Chapter 1170: Good Places Are Few — We Must Hurry!

"You little—"

After hearing Zhu Cilang's suggestion, Chongzhen nearly blurted out "you unfilial wretch," and only with great effort swallowed the word "wretch" back down. Still, his face went livid. With a cold snort, he said, "Our son, where would We get tens of thousands of taels of silver?"

How could you not have any? Zhu Cilang thought to himself. Mother told me all about it — you originally had 500,000 taels set aside for your retirement, then Old Five swindled you out of 250,000. After that, you kept writing to Old Three and Old Four every few days crying poverty, and you were always grumbling to Old Six about it too. The three of them had no choice but to each dutifully hand over seventy or eighty thousand taels to you. Your losses have just about been made whole again!

But Zhu Cilang was not about to expose Chongzhen to his face. With Zhu Yihai and Yao Daqiao both present, he still had to maintain the image of a filial son.

Zhu Cilang nodded and said, "Since Imperial Father has no money, then let's not send Old Seven to the New World. Old Seven's mother died early, and with no one to dote on him, he probably has no savings either. Better to send Ninth Brother Ci'en instead. He is Consort Hu's son — he's not short of those tens of thousands of taels."

Consort Hu was, after all, the favorite consort of the Retired Emperor Chongzhen. At least twenty percent of Chongzhen's gold-flower silver had been spent by her, and of the fine gifts Chongzhen received each year for his birthday and the New Year, quite a few also ended up with this Consort Hu. So Consort Hu's son was certainly wealthy. To go make one's way in the New World, one could not do without tens of thousands of taels in starting capital.

"Then what about Old Nine's commandery princedom, his estate, and his princely residence?" Chongzhen doted greatly on this Old Nine, and immediately began fighting for his son's interests.

Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile. "He gets them, of course he gets them. Apart from the commandery prince title, everything else will be converted to cash for Old Nine — let's make it fifty thousand taels of silver!"

"In addition, We shall arrange a good marriage for Old Nine."

Chongzhen asked, "Will you also find Old Nine a father-in-law from a Japanese samurai house?"

"That won't be necessary," the Zhu Emperor said, shaking his head. "The fighting and killing has already been handled by Old Five. Old Nine needs to go help Old Five with management, so his consort must be chosen from among the great merchant and great landowning families."

Zhu Cilang made this arrangement first to help Zhu Cihuan manage the vassal state, and second to balance the Japanese faction's influence within the vassal state. Therefore, Zhu Ci'en could not be allowed to marry into a Japanese samurai family again. He needed to be matched with an in-law like Yao Daqiao.

"Yao Daqiao!" As he spoke, Zhu Cilang called out Yao Daqiao's name.

"This subject is here." Yao Daqiao's heart stirred with excitement. He did have a daughter — though she was a bit young, the Ninth Prince could be made to wait a little!

"Is there any place in the Chongqing Commandery Prince's territory where a good harbor could be opened?" Zhu Cilang asked.

He was asking a question he already knew the answer to. Of course he knew that Zhu Cihuan had already seized Los Angeles and Long Beach!

"There is," Yao Daqiao said, somewhat disappointed, but still answering truthfully. "Over there, there is more than one place where a port could be opened. Near Angel Castle there is a bay where a harbor could be built."

He was talking about the Port of Los Angeles.

"Then give this land to the Ninth Prince!" Zhu Cilang smiled. "Two hundred and fifty li square of land used entirely for cultivation probably won't yield much profit. If a port can be built and a market opened, that's where the real money is!"

What money could there possibly be? Yao Daqiao thought to himself.

Of course, he had no idea that a gold rush would soon sweep through California! By then, "Los Angeles" was certain to prosper. So now they had to let that boy Zhu Ci'en stake out the territory, so it could be developed later.

As for Zhu Ci'en's princess consort, let Luo Dagong select her from among the Shanghai property merchants!

Having made up his mind, Zhu Cilang then remembered that he needed to give Zhu Cihuan's vassal state a good name. So he asked Chongzhen, "Fifth Brother is now the Chongqing Commandery Prince, but the name Chongqing is already used by a place. Therefore, your son would like to ask Imperial Father to bestow an auspicious name upon Fifth Brother's vassal state."

"Bestow a name?" Chongzhen thought for a moment. "Then change one character. Remove the 'Chong' from Chongqing. Isn't Old Five's territory part of that California Prefecture? Then take the 'Jia' from California, and call it the Jiaqing Kingdom!"

Jiaqing — Jiaging? What a fine name indeed!

"Very well, it shall be called the Jiaqing Kingdom!" Zhu Cilang nodded. "Its rank shall be set as a commandery kingdom!"

The Ming's vassal states now had ranks of higher and lower. The highest was, of course, the United States! Next came the kingdoms — Japan, Joseon, Annam, Siam, and Dzungar were all kingdoms. Below that were the commandery kingdoms — Chahar, Tumed, Chenla, and Laos were all commandery kingdoms. One rank lower still were the duchies — Phuket (formerly Ryukyu), Pattani (formerly Sulu), Brunei, and Jeju were all duchies.

And the freshly minted Jiaqing Kingdom was a commandery kingdom, matching Zhu Cihuan's title of nobility.

The Zhu Emperor then glanced at the Prince of Lu, Zhu Yihai. That gentleman was grinning from ear to ear! It seemed he was mulling over the fine prospect of crowdfunding the establishment of vassal states.

"Prince of Lu!" Zhu Cilang called to him. "You told Us earlier that you wanted to set down regulations for establishing vassal states and founding countries to restrain the imperial princes. Why not present them now for the Retired Emperor to hear? The Retired Emperor has many sons. Apart from Us, the Prince of Dai, the Prince of Nakhon, the Prince of Fu, and the Prince of Jiaqing, they must all be waiting to establish vassal states and found countries! A commandery kingdom may not be achievable for each, but a few duchies should still be possible. If one commandery prince cannot scrape together the numbers, then several — or a dozen or more — can pool their resources!"

What? More of them?

Chongzhen's heart went a little cold — he had just been pondering how to ask Consort Hu for money, and now his filial son was already setting his sights on his other sons!

Chongzhen thought to himself: Shouldn't We, the Retired Emperor, only be responsible for sowing seed? The arrangements for Our sons ought to be that unfilial wretch's headache! How has it fallen on Us again?

Over a hundred sons! If all of them were to follow the Prince of Jiaqing's example and extract a sum of silver from Chongzhen to found countries and establish vassal states, Chongzhen would surely be drained dry!

"Retired Emperor, this subject only just thought of this matter," Zhu Yihai said with a chuckle. "This subject has thought of a few points. First: no Zhu, no kingship. For any country originally nonexistent, opened up with money and effort by the Ming imperial clan and ministers, anyone who may be called king must be a descendant of the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor. All others may at most be enfeoffed as dukes."

"That is good!" Zhu Cilang nodded.

It's a monopoly, after all! Of course it's good.

"Second: request enfeeoffment, cede territory. Whoever requests enfeeoffment must, like the Prince of Jiaqing, present a batch of viscount fiefs to Your Majesty, for Your Majesty to bestow upon others."

"That makes sense!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile to Chongzhen. "Imperial Father, this method is good. Who told our family to have so many people? By taking more territory and titles from the vassal states, we can arrange for some to go abroad and make their way. Not only will it relieve pressure at home, it will also diversify investment."

What did "diversify investment" mean? The Retired Emperor Chongzhen listened in bewilderment. Of course, he would never have imagined that Zhu Cilang was worried about the tide of revolution!

Only by spreading branches and leaves across the whole world could the Zhu dynasty possibly endure!

Zhu Yihai continued, "Third: permission to request enfeeoffment and found countries on unowned lands."

"What are unowned lands?" Chongzhen asked.

Zhu Yihai said, "Retired Emperor, so-called unowned lands are lands that have not been incorporated into the Ming homeland or vassal territories, and do not belong to any foreign country."

"Are there still such lands under heaven?"

"There are quite a few!" Zhu Yihai said with a smile. "The world is vast. There is no shortage of lands that are sparsely populated or even entirely uninhabited. Even if such lands are fertile and rich, developing them is no easy task. In the early stages, one must invest blood capital. Relying on the court to put up the money alone will not do — everyone must invest together."

"The Prince of Lu is right," Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "The court's financial resources are limited, and its energy is limited too. It cannot manage so much! If the various princes, imperial clansmen, and ennobled nobles are willing to go out and make their way, why should We refuse? Back when our Ming ancestors shrank the borders and abandoned territory, they should have asked whether any of the imperial clansmen and ennobled nobles were willing to go and administer those lands the court could not manage. If some imperial clansmen and ennobled nobles had gone to develop the territory of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission, how could Jianzhou ever have risen?"

Chongzhen chuckled dryly, thinking: How could the ancestors have been as open-minded as you? They could barely keep the vassalage restrictions in place. The Prince of Ning and the Prince of Liao, originally stationed beyond the passes, had to be moved inward — how could they have let people go out? But if they really had let people go out, then Jianzhou might never have risen, but who knows if someone else might have launched a Jingnan rebellion!

Zhu Cilang let out a breath and smiled. "Perhaps it's for the best that the ancestors didn't do so. Otherwise, all the good territory in the world would have been taken long ago — where would our share be? Imperial Father, Prince of Lu, this world is vast, but it is not infinite! Good places are even fewer — we must hurry and seize them! If we are late, there will be none left!"

(End of Chapter)