast or northwest, were the complete opposite. While adept at field warfare, they were incapable of attacking or defending cities. Even the Mongols, who swept across Eurasia like a whirlwind, were no exception. Otherwise, they would have laid siege to the mere city of Xiangyang for seven years, ultimately forcing Lü Wenhuan to surrender the city before they could capture it."

"However, during the Tianqi and Chongzhen reigns, a reversal of the Tiangang occurred. The Ming troops in Liaodong lost their ancestral defense skills and frequently allowed the Jiannu to capture their cities and strongholds. Well, regardless of the Jiannu's methods, whether sneak attacks or internal collusion, the Ming army performed extremely poorly in the face of the Jiannu's massive attacks."

"Tell me, are all the Jiannu generals possessed by Sun Wu and Han Xin? Otherwise, how could they be so brave?"

"By the way, speaking of defending cities, we have to mention Yuan Chonghuan, the former Governor of Ji and Liao who was executed by slow slicing. I think his greatest contribution wasn't winning the so-called Battle of Ningyuan and the subsequent Ningjin Victory, nor was it building that solid defensive line from Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan that made the Jiannu army feel overwhelmed just thinking about it, but rather teaching the Ming army what defense is and how to defend it."

"..." Tian Xiaodong and He Shouyou listened with great interest, not noticing that the teacher's topic seemed to have shifted from the pilgrimage to the unrelated Ming army tactics.

"And now, without their artillery, the Ming army in Liaodong seems to have no idea how to defend the city. If they had looked through the 'Jixiao Xinshu', the 'Wubei Zhi', or even found a copy of the 'Zhen Ji', they wouldn't have been so lax. Alas, to put it bluntly, the morale of the Ming army is broken, and they have no energy or spirit left. They have been psychologically traumatized by the Jiannu, so they are afraid before the battle even begins."

"But, after all, these cannons are consumables, requiring constant casting and replenishment. Copper cannons have a slightly longer lifespan, capable of firing a hundred or even several hundred rounds. However, due to immature craftsmanship and substandard materials, cast iron cannons can only fire a few dozen times before becoming unusable."

"However, after the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Works lost a large number of its best artillery smiths in the Denglai Rebellion, its artillery production capacity was completely unable to meet the needs of the Ming army in Liaodong, so it had to resort to external procurement. Although our Xinhua artillery foundry is not large in scale, we can still produce dozens or even hundreds of them each year, which is enough to barely meet the needs of the Ming army."

"Teacher, we... uh, didn't Daming have any inventory before?" He Shouyou asked curiously.

"Of course there are!" Meng Shengxin said with a hint of sarcasm. "After the Denglai Rebellion broke out, the Ming government mobilized garrison troops from all over the country to suppress the rebellion. To deal with the rebels' artillery, the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of War requested the Hyogo Bureau to allocate 120 artillery pieces from its inventory to meet the needs of the rebellious army. Guess what happened in the end?"

“…” The two young men shook their heads, with curiosity in their eyes.

"After conducting on-site inspections, officials from the Ministry of War were shocked to discover that more than half of the registered 'General Cannons' were actually pinewood models painted with tung oil!"

"Ah!" The two young men were stunned. "Even more tragically, the five or six Portuguese artillerymen Sun Yuanhua recruited back then, unable to receive their salaries for so long, had to secretly forge iron pots in the Armoury Bureau of the Ministry of Works to earn money. Furthermore, 30% of the gunpowder allocated by the Ministry of Works to the Ningyuan and Dongjiang garrisons was diverted to produce fireworks for the Lantern Festival."

"The muskets used by the Liaodong Ming army had a 2% burst rate, while our Xinhua cannons and muskets had a malfunction rate of only %. This is one of the reasons why Huang Long's troops in Dongjiang Town would rather abandon the muskets allocated by the Ministry of War in the warehouse than equip them."

"Most fatally, the Ming Dynasty's institutional decay has exacerbated its military problems. I heard that among the many accusations made by the current Prime Minister, Wen Tiren, to bring down the previous Prime Minister, Zhou Yanru, one was that he had diverted funds from the Ministry of War for firearms manufacturing to fund factional strife."

"In July, the Jiannu invaded Xuanfu. The cabinet summoned the Ministry of War to dispatch the Shenji Battalion to Zhangjiakou to protect the capital, but this was refused by the Minister of War, Zhang Fengyi. Rumors arose that the Shenji Battalion was temporarily recruiting a large number of rogues to fill the huge vacancies. Minister Zhang was well aware of this and feared that the Shenji Battalion would delay military operations and suffer a defeat, thus implicating himself. Therefore, he did not allow the Shenji Battalion to leave the capital to fight the enemy."

"How could the Ming Dynasty be like this..."

"Alas, the problems of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be so serious that they are beyond redemption and cannot be cured." Meng Shengxin sighed.

"Teacher, what should we do next?"

"What should we do?" Meng Shengxin smiled faintly, a gleam in his eyes. "Although the Ming court hasn't fully agreed to our demands, it has opened a crack in the door for us. Next, we need to use this crack to slowly open the door wider and gradually expand our influence."

"As for the situation in Ming, we only need to continue to provide support and wait for the opportunity. As long as we can help Ming hold on for a little longer, we will do so so that we, Xinhua, can maximize our population and resources."

"Da Ming really..." Tian Xiaodong hesitated to speak.

Although they were adopted by Xinhua when they were young and grew up under their careful care and teaching, they have always lived on this land and have some ties and hopes for it.

If the Ming Dynasty continued to decline and eventually collapsed, to be honest, they would still feel a little...unbearable.

Because, under the influence of Meng Shengxin, these orphaned beggars also developed a sense of family and country.

They still have some feelings for the Ming Dynasty.

"It's a terminal illness, there's no way to save him..." Meng Shengxin shook his head and sighed.

As for the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, natural disasters continue, refugees are everywhere, and the Jiannu army attacks from time to time, making it impossible for the Ming government to resolve many domestic problems.

Moreover, with the productivity and technological level of this era, it is difficult to cope with natural disasters and drastic social upheavals of such scale and scope.

However, in this situation, there is not no solution at all.

As long as we learn from history, we will find that when our ancestors faced this situation, the best choice was four words - wait and see.

I still remember that various historical documents recorded that after the 1644th year of Chongzhen (), the natural disasters and plagues that occurred one after another in the Ming Dynasty suddenly eased, and the overall situation was improving day by day.

If the Ming Dynasty (Chongzhen) could have had a little more patience, acted less hastily, and not put all his capital at once, perhaps he could have really waited until the dawn.

To be honest, when your health bar is almost empty, don't rush to counterattack, and don't always think about achieving success in one battle.

Instead, the first goal is to preserve strength and protect oneself. If you don't lose, you will win. If you can delay for a while, you will delay for a while, waiting for a turning point.

What is most needed to achieve this is patience.

But the problem is that Emperor Chongzhen is the most impatient person.

Like most of the Zhu emperors, he was harsh to his subjects, suspicious and ill-tempered, and he would often scold, punish, behead or even torture his ministers and generals.

The most important thing is that Emperor Chongzhen was extremely conceited and only believed in himself. In his eyes, anyone else was a troublemaker who wanted to harm him.

Well, during his seventeen years in power, more than fifty Grand Secretaries were replaced, and the ministers of various ministries were replaced almost every year.

With a boss like this, who the hell would still want to work properly!
The fierce general Cao Wenzhao was once a subordinate of Xiong Tingbi and Sun Chengzong. He fought bravely and was fearless of death. He was known in history as the best general in the late Ming Dynasty.

People at that time once wrote a song for him: "There is a Cao in the army, and the western bandits are terrified when they hear of him."

How did Emperor Chongzhen treat such a loyal minister and good general?
In July, the Jiannu invaded Datong, Xuanfu, Lingqiu and many garrisons and strongholds fell one after another. Only Cao Wenzhao and Governor Zhang Zongheng defended Huairen to the death, preventing the Jiannu from advancing further.

In September, the Jiannu army retreated, and Cao Wenzhao tried to chase them and prevent them from retreating calmly.

However, they were accidentally ambushed by the Jiannu army and lost hundreds of soldiers.

But overall, Cao Wenzhao had merits and faults, so it's okay for his merits and faults to offset each other, right?
But the decree just issued from the palace was to exile him!
Not to mention that Cao Wenzhao himself would certainly cry out in injustice and then feel resentment after receiving the imperial edict, even Meng Shengxin felt that this punishment was a bit too much.

After all, Cao Wenzhao was one of the few generals in the Ming army who dared to fight against the Jiannu. He did not shrink back in the fortified cities like the generals in Xuanfu and Datong, choosing to keep his troops in place and allowing the Jiannu to wreak havoc in the border areas and wreak havoc in the northern border.

As a result, such a diligent and hard-working "worker" was treated so unfairly by the "boss". Doesn't this make other "workers" feel heartbroken?

"So, everyone in the Ming Dynasty, except His Majesty the Emperor, will continue to diligently govern. I suspect that everyone from the Prime Minister to the county clerks will choose to be passive and lazy, taking paid time off."

Meng Shengxin smiled and said leisurely, "Now that Xinhua has an account with the Ming government and the emperor's endorsement, even if some things aren't approved, as long as we're willing to invest the money, there's nothing we can't accomplish!"

"Of course, the premise is that the Ming Dynasty can hold on for a little longer."

"...Oh, by the way, why haven't the five cannons and thirty flintlock muskets we promised to present to the Ming Dynasty been delivered to the capital from Kunniang Island yet?"
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(End of this chapter)