Chapter 200 Westerners’ first impression of Emperor Zhengde
It is now the ninth year of Zhengde. Counting from the summer of the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao has been in the imperial court for ten years.
Ten years later, it seems that the empire has not undergone major changes.
But upon closer inspection, a lot has changed.
The Hetao was still in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and since Yulin City, Dongsheng, Wuhai, Yunchuan, Guihua, Yumu and other counties were successively established in the border towns.
After regaining their strength, the Tuxie tribe united with the Ordos tribe to attack the Chahar tribe in order to avenge Chahar for colluding with the little prince.
Zhu Houzhao ignored the objections of his ministers, and on the grounds that the Ming Dynasty, as the suzerain state, should prevent the grassland tribes from killing each other and massacring the people, he allocated 300,000 taels of internal silver and ordered the First Division of the Guards to march northward, leave Xuanfu, and use new methods. The Fusiliers defeated the coalition forces of the Tuxie Ministry and the Ordos Ministry, and forced the three ministries to sign a "Mutual Non-Aggression Treaty".
Caikuan, the general commander of Shaanxi Province, was named Marquis of Liyang and given the title of Taibao by Zhu Houzhao for his role in recovering the Hetao and pacifying King Anhua. Now he is also appointed by Zhu Houzhao as Minister in Mongolia, coordinating the management of Tuxie Department, Ordos Department, and Chahar on behalf of the Ming Dynasty. He is responsible for the affairs of the third department of the Ministry, and is also responsible for training the newly recruited young men from Bianzhen in Monan to become the Ming Dynasty cavalry.
Today, the Tatars are internally divided. The Tuxie tribe and the Ordos tribe now rely on the import of weapons, tea and salt from the Ming Dynasty, and they are unable to resist the Ming Dynasty's interference in their internal government affairs. Seeing that the Ming Dynasty intends to protect the Chahar tribe, they have no way to protest, and even Even the "Mutual Non-Aggression Treaty" was forced to sign due to military pressure from the Ming Dynasty.
Now, Zhu Houzhao sent officials to the three tribes, but they dared not speak out. As the three tribal lords who were frightened by Cai Kuan before, they could only become more angry after knowing that Cai Kuan was a first-class minister stationed in Mongolia. To be honest, no one dares to have the ambition to annex the other two and dominate the world.
Now in the ninth year of Zhengde, Cai Kuan has already trained 20,000 Ming cavalry in the grassland, and can directly form a Guards Cavalry Division. Zhu Houzhao realized that this would make the three Mongolian tribes dare not rebel against the Ming Dynasty, so he immediately issued an edict. The Ministry of Education issued an edict, granting permission for the children of the three lords to enter the Imperial College to study, and all of them would be granted the status of Imperial College Students.
"This is a very good move! The children of the leaders of the Mongolian tribes do not learn Chinese and only know how to ride and shoot. In the future, they will inevitably follow in the footsteps of the little princes. If they are taught the right way of Confucianism, they will not be good at using sharp weapons in the future, and will only know writing and calligraphy. The mechanism! ”
For the first time, Mao Ji, the minister of Guozijian who followed Neo-Confucianism as his guide, believed that Emperor Zhu Houzhao's move was good governance and did not object to it.
Of course, although on the surface Zhu Houliang allowed the children of the leaders of the three Mongolian tribes to come to the Imperial Academy to study, in fact, he asked the leaders of the three tribes to take their children as hostages and send them to the capital.
The leaders of the three tribes could not refuse, and they were afraid that the Ming Dynasty would be suspicious, so they had to send all their children to the Imperial College in Beijing. In order to further pamper and enrich the children of Mongolian nobles with the aroma of books, Zhu Houzhao simply issued an edict to let these children go to the Imperial College in Nanjing to study.
Less than a year after Prince Bayanqing entered the Nanjing Imperial College, King Shunzhong also changed his name to Su Xishi to express his respect for Su Shi and his love for poetry, completely forgetting that he should be a Mongolian. Habits, after two years, even forgot the skill of horseback riding and archery.
After the immigrants settled in the border areas, more and more Han people gathered in Hetao and Monan, and more and more Han people were Han Chinese. Zhu Houzhao issued a special order to establish a chief envoy in Hetao, and at the same time he ordered the chief envoys to be under the jurisdiction of the whole country. The areas are collectively called provinces, and Hetao is a separate province. At the same time, Mongolians from various tribes stationed in the Mongolian area are allowed to participate in the imperial examinations in Hetao.
Zhu Houzhao gave the Sinicized Hu people an opportunity to further Sinicize themselves, and also systematically denied that the Mongolian tribes at this time were independent countries. Therefore, Cai Kuan, the minister in Mongolia, ordered to build a social science school in Monan and recruit Mongolian Yuan. Teach your son.
In general, ten years later, the Ming Dynasty had gradually used Confucianism as a weapon to eliminate the hostility of the Mongolian people in the north. Cheng Jian, a great Confucian who boasted that he had defeated 100,000 rebels, was appointed by Zhu Houzhao as the co-minister in Mongolia. , specializing in academic studies in Monan Mongolia.
Cheng Jian was extremely reluctant, but it was hard to disobey the emperor's order.
After Zhu Houzhao saw his first disciple, Prince Su Xishi, who was dumb and could only drop his schoolbag, he was extremely satisfied with Cheng Jian's educational achievements. He repeatedly praised Cheng Jian's virtues and made a special edict Su Xishi was left in the Hanlin Academy to await the imperial edict, and at the same time he was awarded the title of Right Minister of the Ministry of Rites.
Cheng Jian did not expect that he would be so highly regarded by the Emperor Zhu Houzhao just by teaching a few barbarians to learn Confucianism. He was very happy because of this. He thought that he could be promoted to a noble position and eventually be ranked among the imperial cabinet. , Cheng Jian continued to spread Confucianism in Monan and persuaded the Mongolian nobles to be Ming ministers and loyal Ming kings.
As a result, more and more Hu people are learning Chinese, speaking Chinese and wearing Han clothes. Now in the entire Hetao Monan area, it is difficult to distinguish the difference between Hu and Han.
In the south, the Ming Dynasty has successfully restored the Zheng He treasure ship. At the same time, the Zhijiang Shipyard has built five soft-sail battleships. Zhu Houzhao named them after the regions, calling them "Beidu", "Southern Capital" and "Zhongdu" respectively. ", "Yangzhou" and "Baoding" were all delivered to the Guangdong Navy for trial use.
Lin Tingxuan, the governor of Liangjiang and governor of Guangdong, also had great success in training the navy and basically eliminated pirates in the South China Sea.
However, in the ninth year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao received a memorial from Lin Tingxuan, saying that he found a red-haired fan in Tuen Mun (today's Tuen Mun, Hong Kong), and erected a stone monument to make a living as a pirate, but his name was Pires. He claimed to be the special envoy of King Fo Langji and requested to see Zhu Houzhao and ask for trade.
Zhu Houzhao did not expect that Westerners would eventually come!
This was the first time that the Ming Empire came into contact with Western forces. Zhu Houzhao did not dare to take it lightly. He knew that Fo Lang Ji was the Western maritime overlord of this era. He could guess that since the Fo Lang Ji people could appear in the South China Sea of the Ming Dynasty, it meant that Fo Lang Ji The Chinese have occupied Manchuria and the Strait of Malacca, and controlled the Southeast Asian shipping lanes. On the one hand, Zhu Houzhao issued an order to allow King Fo Langji's special envoy Pires to come to Beijing for an audience. On the other hand, he ordered Lin Tingxuan, the governor of Liangjiang, to send troops to recover Tuenmen. It is a strategic location in Nanyang, and Zhu Houzhao will naturally not tolerate the Folangji people occupying it.
Pires, a Frenchman, embarked on the road to Beijing with his longing for the Eastern Empire.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty had entered the era of flying shuttle weaving and vertical spindle hand spinning (Jenny spinning machine). As a result, cloth prices plummeted, cloth output increased significantly, and more people wore cotton and brocade. In addition, Rites and music have collapsed and wealth has accumulated. Even the people at the bottom can still have one or two pieces of brocade clothing.
So that the Ming Dynasty that Pires saw was still a prosperous Ming Dynasty. He had to believe that Marco Polo's notes were correct, and he had to write this in his diary:
"I feel like a beggar, a beggar who has walked into the world of rich people. The people here are all exquisite, the city is exquisite, and even the cups used are exquisite."
Zhu Houzhao met with Pires. Many Ming ministers of this era did not understand why the emperor took the time to meet with a barbarian envoy. But only Zhu Houzhao knew that he was meeting with a civilization that was about to surpass the East. Therefore, he He had to be cautious, but even though he was cautious, he was not cowardly.
"Since you asked me to allow you to trade with the Ming Dynasty, why do you still want to be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Houzhao asked this first.
At this time, Yasan, a Chinese translator hired by Pires, translated Zhu Houzhao's words to Pires.
Pires waved his hand quickly: "No, no, His Majesty the Ming Emperor, we do not intend your country to be an enemy. We are just here to request peaceful trade."
"Since we are engaged in peaceful trade, why do we want to destroy our Ming vassals and occupy our Ming Dynasty's Tuen Mun Island!"
After Zhu Houzhao understood what Pires meant through Fire Man Ya San, he asked coldly, with a very stern tone. Now he is in his late twenties, with a slightly thick beard under his nose, and his physique has gradually grown, and he is burly. He was taller and more majestic. When Pires was asked this question, he was speechless. After a while, he explained:
"Your Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, that is not the behavior of our king, but the behavior of merchants, and it is just a trade conflict. We merchants do not know that Manchuria is a vassal of your country, and there are no residents of your country living in Tuen Mun. It seems that it does not match the Ming Dynasty stele. I have no right to say that it is your country’s territory!”
After Huo Zhe Ya San translated, Zhu Houzhao had to admit that Pires was very good at diplomacy. He first dumped the blame for his occupation of Manlajia on the businessman who refused to admit that he was his king, and at the same time directly characterized it as a trade conflict. , did not admit that Man Lajia was destroyed, and even Tuenmen directly refuted itself on the grounds that there were no residents of the Ming Dynasty and no inscriptions on the Ming Dynasty.
For a time, the ministers in the court were extremely angry after hearing this. The British Duke Zhang Mao even shouted angrily at the court: "You are just a small country. My great emperor has condescended to see you. How dare you offend me?" Tomorrow will be awesome!”
Zhu Houzhao waved his hand to stop the anger of Zhang Mao and others, and smiled directly: "Pires, you are very good at diplomacy, why not stay and be my diplomatic envoy? I will give you a chance to join the Ming Dynasty. If Otherwise, I will execute you in the same way as an invader and throw Pires into prison. If he is unwilling to be used by the Ming Dynasty, I will castrate him and send him to Datong to build roads. "
Pires was a little surprised after Huo Zhe Ya San translated. He didn't expect that the Ming Emperor neither scolded him angrily nor asked his ministers to debate with him, but directly wanted to hire him, and he didn't ask whether he agreed or not at all. I mean, I directly put myself in jail first.
"Your Majesty the Ming Emperor, your country is too domineering! I am now the envoy of King Franji, you cannot treat me like this!"
Pires protested, but Zhu Houzhao ignored him, and the Jin Yiwei still dragged him down forcefully.
Pires didn't stay in Jinyi Guard Prison for even one night before he was so frightened that he was willing to become a subject of the Ming Dynasty and changed his place of birth to the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, he was willing to become a diplomatic envoy of the Ming Dynasty and a subject of His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
"This is a domineering and discerning emperor. I am very lucky to be his minister, otherwise I may not become an outstanding Ming diplomat, even though I was forced to do so at first!"
Many years later, Pires, a professor at the Ming Empire Foreign Affairs College, wrote this in his autobiography.
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(End of chapter)