Chapter 735: Quick, Prepare an Unequal Treaty for Us

Chongqing Prefecture, the Chaotian Palace Imperial City.

This was a fortress-style imperial city of a kind rarely seen even in Chinese history, built at the angle where the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers meet. That spot was originally within the city of Chongqing Prefecture, where there had once been a city gate called Chaotian Gate, and from it the Chaotian Palace Imperial City took its name.

As far back as when Li Guo was still the Prince Regent, he had chosen this place, with its strategic terrain and convenient transport, as the site of his imperial city.

Because the Shun dynasty's situation looked dangerous no matter how one viewed it, everyone from Li Guo on down was filled with a sense of crisis. Even after seizing a large stretch of territory and establishing a fairly stable regime, the Shun leadership still thought about how to save their lives rather than how to enjoy the fruits of victory.

This sense of crisis was displayed to the fullest in the siting and construction of the Chaotian Palace Imperial City.

First, this Chaotian Palace Imperial City was not the usual square shape, but triangular, built to follow the terrain at the angle of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers. It did not cover a large area; the perimeter of the imperial city was only a little over six li. At a glance it seemed about the same as the Forbidden City in Beijing, but in reality the difference was great. The Forbidden Cities of Beijing and Nanjing were primarily imperial palaces — that is, the emperor's residence plus office buildings.

The Chaotian Palace Imperial City, however, included a large number of defensive works, barracks, warehouses, a small arms factory, officials' residences (the direct subjects of Li Guo and Li Laiheng lived within the Chaotian Palace Imperial City), palaces, a naval dock, and a shipbuilding yard — a full home-base fortress.

Second, this imperial city was not part of Chongqing Prefecture's city, but an independent citadel.

The eastern and western walls of the imperial city were reinforced on the foundations of the original Chongqing Prefecture city walls, built along the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, while the southern wall was newly constructed to separate the imperial city from Chongqing Prefecture's city. This wall was about two li long and was built of brick, stone, and rammed earth. Its outer face was sloped, and its height was only a little over two zhang, but it was extremely thick, enough to withstand heavy cannon fire.

Outside the southern wall of the Chaotian Palace Imperial City was a moat three zhang wide and two zhang deep, its bottom studded with sharpened wooden stakes. Only a single wooden bridge crossed the moat, connecting the imperial city to the prefectural city.

In addition to the three walls and the moat, at each of the three corners of the Chaotian Palace Imperial City a solid gun platform had been built. The southwestern and southeastern platforms projected southward in triangular form, so that the cannon mounted on them could lay down a terrifying crossfire on any enemy attacking the Chaotian Palace Imperial City from the south!

Third, Chongqing Prefecture's city south of the Chaotian Palace Imperial City had also undergone large-scale reconstruction. The original city, densely populated and thick with buildings, no longer existed. The Shun dynasty, which resolutely carried out the state policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, had no need of a commercially prosperous capital. What the Shun Emperor Li Guo needed was a "ward-market system" capital that was easy to administer.

The entire city of Chongqing Prefecture was divided into eighteen wards. Each ward was a small walled town enclosed by high walls, each with four gates facing north, south, east, and west, and each guarded by troops of the Jinwu Guard, which was responsible for the defense and public order of Chongqing Prefecture. The opening and closing times of the ward gates were strictly regulated. Once the ward gates closed, a curfew began in Chongqing Prefecture. The Jinwu Guard patrolled the main streets between wards, and anyone out all night was questioned by the Jinwu Guard; unless on official business, they would be arrested and locked up.

Of the eighteen wards of Chongqing Prefecture, eight belonged to the Eight Deliberative Princes and their subordinates — these were the official wards. The remaining ten wards were divided into work wards and market wards.

The work wards contained workshops and craftsmen's residences. Each ward produced one broad category of handicraft goods, divided into the Weaving Ward, Woodwork Ward, Shipbuilding Ward, Metallurgy Ward, Coin-Minting Ward, Carriage Ward, Armor Ward, Weapon Ward, Firearms Ward, and Gunpowder Ward, all under the jurisdiction of the Shun Ministry of Works.

The craftsmen living in them were divided into "master craftsmen" and "rotating conscript craftsmen." The master craftsmen were skilled artisans specially selected by the Ministry of Works to serve as craft foremen, and every one of them held official rank and office land under the Shun. The rotating conscript craftsmen were artisans levied from the various prefectures for temporary service, generally on a three-month rotation.

The market wards were Chongqing Prefecture's commercial districts, divided into the East and West Markets. They were not large, and officials of the fifth rank and above were forbidden to enter, lest the officials be infected by decadent commercial activity. Of course, the family members of officials of the fifth rank and above could enter the markets, but they were not allowed to engage in commercial enterprise; they could only sell the produce of their estates or their salary rice.

And for nobles and officials to engage in commerce was absolutely forbidden in the Shun!

All merchants operating in the East and West Markets uniformly held "market registration," strictly administered by the Chongqing Prefecture office of the Shun.

There were many monopoly goods — iron, salt, tea, liquor, gunpowder, oxhide, saltpeter, sulfur, and so on. A huge pile of all sorts of things, all subject to monopoly!

Therefore the Shun's industrial and commercial activity could not possibly flourish, which was of course exactly the result the Shun court deliberately sought. Because a flourishing industry and commerce would have a corrosive effect on the Shun's landlord-soldiers. A landlord-soldier could only be allotted a little over a hundred mu of land, and his rent income was no more than a few dozen shi of rice. This income had to feed his family, cover his rations during his rotation of service, and pay for his own armor and cold weapons — in truth it was extremely tight.

If one was a little loose with spending, it was easy to end up deep in debt!

The landlord-soldier profession looked wonderful, but it tested a soldier's management ability — and killing people and managing a household were two entirely different paths.

And those men who lived by the blade often held money in contempt and spent without counting; placed in a highly commercialized society, they would easily go bankrupt.

Although he had already exerted himself to the utmost, Li Guo was still somewhat gloomy, and at court today he remained as worried as ever.

Because effort did not guarantee good results! The news from the three fronts at Hanzhong, Yong'an (Kuizhou), and Zunyi was all bad.

Chen Yongfu, Liu Jinzhong, and Gao Yigong had all suffered defeats!

Now the Ming army's equipment and training were getting better and better, and its pay and supplies were growing more and more ample, so of course it was becoming harder and harder to deal with.

"Your Majesty," after Liu Zongmin and Sun Kewang had finished reporting how critical the front lines were, the Left Assistant Niu Jinxing stepped forward and continued his report, "Huang Shu has returned."

"Oh," Li Guo nodded. "Was he sent back in a coffin, or in a box? Has a posthumous title been chosen? Should we grant him a posthumous promotion?"

When Huang Shu had been dispatched to Burma, not a single official at court had thought well of it, and when he did not return for several months, everyone assumed he had been killed by the Burmese!

"Your Majesty, he has returned alive."

"Still alive?" Li Guo shook his head. "He really is lucky. Well, it's not his fault the errand wasn't completed. Reward him with ten shi of rice to calm his nerves."

"Your Majesty, it seems he has accomplished the errand."

"What?" Li Guo was startled. "He, he got the job done? He isn't fooling Us, is he?"

Li Guo was, after all, an enlightened ruler who governed with folded hands!

Even if he was momentarily muddled, there were still the "Eight Deliberative Fathers"!

"Your Majesty, he has also brought a Burmese tributary mission that has come to declare itself a subject and offer tribute. The mission is now traveling upriver by boat; Huang Shu came ahead to Chongqing to report the good news."

Li Guo's face rarely showed a smile. "Then have him come to the hall at once. He must be richly rewarded!"

"Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, and the several Deliberative Princes," Niu Jinxing asked again, "the Burmese envoys are about to arrive. Should we not prepare a treaty?"

"A treaty?" Li Guo blinked. "What is that?"

An unequal treaty! Li Guo was about to advance from peasant-rebellion leader to great colonizer, and he did not even know what an unequal treaty was — truly one of a kind.

"It is simply a suzerain-vassal contract!" Niu Jinxing said with a straight face. "This is the established practice of the Celestial Dynasty; the Zhu Ming did the same. Last time they signed a Suzerain-Vassal Treaty with Annam, and recently they signed a Suzerain-Vassal Treaty with Siam."

"Since it is established practice," Li Guo said, "then should We also prepare one?"

The Crown Prince Li Laiheng interjected, "How does one go about making this treaty?"

"Simple!" Sun Kewang took up the topic. "Copy one from the Zhu Ming's Suzerain-Vassal Treaty, change the country name, and have the Burmese sign it. That will do!"

What a fine method — the Eight Princes' joint rule really was something else!

(End of Chapter)