Chapter 1573: This Is Already the Eighteenth Century

With the crack-crack-crack of the ceremonial whips, before the Gate of Imperial Supremacy in Nanjing's Forbidden City, a grand court assembly was at last held once more after many years!

Because of the construction of Laoshan Palace and Pukou City, the capital of the Great Ming Empire had in fact already shifted from the city of Nanjing to Laoshan–Pukou north of the river. The imperial city within Nanjing had therefore stood empty all this time, an idle palace complex. But since the Ming imperial house under Zhu Cilang's leadership was exceptionally wealthy, and also quite efficient at spending money, maintenance and repair of the imperial city had never stopped.

Under the direction of the Royal Chamber of Commerce, the great renovation of the Nanjing imperial city, a project lasting more than ten years, had been completed by the twenty-sixth year of Hongxing. It was called a major renovation, but it was practically a rebuilding.

First, the buildings outside the imperial city — that great mass of offices beyond the Gate of Bearing Heaven that had originally belonged to the Six Ministries, the Nine Chief Ministers, the Five Chief Military Commissions, and the other government bureaus — were all demolished, clearing a huge plot of land. And this was prime real estate in the center of Nanjing! It was separated from the most prosperous Qinhuai River district only by the inner moat... According to Emperor Zhu's arrangement, this land would be used to build residences and shops, eventually becoming a new commercial district! And the owner of this land was, of course, the Ming Royal Chamber of Commerce!

Second, within the imperial city but outside the Forbidden City, all buildings were likewise demolished and rebuilt. The only exceptions were the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Imperial Altars of Soil and Grain, which were rebuilt on their original sites. The land that had originally belonged to the inner palace directorates, the inner palace guards, the Left and Right Feathered Forest Guards, the Nanjing Garrison Commander's eunuch office, and the Nanjing Eastern Depot was all assigned to the Grand Secretariat and the Grand Marshal's Office — this was in exchange for the land outside the imperial city that had originally belonged to those two offices. However, the two offices did not put up many buildings within the imperial city, only building a few rows of single-story houses each for standby use.

Third, all buildings within the Forbidden City also underwent major repair or rebuilding. The three great audience halls of the outer court were all given major repairs, while the buildings of the inner palace were entirely demolished and then rebuilt according to a new plan. Gardens were laid out, ponds were dug, rockeries were piled up — the whole place was turned into an imperial garden.

The newly renovated Nanjing imperial city stood empty for most of the year, opened only for a period around the New Year. Once the rites of worshipping Heaven and Earth and sweeping the Xiaoling Mausoleum were finished, the Nanjing imperial city would be sealed up again.

But on the second day of the second month of the thirtieth year of Hongxing, well after the first month had passed, and after Emperor Zhu had already returned to Laoshan with his court, the civil and military officials received word that day: a grand court assembly would be held in the Nanjing imperial city on the fourth day of the second month, and there was important news to be announced!

Over the years, the Ming court had announced major news from time to time, most of it good news, but never before had it been the kind that could not be announced at Laoshan Palace and instead required a trip to the Nanjing imperial city.

It seemed the news to be announced this time was truly extraordinary!

Moreover, some among the Ming civil and military officials already knew what the matter was! And those officials not privy to the secrets could vaguely guess as well... The news to be announced today was surely extraordinary good news!

Most likely, the Ming dynasty's era of peace and prosperity had returned!

Peace... for people who had suffered the miseries of war and displacement, it was absolutely the word they yearned for most.

They were people who truly understood what it meant to prefer being a dog in times of peace to being a human in times of chaos...

On the fourth day of the second month, before the sky had brightened, carriages and horses outside the Gate of Bearing Heaven stretched in unbroken lines, white lanterns dotted the darkness like stars, and the fully attired civil and military officials and the key figures of the three offices had all assembled, waiting to attend the court assembly.

The officials, led by the honor-guard officers of the armored guards corps into the plaza outside the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, were all beaming with joy, every one of them especially spirited. Though they had all risen before dawn, not one showed the slightest trace of fatigue.

Truly, when a person meets with happy events, the spirit soars!

"His Majesty the Emperor arrives! His Majesty the Retired Emperor arrives!" As the herald's booming voice rang out, the officials standing in the plaza outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy hurriedly performed the grand bowing salute, shouting "Ten thousand years!"

Then came the resounding voice of the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang: "Rise, rise!"

Everyone straightened up and raised their eyes to look. They saw Zhu Cilang in full court robes, seated on the throne upon the white marble platform outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy, with another chair placed beside him, in which sat the sixty-six-year-old Retired Emperor Zhu Youjian. Father and son, Zhu Cilang and Zhu Youjian, both wore smiling expressions today, their faces practically glowing. Seeing that the officials had completed their bows, Zhu Cilang smiled and said: "We have asked you all to come to the Forbidden City for court today in order to announce a matter of universal celebration... The night before last, an urgent six-hundred-li military dispatch from the Yunnan front brought the good news we have long awaited! Hanlong Pass was recaptured by our forces on the twelfth day of the first month!

With this, all the ancestral lands of our Ming — the two capitals and thirteen provinces — are now under the control of the Ming court! Our Ming realm has been reunified!"

"Your subjects congratulate the Ming, and congratulate His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Retired Emperor!"

The assembled officials burst into another round of cheers!

Zhu Cilang raised his hand, and the cheering below quickly ceased.

Zhu Cilang's voice rose again: "Thanks to the protection of our ancestors, and thanks to the diligent efforts of all you officials and the soldiers at the front, our Ming dynasty in these years has been pure and prosperous within, and has expanded its territory without. It has long been a glorious golden age. What are the Zhenguan or Kaiyuan reigns compared to ours? All of you are meritorious officials of the Ming's golden age, and the soldiers have all rendered service and toil... We shall naturally be unstinting in rewards. As for those soldiers who perished in the line of duty, they shall not only receive generous pensions and support, but shall also be enshrined in the temple of loyal martyrs and sages, so that their deeds are remembered for generations to come."

His tone had been light and almost laughing at first, but toward the end his voice grew heavier: "Mencius said: 'If within there are no law-upholding ministers and remonstrating officials, and without there are no hostile states and external calamities, the state will invariably perish!'

Although our Ming is now in a golden age, it is absolutely not an age of peace and tranquility, and there will never be an age of peace and tranquility!

Because in the world today, great powers rise together. Beyond the Celestial Court, all are hostile states and external threats! To cravenly seek peace will only win a moment's ease, and can never preserve a golden age for long. If we wish the sun-and-moon banner never to fall, if we wish the Ming's golden age never to cease, we have no choice but to sleep with our weapons at the ready and never seek mere comfort! The Methods of Sima says: 'However great a state, if it loves war it will surely perish; however peaceful the realm, if it forgets war it will surely be in danger.' But in Our view, loving war is always better than forgetting war! Loving war may not mean destruction, but forgetting war means certain peril!

With the Ming's present strength, loving war means fighting in distant lands! Forgetting war will let distant enemies press closer step by step, and in the future danger will surely reach our heartland.

Therefore, though our Ming is now unified, though it enjoys a golden age, there is absolutely no peace! Henceforth, the descendants of our Ming must never speak of peace, nor forget war! This is the ancestral law We shall pass down to our descendants!"

There would be no age of peace and tranquility... only a golden age, without peace!

But the civil and military officials present would not be disappointed — most of them had never seen peace, having grown up amid the strife of a chaotic age.

If peace truly came, they would surely find it hard to get used to.

Moreover, they had all heard the old sayings: when the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning hares are dead, the hunting dogs are cooked; when the enemy state is destroyed, the strategists perish!

Now the realm was unified and the Ming at its zenith, but the enemy states had not yet been destroyed!

In the southwest there was still the Indian Shun Empire, in the northwest there were Russia, the Siberian Republic, the Kazakh Khanate, and so on, and in the west there was the incomparably powerful Roman Empire...

Everyone still needed to work hard, and the Ming still needed all of them!

The Chongzhen Retired Emperor, seated beside Zhu Cilang to "study," was nodding gently — he had learned another trick today!

So peace was not a good thing after all!

With peace came ease, dullness, and weakness.

Therefore a state needs enemies, and the Ming dynasty also needs enemies. If there truly are none... then manufacture one!

At this moment Zhu Cilang spoke again: "Three days from now, We and the Retired Emperor shall lead the assembled officials to pay homage at the Xiaoling Mausoleum and report to the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, the good news that the Ming realm has been reunified! After the homage, an edict shall be proclaimed to the realm, and all under heaven shall celebrate together!"