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

Chapter 131 Victory requires sacrifice, but why should I be the one to sacrifice?!
Emperor Daojun said, "What good is sitting in the court?" He usually preferred the system of secret memorials and cabinet replies. Since Zhu Youjian distrusted those he suspected, he needed to find a way to compensate through the system, otherwise, if someone like Yang Guozhong were to emerge, he would be forced to kill his own concubine.

So, despite his laziness, he still maintained the morning court system to broaden his contact with officials at all levels and avoid being misled. Otherwise, he might end up crying out, "100,000 troops! Where did these 100,000 troops come from?!"

Because the three main halls were frequently destroyed, morning court sessions were often held outdoors, requiring officials to rise early and work late, with formulaic content that did little to solve problems. Formalism is universally condemned. Disliking morning court sessions, officials often found various excuses to avoid them, resulting in frequent absences. During the Xuande era, as many as 500 officials were absent at one time, and during the Hongzhi era, the number reached 1,100.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the morning court sessions were held every day, rain or shine. After the Wanli Emperor, the schedule was changed to court sessions on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month, nine times a month. Therefore, compared to these predecessors, Zhu Youjian was so diligent in revising the schedule for two reigns that he did not encounter any opposition when he proposed this model at the beginning of his reign.

However, he modified the timing, moving the morning court session from midnight to 9:30 AM instead of the usual late-night hours. The ceremony was also simplified as much as possible, with the entire session focused on being short and efficient, meaning that matters were discussed only when necessary, and the session ended when there was nothing else to discuss.

On the morning of September 30th, the monthly financial review was held as usual. Although tax revenue had improved this year, with more money in hand, various departments had become more brazen in their spending. How to retain this money and ensure it's used effectively rather than wasted is a difficult problem.

According to the initial shipment of silver for the summer harvest, 12 million taels should have been deposited into the treasury, but only 9.3 million taels were actually received, meaning 2.7 million taels were lost. For the autumn harvest, 7.9 million taels were shipped, but 3 million taels have been received so far. Theoretically, the annual military expenses for the nine border garrisons and the Beijing garrison should be 9.8 million taels for the first half of the year, but in reality, it's considered good if one-third is actually paid.

At present, the military pay of Liaodong Town, Dongjiang Town and Ji Town has been fully allocated. In particular, Mao Wenlong of Dongjiang Town has been a soldier for thirty years and has not received full pay since the establishment of Dongjiang Town six years ago. He was so moved that he wept and wrote an extremely sentimental memorial to express his loyalty.

He also mentioned that he had a 28-year-old niece who was incredibly beautiful and widowed, raising two children alone. He also mentioned a six-year-old granddaughter who could be sent to the palace as a maid to massage the emperor's back and shoulders, and asked if the emperor would like her.

The Beijing garrison paid full pay to the elite troops, while the rest received half pay; the Xuanda and Shanxi garrisons paid 70% of the pay. The Shanxi garrison absorbed a large number of soldiers from the Yansui garrison and Shaanxi garrisons, so the number of registered soldiers once swelled to 130,000. Even with 70% of the military expenditure, it still exceeded one million, putting enormous pressure on the garrison.

As for the three border regions, they are now practically out of contact, with news only arriving every few months. They've simply put Sun Chengzong in charge, using him as a military governor. Military funds are no longer allocated from the court, and tax revenue is no longer transferred; it's all left to Sun Chengzong to manage. That's the kind of high-class attitude the imperial tutor has—at least that's what the officials think. The court officials can't impeach him, and they've become too lazy to impeach him anymore.

The last message from Sun Chengzong was also a complaint: Gansu and Ningxia were suffering from drought, the Hexi Corridor was almost completely destroyed, seeds were blown away by the wind as soon as they were sown, most of the original military farms were abandoned, and six or seven out of ten civilian households had fled. The military pay for the three border regions could only rely on transfer payments from Shaanxi, and all the pressure was placed on the Guanzhong region.

In addition, Zhu Youjian allocated an extra two million taels of silver to the Dengzhou and Laizhou naval forces. The imperial court was certainly unwilling to pay that much; half of this two million taels came from the imperial court, and the other half came from the imperial treasury.

Shaanxi is having a terrible time. This year, all of Shaanxi's tax revenue was kept for its own use; not a single penny was transferred. The Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission was the largest administrative unit in the Ming Dynasty, governing all of Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu, as well as eastern Qinghai and southwestern Inner Mongolia, covering an area of ​​over 1 million square kilometers, more than four times the size of Southern Zhili. And this vast region is almost entirely in a state of drought.

The eastward migration route is blocked, the westward migration offers no hope, and the southward migration? Regions that could migrate south don't currently need to; southern Shaanxi isn't arid and rice can still be grown. Those who need to migrate south will pass through Guanzhong and southern Shaanxi, and will this trigger unrest along the way, causing a chain reaction that devastates several provinces? Once they arrive, will they still be willing to continue? What if they refuse to move?! The imperial court is powerless to organize a massive migration of millions of people.

As of today, Taicang has received a total of 15 million taels of silver, spent 7 million taels on military pay, and spent another 3 million taels on other expenses such as manufacturing weapons, repairing city walls, paying rewards, recruiting and training soldiers, and paying for horse prices and feed. In addition, another 2 million taels were spent on disaster relief, salaries, dredging waterways, and transporting grain and boats.

Now, before the end of the year, only three million taels of silver remain in the Taicang granary. They truly live within their means, managing their profits meticulously. Even with the court allocating the money, it's uncertain whether it will actually reach every single soldier in full. Zhu Youjian feels he might even need to establish a special unit to distribute salaries to each individual soldier.

However, embezzling military pay has both corrupt elements and unavoidable circumstances: the military pay was already insufficient before, let alone other expenditures. Fighting a war is not just about military pay; weapons are also needed, right? If food and pay are insufficient, and the pay of ten people is divided among a hundred people, then no one will be well-fed, and there will be no fighting capacity at all.

The pay for ten men was only distributed among five, with each man receiving double pay. This meant there were at least five elite soldiers available, which is the origin of the term "mother's servants." However, Bi Ziyan kept a close eye on this, and he and Zhu Xieyuan had already cleared out many vacancies.

Is it really possible to completely eliminate corruption? It's practically impossible; many people would have to be executed, and even then, it wouldn't be enough. I've heard the Ming army isn't fully paid, and a fully paid army is invincible. They've already tried their best to pay the army, and even Zhu Youjian (Emperor Yongle) has been criticized for it. Now it remains to be seen whether this well-fed Ming army can withstand the Jurchens.

Having once again rejected the Ministry of Works' suggestion to dredge the Yellow River, the morning assembly adjourned. Zhu Youjian happily turned to leave, but an unexpected situation suddenly occurred.

"Your Majesty, please save Shaanxi!" Ma Maocai, a censor in the Ministry of War, knelt down in front of Zhu Youjian with a thud. His forehead hit the floor hard, making a loud thud. Blood seeped from his scalp, leaving a glaring bloodstain on the dark gold bricks.

Zhu Youjian was startled. The eunuch Wang Chengen stepped forward quickly, Wei Zhongxian drew his sword three inches from its sheath, and the Golden Gourd Warrior also looked over nervously.

Thump! Thump! Thump!!!
One, two, three... thirty, a hundred... more and more officials knelt down. Zhu Youjian then realized that today's morning court was different from usual, with significantly more attendees. He had initially thought it was just a normal occurrence during the end-of-month accounting, but now it seemed that was not the case.

These people had the faces of people from the Qin region and spoke with a Qin accent. They knelt neatly on the imperial road, blocking Zhu Youjian's retreat. He was facing a coup, the first time since his ascension to the throne. But Zhu Youjian swallowed hard. He looked up at the others and saw that several cabinet ministers and high-ranking officials also had expressions of astonishment on their faces.

Bi Ziyan took a half step forward, but then withdrew. The others also looked up, nervously watching the emperor. Although everyone usually talked about different factions like the eunuch party and the Donglin party, and there were indeed different factions of varying sizes: the Zhejiang party, the Chu party, etc., it wouldn't look good to put such matters on the table.

The so-called "Qin Party" members are all here now, but in reality, there wasn't a Qin Party, because officials in Shaanxi during the Ming Dynasty were very weak. Among those who jumped to the forefront, only Nan Juyi, the Left Vice Minister of Works, was a high-ranking official, a third-rank official, and he was from Xi'an; he could have simply stayed out of it. Economic and political status are intertwined, and Guanzhong had declined.

Everyone has their own standards; their willingness to bow to the emperor doesn't mean they agree with his ideas. In the eyes of the court officials, the emperor has recently become confused, and his actions are increasingly deviating from the image of a wise and virtuous ruler in their minds, and are also far removed from the Confucian principles they have studied.

Zhu Youjian was somewhat nervous facing the coup attempt. After all, he wasn't an emperor who could ride alone from Xuanwu Gate to Fengtian Hall. He had just thought he was about to be assassinated, and his back was covered in cold sweat. Fortunately, perhaps due to the preferential treatment he had shown to officials recently, or perhaps due to the inertia of imperial power, their first choice was to kneel and beg rather than kill him.

Zhu Youjian took a deep breath and slowly said, "You say you want me to save Shaanxi, but how can I do that? Haven't I exempted the disaster-stricken prefectures and counties from this year's taxes and the taxes owed from previous years? Haven't I ordered the local government to provide disaster relief? This year, the imperial court didn't collect a single penny of Shaanxi's taxes; it all went to the local governments."

Although the imperial court's finances have improved slightly, they are still stretched thin. You don't think the Jurchens have given up and won't invade again, do you?

The capital is a thousand miles away from northern Shaanxi, making the transport of both grain and silver extremely difficult. Even silver alone is insufficient; five-tenths of the grain transported over such a long distance is lost, and with the return journey, another five-tenths are lost. With millions of famine victims in northern Shaanxi, how much grain must the imperial court transport to feed them all?!

“Even if the court cannot provide relief funds and grain, isn’t His Majesty’s withdrawal of troops and abandonment of land disheartening?!” Ma Maocai questioned, his eyes red, blood flowing down his forehead, making him appear even more terrifying.

“The court is in trouble, and abandoning the land may be a last resort, but why does His Majesty abandon the land instead of relocating the people?!” Nan Juyi also asked.

"When did I ever say I was abandoning the land? My teacher is in Shaanxi, Sun Chuanting is in Shaanxi, and Hong Chengchou is also in Shaanxi. The troops in Yulin have not yet withdrawn, nor have the garrisons in Gansu, Guyuan, and Ningxia."

You boast and talk so glibly in court, yet do you know that the soldiers on the borders are suffering from hunger and thirst?! Am I not allowing them to withdraw, so that my Ming army may starve to death?! Besides the provisions allocated by the court, the armies on the nine borders rely heavily on the local people for sustenance. Now, with the great disaster in northern Shaanxi, if I do not withdraw, am I to leave a large army to rob the disaster victims for food? Wouldn't this make it even harder for the people of Shaanxi to survive?

Even a peasant uprising can be easily suppressed, so what if it's a rebellion by border troops?! The world will be in chaos then, and the people will suffer even more!

"The people suffer from two causes: natural disasters and man-made calamities. The court imposes heavy taxes, and cruel officials exploit them. Now, with the great disaster in northern Shaanxi, I have exempted them from taxes and withdrawn troops and officials. In this way, the people will not be exploited and can focus on survival. Is this not for the benefit of the people?"

You think that I sit high in the imperial court and do not know the suffering of the people? But do you really not know that officials are corrupt and that powerful and evil people are wicked by nature?

What percentage of the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court will actually reach the victims? Can any of you guarantee that all the relief funds will be delivered safely and without embezzlement? Nan Juyi, can you guarantee that? Even if it costs you your entire family's lives? Ma Maocai, Li Yuzhi, can you guarantee that?!

Zhu Youjian's gaze swept across the assembled officials, none daring to meet his eyes. His tone softened slightly as he said, "I know you are all heartbroken and deeply grieved by the disaster that has struck your hometowns. But besides Shaanxi, I have millions of people to care for. The court's funds are needed to support the army. The capital is hundreds of miles from Liaodong. If it falls, the entire Ming Dynasty will be plunged into chaos."

The drought in Shaanxi is particularly severe in northern Shaanxi, but the Guanzhong Plain is also suffering. If the disaster victims from northern Shaanxi were to migrate to Guanzhong, how would the millions of people in Guanzhong survive? Relocating 100,000 people would cost hundreds of millions of dollars; how could the imperial court possibly come up with such a large sum of money?
Is the purpose of collecting more taxes from other provinces to benefit the disaster victims in Shaanxi? Or is it even about exploiting the people of Shaanxi and imposing additional taxes to fund the relocation of people? The Ming Dynasty is now densely populated and its land is limited; where can it accommodate millions of disaster victims?!

You all resent me, but the drought in Shaanxi was caused by God, it's a natural disaster, is it my fault?

Since I ascended the throne, I have avoided large-scale construction projects, implemented policies of light taxes and levies, and instructed officials to be diligent in their duties and care for the people. I believe I have not made any major mistakes. If you wish to relieve the famine in your hometowns, I can grant you permission to return home, bestow upon you official positions, and lead the people to build water conservancy projects and cultivate land to support the people.

You may solicit donations from wealthy households. If any one of you decides to return to your hometown, I will privately grant each of you one hundred taels of silver and one thousand bushels of grain from the imperial treasury.

Often, things are fine once things are out in the open. They've explained what needed to be explained, and Zhu Youjian has his reasons. Everyone has their own logic, and no one can convince anyone else. But just as Zhu Youjian couldn't bear to criticize these old Qin people, they also couldn't find sufficient reasons to criticize the emperor.

Zhu Youjian suppressed his fear and stepped forward again. The officials blocking his way slowly parted to make way. Zhu Youjian walked through them, feeling a little uneasy. Wang Chengen and Wei Zhongxian followed nervously behind the emperor; the dozen or so steps seemed endless, but ultimately nothing happened.

"Brother Qingjiang, what are you planning to do? Are you really going back? It wasn't easy for you to get to this position," Nan Juyi asked Ma Maocai with some emotion.

Ma Maocai was a Supervising Secretary in the Ministry of War. Although he was only a seventh-rank official, he held a low position but great power. Moreover, to appease officials in this position, Supervising Secretaries were promoted directly to the third rank. Therefore, Supervising Secretaries should not be regarded as ordinary seventh-rank officials; they had one foot in the ministerial level.

Ma Maocai smiled and said, "Xu Guangqi's 'Treatise on Sweet Potatoes' is very well written, but sweet potatoes have only been grown in Fujian and Zhejiang. He said that sweet potatoes are drought-resistant, and I plan to return to my hometown to grow them."

Nan Juyi swallowed hard, his voice trembling, "But your home is in Ansai. The imperial court has reported that there are starving peasants rebelling in Ansai. Perhaps your home has already..."

"That's why I must return to my hometown and lead the villagers to beg for a living!" Ma Maocai said, his eyes red.

"Alas, in that case, I wish you a safe journey!" Nan Juyi said in a low voice.

But Ma Maocai came from an official family, and the starving people hated people like them the most. In Nan Juyi's view, Ma Maocai's family should have already been killed by the starving people, so he should hate the disaster victims even more.

Although they all hoped the imperial court would provide disaster relief, their motivations were different. Nan Juyi did not want his hometown to descend into chaos and hoped the imperial court would maintain order.

Currently, his family is in Guanzhong, where there is no unrest yet. The emperor's policies are actually beneficial to him; it's just that as the leader of the people of Shaanxi, he has no choice but to stand up and support them. Shaanxi has a population of ten million, but northern Shaanxi has less than a million, and most of them are military garrisons and border troops. In reality, there aren't many ordinary people.

The area was poor and chaotic, with even fewer officials, so Shaanxi's voice wasn't very strong in the imperial court. Their actions had been delayed until now, a sign they were prepared to die. If the emperor labeled their behavior as forming cliques for personal gain, dismissing a hundred or so of them wouldn't be a big deal.

Alas, although Zhu Youjian managed to escape, he still felt utterly dejected. It's difficult for people to be completely rational; the officials didn't understand him, and being misunderstood is painful. Humanity doesn't thank Luo Ji (the author of the Logic).

If you save someone, but know full well that they will die in a few years, and that saving them would come at a great cost, perhaps even the life of another person, would you still save them?

Given the current state of the country, those who endure hardship in the military can certainly help rescue Shaanxi; the imperial court can certainly provide several million shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain.

But what about next year? What about the year after?! What about the next ten years or so? Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, and Shandong will all suffer major disasters and need relief! When Huang Taiji entered the pass, he deliberately massacred the people of the Ming Dynasty and destroyed its cities and villages.

They were well aware of their disadvantages, knowing that their population was dozens or even hundreds of times smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, they wanted to destroy the Ming Dynasty's vital forces and use a scorched-earth policy to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

On average, each of their invasions directly killed hundreds of thousands of people in North China and indirectly caused the deaths of millions more. If such an event were to occur, would the death toll be less than in Shaanxi?!

"Cheng'en, do you think I made a mistake?" Zhu Youjian asked dejectedly.

“Your Majesty is wise and without fault. However, I am also from Shaanxi, and my ancestral home is in Lantian County, Shaanxi,” Wang Chengen said with red eyes.

"Alas, are there any relatives left at home?!" Zhu Youjian asked.

Wang Chengen shook his head: "I lost both my parents when I was young and was sold into the palace by a distant relative. After Your Majesty took a liking to me, that person tried to curry favor with me, but I ignored him."

(End of this chapter)