My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 250 Against the Japanese Sword Treasure - Steel Bar

——[Simulation Start]——

The memorial entitled "Request to Establish a Coastal Defense Reserve and the Office of Transmission to Concurrently Manage Coastal Intelligence" concerned the use of funds in the imperial treasury. The cabinet ministers had no draft opinions, so the memorial was sent to the palace.

The Longqing Emperor was unwilling to spend money from the imperial treasury, so he allocated funds from the maritime trade tax to support coastal defense. He sent the matter to the outer court for further discussion.

The Ministry of War also opposed your involvement in the coastal defense system, and preferred to oppose the establishment of the Coastal Defense Reserve Bank.

The Longqing Emperor, taking advantage of the situation, rejected your memorial.

——[Simulation End]——

[Remaining Prestige: 1540.]

[Submitting the two matters mentioned in this memorial together will increase the required prestige points.]

[Should we use 1000 prestige points to ensure the memorial is fully executed?]

[Submitting separate memorials, "Requesting the Establishment of a Coastal Defense Reserve" requires 500 prestige points, while "The Office of Transmission concurrently in charge of Maritime Intelligence" requires 200 prestige points.]

[Should we continue merging the submitted memorials and deduct 1000 prestige points?]

Wow, the system really knows how to do the math.

That's right, my memorial actually addresses two matters.

If the performance is performed separately, then two simulated performance opportunities will be needed.

Merging the performances can save you one chance to simulate a performance, but it will cost you more reputation points.

So, did we make a profit or a loss?
But this thinking makes sense; trying to accomplish two things at the same time is definitely more difficult than trying to accomplish them separately.

It's only the beginning of the month, and Su Ze doesn't want to use up his two simulation opportunities yet.

Then the only option is to combine the performances.

"Combined submissions will result in a deduction of 1000 points."

[Prestige points have been deducted. Remaining Prestige Points: 540. Please complete the petition in real life.]

Putting down the portable Ming Dynasty device, Su Ze began to think.

I've discovered a new use for it.

If we combine many things into one memorial, wouldn't that be circumventing the limit on the number of simulations?
But thinking about it, it's actually quite difficult.

It would be one thing to submit a memorial combining two related matters, but the border defense silver and the Tongzhengsi Lishi Office are connected, so why would they do this?

If a bunch of unrelated matters were put into a single memorial, the emperor and the Grand Secretaries would be disgusted, as this would violate the official document management principles of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, one plus one is greater than two. Cramming too many things into the same memorial will increase the consumption of prestige points.

Of course, in his revised memorial, Su Ze only asked the emperor's private treasury for 500,000 taels of silver.

This money was allocated to the Office of the General Administration of Customs.

This amount represents less than one-eighth of last year's maritime tax revenue.

This is far less than the gold coins taken from the imperial treasury for border defense.

However, once this channel is opened and this budget is available, all matters related to coastal defense can be financed from the coastal defense reserve fund.

Su Ze then took the memorial and headed towards the Office of Transmission.
-
The next day, Su Ze's memorial was sent to the palace, but there was still no response.

Even Yang Sizhong, the Tongzheng Commissioner, was not optimistic about Su Ze's memorial.

Getting money from the imperial treasury is easier said than done!
It should be known that the imperial court had long coveted this maritime tax.

However, the Longqing Emperor kept a tight grip on this money, and the outer court had no chance to get its hands on it.

Although both were sources of revenue from the imperial treasury, the maritime tax grew rapidly, and unlike the gold coin tax, it did not require the involvement of the bureaucratic system; it could be collected directly through the maritime tax offices in each port.

If the emperor hadn't handed over the account books, none of the officials would have known that the Maritime Trade Office had collected so much last year!
With more money in his pocket, the emperor had much more freedom in how he spent it.

Even emperors need to spend money.

The emperor had relatives who needed to be rewarded, and his personal maids and eunuchs also needed to be rewarded. In addition, there were expenses for things like the Lantern Festival.

Of course, the emperor's private treasury was not used entirely for the royal family, as later critics have suggested.

For example, the bulk of the border defense funds came from the emperor's private treasury, which was the largest source of border defense funding in the Ming Dynasty since the Tumu Crisis.

In addition, when the Ministry of Revenue was short of funds, it often "borrowed" money from the emperor.

Therefore, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were not as stingy as later legends portray them, and the financial difficulties of the Ming Dynasty were not entirely due to the extravagance of the royal family.

The teaching subsidies for students of the Imperial Academy were all paid from the emperor's private treasury.

In this cabinet, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were both respectable men, but they were also unwilling to have the outer court bear this expense. Therefore, after Su Ze's memorial was sent to the cabinet, the cabinet ministers were too embarrassed to ask the emperor for money again.

After reading the memorial, the Longqing Emperor suppressed his displeasure and asked the three officials from the Directorate of Ceremonial:
"What does the inner court think?"

Li Fang began by saying:
"Su Hanlin's words are wise for the country, but whether the situation in Ryukyu is as urgent as the Office of Transmission says, and whether there are Japanese pirates lurking on the coast, these matters need to be discussed by the outer court."

Li Fang is a cunning old fox.

He knew, of course, that the emperor was unwilling to pay that money.

Unlike Su Ze's previous memorials, this money was the kind that would be poured in but wouldn't make a splash.

The reason why Emperor Longqing would obediently hand over money in the past was because the returns on those funds were visible.

The Lingji Palace Grand Assembly, the Lantern Festival, and the Martial Arts Academy—these are all achievements that will be recorded in history.

Is it naval intelligence?
Intelligence work may take years and cost money without yielding results, but these people still need to be supported, consuming a large amount of funds.

Li Fang naturally realized that the emperor was unwilling to spend money, but he didn't want to offend Su Ze either, so he simply left it to the outer court for discussion.

If the outer court is truly united, then the pressure will naturally fall on the emperor; if the outer court itself cannot reach a consensus, then the matter will simply be dropped.

As the head of the Eastern Depot, Feng Bao's attitude leaned more towards Su Ze, but he also had his own ideas.

Feng Bao said:

"Your Majesty, I believe that our Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard have their own eyes and ears in the local areas. Why not allocate some silver to these Embroidered Uniform Guard outposts along the coast? Perhaps we can save money and accomplish great things."

The Embroidered Uniform Guard (Jinyiwei) in the early Ming Dynasty did indeed have the function of monitoring local areas.

However, the Ming Dynasty's garrisons were constantly deteriorating, and the local outposts of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had long since become ineffective.

As the head of the Eastern Depot, Feng Bao, who was in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, wanted to keep the power of investigation in the hands of the Eastern Depot, rather than in the hands of the Tongzheng Post Office, which was run by civil officials in the outer court.

Furthermore, Feng Bao thought that although it was nominally for "preparing against Japanese pirates," as long as there was funding, it could also have other functions besides preparing against Japanese pirates, such as collecting information on local people and officials. In this way, the power of the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard could be further strengthened.

Finally, the emperor looked at Chen Hong, who was in charge of the Imperial Treasury. Chen Hong's attitude was firm: "Your Majesty, this precedent must not be set, and funds must absolutely not be drawn from the Imperial Treasury!"

This statement also reminded the Longqing Emperor that the border defense silver was the same; it was originally just silver that the outer court "borrowed" from the emperor when the defense budget was insufficient.

However, nowadays, reserve funds have become a fixed expense.

During the late emperor's reign, when the country was fighting against Japanese pirates in the southeast, the imperial treasury was almost emptied out to support the resistance.

The phrase "This precedent must not be set again" solidified the Longqing Emperor's resolve. He said to Li Fang:

"Send Su Ze's memorial to the outer court for public discussion."

Li Fang accepted Su Ze's memorial. Based on his understanding of the ministers in the outer court, sending it to the outer court for public discussion was practically equivalent to rejecting Su Ze's memorial.
-
"Young Master, are we really going to force our way in?"

As he lay in front of the Crystal Palace Expo pavilion, a Japanese samurai spoke to Yoshihiro Shimazu, who was dressed as a Han Chinese scholar, who was lying next to him.

Yoshihiro Shimazu was the second son of Takahisa Shimazu, the head of the Shimazu family in Satsuma.

As the second son of the family, Yoshihiro Shimazu had no right to inherit the family business. His elder brother, Yoshihisa Shimazu, was a skilled warrior and was recognized by the Shimazu family, including his father.

Therefore, after coming of age, Yoshihiro Shimazu served as a warrior for the Shimazu family and made many contributions to the family.

However, since his father, Shimazu Takahisa, unified Satsuma last year, there has been no fighting in the Satsuma region for the time being.

So Yoshihiro Shimazu voluntarily distanced himself from the core of the family's power and began to travel around.

Last year, he came to Laizhou Port with a merchant ship. After witnessing the prosperity of Laizhou Port, Shimazu Yoshihiro had the idea of ​​traveling to the Ming Dynasty.

Shimazu Yoshihiro ordered his men to grow their hair like the people of the Ming Dynasty, and they also learned Chinese from Ming Dynasty merchants. They then evaded the inspection of the Maritime Trade Office and led their men into the heart of the Ming Dynasty.

Sometimes they disguised themselves as Korean merchants, sometimes as Ryukyu merchants, and by using money to pave their way, they managed to sneak into the capital.

Yoshihiro Shimazu was amazed by what he saw in the capital, but what shocked him most was the news of the great victory at Dongshengwei.

Satsuma is located at the southernmost tip of Japan and was one of the earliest regions to have exchanges with foreign countries. The Shimazu clan was also one of the first daimyo in Japan to use firearms.

Yoshihiro Shimazu himself was a passionate enthusiast of firearms. When he was in Satsuma, he set up a "Firearms Museum" to study Western firearms.

Upon hearing that the Ming army had used bastions and firearms to defeat hundreds of thousands of Mongols, Shimazu Yoshihiro became extremely interested in the military technology of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Battle of Tsushima in the early Yuan Dynasty, the Japanese had witnessed the terror of the Mongols. Now that they had defeated such a formidable enemy, it must have been thanks to firearms!

However, Shimazu Yoshihiro had no legal status and could not get close to the Ming Dynasty's arsenal, so he made no progress over the course of several months.

At this time, he awaited the opening of the Crystal Palace Expo.

He disguised himself as a commoner of the Ming Dynasty and infiltrated the Crystal Palace. He saw those exquisite machines, but what fascinated him even more was the steel inside the Crystal Palace.

I heard that the pillars of the Crystal Palace were cast using steel from cannons.

A violent thing!
However, Shimazu Yoshihiro was also a smart man. Doesn't this just show that the Ming Dynasty had made a huge breakthrough in iron smelting and casting technology?
Yoshihiro Shimazu firmly believed that the secret iron-smelting techniques of the Ming Dynasty were hidden within the Crystal Palace Exposition, and that those exquisite machines were related to iron smelting and cannon casting!

Unfortunately, Yoshihiro Shimazu's Chinese wasn't very good, so he couldn't understand the explanations of these machines, otherwise such an absurd misunderstanding wouldn't have occurred.

After the Expo closed, Yoshihiro Shimazu led his men to break into the Expo pavilions and steal the machines.

If these machines are transported back to the Shimazu clan, they can manufacture cannons just like those of the Ming Dynasty.

With such powerful firearms, the Shimazu clan might be able to unify the entire country of Japan and achieve the great feat of "ruling the world as one person".

Yoshihiro Shimazu also got his chance. After the expo closed, the Crystal Palace exhibition hall outside the city removed the glass roof of the main exhibition hall and would not reopen until the wooden roof was reinstalled.

Therefore, apart from the artisans from the Ministry of Works, there were hardly any staff members in the entire exhibition hall.

At Shimazu Yoshihiro's command, the Japanese stormed into the main exhibition hall.

Meanwhile, Fu Shun was leading officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Works to live in the Crystal Palace, busy renovating it as quickly as possible and then reopening it.

The tight schedule made Fu Shun so anxious that he couldn't sleep. He checked the engineering drawings for tomorrow again when he suddenly heard his subordinate shout:

"We've been robbed!"

Upon hearing the shouts, Fu Shun immediately grabbed a steel bar and rushed out, as did the officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Works.

Fu Shun shouted again:
"Light the lamp!"

A huge whale oil lamp was lit up; it was a spotlight specially made by the Ministry of Works to expedite the work.

Behind the lampshade is a reflective mirror, which, when lit, illuminates the area like daytime. This is the technology used for lighting port lighthouses today.

Shimazu Yoshihiro was also dumbfounded. He did not expect to arouse the vigilance of the Ming people so quickly, and he did not expect that the Ming Dynasty had such bright lights. His side, dressed in black, instantly became the most conspicuous target.

He hadn't expected there to be so many muscular men wielding steel swords inside the Crystal Palace.

Aren't these people all craftsmen?
In Japan, craftsmen would flee immediately if a samurai carrying a weapon appeared.

Why are the artisans of the Ming Dynasty different from those of Japan? They even take up arms to resist!?
Shimazu Yoshihiro steeled himself and drew his katana from his waist.

This Japanese sword is called Koshino Maru. It is a famous sword and the most precious treasure of the Shimazu family.

Yoshihiro Shimazu also had excellent eyesight and charged straight at Fu Shun, who was holding a steel bar.

Among this group of Ming people, Fu Shun was the tallest, and everyone respected him.

"die!"

Yoshihiro Shimazu swung Koshino Maru with all his might, slashing at Fu Shun.

He came too fast, and Fu Shun couldn't react in time. Seeing that he couldn't dodge, Fu Shun instinctively raised the steel bar in his hand to block.

Yoshihiro Shimazu smiled; he had used this move to kill enemy generals several times on the battlefield.

Koshino Maru is a divine weapon that can cut through iron like mud, easily severing the opponent's weapon. Once the opponent's weapon is broken, one can press the attack and kill the leader of the Akihito before them.

In a flash, Koshino Maru crashed into a steel bar.

Then, Koshino Maru broke.

Yoshihiro Shimazu was stunned; his famous sword had broken!?
It was broken by the iron bar in the hand of the Ming leader!?
Yoshihiro Shimazu was stunned by the collapse of his worldview, while Fu Shun had already come to his senses.

Seeing the sharp broken knife, he felt a surge of rage. He rushed forward with a steel bar in his hand and started beating Shimazu Yoshihiro wildly!
At that moment, the neighboring Lengyan Temple heard the commotion at the Crystal Palace and saw whale oil lamps lit up at the construction site. Abbot Fayan immediately led the temple's warrior monks out.

With the arrival of the monks from Lengyan Temple, Shimazu Yoshihiro's men were captured.

It was at this moment that Fu Shun noticed the Japanese identity of these people.

Remembering the news he had recently heard about Japanese spies, he quickly said to his subordinates:

"Quickly send these thugs to the police station!"

(End of this chapter)