Chapter 1187: So Much Benevolence, Righteousness, and Morality!

Yingtian Prefecture, Laoshan Palace.

A joint session of the two offices was underway inside the Hall of Imperial Supremacy. The civil and military grandees of the Ming court were gathered in full assembly, every one of them somewhat worried.

What had these loyal subjects of the Great Ming — men destined to be remembered through the ages — so worried was their Emperor, His Majesty Zhu Cilang, that sovereign of filial piety and benevolence rare since ancient times, and the more than one thousand benevolent and righteous men he had taken such pains to select. So many benevolent and righteous men, along with several times more of their followers and subordinates, were now loitering about the Laoshan Town and Pukou City area. If that was not cause for worry, what was?

Laoshan Town and Pukou City were where the Ming court officials had settled their families, and for more than ten years they had been the foremost model districts in all the realm! Not only did they boast the finest educational resources, their public order was also extraordinarily good. Never mind outside criminals — even the local dandies of Laoshan and Pukou dared not commit outrages at the feet of the Son of Heaven. Otherwise, once arrested by the police inspectors of the Jiangbei Police Inspection Bureau, they would certainly be punished with the utmost severity!

Even if one's father was a Grand Secretary, a Commissioner-in-Chief, or a Duke, it was of little use — unless one's father was the Retired Emperor.

Yet for the past several months, Laoshan Town and Pukou City had seen brawls and fights every day — and not with clubs and bricks, but with long, slender samurai swords, cutting people down in broad daylight on the streets!

Many of the high officials attending today's court session had personally witnessed such slashings. It was utterly lawless!

Although the wearing of swords was fashionable in Laoshan Town and Pukou City, cases of armed assault and homicide were rare — on average no more than a hundred a year (mostly private duels) — and most involved injury rather than death, and very rarely occurred on the main streets.

The Jiangbei Police Inspection Bureau was of course under pressure from the Grand Secretariat and the Ministry of Justice to restore order at once.

But once the crackdown began, it was discovered that most of those arrested by the Police Inspection Bureau were the Zhu Emperor's "benevolent and righteous men." The matter was quickly brought to Zhu Cilang's attention, yet this ordinarily stern emperor suddenly became lenient: as long as these people had cut only their own "insiders," they were all to be sent south to serve at the front in the Southern Ocean.

These people were going to the Southern Ocean anyway — was this punishment not the same as no punishment at all?

Besides, were the twelve duchies not supposed to be going south to practice benevolence and righteousness? They were already like this before even leaving Yingtian Prefecture — could they still be benevolent and righteous once they reached the Southern Ocean?

And why were these people cutting each other so viciously! The vast majority of the brawls and assaults had occurred among these "benevolent and righteous men" themselves.

Letting them go found the twelve duchies — would there not someday be a "Rebellion of the Twelve States"?

Thinking of these questions, the mood of the Ming grandees turned thoroughly sour.

"My lords," Zhu Cilang said, smiling as ever. He picked up a memorial, opened it, and laid it flat on the table. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent in a memorial this morning, with a letter of challenge attached. The memorial was written by our consul stationed in Batavia. It says the Dutch wish to have a decisive battle with us, gentleman against gentleman. They propose a fleet engagement on the Southern Ocean, to be held this autumn, with the location to be chosen by us."

The Zhu Emperor smiled as he looked around at the assembly, then asked: "What do you all think?"

"Your Majesty, the Dutch East India Company is a pack of profiteers, not gentlemen at all. We cannot trust them!" Zheng Zhilong, who had once worked for the Dutch East India Company, was the first to declare that the Dutch profiteers could not be trusted.

As expected, only a profiteer truly understands profiteers! Zhu Cilang asked, weighing his words: "Duke of Quan, what do you think is the purpose of the Dutch challenge?"

"This..." Zheng Zhilong glanced at his son, Zheng Jiangong, the Minister of the Navy, before continuing. "Your Majesty, this old subject believes the Dutch are surely laying a trap, hoping to deal our fleet a heavy blow! But as to exactly how they would arrange it, this subject cannot guess."

"Your Majesty," Zheng Jiangong immediately took up the topic, "my father speaks truly. To this subject's knowledge, the Dutch navy is particularly skilled at surprise attacks on anchorages. In their past wars in Europe against Spain and England, they carried out many such raids on anchorages.

At present, the main force of our fleet is far away at the Guangzhou Bay anchorage, where the Dutch barbarians' fleet cannot possibly raid it. That is why they have devised such a shabby trick, trying to lure us south to the vicinity of the Malacca Strait so as to make their surprise attack easier."

The Guangzhou Bay anchorage lies between Gaozhou Prefecture and Leizhou Prefecture in Guangdong Province. It originally fell under the jurisdiction of Shendian Guard (a guard-station designation), and a naval stockade was established within the bay.

After the Battle of the Zhoushan Anchorage, the Ming navy began searching for a new anchorage for its main fleet. After searching high and low, they found three optimal anchorages: one was Jiao'ao (Jiaozhou Bay); another was Guangzhou Bay; and a third was Sasebo.

These three anchorages thus became the home ports of the Northern Ocean Fleet, the Southern Ocean Fleet, and the Eastern Ocean Fleet!

And the Northern Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Eastern Ocean Fleets were now all under the jurisdiction of the Navy Ministry and the Navy Department — all of them "central forces" now.

However, the original "Old Northern Ocean" and "Old Southern Ocean" fleets had not simply been converted wholesale into "central forces." Instead, they had been split up and reorganized. The armed merchant ships used for transport (commercial shipping) were transferred at low prices to the "Yiguan Party" trading house and the "Sand Ship Gang" trading house (these ships had originally been the assets of the Zheng and Shen families), while the Northern and Southern Ocean fleets' "road-toll collection rights" were also abolished. Beginning in the fifteenth year of Hongxing, merchant ships of all nations sailing along the Chinese coast needed only to pay the relevant taxes and fees after entering port, and no longer had to pay protection money to the Southern Ocean Fleet or the Northern Ocean Fleet.

After the reorganization, the strength of the "Three Ocean Fleets" had also been greatly expanded in recent years, each now possessing eight "Yingtian Prefecture"-class capital ships!

The scale advantage of the Celestial Empire had finally shown its power in this round of the naval arms race.

Although the performance of the "Yingtian Prefecture" class still fell short of Britain's "Lord Protector" class and the Dutch "States Provincial" class, the "dumpling-dropping" model — laying down twelve ships at once, and building twenty-four in just two batches — had made the Ming navy a sea power able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the English and Dutch navies!

Now, sixteen of the twenty-four "dumpling ships" were concentrated in the Southern Ocean Fleet, under the command of Admiral Chen Shangchuan, ready at any moment to sail south in search of a decisive battle with the Dutch East India Company's fleet — there was no need to win outright; even a war of attrition would be enough to make the Dutch suffer. Even if it took two "Yingtian Prefecture"-class ships to trade for one "States Provincial"-class ship, those sixteen dumpling ships of the Southern Ocean Fleet could trade away every last "States"-class ship in the Dutch navy.

And the Great Ming, minus sixteen dumpling ships, would still be the Celestial Empire — while the Dutch navy, stripped of its eight "States" ships, could only wait to be soundly thrashed by England's "Lord Protectors"!

Therefore, in the view of the elite staff officers of the Navy Department of the Great Ming Marshal's Office, there was only one possible way for the Southern Ocean Fleet, with its sixteen "dumpling ships," to suffer defeat on the Southern Ocean: to be caught off guard at anchor by the Dutch, who excelled at surprise attacks.

"We knew the Dutch were full of tricks!" Zhu Cilang smiled smugly. The Imperial Son-in-law had finally come into his own — he could see through the Dutch schemes!

"Jiangong," Zhu Cilang asked, "what two strategies do you have for defeating the enemy?"

Zheng Jiangong said: "Better to turn their own trick against them. Arrange with the Dutch to hold the decisive battle in the vicinity of the Makassar Strait, then send the main force of the Southern Ocean Fleet south to the Makassar Strait to draw the Dutch attention.

At the same time, use part of the Southern Ocean Fleet's strength, together with the Barbarian-Subduing naval force, to transport the Barbarian-Subduing Army south by water to the Malacca Strait and land near the island of Temasek in the Sultanate of Johor!"

"Will the Dutch fall for it?"

"They certainly will!" Zheng Jiangong said. "The Makassar Strait is the necessary route south to the Spice Islands. Once it falls under our control, the Spice Islands will no longer belong to the Dutch!

And the Spice Islands are the very lifeblood of the Dutch East India Company!"

"Good!" Zhu Cilang nodded with satisfaction. "Our twelve duchies' escort delegation is now fully assembled as well. It is time to send them south!"

Excellent!

These benevolent and righteous men were finally leaving.

A surge of delight passed through the hearts of the ministers!

Zhu Cilang smiled and continued: "It seems that before long, the people of the Malacca Peninsula and the island of Sumatra will no longer be bullied by the western barbarians. Under the protection of the Celestial Empire's army of benevolence, righteousness, and virtue, they shall enjoy everlasting peace!

To settle the hearts of the people of the Southern Ocean, We intend to name the twelve states of Malacca after the four characters 'benevolence, righteousness, virtue, and morality.' They shall be called: Ren'an, Renfu, Renzhi, Yixing, Yiquan, Yiyong, Daoquan, Daosheng, Daolong, Dexian, Deyou, and Desheng."

So much benevolence, righteousness, and morality!

(End of Chapter)