Chapter 661: Good Brothers of the Great Ming

"Ruan Fulan wants something from the Great Ming?" Zhu Cilang's eyes lit up. "Does he want Us to enfeoff him as King of Annam or King of Quang Nam?"

Giving each of the four lords of Annam a royal title would of course be ideal — wouldn't Annam then be split into four? But this was just wishful thinking...

"Not so," Zheng Sen shook his head. "Annam is a lesser Chinese civilization, and it too understands ruler and subject, high and low, and the great principle of legitimacy. And although their Le king has long since lost real power, he still retains popular esteem and is looked up to by the soldiers and people of Annam. When the Mac clan usurped the throne in earlier years, the people of Annam regarded them as traitorous ministers and rebels, which is why they ended up destitute in Cao Bang, clinging to our dynasty.

The present Zheng and Ruan lords have both learned from the Mac clan's lesson. Although they are already de facto rulers, on the surface they both submit to the Le king. And the Le king of Annam is in turn controlled by the Zheng lord. So the Ruan lord of Quang Nam has always been at a disadvantage within Annam."

"Does Ruan Fulan want to set up another Le king?"

Zheng Sen smiled. "If there were anyone he could set up, he would have done so long ago."

Wrong again! Zhu Cilang did not want to keep playing riddles with Zheng Sen, so he asked, "Eldest Senior Brother, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, this subject proposes that the four lords of Annam learn from the roving bandits' method." Zheng Sen said. "Set up a four-lord co-rule, jointly supporting the Le king."

This really would be "four fathers co-ruling." Li Guo at least had strong troops and sturdy horses — if it came to open battle, he could still put up a fight against the eight kings below him. But what did the Le king of Annam have? Pitiful, really — he could barely serve one Father Zheng, and now Zheng Sen wanted to find him three more fathers.

Zhu Cilang asked, "How would it work?"

Zheng Sen said, "The Zheng lord of Annam has always wanted the Le king to recover the title of king... Their Le king calls himself emperor at home, but in our Great Ming he holds only the title of Military Commissioner."

That was the pit left by Mac Dang Dung — this Annamese Cao Cao, after being frightened by the Jiajing Emperor, submitted to the Great Ming and became Military Commissioner of Annam. That turned Annam from an outer vassal into an inner dependency! Although the Later Le dynasty wanted to fill in this pit after its restoration, the Great Ming simply ignored the matter, and the Later Le could do nothing about it.

If Annam were "true barbarians" outside the Chinese civilizational sphere, it would not matter. But Annam was deeply influenced by Confucian culture, and many within the country regarded the Great Ming as their sovereign and superior state. Now that the suzerain refused to recognize the Later Le's status as ruler of a kingdom, the matter was, after all, not right in name and not smooth in speech.

Zheng Sen, who had been sent as envoy to Annam, had of course discovered this problem. And after returning home, he had heard about the Xi dynasty's four-king co-rule. So he had a flash of inspiration and prepared to use this "co-rule" to dig a big pit for the Annamese — to set up a "four-lord co-rule" in Annam as well. The "four fathers of Annam" all had territory, retainers, and armies, and had held their separate domains for who knew how many years.

If a "four-father co-rule" were established, it would in effect strip the Zheng lord of his power to hold the Son of Heaven hostage, and would also deprive Annam of its nominal central authority.

"At present Annam has strong lords and a weak king," Zheng Sen said. "The Le king is hollow; the four lords are solid. And among the four lords, only the Zheng lord controls the Le king. So once the Le king becomes somewhat more substantial, the Zheng lord is certain to lose the most, while the Ruan lord is sure to be pleased — and will naturally make concessions on the question of Water Chenla.

Therefore Your Majesty can not only establish a four-lord co-rule within Annam through the opportunity of enfeoffing the Le king and mediating the Ruan-Zheng dispute, but can also work to elevate the Le king's status and ensure that the Le king will not be deposed without cause, so as to weaken the Zheng lord."

Zhu Cilang thought for a moment. "Then We shall address the Le king of Annam as uncle and nephew!"

The Zhu Emperor's calculation was a good one. From now on he would be Uncle Zhu next door to the Le king of Annam, and with the Le king's Father Zheng, Father Ruan, Father Mac, and Father Wu, they would all be good brothers. All of them governing this Le king together — how happy the Le king would be!

Ah, right — although later generations of China and Vietnam had some friction, Zhu Cilang had no intention of teaching this Le king and his four "ungrateful fathers" a lesson.

Because he had realized that Confucian civilization was terribly lonely in that corner of Southeast Asia... In Southeast Asia people believed either in Buddhism or in Allah, and some believed in Brahmanism, and even Christians had squeezed their way in. The only one that, like the Great Ming, counted as part of the Confucian line was little-Chinese Annam, so the two sides at least had a common language.

Moreover, Zhu Cilang could not fight the Le king's four "godfathers" right now, nor could he possibly send an army of eighty or a hundred thousand on an expedition to Annam. Too much effort, and not worth it.

The Annam matter had been settled. Zhu Cilang turned his gaze to Zheng Jiangong. This Imperial Son-in-law had grown considerably fairer and put on some weight, and looked radiant.

"Jiangong, how is the preparation of the Naval Academy going? When can it open?"

The Shanghai Naval Academy was nominally under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department of the Grand Marshal's Office, but in practice Zheng Jiangong alone called the shots.

"Your Majesty," Zheng Jiangong had long been prepared. He produced a memorial and respectfully handed it over. "This is the curriculum and recruitment regulations that this subject drew up together with the Dutch and Portuguese instructors of the Naval Academy."

"Oh." Zhu Cilang responded, and took Zheng Jiangong's memorial right there at the banquet table, opened it, and began to read.

Zheng Jiangong had clearly put real thought into the Naval Academy, and had also received Zheng Zhilong's support, so he had hired four or five reasonably competent Dutch and Portuguese merchant ship captains as instructors. And beyond navigation and gunnery courses, he had also opened courses in mathematics, Western languages, astronomy, shipbuilding, natural philosophy, cannon-founding, and swordsmanship.

He had also hired at high pay a number of scholar-officials versed in both Eastern and Western learning to serve as teachers, and had commissioned the Macao Municipal Council and the Dutch East India Company to invite Western scholars to teach at the Naval Academy.

"Why is there swordsmanship?" Zhu Cilang noticed that the Naval Academy offered a swordsmanship course, and was somewhat puzzled, so he asked, "Is naval battle not fought with cannon but with blades?"

"Your Majesty," Zheng Jiangong explained, "naval battle of course requires blades! Truly sturdy wooden warships are very difficult to sink with cannon fire, and deck combat is hard to avoid. Moreover, warships are expensive to build and sometimes carry cargoes of incalculable value, so of course taking them whole is best. Therefore ship captains and sailors should ideally be proficient in swordsmanship."

So in naval warfare of this era, boarding actions and gunnery were almost equally important!

"So that is how it is!" Zhu Cilang nodded and continued reading, and soon found another point that surprised him.

"There are also two tracks — accelerated and full training... The accelerated course lasts one year and recruits young sailors. But the full course lasts eight years, and recruits boys of twelve or thirteen? Isn't that too young? And isn't the course too long?"

Zheng Jiangong had long known that Zhu Cilang would raise this question, and explained at once: "Your Majesty, the arts of navigation and naval warfare are not easy to learn, and mastery is harder still. Many ship captains and admirals in the West have studied the arts of navigation and naval warfare from childhood, spending ten or twenty years before achieving greatness. If our dynasty is to build a great navy and contend with the Western powers at sea, we cannot simply seek speed, but must firmly lay the foundation. Within three to five years, we can only manage the immediate situation. For true achievement, nothing less than twenty years will do!"

A navy in this age had to be built from childhood — otherwise why speak of a "hundred-year navy"? Not only did personnel require long accumulation, but improving shipbuilding was no easy matter either. Zheng Jiangong's twenty years was actually an understatement.

Wanting complete success in three or five years was pure dreaming... As for colonial expansion and the like, the Great Ming still had a lot of catching up to do!

The night was already very deep, and the entire Forbidden City was quiet. Only Zhu Cilang and Wu Sanmei, husband and wife, still lay on their carved dragon bed of huanghuali wood with their eyes open, discussing matters.

"Sanmei, rest assured, We will not make Tuhao'er the Crown Prince!" Zhu Cilang comforted Wu Sanmei. "You are still young, and can still bear children. You will surely give birth to the Crown Prince!"

That was what he said, but the stone that had been hanging in Zhu Cilang's heart had already dropped — no matter what, he now had an heir...

Wu Sanmei turned her head to look at her husband and said with a smile, "Why does Your Majesty call Hao-ge'er 'Tuhao'er'? It sounds so improper... And how old is Your Majesty, anyway? How could I possibly mind Hao-ge'er being the eldest prince?"

Zhu Cilang asked, "Then why can't you sleep so late at night?"

Wu Sanmei only sighed softly. "I am worrying on behalf of my second brother... the situation in the northwest, and that mountain of debt..."