Chapter 1252: The Shun's Wasting-Thirst Disease

Li Jicheng certainly reaped a rich harvest in India!

After deducting the share for the Dutch India Trading Company, the rewards for the officers and men who took part in the expedition, and various other costs, his Indian expedition still yielded a net profit of nearly 8 million taels of silver — not all of it silver, for there was also a great deal of gold!

Li Jicheng had originally planned to squeeze some silver out of India to re-equip the Shun army with flintlock muskets, but a single flintlock was quoted at only eight taels and three qian in Guangdong, so 8 million taels would be enough to buy a million flintlocks!

However, the Ming arms trade had not slackened to that extent — it exported only thirty or forty thousand flintlocks and matchlocks a year. A million muskets was out of the question, and there could not possibly be that much output — after all, this was not yet the age of industrialization. Given the scale of the Ming armaments industry, the annual output of all types of firearms was only 150,000 to 180,000, of which no more than thirty or forty thousand could be exported.

And the Ming-pattern flintlocks the Dutch could procure for the Shun numbered a few thousand at most; if they wanted more flintlocks, they would have to import them from Europe.

But because of the rise of France, every European country was buying flintlocks during this period, and there was simply no surplus production to sell to the Shun.

So the gold and silver seized from India could not be spent at all — and in any case, it could not all be spent!

Because Li Jicheng's father, Li Laiheng, had already sent men to demand money, horses, and Western dancing girls!

It was not that Li Laiheng had grown corrupt, but that Li Guo was failing fast.

The Shun was a realm governed jointly by eight kings, and the enormous external pressure kept these nine forces — the eight kings and the one emperor — from falling into internal strife.

If they fell into internal strife, they would all be seized by Zhu Cilang and have their heads chopped off — perhaps even suffer death by slow slicing!

But the absence of internal strife did not mean no one was envious!

Originally everyone had been "poor" together — even those ranked among the eight kings had only a few tens of thousands of mu of farmland, with meat-stuffed flatbread, mutton soup, and pork knuckle in plenty, but nothing beyond that in the way of great wealth and rank.

Moreover, the emperor Li Guo and the crown prince Li Laiheng were not much richer either — there were no mountains of gold or silver, no Western dancing girls or famous horses, so usurping their thrones held little appeal, and everyone just made do!

But once Li Jicheng stirred things up in India, that was no longer the case! How rich India was! Li Jicheng had not only looted Orissa, but had also received tribute from two sultanates — he had truly prospered beyond measure!

He had gained 8 million in gold and silver (converted to silver taels), not to mention an incalculable quantity of assorted valuables. What was even more enviable were the Indian Marwari horses and the Western dancing girls who could sing and dance!

Li Jicheng and all those who had followed him to India had grown rich, every one of them. Those with official posts were even more so, embracing beauties left and right, attended by lovely consorts and servants, riding fine Marwari steeds, and sending heaps of good things home to their families in Sichuan and Yunnan.

How could the men of the eight-kings council system see that and not be envious?

Why should the Grandson's men be so rich while they were all paupers?

And it was at this very time that the emperor Li Guo fell ill, and all sorts of discontented voices began to emerge. Li Laiheng had to consider the bigger picture and placate people's hearts; there was no other way but to scatter money and buy them off.

So in recent days he had repeatedly sent men to India to summon Li Jicheng back to Kunming, and told Li Jicheng to bring plenty of gold, silver, treasure, famous horses, and Western dancing girls with him — to distribute some to each of the princes and their subordinates, so that Li Laiheng could succeed to the throne smoothly!

And Li Jicheng himself also wanted to go back — he had to become crown prince!

His grandfather Li Guo was clearly failing, and his father Li Laiheng would soon be the new emperor of the Shun, while he, Li Jicheng, ought then to become crown prince — the elevation from imperial grandson to crown prince was not without risk, so he could not be too complacent; he needed to bring back plenty of good things to buy people's hearts.

The good things obtained from India had begun to be loaded onto ships and transported north in the spring of the seventeenth year of Joint Rule, and by the autumn of that year the transport was nearly complete. Li Jicheng himself remained in Orissa Province until the eighth month of the lunar calendar; after arranging the defenses of Paradeep, he boarded the oared sailing ship "Welcome the Roving King" and sailed for Syriam in Burma.

The newly appointed Military Governor of Syriam, the Stabilizing Marquis Ma Bao, had long since prepared horse teams and elephant teams for Li Jicheng, helping him transport all the goods and concubines obtained from India to the Shun's southern capital, Kunming.

In the eleventh month of the seventeenth year of Joint Rule, the Shun imperial grandson Li Jicheng, who had been away from Kunming for several years, finally arrived at the rich and gentle city of Kunming.

At some point, this city of Kunming, far from the Shaanxi front, had replaced Chongqing as the Shun dynasty's primary capital. Not only did the emperor Li Guo and the crown prince Li Laiheng reside there permanently, but most of the eight kings of the council also lived out their retirement in Kunming; only Prince of Jin Li Dingguo spent his days toiling between the Dingjun Mountain camp and the Qiuchi Mountain camp.

Compared with Chongqing Prefecture, Kunming not only had a comfortable climate but also a somewhat more bustling, worldly atmosphere — Chongqing Prefecture had been converted by the Shun court into a military fortress, which looked impressive but was far too inconvenient for long-term residence.

Moreover, Chongqing was too close to the front, and the atmosphere there was always tense, making the Shun princes and marquises, who had spent most of their lives on campaign, feel very uncomfortable.

The Shun's southern capital, Kunming, had been built relatively late and was far from the front, so its construction had taken comfort and convenience more into account.

Furthermore, land in Sichuan had always been tight, and Li Guo was rather solicitous of the people, so he grudgingly refused to let those princes, marquises, and generals occupy much land in Sichuan. Yet he could not entirely ignore everyone's demand for land, so he let them occupy a great deal of land in Yunnan.

And the Shun's powerful nobles were happy to enclose land in Yunnan — it was far from the front, and they could live there with peace of mind!

Thus outside the city of Kunming there were many estates belonging to Shun nobles. Among them was an estate belonging to Li Jicheng. When he had left this place back then, he had worn plain blue cloth and iron armor, with thirty or fifty personal guards, each carrying a bundle on his back, and off they went.

But when he returned, it was truly a triumphant homecoming in brocade robes! The elephant teams and horse teams carrying goods alone stretched out no less than ten li — so grand it almost rivaled a Son of Heaven's procession.

Li Jicheng's father-in-law was the old Chief Minister Niu Jinxing, whose estate was right next to his son-in-law Li Jicheng's, both on the south side of Kunming Lake. These days he too was at home nursing an illness, and when he learned that his son-in-law was returning to court in such grand style, he hurried over to the imperial grandson's estate to pay his respects.

Father-in-law and son-in-law were naturally of one faction; after they met, they sat drinking and talking in a pavilion in Li Jicheng's residence that overlooked Kunming Lake.

"Venerable Father-in-law, are you feeling better?" Li Jicheng asked with concern, seeing the old man's dazed and drowsy appearance.

"Not well!" Niu Jinxing sighed. "Worse with each passing year. Most of the garrison-farm households are poor, and the farmers are even poorer. When His Majesty was still in good health he could manage things a little, but now he can no longer do so — he can only watch as the garrison-farm households devour the farmers completely!"

Clearly, Niu Jinxing had misunderstood his son-in-law's meaning and turned the conversation to state affairs. The Shun's state affairs could hardly be good — with only so much land to support 600,000 garrison-farm households, and a prolonged standoff with the Ming dynasty, how could things be good?

"No need to worry," Li Jicheng shook his head. "We have money now. I've brought back seven or eight million taels of silver this time — enough to give everyone some relief."

"Alas," Niu Jinxing sighed, "back then we tortured and extorted 30 million out of Beijing! And what was the result? Did we not still collapse and flee a thousand li?"

"That was different," Li Jicheng waved his hand. "That was extortion by torture. Now it is... it is seizing money from foreign countries. Money coming in is always good! The court now has no more land to distribute to the garrison-farm households, and their military service is too heavy — they can hardly bear it. Silver is what is needed now."

Niu Jinxing shook his head. "How will the silver reach the garrison-farm households below? Won't the princes, marquises, and generals above take their share? It is only 8 million taels — ten thousand per family means only eight hundred families. Just the sons of the emperor and the crown prince alone — how many are there? And then there are the sons and younger brothers of the eight princes..."

"How could it be divided like that?" Li Jicheng laughed. "We must give more to those fighting at the front. As for the noble sons, let them come south with me again, and next year we will march on India once more. If we seize a few million taels a year, need we fear running short of money?"

"A few million a year?" Niu Jinxing thought it over. "If there really were that much, it would be enough — I only fear you won't be able to seize it."

"We can seize it!" Li Jicheng laughed. "With the Dutch helping us, there will be no problem!"

(End of Chapter)