Chapter 220: When Sovereign and Ministers Are of One Mind, All Is Well

"Ministry of Revenue, how much Lianghuai salt tax was remitted to the ministry in the first half of this year?" Zhu Cilang asked with a smile.

"In reply to Thousand Years, because the court has been in flight, the archives and account books have been scattered and lost, so an exact figure is hard to produce. This subject remembers only an approximate sum." Hou Xun, Grand Secretary of the Hall of Central Extremity and concurrently Minister of Revenue, rose from his seat and replied, "From the start of the year to now, the total Lianghuai salt tax remitted to the ministry is only a little over eighty thousand taels."

"Eighty-some thousand in half a year, roughly one hundred seventy thousand taels a year." Zhu Cilang shook his head. "For a mere one hundred seventy thousand taels of silver, the people of the realm are made to suffer from high salt prices and eat bland food day after day. That is truly not the conduct of a benevolent sovereign.

We have decided that, from this day forward, the salt laws are abolished. All six Chief Salt Distribution Commissioners are to be disbanded, beginning with the Lianghuai Chief Salt Distribution Commission! Its three subordinate branch offices, two salt-certificate inspection stations, and eleven patrol offices are to be disbanded at the same time. Execute this immediately!"

What? The Chongzhen Emperor was stunned.

The salt laws and salt administration laid down by the ancestors had been in force for more than two hundred seventy years, and you abolish them just like that? Do you really think you are the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, reborn?

But the Chongzhen Emperor did not open his mouth to stop it. He was now a half-deposed emperor with no real authority, so he could only watch and wait for his son to make a fool of himself.

The interests tied up in these salt laws and salt administration were enormous! The Grand Secretariat and the court officials would surely block it! If this unfilial son clashed with the upright ministers of the court, then We could speak.

But at that moment Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode merely said with great deference, "As the decree commands!"

What? Just like that? The Chongzhen Emperor was astonished, and stared blankly at the other Grand Secretaries below.

No one stood up to object! The several Grand Secretaries were all nodding slightly, clearly in complete support of Zhu Cilang's wise decision.

Since when were the Grand Secretaries of the Great Ming so obedient?

"So it is settled!" Zhu Cilang said. "Draft the decree."

"This subject receives the order." Li Shichun, Supervisor of the Household of the Heir Apparent and concurrently Hanlin Academy Scholar, offered no objection either, and at once took up his brush to draft the decree.

Once the draft was complete, it was handed by a palace attendant to Wei Zaode. Grand Secretary Wei immediately drafted the rescript and pasted it on. Then the decree was sent back to Zhu Cilang, who read it, nodded, and handed it to Huang Dabao to write the endorsement in red.

The entire process took less than the time to burn one stick of incense. No one raised an objection, and no court flogging was needed — the matter was done!

The Chongzhen Emperor was dumbfounded! What sort of people were this crop of Grand Secretaries and court officials? That spineless Wei Zaode was one thing, but Hou Xun and Qian Qianyi were both Donglin leaders. The Donglin Faction loved to argue more than anything — how had they become more docile than rabbits? When We held full power, why were you never this obedient?

And then there were the Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices. Though it seemed there were no Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices anymore, and the Censorate was nearly empty too!

"Thousand Years," the Donglin leader Qian Qianyi finally spoke, though not in opposition, "the people in the Lianghuai region who live by the salt trade number in the hundreds of thousands. If their livelihood is cut off, I fear someone may seize the chance to stir up trouble. We must guard against it."

"Indeed we must guard against it!" Zhu Cilang said. "Fortunately, the matchlock muskets offered as tribute by Zheng Zhilong have arrived — more than three hundred Foshan-made turtledove-foot matchlocks and more than four thousand six hundred Japanese matchlocks. If anyone dares make trouble, the matchlocks of the Hard-Working New Army will finally have a use!"

This was going to be a bloodbath! Those were all loyal subjects of the Great Ming — was this Crown Prince going to drive the people to rebellion through official oppression? The Chongzhen Emperor again turned his gaze to the court officials, and was again disappointed. The court officials were all resolutely supportive of His Highness Crown Prince Zhu!

Zhu Cilang continued, "The Japanese matchlocks are lighter and handier than the turtledove-foot matchlocks, and better suited to troops in field combat, so they must be distributed to the various units as quickly as possible. First, re-equip four matchlock brigades. In each brigade, three battalions will be fully equipped with Japanese matchlocks, and the remaining battalion with turtledove-foot matchlocks! Each of the four divisions — Vanguard, Left, Center, and Right — is to have one matchlock brigade. Also order the army's accompanying craftsmen to make bayonets as quickly as possible. Every matchlock must be fitted with a bayonet."

Zhu Cilang's Hard-Working New Army now had five divisions: Rear, Front, Center, Left, and Right. Of these, the Front, Center, Left, and Right divisions had followed him south. These four divisions were all at full strength, each with four brigades. The Center and Left divisions each had one cavalry brigade; the other two divisions, and the division left in Dengzhou, had only four infantry brigades, with only a small number of cavalry in the division-level direct units. Previously, because of a shortage of matchlocks, the four matchlock brigades that had marched south with him were not fully equipped with matchlocks.

Now that the Zheng family had shipped in several thousand Japanese matchlocks, each division could finally have a true matchlock brigade.

As for the Rear Division currently left in Dengzhou and Haisha Island, it was formed mainly of able-bodied men recruited in Dengzhou and Laizhou, mixed with a core of veteran soldiers. It had no cavalry, only infantry. Its four brigades were garrisoned separately in Dengzhou city and on Haisha Island. Each brigade had some turtledove-foot matchlocks, but except for the brigade stationed on Haisha Island, which had a larger number of turtledove-foot matchlocks, the other three brigades had no matchlocks at all.

Zhu Cilang went on, "Along with the Zheng family merchant ships have also come thirty or forty veteran Japanese retainers skilled in the use of matchlocks. They have served the Zheng family for many years and can speak Chinese. They can be temporarily assigned to the various battalions as instructors to teach the loading and handling of the Japanese matchlocks."

In the many years after the end of Japan's Warring States chaos, Japanese ronin who had fought through that era had gone abroad with Chinese and Dutch merchant ships, serving as mercenaries in many Eastern countries. Zheng Zhilong's army also contained quite a few Japanese mercenaries, most of them skilled with firearms and fearless in close combat.

After Zheng Sen became Zhu Cilang's senior fellow disciple, he wrote to Zheng Zhilong asking him to send several dozen Japanese mercenaries to teach the art of the matchlock.

"Since the Japanese are now helping our dynasty resist the barbarians, they have clearly recognized the error of invading Joseon during the Wanli years. Moreover, Joseon is no longer a vassal state of our dynasty."

Zhu Cilang paused, then continued, "Furthermore, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan practices seclusion and closed borders. Today, on the Eastern Sea and the Southern Sea, no Japanese ships sail, and there is no longer any wokou menace.

Therefore, between the Ming and Japan, there should be peace and amity, and Japan should no longer be regarded as an enemy state. As for how relations should be conducted, we should first seek the opinion of Regional Commander Zheng Zhilong of Fujian. A decree may be issued summoning Zheng Zhilong to court to discuss matters of intercourse with Japan."

This was another sensitive topic, neither large nor small! For when the Great Ming was founded, Japan was in the midst of the Northern and Southern Courts confrontation, a time of great chaos, and samurai who had lost their lords kept turning into sea pirates and harassing the Chinese coast. Later, the Great Ming closed its borders, while Japan entered the even more chaotic Warring States era. Japanese ronin and Chinese coastal smugglers then joined forces, creating the wokou scourge. In the Wanli years came the Japanese invasion of Joseon, which triggered a long war between China and Japan. The Ming court therefore had no good impression of Japan, even though the country was now ruled by the comparatively well-behaved Tokugawa shogunate.

Had the proposal of peace and amity with Japan been raised during the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor, it would certainly have provoked criticism throughout the court, and no one knows how great an uproar it would have caused.

But now all that was seen was Wei Zaode rising to his feet and saying respectfully, "This subject receives the decree!"

Zhu Cilang nodded, then continued, "In the second year of Chongzhen, the court, following the advice of Xu Guangqi, hired several hundred Western officers and soldiers from Macao and purchased sixteen Western cannon and one thousand two hundred matchlocks. Regrettably, when they reached Jiangxi, Supervising Secretary Lu Zhaolong submitted a memorial of opposition, and most were sent back, leaving only twenty-some officers to escort the firearms to the capital.

Later these Western officers trained troops for Sun Yuanhua, and the troops they trained were in fact very fine. It was only that Yuanhua was poor at choosing commanders and could not control his subordinates. The commanders he used were all old subordinates from Pi Island, who bore resentment against the court over the death of Mao Wenlong, and so mutinied, and later went over to the eastern barbarians and lent their support to the caitiffs. A great pity. But the court cannot use Yuanhua's failures to deny the effectiveness of Western-style military training!"

He raised his voice, his tone firm: "Therefore We have decided to send Johann Adam Schall von Bell once more to Macao to recruit several hundred Western officers and soldiers, to have them supervise and train the soldiers of the Hard-Working New Army, and to establish a military academy for officers to teach Western methods of war.

In addition, we must find ways to recruit Western craftsmen and have them set up cannon foundries, musket factories, ironworks, glassworks, and other factories in Nanjing, with tax reductions or exemptions granted as appropriate. Among them, any whose skills are superb and who can forge wheellock guns and field artillery for the court shall be richly rewarded!"

When His Highness Crown Prince Zhu had finished speaking, he glanced at Wei Zaode. Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode rose once more and said respectfully, "As the decree commands."

Zhu Cilang smiled and nodded. "Good. The matter is settled. Draft the decree, draft the rescript, endorse in red."

(End of Chapter)