Chapter 1147: Imperial Father, Fifth Brother Has Gone to the New World to Make Money

Once he confirmed that Zhu Cihuan had successfully fled to the New World, Zhu Cilang finally breathed a sigh of relief — the kid had finally taken the right path!

If he had run back to Yingtian Prefecture to wail and make a scene before the Retired Emperor Chongzhen, that would have been a real headache for Zhu Cilang! If father and son had gone weeping and pleading to Emperor Zhu, begging him to cover the losses, what then?

A shortfall of over a million taels was not too great a problem for Zhu Cilang. But he absolutely could not cover Zhu Cihuan's losses, because once that precedent was set, how would the imperial clan ever start businesses again? How would they run them? Keep the profits for themselves and go to the Emperor to cover the losses? No such thing!

Cover it just once, and never again?

Heh, next time there would be another next time — "never again" is a line you can keep saying forever!

Moreover, a single bailout would create a strong "bailout expectation" in the market, thereby enormously boosting the creditworthiness of imperial clan members — so the next hole would inevitably be even bigger!

If Zhu Cilang bailed out Zhu Cihuan once, then to avoid an even larger bailout next time, he would have to strictly restrict imperial clan members from engaging in commerce — and restricting the imperial clan was already a politically correct thing to do, so it would easily become established practice.

Because imperial clan members are born with far more advantages than ordinary people, and success is theirs for the taking. If they were not restricted, they would, to a considerable extent, block the path of advancement for those of humble birth.

So the Ming dynasty's policy of raising the imperial clan like pigs was actually in accord with the people's will, and also conformed to the tradition, formed since the Song dynasty, of restraining the powerful.

Just imagine: if the Ming had not restricted the imperial clan, then the hundred thousand and more dragon sons and phoenix grandsons listed in the jade registers before the Jiashen Catastrophe — how many great bureaucrats, great capitalists, and great warlords would they have produced?

Surely no one would really believe that the social wealth and resources possessed by such men — holding great power, controlling the military, political, and economic levers of the state — would be less than those of a bunch of penned-up imperial clansmen, would they?

Just look at the "Lius everywhere" of the two Han dynasties. The existence of the "Lius everywhere" not only seized a vast amount of social resources, but also posed an enormous obstacle to dynastic change at the time!

Even the Qing dynasty, which historically placed some restrictions on bannermen engaging in commerce and acquiring property, could still produce an imperial clan cabinet in its final years!

By comparison, before the Jiashen Catastrophe, the Chongzhen Emperor had neither "Zhus everywhere" to count on, nor an imperial clan cabinet to rely on. And the hundred thousand and more dragon sons and dragon grandsons raised like "pigs" were slaughtered to the great satisfaction of all, bearing the historical responsibility for the ruin of the realm — what a fine thing that was!

If it had been the Red Eyebrows or the Yellow Turbans instead, could they have wiped out Liu Bang's dragon sons and dragon grandsons?

With enemies of the caliber of Li Zicheng and Dorgon, even fighting to the death they could not have killed men like Liu Xiu and Liu Bei!

If Zhu Cilang were merely an ordinary scholar, he certainly would not want those heaven-born scions who were born with golden spoons in their mouths competing with him for the very limited channels of advancement.

But Zhu Cilang happened to be the Emperor, the head of this clan of dragon sons and dragon grandsons, and of course he hoped that these dragon sons and dragon grandsons could flourish and grow strong in every field!

Every field naturally included industry and commerce as well. After all, the age of capitalism had already arrived.

But capitalism, in the end, is "born of losses." Even dragon sons and dragon grandsons born with golden spoons in their mouths merely had a somewhat higher probability of success than others — failure was still the most likely outcome! Even the Retired Emperor Zhu Youjian's first commercial venture in his life had not escaped the high probability of loss, and he had lost his entire stake!

When Zhu Cilang arrived at the Palace of Benevolent Longevity to report the matter of Zhu Cihuan's flight, the Retired Emperor was there sighing and groaning. Seeing the "Number One Filial Son Under Heaven" arrive, he hurried forward and asked, "Has that unfilial wretch been caught?"

"Unfilial wretch?" Zhu Cilang looked at Chongzhen in surprise. "Who are you calling an unfilial wretch?"

Chongzhen waved a hand. "Not you. We mean Cihuan, that disobedient, unfilial thing!"

What? Zhu Cihuan was now disobedient and unfilial? Zhu Cilang shook his head and said, "Imperial Father, what are you saying? Fifth Brother is a filial son!"

The Retired Emperor Chongzhen ground his teeth and said, "He lost all of Our retirement money, and he's still a filial son?"

"Imperial Father, calm your anger. He already knows he was wrong."

"Knows he was wrong?" Chongzhen looked at his son. "Then Our silver—"

Zhu Cilang smiled. "He has already gone to the America Prefecture to earn money. Once he earns it, he will pay you back."

"Gone — gone to America to earn money—" Chongzhen leapt up abruptly, raising a finger and pointing outside. "He — he — he ran away?"

Zhu Cilang shook his head. "Imperial Father, Fifth Brother can't really be said to have run away, can he?"

"Not running away?" Chongzhen was shaking with rage. "Owes debts and doesn't pay, swindled Us out of Our silver, and then runs off and leaves it all behind. We — We — We have no such son! We shall strike him from the imperial clan rolls!"

Zhu Cilang hastily waved his hands. "No, no — if Imperial Father strikes him from the clan rolls, then those 250,000 taels will never come back!"

Chongzhen started, staring at Zhu Cilang. "You — you mean Our 250,000 taels can still come back?"

"Your son did not say that," Zhu Cilang shook his head. "But Fifth Brother should at least be given a chance, should he not? After all, he is your own flesh and blood. Can you truly bear, for a mere 250,000 taels, to strike him from the clan rolls and drive him to his death? Even a vicious tiger does not eat its own cubs!"

"You—" The Retired Emperor Chongzhen thought to himself: Now you come out playing the good man! If you had been willing to help him, would he have lost so badly he had to run?

Zhu Cilang continued, "Imperial Father, you have so many sons, and it is impossible for every one of them to have a suitable official post. In the future, there will surely be other sons who wish to go into business. But the world of commerce is treacherous, and losses are hard to avoid. If losing once means losing one's clan status, who would dare follow Fifth Brother's example in the future?"

"Someone else wants to imitate this unfilial wretch?" Chongzhen glared at Zhu Cilang. "We do not have that much retirement money for them to swindle!"

Zhu Cilang smiled and said, "You should never have given the money to Fifth Brother in the first place. Your son, the Prince of Dai, and the Commandery Prince of Luokun all manage our affairs well. If you wanted to invest, you should have invested with the three of us!

Fifth Brother is just starting out and understands nothing, yet you dared to invest 250,000 taels with him. Losing money on such an investment is normal — normal, nothing to fuss over."

"You — you — you just keep angering Us!" Chongzhen stamped his foot. "Sooner or later We will be angered to death by you unfilial wretches!"

Zhu Cilang quickly cupped his hands in salute. "Imperial Father, calm your anger. Your fifty-first birthday is just around the corner — do not let Fifth Brother ruin your health."

Chongzhen sighed, and a sorrowful expression rose on his face. He said to Zhu Cilang, "No matter how angry We are, he is still Our son. Your Fifth Brother has had a hard life from childhood. Not long after he was born, he lost his mother, and later he was captured by the roving bandits and spent many years among them before he was released.

Now he is going to the New World, and who knows whether he will ever have the chance to return in this lifetime! Cilang, issue an edict to the people over there in the New World, telling them to take good care of him."

So Chongzhen was still a good father after all.

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Imperial Father, rest assured. Your son will make arrangements."

Nagasaki, the country of Japan.

This port city, located at the westernmost tip of the Japanese archipelago facing China, was suddenly packed, in the months from the end of the thirteenth year of Hongxing to the beginning of the fourteenth year of Hongxing, with Chinese who had come over from Shanghai Prefecture, wanting to venture into the New World.

The America Prefecture in the New World had been open for some years now, but it had never really taken off, and there had been no wave of immigration to speak of. Even if quite a few Chinese had crossed the ocean to go there, most had been lured over by the authorities of Great Ming and the United States, and very few had gone of their own accord.

But during this period, for some unknown reason, thousands upon thousands of Chinese had actually left of their own accord from the richest water towns of Jiangnan, the wealthiest part of China, crossed the ocean to Japan, and crammed into the little city of Nagasaki, waiting for ships bound for the New World.

This business had stirred the hearts of the Japanese on the island of Kyushu — could it be that opportunities for getting rich had appeared over in the New World?

Had mountains of gold and silver been discovered? Or had especially warm, moist, and fertile land been found? Otherwise, why would these people of the Celestial Empire abandon the prosperous land of Jiangnan and go adventuring in the New World?

By the beginning of the fourteenth year of Hongxing, even more astonishing news reached the Kokura Kubo, Xu Zhengzhi — a prince of the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty had also arrived in Nagasaki, preparing to rest briefly before going on to the New World!

(End of Chapter)