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

Chapter 239 Korea has been part of the territory of our Great Ming Dynasty since ancient times!

At the beginning of the fourth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, Zhu Youjian's mood experienced several dramatic ups and downs. First, the grain transport convoy from four provinces encountered a storm, and of such a large fleet, only a few wrecked ships returned. Seven hundred ships and tens of thousands of naval personnel, gone just like that!

Leaving aside the fact that this would set back the Ming Dynasty's naval development by many years, the financial burden of the tens of thousands of casualties and the public pressure of everyone wearing mourning clothes were unbearable pain for the Ming Dynasty. Furthermore, someone had to be held accountable; simply finding a scapegoat would not satisfy the public. Zhu Youjian had even written an edict of self-reproach; admitting his mistake was nothing new, and Zhu Youjian wasn't so concerned with saving face.

However, the tolerance for policy errors is limited. After such a disaster, sea transport is out of the question, and grain transport between the north and south will not be carried out by sea for a long time. Losing it is not the worst thing, but the most important thing is that Liaodong cannot lose sea transport.

Of the three parties' strategies for pacifying Liaodong, the most crucial element was maritime transport. Losing one of the other two routes wouldn't preclude success, but losing maritime transport would lead to complete collapse. During those days, Zhu Youjian felt as if the heavens were deliberately targeting him, as if they were deliberately tormenting him.

The calls for a maritime ban were rampant, and the voices advocating for the abolition of maritime transport and the consolidation of the Grand Canal almost overwhelmed all opposition. Zhu Youjian had already resigned himself to his fate.

As he slept at night, he even wondered if there really was a Time and Space Administration Bureau to correct the time-space disturbances caused by time travelers. No matter how much he struggled or how the process changed, everything would still return to the origin of history! Could it really be that the Ming Dynasty's fate was sealed, and the Han people deserved to be ruled by the Manchus for centuries to come?!
Zhu Youjian has suspended court for five days, and there is still no good news from the Dengzhou-Laizhou navy. Normally, the journey from Dengzhou-Laizhou to Liaodong takes only one day and one night, and even with cavalry taking a detour to reach Liaonan by express courier, it would only take two days. However, both Liaonan and Liaoxi have reported that they have not seen this fleet.

Logically speaking, such a large fleet, even if it were all swept into the eye of the typhoon, would have debris scattered across hundreds of miles of sea. But this massive fleet seemed to have been swept into a spacetime rift and disappeared without a trace.

Within the Bohai Bay, the Dengzhou-Laizhou Navy, the Juehua Island Navy, the Dongjiang Town Navy, and even the Tianjin Wei Navy dispatched search fleets to circle the Bohai Bay, but ultimately found nothing.

Zhu Youjian had already resigned himself to his fate. In the past few days, he had been hiding in the palace, refusing to see his ministers, and losing his appetite. This worried his loyal ministers greatly, who feared that the emperor would not be able to withstand such a blow and would never recover, becoming the next Jiajing or Wanli emperor.

"Your Majesty, Chou Chou says she hasn't seen you for many days and she's very worried. The children want you to come and ride their ponies with them!"

"Take them for a ride," Zhu Youjian said to Wanwan with a forced smile.

Sun Shiwan sighed and said, "Actually, we are also very worried about you. You are not in the mood to spend time with the children. How can we be in the mood to play when we see you like this?"
Your Majesty is well aware of the risks of maritime transport. When Your Majesty ordered the provinces to send troops separately, it wasn't just to pursue greater transport capacity. There was an intention to share the risks and avoid an imbalance of power due to accidents involving the fleet.

Since the risks were already recognized, why couldn't they accept the situation calmly when things actually went wrong? It was just some grain and old ships; ships can be rebuilt, and grain can be bought again. The Ming Dynasty was fully capable of bearing such losses; it wasn't like the sky was falling!

Zhu Youjian continued to sigh, head bowed. He understood the logic: the Ming Dynasty had a long lifespan; even in death, it would take decades to be completely covered with the last mound of earth. But the true reason for his current despair was something he couldn't explain to others. Was he supposed to explain to them what a time traveler was, or what time-space correction was?!
Zhu Youjian would rather this world truly be teeming with demons and monsters than face such absurdity. If the world truly had a destiny, its underlying tone would surely be despair! "Your Majesty, good news! We've found information on those fleets!"

"Huh?!" Zhu Youjian was stunned for a moment. His illness was cured immediately. He was no longer emo. The somatization symptoms of depression disappeared. His back pain and leg weakness were gone. He jumped three feet high from the recliner.

Zhu Youjian snatched the report from Wang Chengen. While language might have an advantage when inputting information, text is superior when reading it.

When reviewing urgent military intelligence, Zhu Youjian preferred to do so alone and did not want anyone making noise in his ear. Wang Chengen was well aware of this, so he remained relatively silent, standing aside and waiting for the emperor's possible questions.

No wonder we couldn't find them before; it turns out the fleet wasn't even in the Bohai Bay! The main forces of the four fleets were intact, and the food supplies were not lost. Although we lost dozens of ships and hundreds of officers and soldiers, compared to the hellish experience of the past few days, this was the best news.

However, as Zhu Youjian read on, he was dumbfounded. What did it mean that "they recaptured Seoul, the Jurchens retreated to the north of the Han River, and the Korean people and soldiers defected one after another, with the people welcoming them wholeheartedly"?! Damn it, a grain transport team with hardly any regular soldiers had recaptured half of Korea?!
Seeing the emperor's uncertain expression, Sun Shiwan assumed it was bad news again. She glared at Wang Chengen, who stammered, completely unaware of what was going on. Zhu Youjian rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn't mistaken. He then checked that the memorial was signed and sealed by Yuan Keli and Mao Wenlong, indicating it had been verified, before he reluctantly believed it.

"Your Majesty, what exactly is going on?!" Sun Shiwan couldn't help but ask.

Zhu Youjian handed her the report. Sun Shiwan had only read the first two sentences when she suddenly felt her feet sink into the ground, and the emperor lifted her up in his arms.

"Smack!" Zhu Youjian planted a big kiss on Wanwan's face. They were an old married couple, and his actions made Sun Shiwan quite embarrassed. Before Wanwan could protest, the emperor and the eunuch in charge of writing ran away in a flash.

"Summon all court officials to court! Have the Court of Imperial Sacrifices prepare the meal, and summon the Japanese envoy to court from the Hall of Receptions! Their 'big cannons' are quite good; we can buy a batch for the Koreans. Since this land has been taken back without a single drop of blood, we naturally cannot hand it over. Korea has been the territory of our Great Ming since ancient times!"

Li Zong?! Forget about him. No need to inform him. Keep the news secret. Don't tell him yet. Isn't it good enough that our Great Ming is providing him with food and lodging? Isn't he happy about this?!

The emperor's voice faded into the distance, foreshadowing a grand court assembly today. Sun Shiwan, uninterested in needlework and more interested in military affairs, didn't want to miss it, so she quickly changed into eunuch attire. "These eunuch clothes are so ugly! Even a military uniform would be better!" Sun Shiwan sighed, wondering when she could stand openly in the court.
(End of this chapter)