Chapter 936: The Second-Richest, the Great Rich, the Richest (Seeking Subscriptions)

"Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong said with a smile, "as this subject understands it, Marquis Shen actually wants to hold office! He is not like this subject — I am a crude merchant and truly have no wish to be constrained by officialdom. But Marquis Shen came out of the Imperial Academy as a student; how could he not want office? It is only that, at his present station, he has long since ceased to look upon ordinary posts with any interest."

Shen Tingyang of course did want office, but the official world under Emperor Zhu had always operated on an unwritten rule that southerners got the short end. Otherwise, with Shen Tingyang's seniority and ability, he would long since have been a Grand Secretary; even if he did not enter the Grand Secretariat, he ought to have had a governor-general's or governor's post. How could he have gone on endlessly as Minister of the Northern Seas? The title sounded grand enough, but in reality it was no more than the general manager of a public-private armed transport company.

In the earlier days, when the Ming had no navy and the private shipping trade had not yet developed, the Northern Seas and Southern Seas "companies" had indeed been necessary. But now that private maritime transport and the court's navy had both risen, the two "companies" ought to return to their true nature as private enterprises.

"That is true enough," Zhu Cilang said with a slight nod. "Duke of Quan, what office do you think We should give him?"

"Is Your Majesty not planning to establish a special office to dispose of the confiscated properties from the Northern Expedition?" Zheng Zhilong said. "Moreover, is the clamor in court for returning the capital not still very loud? Your Majesty would do better to establish a Grand Secretariat in the auxiliary capital, with Duke Shi of Yu at its head, and add a Minister of Revenue of the auxiliary capital to confer upon Marquis Shen, charging the auxiliary capital's Ministry of Revenue with managing the confiscated properties of the Northern Expedition.

A Grand Secretary of the auxiliary capital is still a Grand Secretary, and Your Majesty can further promise that in the future Marquis Shen shall be appointed a Grand Secretary in Nanjing. Then he will certainly be glad to take charge of the auxiliary capital's Ministry of Revenue!"

Zhu Cilang laughed. "Good! Good! That is an excellent plan! Shen Tingyang will surely be willing to be a Grand Secretary — there is not a civil official in our Great Ming who does not want a Grand Secretary's seat. And the auxiliary capital truly ought to have a Grand Secretariat; it will also soothe those northerners who wish to move the capital back north."

He paused. "Old Father-in-Law, do not speak of today's discussion once you are outside. Also, the Ministry of Revenue's books must still be made to look poor... draw up another borrowing plan! The preliminary case must be ready before the Grand Secretariat's imperial conference on the third day of the fourth month, and you must also discuss it with Grand Secretary Wei and the others, and make all the Ministry of Revenue's difficulties clear."

Zheng Zhilong said in quick succession, "Understood, understood. This subject will certainly put on a good show of crying poverty!"

Emperor Zhu laughed. "Good. When the time comes, We shall cry poverty together with you! That is enough of official business... We have already had the Noble Consort prepare a family banquet. Stay and eat with Us."

Zheng Zhilong hastily rose and bowed. "This subject thanks Your Majesty for the banquet."

Shen Tingyang, the second-richest man in the Great Ming, had also borne an enormous responsibility during the three years of the Northern Expedition. His Governor-General's Office of the Northern Seas had been the general contractor for the sea transport of the Northern Expedition army's logistical supplies. In particular, after Shi Kefa took the Tianjin garrison and opened the Wei River waterway, Shen Tingyang's work had only increased. He not only had to handle the sea transport from Shanghai to Tianjin, but also had to take charge of dredging and water transport on the Wei River and the Grand Canal. Later, during the assault on Beijing, he had to move the grain, fodder, heavy equipment, and siege cannon needed by an army of two hundred and fifty thousand all the way to the walls of Beijing.

His merit in the Battle of Beijing was by no means small!

Thus on Emperor Zhu's roll of merit, Shen Tingyang's name stood very near the top, ranked just after Shi Kefa, Prince Kongdai, Yan Yingyuan, Gao Jie, and Huang Degong. The reward already fixed for him was the additional enfeoffment of Duke of Shen Who Overcomes Hardship.

Because he had to return to court to receive his enfeoffment, Shen Tingyang had also come back south. He had not yet reached Nanjing, however, but had returned to his native Shanghai, where he was at that moment visiting his fellow townsmen Luo Dagong, Xia Yunyi, and Hou Xuanyan.

Luo Dagong was Prefect of Shanghai and concurrently Commissioner for Foreign Relations and Trade. He had done his job so well that he had simply gone on doing it without end...

Xia Yunyi was now past sixty and had retired to his home village, where he had founded a School of Natural Science, teaching the standard curriculum of the Nanjing Elementary School and Nanjing Middle School. Recently he had also been working with several Shanghai gentry and officials to establish the Shanghai Grand Academy.

Hou Xuanyan was a native of Jiading County in Suzhou, but since Suzhou and Songjiang were one, he too counted as a fellow townsman of Luo Dagong and Xia Yunyi. He was also a jinshi of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, but his official career had been unremarkable, and he now held the post of County Magistrate of Shanghai, serving as Luo Dagong's deputy.

As for Shen Tingyang, who had registered his residence at Chongming Station in Suzhou Prefecture, because he had thrown in his lot with Zhu Cilang early enough, and because his office and title were high enough, he had all along been the leading figure in the Suzhou-Songjiang official world.

Now, at this critical moment when the political winds were about to shift, the moment Shen Tingyang returned home, Luo Dagong, Xia Yunyi, and Hou Xuanyan had come calling together.

After a round of rambling pleasantries, in the rear garden of the Shen Garden in Shanghai, Luo Dagong turned the conversation to the relocation of the capital and to finances.

"My Lord Marquis, this humble official has heard that His Majesty, citing the treasury deficit, has completely rejected the proposal to move the capital back north?"

Shen Tingyang gave a cold laugh. "A deficit? With His Sacred Majesty and the Duke of Quan put together, how could there be a deficit? Dagong, you have held office in Shanghai for more than ten years — whether there is a deficit or not, do you not know?"

Luo Dagong chuckled. "With the court sitting in Nanjing, it will certainly not run a deficit itself. But many people worry that something may go wrong in the north — especially in the military governorships of Anbei, Beiping, Daning, and Shuofang..."

Xia Yunyi nodded. "The royal aura of Jinling is after all insufficient. When the Great Progenitor Emperor was alive, he wished to move the capital to Xi'an, or to Kaifeng, but unfortunately it never came to pass."

"If one is going to Kaifeng or Xi'an, one might as well go to Beijing," Shen Tingyang said, shaking his head. "Beijing can still be sustained by sea transport. If the capital were moved to the Central Plain or the northwest, feeding and supplying a capital city of several hundred thousand would become a problem."

Hou Xuanyan was a gifted scholar of Jiangnan who had never been to the north, and he said in astonishment, "How can the Central Plain be so ruined? It cannot even sustain a capital of several hundred thousand?"

Shen Tingyang said, "Even if it could sustain one, there would be no future in it... The wealth of the realm has long since gathered in the southeast! And the wealth of the southeast is still growing by the day!"

"The southeast is no place from which to wage war!" Xia Yunyi said. "Since ancient times, those who conquered the north from the south have been only the Great Progenitor, the Exalted Emperor, and His Present Majesty — no one else."

Shen Tingyang shook his head. "In the past, the military strength of the north relied on warhorses ranging far and wide, while the military strength of the southeast relied on boats and ships coming and going. And as long as boats and ships did not put out to sea, the places they could reach were in the end fewer than those a warhorse could reach. The military strength of the northerners arose from this. But today's military strength relies on flintlock muskets and smoothbore cannon! And these two both come from the south. Moreover, the population of the south is now several times, even ten times, that of the north. With more men and more guns, how could its military strength be weak? Even the horses of the north now cannot compare with the southern horses that come by sea... So the proposal to return the capital to Beijing will not succeed. We must be clear about this in our minds."

Just as he was speaking, one of his sons hurried in, holding in his hand an envelope folded from yellow paper.

At the sight of this envelope, the several men present all changed countenance slightly and cast envious looks at Shen Tingyang.

Shen Tingyang said, "Is it an edict?"

"It is a palace decree," Shen Tingyang's son said. "The bearer is a guard of the imperial presence."

At present, the Ming's edicts were divided into two broad categories: imperial edicts and palace decrees. Imperial edicts were issued through the channels of the Grand Secretariat or the Grand Marshal's Office, and required the joint signature of the Chief Grand Secretary or the Military Advisor to be valid. Palace decrees were issued directly from the palace.

A palace decree was not, however, an "illegitimate" edict. Zhu Cilang would not issue "illegitimate" edicts. The difference between a palace decree and an imperial edict lay only in their use. The main uses of a palace decree were to summon outer officials or other persons to the palace for an audience, to issue orders to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, or to disburse rewards from the privy purse.

Shen Tingyang was not in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and he was the second-richest man in the Great Ming, with no need of Emperor Zhu's money. So a palace decree arriving so suddenly could only be summoning him to the palace for an audience.

The joint conferences of the two offices had not yet resumed, and the Emperor was nominally still recuperating. To send a palace decree in such haste to summon "Second-Rich Shen" — could it be that he was to be brought into the Grand Secretariat?

Since the Great Ming's move south, Emperor Zhu had consistently pursued a policy of using the north to control the south, employing exiled northerners to keep the southern gentry in check. At present, the only southerners among the Grand Secretaries were Qian Qianyi and Zheng Zhilong. Qian Qianyi had never been of any use — he was a mere vase. And Zheng Zhilong was not of the southern gentry, and was moreover the imperial father-in-law... others naturally could not compare with him!

But now that the north had been recovered, should the official fortunes of southerners not rise a step? Should not some of the governorships of the northern provinces and the top posts of the various prefectures be given to southerners?

Should the ratio of northerners to southerners among the Grand Secretaries not be adjusted to three against three?