Chapter 306: The First Year Comes to an End

Watching Zhang Weixian's departing figure, Zhu Youxiao turned to Chen Hong and said, "Release this matter to the public, and be sure to collect what the ministers are saying about it. Understand?"

"Rest assured, Your Majesty, this servant understands." Chen Hong hurriedly acknowledged.

In the days that followed, the court remained relatively calm. Once a decision was made, all that remained was execution, which actually made things considerably simpler.

Both Ou Dalun and Chen Sihai were capable men; establishing a government office took little effort, and they had already begun organizing personnel to survey the land in order to levy taxes according to acreage.

At the same time, the two of them also started investigating the nobles and imperial relatives, finding out exactly how much land they held, how that land had been acquired, and doing their best to dig out any land the nobles and imperial relatives had hidden.

Aside from that, there really wasn't anything else going on.

The news of establishing the Staff Office had already been released, and rough responses had come in from all sides.

Regarding the establishment of the Staff Office, the nobles and imperial relatives were overjoyed, while the civil officials were somewhat opposed — though the voice of opposition wasn't very strong, because the Staff Office wasn't particularly conspicuous.

His Majesty needed people to advise on military matters, which was why such an office had been established. Although it did divide the Grand Secretariat's authority and supported the nobles and imperial relatives, this matter really was hard to oppose.

After all, the nobles and imperial relatives had already put forward their terms — they were willing to pay taxes — and His Majesty establishing a new office was also a way of giving them a benefit to placate them.

If even this were rejected, that would be going too far. So although the civil officials had a bit of opposition, it wasn't very strong, mainly because the several Grand Secretaries in the Grand Secretariat had a very ambiguous attitude toward the matter.

Ever since Zhu Youxiao had taken control of the court, it had become difficult for large-scale opposition to emerge.

Having been through the earlier events, everyone knew how to get along with this new emperor, so things like the kneeling remonstrations of before had basically stopped happening.

Many people who considered themselves above it all felt the court was doomed and simply resigned to return home. Such incidents had been fairly numerous during this period, though not many people paid them any attention.

The court could function without anyone; if you didn't want to be an official, plenty of others did.

That was just how things were now.

In this atmosphere, the Great Ming dynasty finally welcomed the New Year.

This was the first New Year Zhu Youxiao had spent in this era. He had originally held some expectations, but after seeing all the things he had to do during the holiday period, Zhu Youxiao no longer felt any anticipation.

If one had to sum up this New Year in a single word, it would be: exhausting.

Besides rewarding court officials and offering sacrifices to Heaven and the ancestors, there was a whole pile of miscellaneous business.

Zhu Youxiao decisively chose to retreat.

Whatever he could avoid doing, he avoided — everything was left to Empress Zhang. Only when absolutely necessary would he appear in person; otherwise, he definitely wouldn't show his face.

Even so, Zhu Youxiao didn't get any leisure time.

Soon it was New Year's Eve. Zhu Youxiao held a grand banquet in the palace, then returned to the bedchamber with Empress Zhang.

He had somewhat neglected Empress Zhang these past days; now he needed to spend some good time with her.

Naturally, there was nothing else going on at court, since it had already been on holiday for some time, so nothing came to trouble Zhu Youxiao, and the days passed fairly peacefully.

On the morning of the third day of the New Year, something finally happened.

Zhu Youxiao watched Chen Hong hurry in and raised an eyebrow slightly, asking, "Judging by your expression, is there some good news?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty — tremendous good news!"

As he spoke, Chen Hong fell to his knees with a thud, raising a routine memorial above his head with both hands, saying, "Your Majesty, a great victory in the Southwest! This is the victory report sent by Yuan Keli, Governor-General of the Southwest — the Southwest has won!"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao abruptly stood up, excitement showing on his face.

He quickly walked over, reached out to take the memorial, and eagerly began flipping through it.

The previous battle report had said that She Chongming had gathered his troops to fight the Ming army around Jianwu (west of Daba and south of Xingwen in present-day Sichuan Province), Changning (east of present-day Gong County in Sichuan), Gong County, Yibin, and Zunyi, with both sides trading victories and defeats.

This victory report picked up right where the last one left off. Sun Chuanting placed decoy troops at Naxi to feign an attack, while his main force suddenly advanced from Changning toward Yongning.

Qi Yuangong and Qin Liangyu's White Pole Troops won battle after battle, taking Yongning in only half a month, then capturing Lizhou (present-day Gulin in Sichuan).

She Chongming and his son led their remaining forces in a retreat to Longchang in Shuixi (southeast of Xuyong County in Sichuan, now part of Guizhou Province), joining forces with An Bangyan of Guizhou.

By this point, She Chongming and An Bangyan were already trapped within the encirclement of the Ming army.

On one side was Yuan Keli's suppression campaign, on the other was Sun Chuanting's. Sun Chuanting had also changed his previous tactic of rapid assault, switching to steady, methodical advances and gradual encirclement, coordinating flawlessly with Yuan Keli.

Neither of the two men rashly pushed forward; they simply advanced step by step, dividing and cutting off the enemy piece by piece, giving the rebels not the slightest opening.

Subsequently, Yuan Keli and Sun Chuanting advanced on Longchang along 7 routes, capturing She Chongming's wife Lady An, his younger brother She Chonghui, and numerous rebel civil and military officials including Grand Secretaries, Military Commissioners, Chancellors, and Governors-General, beheading over ten thousand.

The two sides then engaged in a decisive battle, in which She Chongming was killed in action and An Bangyan was captured.

Yuan Keli had written very clearly in his memorial whether it would be necessary to return to the capital to present the captives.

If it had only been the Southwest army that fought the battle, then there would certainly be no returning to the capital to present captives. But Sun Chuanting had brought troops from the capital, and they needed to return anyway — they could just bring those people back along the way.

Hence this proposal had been made, to return to the capital and present the captives.

Presenting captives was mainly meant to vaunt military achievements and demonstrate the nation's strength.

But presenting captives from the Southwest really couldn't serve such a purpose.

The entire Ming dynasty, from top to bottom, had never thought highly of them.

Even if they were brought back, the capital's commoners would probably treat them as a joke. So if not for Yuan Keli and the others returning anyway, they probably wouldn't have bothered bringing them at all.

Of course, the greater purpose of this proposal was to flatter Zhu Youxiao.

The emperor was young and prone to loving grand achievements — and this was, after all, a rebellion suppressed.

If the emperor wanted to see the captives presented, wasn't that perfect? Then these officials could also scrape together a bit more merit for themselves.

If the emperor didn't want to see it, then they had merely mentioned it in passing. Having just won such a great victory, the emperor wouldn't say anything about that either.

So proposing the captive presentation was a guaranteed win with no risk of loss.

To this, Zhu Youxiao could only accept it, saying, "Send word to Yuan Keli, tell him it's not needed. Presenting captives would only waste manpower and resources."

"Yes, Your Majesty. This servant has noted it." Chen Hong hurriedly acknowledged.

Although Chen Hong's face showed great delight, offering congratulations and felicitations left and right, in truth he didn't consider this any great frontier achievement either — it was just a few bumpkins in the Southwest rebelling; how much trouble could they possibly cause?

On this point, Zhu Youxiao could not change anything.

Throughout the court, the She-An Rebellion was a matter of little concern to anyone.

So Zhu Youxiao continued, "Have Sun Chuanting and Qi Yuangong return. As for Yuan Keli, he can come back once he's sorted out the Southwest. The conversion of native chieftain territories to regular administration still needs him to handle it. Have the Grand Secretariat draft the edict for him."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong hurriedly acknowledged and replied respectfully.

"Also, the merit report Yuan Keli submitted — I've approved it. Tell the Grand Secretariat not to be stingy with the rewards, and not to be petty with the money. The merits our soldiers at the front earned with their lives must not be rewarded lightly."

"Also tell Zhao Bingzhong at the Office of Transmission to have someone keep an eye on it — this money must not be embezzled. If anyone touches it, have him arrest them directly."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong agreed once again.

"Alright, go handle it." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand.

After Chen Hong left, Zhu Youxiao shook his head and turned to walk back toward the bedchamber.

Empress Zhang was still waiting for him there.

These matters just needed to be delegated — no need to worry over them himself. Otherwise, all the effort he'd spent matching wits with his ministers recently would have been wasted.

An emperor must learn to delegate authority.

Do well, and they get rewards; do poorly, and they get replaced. Punish mistakes — that's how one keeps from exhausting himself and lives long.

There weren't many emperors Zhu Youxiao admired, but many of the ones he did admire had worked themselves to death.

He had no intention of dying from overwork. He needed to protect his health.

Zhu Youxiao knew very well what his survival meant to this country.

So for Zhu Youxiao, taking care of his body was of the utmost importance.

One cannot fight over short-term gains; one must keep a long view.

The emperor went to keep the Empress company, and the ministers below grew busy. But since the yamen hadn't officially opened yet, much couldn't be finalized — they could only make preparations first.

Soon the Lantern Festival arrived, and the new year was nearly over.

Though the court had seen many affairs last year, things were generally peaceful overall, and the common people's lives hadn't been greatly affected — they'd fared well. So this year's Lantern Festival was especially lively.

Zhu Youxiao had originally wanted to slip out of the palace, but Empress Zhang stopped him.

The reason — "The Lantern Festival is too chaotic; Your Majesty cannot leave the palace" — was truly impossible to refuse, especially since Empress Zhang also brought up Noble Consort Yuan and Noble Consort Tian, making a show of accompanying Zhu Youxiao through the festival.

With that, Zhu Youxiao had even less reason to leave.

After the Lantern Festival passed, most of the court's yamen resumed operation, and the whole Great Ming officially began to awaken.

Everything began to return to its proper track.

There was much on the court's agenda this year. Besides farming, the first great matter of spring, there were several other major affairs to prepare.

For instance, the land survey of the meritorious nobles — before the new year it had only been in preparation, but after the new year it would officially begin. All concealed land was to be investigated and flushed out.

Beyond that, there was the imperial examination.

This year was a grand examination year, and everyone was watching.

This would be the first grand examination since Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne — truly momentous.

Beyond that, the establishment of the Staff Office had also stirred no small commotion.

In short, this spring, the Great Ming seemed about to stir into motion.

Countless people were scheming,

Countless people were calculating,

But all eyes were fixed on the imperial palace,

waiting for that young man.