Chapter 19: The Emperor Wants to Farm Himself

According to the system of the Great Ming, the Emperor should have his meals provided by the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, but by the Jiajing years, it had already changed to being the responsibility of the Inner Kitchen, because the Jiajing Emperor did not trust the ministers of the Outer Court.

The small kitchen of the Qianqing Palace was supervised by eunuchs. This was a task that brought one close to the Emperor, usually handled by the Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Eastern Depot eunuch, and the Qianqing Palace eunuch.

Feng Bao had just made a mistake, so the task of the small kitchen in the Qianqing Palace went to Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong heard the Emperor ask what the dish was and hurriedly said, "In reply to Your Majesty, it is a tribute from Yuegang, said to be a food from overseas. If Your Majesty does not like it, this subject will not serve it in the future."

"Do not speak while eating, do not speak while sleeping." Empress Dowager Li scolded the little Emperor for not conforming to etiquette, speaking while eating.

Zhu Yijun turned his head and stared tightly at Zhang Hong, his eyes filled with a bit of ferocity. Even when reciting Wang Zhanglong's cases, the Emperor's smile was still sunny and cheerful, but at this moment, the Emperor seemed as if Zhang Hong had one wrong answer, and he would be thrown into the Dissection Institute to be sliced into a thousand pieces.

The Emperor's tone carried a strong expectation and trembling: "Are there any left?"

"Yes, there are many," Zhang Hong replied weakly. The Empress Dowager had already scolded him, but the Emperor was asking a question, which made Zhang Hong very troubled. He didn't want to enter the Dissection Institute. Compared to that, the Empress Dowager would only send him to the servants' quarters.

Hearing that there were more, Zhu Yijun immediately relaxed.

"Emperor." Empress Dowager Li's tone became heavier, carrying severity.

Zhu Yijun said to Zhang Hong: "Bring it here and let Us see."

"Emperor!" Empress Dowager Li was finally angry. If you eat, then eat properly. Why look at tribute items!

"The child is just curious and wants to see." Zhu Yijun revealed his sunny, cheerful smile and said with a smile.

However, thinking that the Emperor had been performing very well recently, she suppressed the idea of scolding him. The child was just curious about a rarity; what child didn't have a bit of curiosity?

This was the Qianqing Palace, not the Wenhua Hall, nor was it in front of the ministers of the Outer Court. Restricting him too strictly would be detrimental to the Emperor's growth.

Empress Dowager Li had previously restricted him extremely strictly. The reason was very simple: Feng Bao was setting traps, and more importantly, the little Emperor had been studying for six months without getting the recognition of the Outer Court ministers, which made Empress Dowager Li so anxious.

Empress Dowager Li's greatest expectation was that Zhu Yijun could smoothly take over the Great Ming.

The Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng recognized the little Emperor, so she could appropriately relax.

Three or four round, yellow tubers appeared in front of Zhu Yijun, each about the size of Zhu Yijun's fist, with some black spots on them. They hadn't sprouted, let alone turned green. Things eaten by the Emperor couldn't be spoiled in the slightest, so these were the ones left after selection. They were originally meant for the Emperor to have a taste of a rarity.

"This thing tastes a bit like water chestnut. What is its name?" Empress Dowager Li looked at Zhang Hong and asked.

Zhang Hong hurriedly replied: "The foreigners call it 'potato', because it looks like a horse bell. The Min people call it 'potato', which means a bean planted in the soil. If Your Majesty does not like it, this subject will send this dish to the vegetable farm."

"Do you know how much it yields?" Zhu Yijun's excited heart slowly calmed down when he saw this yellow, earthy lump.

Isn't it just a potato? It's not like I haven't seen one before.

"It was presented by Luo Gongchen, the head of the Tax Collection Hall and the Assistant Prefect of Coastal Defense. He said that one unit of land planted overseas can yield twenty or thirty units of grain. Most of

Zhang Hong thought for a moment and added, "Also sent along were sweet potatoes, brought by merchant ships from Luzon; there hasn't been time to cook them yet."

"Very good, don't cook them." Zhu Yijun looked at Empress Dowager Li and asked, "The Du Du Xiangguan (Capital Provisioning Office)?"

Empress Dowager Li looked at the little Emperor's puzzled gaze and said with considerable gratification, "In the thirtieth year of Jiajing, Japanese pirates rose up in Fujian, and the Sea-Pacification Office was established at Yuegang. Later, twenty-four pirate leaders, including Xie Lao and Zhang Wei, were pacified."

"In the forty-second year of Jiajing, the current Minister of War, Tan Lun, who was previously the Provincial Governor in Fujian, changed the Yuegang Sea-Pacification Office into the Coastal Defense Office. Last year, the Coastal Defense Office was moved from the Chenghai county seat to the port, and the Coastal Defense Office was renamed the Tax Collection Office."

"The Du Du Xiangguan supervises maritime trade duties; it is responsible for collecting taxes, taking six out of every hundred, converting them into silver, and escorting them to the capital."

Empress Dowager Li spoke with great clarity. These potato slices tasted even better. Previously, the child was not good at his studies and was not very interested in these state affairs. Empress Dowager Li would talk to the little Emperor, and the little Emperor would be impatient, but today he had taken the initiative to ask.

Zhu Yijun understood what the Du Du Xiangguan actually was; it was essentially a customs office responsible for collecting taxes.

Empress Dowager Li continued, "Luo Gongchen is a scholar who passed the provincial examination but failed the metropolitan examination."

"When Japanese pirates rose up in the southeast, the sea frontiers were in emergency for thousands of miles, with smoke signals everywhere, shaking the court and the public. Luo Gongchen organized the military and civilians to resist, able to face strong enemies with a lone army. Later, when the Japanese pirates invaded Songjiang Prefecture, Luo Gongchen led the masses to rush to the rescue of Songjiang Prefecture overnight. From an Assistant Surveillance Commissioner of the Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commission, he was promoted to Coastal Defense Vice Prefect."

Luo Gongchen was a scholar, yet he repeatedly achieved military merits in the anti-Japanese pirate campaign. At that time, the Japanese pirates were causing great trouble, and this Luo Gongchen, a mere scholar, drew his sword to pacify the pirates, gaining great fame.

The gap between scholars and scholars is indeed very large.

"Last year, he returned to the capital to report on his duties and met many people, but the things he wanted to accomplish were ultimately not achieved." Empress Dowager Li lost much of her appetite when she mentioned this, put down her chopsticks, and looked somewhat worried.

The struggle over opening the seas in the southeast and establishing Yuegang was truly a step-by-step ordeal. No matter how good Luo Gongchen's original intentions were, without anyone in the court to help him, it was all wasted effort.

This Luo Gongchen was first introduced by his old superior, Tan Lun, to visit the mansion of the Minister of Personnel, Yang Bo. Because Tan Lun had returned home to observe mourning for his parents' funeral and his re-entry into office was recommended by Yang Bo, this constituted a debt of recommendation. In the officialdom of the Great Ming, this was a debt of immense gratitude.

Tan Lun felt Luo Gongchen's ideas were good, so he introduced Luo Gongchen to Yang Bo.

Why did the Investigating Censor of the Ministry of Personnel impeach Tan Lun?

Because Tan Lun came from the Zhejiang Army and was a comrade-in-arms of General Qi Jiguang Jiguang. Influenced by those from the Zhejiang Army like General Qi Jiguang Jiguang and Liang Menglong, Tan Lun was now walking too close to Zhang Juzheng.

Yang Bo, as the leader of the Jin Party, was already angry that Tan Lun was returning evil for good, so he directly gave Luo Gongchen the cold shoulder and didn't even accept his visiting card.

Luo Gongchen then used his connection with General Qi Jiguang Jiguang to have General Qi Jiguang Jiguang introduce him to Zhang Juzheng. As a result, Zhang Juzheng heard Luo Gongchen's ideas and was quite in agreement, so he personally signed his name on Luo Gongchen's memorial and sent it to the Office of Transmission. After the Cabinet drafted the rescript, it failed to pass in two court discussions.

Eventually, Luo Gongchen's deadline for reporting on his duties in the capital arrived, so he had to return to Yuegang in Fujian to wait for news.

These potatoes and sweet potatoes were the gifts Luo Gongchen brought back to the capital at that time. The palace had them, and Zhang Juzheng's Quanchu Guild Hall also had them. Originally, Yang Bo should have had them too, but since Yang Bo didn't see Luo Gongchen, he didn't get any.

In the first year of Wanli, potatoes were still rare items in the capital, but in the south, they had already been introduced during the Jiajing era.

"What was the purpose of this Coastal Defense Vice Prefect Luo Gongchen coming to the capital?" Zhu Yijun searched his memory but found no relevant content.

The Wanli Emperor himself did not like government affairs, and coupled with Empress Dowager Li's extremely strict constraints, he was mostly indifferent to state affairs, letting them go in one ear and out the other.

Empress Dowager Li leaned back in her chair, feeling slightly troubled, and said, "Luo Gongchen wanted to collect taxes; to be precise, he wanted to establish a system to collect taxes on foreign merchant ships—a tax of six out of every hundred—to collect taxes from those red-haired barbarian foreign ships."

"Foreign ships? Luo Gongchen wants to collect taxes on foreign ships?"

Empress Dowager Li said quite definitely, "Yes, on foreign ships."

"The Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate opposed the tax increase, and his reasons were considered sufficient."

"Ge Shouli said: 'The state's tax regulations are all established. In places where trade is bustling and merchants gather, there are already customs tax offices, and tax collection offices are also set up in every prefecture, responsible for collecting tax silver. The laws are extremely detailed and complete; there is no place that is not taxed. The taxes are already so heavy; increasing taxes suddenly now is competing with the people for profit.'"

"The Minister of Rites, Lu Shusheng, also opposed it, saying it was the law of the ancestors, which had not been changed for two hundred years. Opening the seas and establishing Yuegang for trade was already a violation of ancestral regulations; must we continue to violate them?"

"The Ministry of Rites also said that those red-haired barbarians from the various Frankish lands couldn't even learn the proper etiquette, and their kneeling was crooked, which was a loss of ritual and law. If we were to levy taxes on foreign ships, it would violate the 'Doctrine of the Mean'—the 'Nine Classics of Governing the World' regarding 'treating distant people with kindness'—and it would also violate the laws of the ancestors, fearing it might stir up Japanese pirate troubles again."

"The matter was thus dropped."

"The Senior Grand Secretary Zhang still had the intention to push it forward, so he kept Luo Gongchen's memorial and told him to go back and wait for news."

Empress Dowager Li had only read the "Admonitions for Women," so reading these pedantic memorials was probably a bit difficult. Feng Bao, however, was an educated man; she had trusted Feng Bao deeply before, and this was one of the reasons.

Luo Gongchen first approached Yang Bo, but Yang Bo did not accept him. Zhang Juzheng, however, had a good temper and also gave General Qi Jiguang Jiguang face, so he let the man into the Quanchu Guild Hall and even signed and stamped Luo Gongchen's memorial.

What kind of person was Zhang Juzheng? Those who liked him and those who hated him would both admit that this man had great talent. Likewise, everyone in the world knew that Zhang Juzheng was a man who would seek revenge for the slightest grievance.

Luo Gongchen wanted to collect taxes on foreign ships, and the Minister of Rites and the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate opposed it. Zhang Juzheng wanted to push it forward even more; this involved the issue of authority.

Zhang Juzheng had been the Senior Grand Secretary and in charge of the state for only a few months. Collecting taxes on foreign ships did not involve the interests of the various ministers in the court. Even if they didn't allow it, Zhang Juzheng would push this matter forward just to establish his authority.

And the Minister of Rites, Lu Shusheng, was recommended by Zhang Juzheng to enter the court as the Minister of Rites. This Lu Shusheng hadn't even sat firmly in his chair before he started holding onto ritual and law to oppose Zhang Juzheng's political decrees.

If one were to ask Zhu Yijun what his attitude was toward collecting taxes on foreign ships?

Does this need to be discussed? Collect them! We must collect them! Is it right for customs not to collect taxes? Is it right!

One must know that the taxes collected at Yuegang—part of it goes to the state treasury, and part of it goes into the inner treasury.

That is my money!

Whoever doesn't allow it, just slap them with a charge of colluding with foreigners and send them to the Yongning Temple at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River to chisel ice and catch fish.

"Mother, your son wants to try planting these potatoes and sweet potatoes." Zhu Yijun finished his meal without a word before saying quite solemnly to Empress Dowager Li.

When Empress Dowager Li heard this, she looked at the little Emperor with a face full of disbelief and asked blankly, "The Emperor says he wants to farm? Is it to experience the feelings of the farmers? Just let the Senior Grand Secretary Zhang arrange it."

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "It's not to experience the feelings of the farmers, nor is it to sacrifice to the spring god of agriculture, but to farm—digging holes, burying seeds, watering, fertilizing, and personally engaging in agriculture."

"Wait, does the Emperor mean he wants to personally work the land?" Empress Dowager Li was somewhat between laughter and tears. It was one thing that her son didn't study before, but now he actually wanted to personally engage in agricultural work. Was that something an Emperor should do?

It was truly neglecting his proper work.

"Yes!" Zhu Yijun said quite definitely, "Just plant potatoes."

Put the tax collection matter aside for now; he was not yet personally ruling, so he could just let Zhang Juzheng charge into battle.

But these potatoes must be planted.

The people regard food as their heaven; food is a matter greater than heaven itself.

What is food? Food is the indestructible imperial power.