Chapter 680: Zhu Cizhao Hides His True Abilities

A burst of hurried footsteps sounded, and then from outside the door came the voice of Wu Ruzheng, Right Vice Commissioner of the Office of Transmission: "My Lord, the memorial from the Prince of Yunnan and the memorial from Governor-General He Tengjiao of Liangguang have arrived together."

Then came the voice of military strategist Li Yan: "My Lord, both memorials are marked urgent — something major has happened!"

Inside the East Warmth Pavilion of the Hall of Worshipping Heaven in Nanjing's Forbidden City, Zhu Cilang was playing Chinese chess with Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong's old general was being hunted down by Emperor Zhu and was on the verge of having no way out. Hearing the voices of Wu Ruzheng and Li Yan outside, Zheng Zhilong swept the pieces aside and said with a chuckle, "No more, no more — urgent memorials have arrived. Your Majesty, please read the memorials while this old subject returns to the Ministry of Revenue to settle accounts."

These days, the heavy burden of the Ministry of Revenue had already fallen on Zheng Zhilong's shoulders. And it must be said, old Zheng did have ability — not long after taking office, he had proposed several reforms.

First, the land tax in the four provinces of the Sijiang region would be collected entirely in silver — the Sijiang provinces were not Huguang; they were provinces where rice prices were naturally high and grain was easy to sell. Moreover, these four provinces grew many cash crops, and the peasants had no surplus rice to pay taxes. If rice were still collected, they would have to buy it, which not only increased the peasants' burden but would further drive up rice prices.

So Zheng Zhilong proposed collecting directly in silver, though the amount of silver would be converted based on the previous year's average rice price, adjusted every year.

Second, he proposed transferring the management of the various canal waterways under the Ministry of Works to the Ministry of Revenue — with the Ministry of Revenue responsible for repairs, dredging, and collecting fees!

How could the canals not charge fees?

The Great Ming government spent so much money on the canals in various places every year, making it convenient for merchants to trade and do business, yet collected no fees itself — was that not foolish?

Moreover, there were still many canals in the south that could be dug and repaired — water transport costs were very low, which was beneficial to promoting the development of industry and commerce, and the court could also collect fees. Killing two birds with one stone!

Third, he proposed establishing the Huaiyang water conservancy and irrigation project! Because of flooding from the Huai River, most of the water conservancy works in the two prefectures of Huai'an and Yangzhou had been destroyed. Now was the perfect time to take advantage of the Yellow River-Huai River canal works to repair them, and ideally to plan them comprehensively and properly repair the water conservancy of the two prefectures.

Fourth, he proposed promoting the development of coastal fisheries, exempting the fishing tax, and providing salt directly to fishermen at wholesale prices to make it convenient for them to salt and preserve fish — this had two benefits: first, it increased fishery output, which could somewhat alleviate the grain shortage; second, it trained more sailors, making it easier for the navy to recruit manpower.

Fifth, he proposed implementing a liquor monopoly and levying a liquor tax — brewing required large amounts of grain, which was not a good thing for a Great Ming suffering from grain shortages. So using monopoly and liquor taxes to reduce liquor production while obtaining large tax revenues was also a good thing that killed two birds with one stone.

Sixth, he proposed gradually abolishing the laws restricting the free movement of the people, allowing them to migrate freely within Great Ming territory. This would promote commercial circulation while preventing large numbers of famine victims from gathering and forming large bands of refugees.

Seventh, he proposed strengthening the management of government-owned urban properties and land, establishing a special agency to operate the properties and land for profit.

Eighth, he proposed sending inspection commissioners from the Ministry of Revenue to the localities to check on the progress of the abolition of slavery and the household registration reforms — these two matters had already been underway for some time. However, progress varied from place to place; some places had done quite well, but others were progressing slowly and needed the court to send personnel to urge them on.

Others might light three fires upon taking office, but old Zheng had lit eight fires, and they were burning quite well. It seemed that choosing him as Minister of Revenue had been completely correct!

Seeing that he was about to leave, Zhu Cilang smiled and detained him: "Venerable Father-in-Law, wait a moment before you go. Why not listen to what the Prince of Yunnan and He Tengjiao have memorialized about?"

Zhu Cilang had some idea of what Zhu Cizhao had memorialized about — most likely something related to the affairs of Yunnan!

Governor-General Ma Shiying of Sichuan-Guizhou and Duke Mu Tianbo of Qian had already submitted memorials impeaching the Prince of Yunnan, Zhu Cizhao, for fleeing without fighting.

Because of Zhu Cizhao's flight, the war situation in Yunnan was now very passive. Mu Tianbo had retreated to Dali in the second month, and his current situation was unclear. And Ma Shiying had gathered troops and attacked Qujing once, but had been repelled by Li Dingguo.

To prevent Guizhou from falling, Ma Shiying had no choice but to transfer part of the western Sichuan army and eastern Sichuan army into Guizhou, deploying defenses along the Chishui, Bijie, and Shuixi areas.

The southern route army of the three-route invasion-of-Sichuan plan had thus been completely neutralized by the Shun army!

"My Lord, this is the Prince of Yunnan's memorial of self-accusation."

When Li Yan handed the Prince of Yunnan's memorial to Zhu Cilang, he wore an expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"What is it?" Zhu Cilang's face was stern. "Is Zhu Cizhao trying to shift the blame for losing Yunnan?"

"Your Majesty, he is not asking forgiveness for the Yunnan affair." Wu Ruzheng said. "He is asking forgiveness for the Annam affair."

"Annam?" Zhu Cilang was startled. "Did the Annamese beat him again?"

"No," Li Yan said, "it's that he accidentally — accidentally frightened the Annam Protector-General Li Weiqi out of Thang Long, and then he saw that Thang Long was quite a fine city, and leaving it empty would be a waste, so he led his troops in and occupied it."

"Ah?" Emperor Zhu was stunned again and again. "He — he captured the capital of the Kingdom of Annam? How is that possible? He isn't making this up, is he?"

Wu Ruzheng took out He Tengjiao's memorial. "My Lord, Governor-General He of Liangguang has also reported this matter in his memorial. The Mo clan of Cao Bang and the Wu clan of Tuyen Quang have already sent people to Guangdong to make inquiries! And the Trinh lord and the Le Protector-General have retreated to Thanh Hoa Prefecture. There are also rumors that the Trinh clan wants to make peace with the Nguyen clan and together go to war against us."

Zhu Cilang took He Tengjiao's memorial as well, reading He Tengjiao's first, then Zhu Cizhao's. After finishing both memorials, he too was somewhat dumbfounded.

He had originally thought the Trinh lord of Annam was very formidable; he had not expected that just after being beaten to a pulp by the Nguyen clan, before he could recover, he was ambushed by Zhu Cizhao — and even lost his old nest at Thang Long Prefecture.

This Zhu Cizhao turned out to be hiding his true abilities all along!

"What do you all think?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"Your Majesty," Li Yan said, "the Prince of Yunnan has rendered meritorious service. This is expanding the realm!"

Wu Ruzheng also said, "Your Majesty, the Annam affair will not be settled so easily, will it?"

Zhu Cilang looked at Zheng Zhilong again. Zheng Zhilong said, "Your Majesty, this is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity!"

"Once in a thousand years?" Zhu Cilang thought for a moment. "Venerable Father-in-Law, you don't think we can take the Kingdom of Annam right now, do you?"

"Taking the Kingdom of Annam is impossible," Zheng Zhilong said, "but the Kingdom of Champa — there is still very good hope of taking that!"

"You mean—"

"Trade Thang Long for Champa," Zheng Zhilong said. "Thang Long Prefecture is the foremost place of Annam. With the Prince of Yunnan's strength, it will be very difficult to hold it for long. Unless the court dispatches a great army, the Prince of Yunnan's defeat is only a matter of time. But to whom Thang Long Prefecture is handed over — that is something Great Ming can decide! If Thang Long Prefecture is transferred to the southern Nguyen, then the pattern of a strong Trinh and weak Nguyen can be completely reversed.

And once the Nguyen lord enters northern Annam, he will no longer be able to continue expanding in the direction of Champa. We can then have the Prince of Yunnan move south and seize the Kingdom of Champa. In this way, Champa and our territory at the Nine Dragons River and the Ca Mau Peninsula can be linked into one continuous area."

The Kingdom of Champa had been nibbled away by the Kingdom of Annam and the Quang Nam Nguyen clan for several hundred years, and now only a very small piece of territory remained, roughly the area from Nha Trang to Binh Thuan. It survived on its last legs relying on several fine ports and the support of the followers of the Arabian faith. If it were attacked by the Prince of Yunnan's army of tens of thousands, it would most likely have no choice but to submit.

"Have the Prince of Yunnan go by sea to Champa?" Zhu Cilang thought for a moment. "Can it be done? He has over thirty thousand men!"

"There should be no problem," Zheng Zhilong said. "Just make several round trips. Moreover, the southern Nguyen also have many ships, more than enough to let the Prince of Yunnan's great army sail south and reach the territory of the Kingdom of Champa."

Zhu Cilang thought for a moment. "After the southern Nguyen take Thang Long Prefecture, is there any chance they could unify Annam?"

"Not very likely," Zheng Zhilong said. "The Trinh lord's old nest is in Thanh Hoa Prefecture and Nghe An Prefecture. The Trinh clan has operated there for a long time and has deep roots. Those two prefectures are very populous — several times more than all of Quang Nam — and can support the Trinh clan in maintaining their position. Moreover, the Le king has extremely high prestige in the Kingdom of Annam and is regarded as the legitimate ruler. The Le king is still in the hands of the Trinh clan. Even if the Nguyen occupy Thang Long, it will be very difficult for them to achieve much — at least in the short term, unifying Annam will be very difficult."

(End of Chapter)