Chapter 294: Purpose

"In reply to Your Majesty, since I know Your Majesty's thoughts, I should relieve Your Majesty's worries! My plans are already set. If Your Majesty intends to send me to Europe, then I shall willingly serve at Your Majesty's command!"

Zheng Zhifeng set the teacup on the brocade stool, rose, and with a look of deep resolve clasped his hands in salute.

"Minister Zheng, in truth I have pondered this matter for a long time, but set it aside amid internal troubles and external threats. In past conversations with the late Academician Xu and the Directorate of Astronomy's Johann Adam Schall and other ministers, I touched on Western matters a great deal, so I may claim a fairly deep knowledge of the foreign barbarians. I know that the powers of Europe have long surpassed our Great Ming in mathematics, engineering, medicine, law, literature, astronomy, and many other fields. Take firearms alone — though our Great Ming can barely match them at present, with all manner of discord, within ten years their firearms, whether in range or power, will far surpass our Great Ming's, and the gap will only widen further! This is because their people possess the heart of craftsmen — devote themselves to one craft and they excel at it, and among them ingenious artisans will consider shortcomings and remedy them, taking pride in making things ever finer and stronger. This kind of craftsmanship is precisely what our Great Ming lacks, and it all stems from the importance their nations place on mathematics. The people of Europe well understand that the foundation of engineering lies in mathematics, and for this reason, from their sovereigns on down, they all value it, and so their engineering will far surpass our Great Ming's. If one day those who covet our Great Ming's benefits come attacking with sturdy ships and powerful cannons, the consequences are truly unimaginable!"

Zhu Youjian had always believed that the most important reason Chinese civilization had led the world for millennia was its broad-minded capacity for inclusiveness and assimilation — not the rampant narrow nationalism of arrogance and pride in exclusion. But the prevailing ideology within the Great Ming now was to regard itself as the center of the world, looking with extreme contempt and rejection upon the civilizations of other nations beyond China. This was an extremely dangerous way of thinking and behaving, and it had to be corrected and reversed as soon as possible.

To break the current state of complacent self-seclusion and blind self-confidence throughout the Great Ming's court and country, introducing advanced foreign civilization and thought and strengthening exchanges with the so-called foreign barbarians in all areas became the most necessary means. Only by letting the many discerning minds of the Great Ming's court and country open their eyes, see more truly advanced things, and realize that the Great Ming had already been surpassed in many areas by the foreign barbarians they despised and was being rapidly left behind — only then could the Great Ming strive to catch up and not fall far behind other nations in the future.

Zheng Zhifeng took up the conversation: "Your Majesty's words strike a chord in me, and they only strengthen my resolve to go as envoy! May I presume to ask: what purpose does Your Majesty wish this mission to the Western Seas to accomplish? Mutual exchange and intercourse, or expanding trade routes? Or perhaps seeking opportunities to lure their skilled craftsmen to our Great Ming?"

"Minister Zheng, your question is precisely what I wished to impress upon you. This time you shall go to Europe as the principal imperial envoy, with two deputy envoys to assist you. I will equip you with one hundred Embroidered Uniform Guard guardsmen and five hundred soldiers as escort; moreover, I will select two hundred youths aged twelve and above from the orphans taken in by the imperial estates to accompany you. If you manage matters well, Minister Zheng, it would be best for these youths to study for several years at the finest schools among the powers of Europe, learning their language and customs, with the curriculum centered on mathematics, medicine, law, and engineering. If my estimation is correct, the matter of study abroad should not be difficult. Europe has an open atmosphere, values fairness in all things, and moreover holds Chinese civilization in considerable esteem, hoping for greater exchange with our Great Ming — there should be no reason for them to refuse us. Adult chaperones will reside with the studying youths to look after their daily needs and other affairs; all expenses during that time will be borne by the court, so cost need not be spared. Minister Zheng, you must treat this as the foremost priority of this mission — on no account may you take it lightly."

Although Zheng Zhifeng roughly understood Zhu Youjian's intent, he remained skeptical of how much success this undertaking could ultimately achieve.

After he clasped his hands in acceptance of the decree, Zhu Youjian continued: "Furthermore, Minister Zheng, while visiting the various nations, pay close attention to the top talents in each country's various trades and their writings. If you can lure them to our Great Ming with fame and profit to serve our Great Ming, nothing could be better. In selecting such persons, give priority to those versed in mathematics, the manufacture of various devices, medicine, and law. Beyond that, you are to proclaim to the courts and peoples of the Western nations: our Great Ming welcomes people of all nations to come to the Great Ming — whether court or commoner, whether for trade or cultural exchange — so long as they come with an attitude of friendly intercourse and abide by the laws within Great Ming territory, our Great Ming will provide full protection for their persons and property. In this matter I grant you full authority to handle it, and you may conclude friendly treaties with other nations in my name. This journey to the West will take who knows how many years, and its perils cannot be foreseen. I hope you return safely, Minister Zheng, and when you do, I will not stint on rewarding you with a noble title!"

Although the West's first Industrial Revolution was still over a century away, the best way to achieve one's goals was to start early rather than late, because eliminating certain deeply entrenched backward ways of thinking also required a considerable length of time.

In an era when the very concept of study-abroad students had not yet arisen, the Great Ming's dispatch of large numbers of youths to study in Europe was also a first in history — letting the Western nations feel the Great Ming's goodwill and sincerity, feel the open and tolerant attitude of the Great Ming court, and imperceptibly building a fine image of the Great Ming court among the nations of Europe.

Zhu Youjian decided to make the court's selection of youths to study in Europe a standing, institutionalized mechanism — sowing batches of seeds in advance, and when those seeds sprouted and grew, some seedlings among them would in time grow into towering trees.

Zhu Youjian felt that among the nations of the West, the most worthy of study were their laws and institutions.

To govern everything by law and regulation rather than by morality alone, to restrain the behavior of the powerful to the greatest extent rather than using only righteousness to check all manner of lawlessness — for that would only leave the weak forever in a state of being bullied.

Of course, such an approach required a long period of gradual influence. If one forcibly imposed the concept of equality before the law upon the present age, not only would officials and nobles join hands to destroy him, even the common people of the Great Ming living at the very bottom of society would likely be unable to accept it.

All of this required a considerable length of time. Only by changing many of the Great Ming people's ingrained notions from the ideological level, and using law together with Confucian moral values to jointly restrain the public, could the entire nation prosper enduringly.

What Zhu Youjian needed to do now was, within his own lifetime, use his power to protect this sprout that would emerge in the future, and his ultimate goal was to eliminate tyranny and bullying, letting all people live in a society where their own rights received full protection.

Using power to protect the force that would one day eliminate power — it sounded absurd, but it had to be done.

Zhu Youjian did not want to see future generations of Great Ming people watching helplessly as their private homes were forcibly demolished, did not want to see ordinary commoners with no avenue of appeal when wronged, did not want to see people of outstanding talent languish in obscurity their whole lives for lack of connections — establishing a fair and just social system would be the goal he strove toward his entire life.

Given the technology of the present in every field, crossing the vast ocean to reach Europe was an extremely dangerous undertaking, with a real possibility of perishing at sea with one's bones never returning. Thus, although Zhu Youjian had long harbored the notion of dispatching Zheng Zhifeng to lead a mission to Europe, he did not wish to arrange the matter by forcibly issuing an imperial decree.

Because Zheng Zhifeng had long experience in maritime affairs and knew the risks involved better than anyone, Zhu Youjian could only first have Wang Shiqin sound him out and observe, leaving the choice to him — after all, there was an element of sending a man to his possible death. Moreover, counting the round trip, and with Zheng Zhifeng needing to tour various nations to complete other tasks, even if all went smoothly the journey would take at least three years, at most five, before he returned — how to settle the matter of his wife, children, and elders at home also needed consideration.

Fortunately, he had not misjudged the man. The sociable Zheng Zhifeng was indeed someone who could not abide obscurity, and with his intense curiosity about the nations of Europe tens of thousands of li away, coupled with the bonds of ambition and family upon him, sovereign and minister had at last reached a common accord.

"Your servant thanks Your Majesty for the generous reward! A noble title is not what your servant seeks; to share the sovereign's burdens is your servant's duty! Since Your Majesty's will is fixed, may I ask when we are to set out?"