Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 120: Not opposing doesn't mean agreeing; not openly opposing doesn't mean not resorting to underhanded tactics.
To knowingly do something impossible is the conduct of a gentleman. Zhu Youjian did not consider himself a gentleman; in fact, he felt his moral character needed to be lowered, and his high sense of morality only brought him pain and torment.

If he remembered correctly, large-scale peasant uprisings broke out in the first year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign. Those well-known notorious bandit leaders—Wang Jiayin, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Wang Ziyong—all started their rebellions in that year.

Zhu Youjian was unwilling to invest precious resources in a rescue effort destined to be futile. He had even prepared for the worst-case scenario of withdrawing his troops east of Pianguan and south of the Qinling Mountains. Shaanxi was destined to be a mess; this was ordained by fate and beyond human control.

Those officials who thought they could be appeased were acting on a sliver of hope that as long as the situation was maintained, the harvest would eventually improve. However, Zhu Youjian knew that this was nothing but wishful thinking.

The people of northern Shaanxi were pitiful, but the lives of people in other places were also lives. Zhu Youjian could not sacrifice the lives of people in other places to save the people of northern Shaanxi. No matter what, in the end it would all be for nothing.

That land is gradually becoming unsuitable for human habitation. Based on past experience, the autumn harvest is when the disaster victims will completely erupt, and the "powder keg" of northern Shaanxi will be ignited. The current government should stop dreaming of disaster relief and first consider how to withstand the onslaught of the disaster victims.

Trees die when transplanted, but people thrive. Perhaps the only way out for Shaanxi is to relocate its people. However, Shanxi is also a populous province, and while its drought situation is only slightly better than Shaanxi's, its epidemic is even more severe. If Shaanxi wants to relocate its people, they can only go south to Sichuan and Hubei, or west to Tibet and Turpan.

However, compared to the common people, the most important thing is to transfer away those soldiers who can't survive. Even without the addition of border troops, the refugees can still be suppressed.

Zhu Youjian decided to transfer troops from Shaanxi to Shanxi and even the Yanshan defense line. Perhaps the Ming Dynasty's troop deployment was top-heavy, not only to defend against Liaodong, but also because the central and western regions could not support so many people.

Zhu Youjian was desperate; the deeper he analyzed the situation, the more he felt there was no solution. This was the original motivation behind his resignation: just keeping his own life was a victory; who cared about anything else?!

It seems the optimal solution is to take advantage of the current favorable situation and quickly move the capital to Nanjing. Otherwise, staying in the north is a dead end; even if one gets incredibly lucky and manages to kill the Jurchens, death is still inevitable.

For the imperial court and him personally, the most valuable assets were not territory, people, or even money and grain, but the most capable military corps of the Ming Dynasty.

Currently, the main forces are Zhu Xieyuan and Qin Liangyu's Sichuan Army Corps, and Yuan Keli's Liaoxi Army Corps. Sun Chengzong's Sanbian Army, Sun Chuanting's Yansui Elite Cavalry, and Xuanfu-Datong Border Army can only be considered as half-armies.

As long as the elite troops still exist, as long as they exist, even without winning a battle, he cannot be considered to have lost, and thus he, as emperor, can command the world.

It's laughable that Qin Liangyu thought he was getting arrogant, but she didn't know that this emperor of the Ming Dynasty was more pessimistic than anyone else. Rather than saying he was getting arrogant, it would be more accurate to say he was recklessly indulging in pleasure and living for the moment.

However, pessimism also has its advantages: Zhu Youjian's level of pessimism resulted in exceptional resilience, as he anticipated all the worst possibilities, making him less prone to despair and more tenacious than imagined. After all, things can't get too bad, right?

If you want it all, you'll end up with nothing. Hold onto what you can hold onto, and don't force what you can't. Life goes on.

On April 9th ​​of the first year of the Chongzhen reign, military examinations were held in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, selecting 700 candidates, three times the number in previous years.

On May 28th, the imperial examination was held in the capital. Nearly three thousand people registered for the military examination, reaching the highest number in the history of the examination. Of these three thousand people, only one hundred and twenty passed the imperial examination.

According to past practice, passing the provincial examination made one a military scholar (武进士), who could then be granted a military position. Unfortunately, now they also had to pass the palace examination (殿试), and there was still a chance of elimination. Unlike the civil service examination graduates (文举贡生), who were given a month of freedom, the military scholars were taken to the capital garrison. In a sense, their palace examination had already begun from that moment.

Each of them would be assigned one hundred infantrymen from the 3,000-strong battalion. They were to train these one hundred infantrymen for the competition a month later. The outcome of the competition would be crucial to whether they could retain their title of Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) and would also affect their ranking.

The first fifty groups of soldiers could join the elite troops of the Beijing Garrison and enjoy full pay and rations, while the rest could only go back and continue to starve.

Zhu Youjian used this tactic to his advantage: he wanted to test the military scholars' abilities in leading, training, and commanding troops, while also getting a group of elite soldiers for free.

In fact, Zhu Youjian also wanted to hold a public competition, invite the public to watch, and sell tickets to make money through gambling, but he thought it was too frivolous and the times could not tolerate such an advanced version.

In May, the summer harvest begins, and the Jiangnan region enjoys a bumper harvest. In Suzhou Prefecture, "the rice is ripe, yielding three shi per mu"; in Songjiang Prefecture, "wheat is harvested in summer, and rice is harvested in autumn," meaning the wheat is ripe.

Winter wheat harvesting begins in Beizhili (Hebei province), and in Shandong, "wheat ripens in May, and farmers are busy in the fields." Grain production is reduced in Guangdong and Guangxi due to drought. Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian…

Across the country, from north to south, the harvest was plentiful. Except for the unfortunate provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi, the harvests in other regions were quite good.

Xu Guangqi said, "The autumn harvest in the north is even more important than the summer harvest. If the autumn floods cause a crop failure, the people will surely suffer from famine."

Against the backdrop of natural disasters, the autumn harvest, which is usually the most important, is particularly severely affected, while the summer harvest, which serves as a supplement, is less affected and yields are stable.

The bumper summer harvest has greatly encouraged the entire court, whose already struggling finances are now relying on this harvest for a much-needed boost.

Zhu Youjian was also very happy, but what worried him now was how to transport the summer harvest to the north. Should they rely on the outdated canal system? He felt that sea transport was the only way out, and he wondered when Yuan Chonghuan and Xiong Wencan would be able to deal with that scoundrel Zheng Zhilong.

In June, Wang Zaijin led his troops on a round trip along the Grand Canal and returned, capturing Cui Wensheng, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, and bringing back the two million shi of grain that had been left over from last year's autumn harvest. However, this two million shi of grain had all been replaced with old grain, or even moldy grain, which could cause diarrhea even in horses.

Zhu Youjian was somewhat disappointed in Wang Zaijin. After all, he was a traditional scholar. Was the so-called million grain transport workers really so invincible?

The significance of this summer harvest goes beyond that; it is also a touchstone for the reforms, and the entire Ministry of Revenue is on high alert. Bi Ziyan works tirelessly day and night, as many of his reforms revolve around the tax system. If tax revenue does not show a significant increase this summer, then his reforms will become a joke, and he can probably just submit his resignation. Even if the emperor protects him, he will have no face to stay.

The die-hard anti-reform forces, having lain dormant for so long, are about to emerge. Their lack of opposition does not equate to approval, and their lack of overt opposition does not mean they will not resort to underhanded tactics. This is a showdown between the central court and local powers, testing the emperor's control over the court and the court's control over the entire Ming Dynasty.

Every extra penny the imperial court collects in taxes means less for them. Whether it's making the imperial court unable to collect taxes or compensating the people themselves, nobody wants to earn less!
(End of this chapter)