Chapter 294 Ming Dynasty’s New Foreign Policy
On the first day of the first month of the 19th year of Zhengde's reign, Zhu Houzhao came to Fengtian Hall to receive New Year's greetings from the civil and military officials.
As a rule, at this time, as the emperor, he would give money to his ministers to celebrate the festival.
But before the Zhengde Dynasty, this behavior of "paying year-end bonuses" was basically just a formality.
After all, before the Zhengde Dynasty, the empire's finances were not rich, and it was not enough to provide disaster relief and raise the army. The spare money used was given out as "year-end bonuses"!
Moreover, in order to save money, Cochin must not be abandoned.
Therefore, the so-called giving of money to celebrate the festival is just worthless treasure money, just for good luck.
Officials are also human beings, so they naturally value these superficial benefits. As the rewards given by the court become increasingly thinner, it is inevitable that they will become alienated from the court, so much so that they secretly engage in corruption and bribery to gain benefits.
Now, since the empire's finances have become abundant, Zhu Houzhao no longer allows this New Year's money-giving ceremony to be just a formality, but as a ritual system for rewarding officials.
The money given was naturally all in silver dollars, and the amount was quite large, equivalent to three or even five times the monthly salary of many officials.
The courtiers are now beginning to value this reward. After all, it is three to five times the monthly salary and hundreds of thousands of silver dollars, which is enough to buy a villa in Yongfang, Xuanwumen Lane Street.
For some officials who have performed actively in the year, they will naturally be more proud, especially when some local, state and county officials with outstanding political achievements are placed in the center of the hall for the first time to receive awards and rewards from the emperor. For them, , enough to give them more confidence to adhere to their duty of making decisions for the people.
"Although the law is ruthless, the heavenly family is affectionate." This is Zhang Cong's feeling at this time.
When Emperor Zhu Houzhao ordered people to bring the whole box of silver coins to Fengtian Hall and open it, the silver coins stacked in the box made him and the officials present involuntarily light up their eyes, but perhaps because of concerns about their identities, these The officials didn't want to show off too much, so they just lowered their heads, but their hands that were nowhere to be found clearly revealed the excitement in their hearts.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help laughing secretly when he saw this. He had to admit that although the officials in the court were all wearing exquisite official uniforms embroidered with birds and animals, and although they were all wealthy, they showed excitement when they saw the silver coins. He is still no different from a robber who robs homes.
Zhu Houzhao did not believe that these court officials did not know that these silver coins were plundered from overseas colonies by the empire's four major overseas plundering companies, namely the Infrastructure Bureau, the Grain Industry Bureau, the Imperial Sea Trade Corporation, and the World Investment Bank.
Even in this magnificent hall, Zhu Houzhao could feel the smell of blood on the silver coins.
However, at this time, no official would stand up and say that the money was for the benefit of the people, and no one said that it was ill-gotten gains.
"As a reward from the Heavenly Family, Yan Song, the Minister of Agriculture, has achieved remarkable results in promoting sweet potatoes and potatoes, solving the famine in southern Zhili, and making three million acres of mountainous land available for food production. He is specially given five times the monthly salary and one thousand silver dollars!"
At this time, the eunuchs began to roll call, and some officials began to listen attentively, hoping that they could get the best rewards in the year-end evaluation of the Ministry of Personnel.
For a moment, when Yan Song heard that he was the first, he got excited and knelt down on the ground: "Thank you for your kindness! Thank you for your kindness. I am so virtuous and talented. I have received this honor. All of this is your Majesty's credit!" ”
"Get up. You are very effective in promoting sweet potatoes. You deserve this. There is no need to give such a big gift!"
Zhu Houzhao glanced at Yan Song helplessly, intending to blame but not carelessly. After all, it is difficult to make people angry with a minister like Yan Song who is willing to put down his dignity and be servile to him.
One after another, the names of other officials with outstanding performance were read out. Although they were not as excited as Yan Song, they all sincerely thanked Zhu Houzhao.
These officials may not care about the amount of money itself. After all, many of them are also rich and noble, but the real money and silver given by the emperor is naturally more honorable. After letting all the officials hold it in their hands, they all want to devote themselves to the Ming Dynasty. .
After giving money during the Spring Festival, Zhu Houzhao would also give a banquet.
According to past examples, banquets are also exempted.
Because, according to the opinions of Confucian ministers, a wise king should reduce banquets and advocate frugality to avoid increasing palace expenses.
But Zhu Houzhao's purpose was to promote the Ming Dynasty's consumer market, and he also wanted to use the opportunity of giving a banquet to cultivate the relationship between the monarch and his ministers, and to give an official who came to Beijing to be commended an opportunity to contact him, so that he could learn more about people's livelihood, and also There is no need to give a banquet.
At the same time as giving the banquet, Zhu Houzhao would also solemnly extend New Year's greetings to all the people of the Ming Empire as the emperor, in order to enhance the feeling of joy between the emperor and the people.
It's a pity that in this era there was no radio technology and television media, so Zhu Houzhao's New Year's greetings would basically only appear on the front pages of major newspapers and periodicals in the capital of the Ming Dynasty the next day.
Despite this, Zhu Houzhao's New Year's message has been a must-have New Year ritual in the empire from the beginning of the 10th year of Zhengde to the present. The message was basically written by great talents in the attendant's room such as Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming. It is of great literary talent and easy to understand.
Scholar-officials all like to study Zhu Houzhao's congratulatory message carefully every New Year, hoping to find out some new trends in the court.
The common people just felt comfortable listening to it. After all, it was the emperor who congratulated himself and had many so-called New Year's goals, which made the entire empire seem more humane from the top to the bottom, and the people's sense of numbness and indifference was therefore much less. Started to pay attention to the imperial court.
But this has also caused a phenomenon. Emperor Zhu Houzhao's presence among officials and people is getting stronger and stronger, so that Emperor Zhu Houzhao's prestige is also getting higher and higher. After all, one person often shows his face in front of one person to increase his presence, and another person You will remember this person over time.
This is the case in the Ming Dynasty now. Officials and people all over the world know that the Ming Dynasty has a great emperor who will lead all the people of the Ming Dynasty to create a prosperous age. There is an emperor in the Ming Dynasty who is respected by thousands of people.
Zhu Houzhao did not expect that he would have the glory of a leader in Ming Dynasty, but he knew that he was not a leader, he was just doing what he should do.
However, Xu Jie, the new science explorer sitting on the table to his right, did not see Zhu Houzhao in this way. In his opinion, the wine, yogurt and even glass goblets and potato stew on his table were all because of the emperor in front of him. Just appeared.
In his opinion, the Emperor in front of him obviously had knowledge and knowledge that others like him did not have.
Of course, what made Xu Jie even more fortunate was that because he was among the top three in the palace examination, he had the opportunity to dine in the same room with His Majesty the Emperor as other officials who had excelled in the examination, and could even see His Majesty the Emperor's face clearly.
Zhu Houzhao very much hoped that the Ming Dynasty could become an open and heroic empire. Rigidity was the characteristic of the Ming Dynasty. However, if he could go far away from the Han and Tang Dynasties in the prosperous age, continue to promote and improve Chinese civilization, and turn the empire into an empire with romantic feelings and Chinese A glorious empire is naturally a better thing, and it can also make up for the regret that Chinese civilization was interrupted since the two Song Dynasties.
Because of this, when giving a banquet in the New Year, Zhu Houzhao did not let the ministers restrain themselves, and allowed these civil and military officials to recite poems and compose poems to demonstrate their talents in literature and art. Zhu Houzhao even came to the fore himself.
Xu Jie and other new officials wanted to let Emperor Zhu Houzhao know their talents and appreciate themselves, so they were quite active. However, they were greatly influenced by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and very few people could write Li Du's poems and Su Xin's poems. It’s hard to come up with any good works for a while.
Zhu Houzhao was not discouraged. He believed that under his leadership as the emperor, the empire would not lose the original beauty of Chinese civilization even as it industrialized.
Kunqu Opera, which has become popular recently, comes from the stage.
Zhu Houzhao just smiled when he looked at the mesmerized expressions of these officials below. He didn't know what these people would feel if they knew there were movies in the world, but what he knew now was that Cui Yingying and Zhang were on stage. When they secretly got married behind their parents' backs, some Confucian officials were still quite annoyed and just poured wine into their mouths, obviously unable to accept the rebellious behavior of the hero and heroine in The Romance of the West Chamber.
But officials who were also interested in learning from one party kept clapping their hands and applauding. Historically, this drama only appeared in the late Ming Dynasty and promoted the spirit of resistance to feudal ideology. Now that the drama has appeared, these officials who have already begun to change their ideas have begun to change. That started to resonate.
……
After the New Year ended in the 19th year of Zhengde, the first thing the Ming Dynasty encountered was that King Li Yi of North Korea sent his accomplice Li Cao and Counselor Cui Chonghong to congratulate him.
certainly.
Naturally, it was impossible for North Korean envoys to see Zhu Houzhao directly at the beginning. Usually, the Host and Guest Department of the Ministry of Rites was responsible for receiving them first, and arranged to stay in the Huitong Hall.
Then the Ministry of Rites reported it to Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao gave banquets and gifts as usual. He generally would not let the envoys to the Ming Dynasty suffer, and would even allow his fellow missionaries to trade with the people of the Ming Dynasty in specified places.
Cui Chonghong and other North Korean envoys were naturally the same. As soon as they arrived in the capital, they stayed in the Huitong Hall and waited for the court to allow them to trade with nearby people and meet with senior officials of the Ministry of Rites, the cabinet, and even the emperor.
The first person to meet Cui Chonghong was Xi Shu, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, because he was in charge of the host and guest department.
Xi Shu naturally had a headache for these tribute envoys, because he knew that none of these envoys were honest and upright people. They were all greedy and wanted to gain some benefits. Some even bullied the people because they were foreign envoys.
As a court official, Xi Shu sometimes cannot be too polite to these foreign envoys to avoid being scolded for damaging the state, but he does not dare to be too harsh to these foreign envoys to avoid causing disputes between the two countries and being scolded for not caring about the overall situation. .
Therefore, Xi Shu could only try his best to maintain an attitude that was neither humble nor arrogant, and said to Cui Chonghong: "I have reported to the cabinet that your envoy came to pay tribute according to the order. You guys will stay in Huitong Hall for the time being. There will be corresponding news then! "After Xi Shu finished speaking, he was about to leave the Huitong Hall, but at this time At this time, Cui Chonghong stopped Xi Shu: "Sir, wait! Cui has been ordered by our king to come to heaven to pay tribute. He is not just paying tribute in exchange for rewards, but also hoping to meet His Majesty the Emperor of China! This is Cui's Thank you for your kindness! ”
As Cui Chonghong spoke, he took out a large-denomination silver dollar bill. When Xi Shu saw this, he waved his sleeves angrily: "Who do you think I am, an official of the Celestial Dynasty! I will pretend that this matter never happened, otherwise , once the people in the Dongchang Inspectorate find out, even if you are an envoy from North Korea, you will not be able to escape the crime of skinning the owl's head!"
The Ming Dynasty had just cracked down on corruption and bribery. Naturally, Xi Shu did not dare to accept the benefits of North Korean envoys at this time. Moreover, he also knew that the emperor had declared that the Ming Dynasty had extraterritorial jurisdiction. All foreigners who committed crimes in the Ming Dynasty would be punished according to the laws of their country. , and the bribes received from foreigners will naturally be punished according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty.
Cui Chonghong had inquired about the character of senior officials of the Ming Dynasty before. In his impression, Mr. Xi, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, liked silver coins, but he did not expect that Mr. Xi would refuse to accept his silver dollar bills. He couldn't help but feel Very surprised: "What's going on, the Ming Dynasty's official governance has become so clear?"
Xi Shu did not see Cui Chonghong again after leaving the Huitong Hall, and Cui Chonghong and other North Korean envoys could only continue to live in the Huitong Hall.
However, Zhu Houzhao received a report from Kang Hai on the handling of tribute by North Korean envoys.
According to Kang Hai's intention, it was customary to give these Korean envoys some silk cloth, etc., and also give them a banquet.
But Zhu Houzhao didn't want to implement this tribute system anymore. Sometimes he didn't understand why in this era, the Ming Dynasty was obviously a powerful empire, but like a weak country, it was willing to suffer losses in some interests. Is it just for the sake of good neighborliness?
But friendship is not so friendly. In Zhu Houzhao's view, as a powerful empire, not destroying you is already the greatest friendship, but there is no need to let yourself suffer and use money to exchange for the harmony of the surrounding environment.
Because in this case, the interests of the people of the country will be lost, and the peace of the people of the country does not require you to use money to buy it from a weak and small country.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao intended to reform the tribute system that emerged under the guidance of Confucianism. He did not need the false reputation of these nations coming to court.
"Your Majesty, are you saying that you want to reform the tribute system?"
Kang Hai was surprised when he heard Zhu Houzhao's purpose, because the tribute system had been implemented for more than a hundred years, and he had never thought that the tribute system needed to be changed.
Zhu Houzhao nodded.
Kang Hai didn't know whether he should oppose or support. He knew that his emperor was different from Emperor Xiaozong. He never waited for civil servants to propose reform suggestions and then decided whether to change them or not. Instead, the emperor himself proposed reform suggestions. The following The minister then expresses his objection or support.
Although Kang Hai was fortunate that His Majesty the Emperor was tolerant of different opinions when it came to matters involving government reform, and even had the patience to communicate with his ministers until the most complete plan was negotiated.
But this also caused officials to have to take the initiative to think about why the emperor wanted to reform a certain government policy.
Such as now.
Kang Hai had to start thinking about why the emperor wanted to abolish the tribute system. He could not directly ask the emperor Zhu Houzhao why he wanted to reform the tribute system. Otherwise, he would be looked down upon by the emperor, who would despise his own status and not see the shortcomings of the tribute system.
Of course, just because there was an emperor who constantly asked his ministers to think about the rationality of the empire's existing system, Kang Hai had to often think about the empire's government-related systems. He also thought about the quality of the government system. Instead of following the routine and completing it step by step.
Now Kang Hai could also guess that Emperor Zhu Houzhao wanted to abolish the tribute system simply because Ming Dynasty actually suffered a loss in this system. Basically, Ming Dynasty had to spend a lot of money to entertain these envoys and give gifts.
But after abolishing the tribute system, Kang Hai did not think of a solution to how to communicate with these foreign vassal countries.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state, and the Ming Dynasty cannot ignore these foreign vassals, not to mention the safety of these foreign vassals will also affect the safety of the Ming Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, I dare to ask, after the tribute system is abolished, what should be done with these people who come to pay tribute? In addition, how should the Ministry of Rites contact them?"
Kang Hai asked.
"There are two types of this. If they are vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, they are equivalent to our lackeys. They can pay tribute, but they must sign a tribute treaty!
For example, the Korean state can pay tribute once every three years. Based on the population, each person pays tribute of one silver dollar. Then the Korean state should pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty every three years with silver coins equal to the population. Of course, the tribute of silver dollars can be used with territorial lease rights. Mining rights and tariff collection rights are used as collateral!
Of course, North Korea also needs to provide the Ming Dynasty with their Hucao population statistics every three years! The Ming Dynasty does not need to give gifts to North Korea anymore. The Ming Dynasty will only guarantee to give them three years of peace! ”
"If they are not a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, there is no need to pay tribute, but they will also be regarded as an enemy country by the Ming Dynasty. I will not allow an empire equal to the Ming Dynasty to exist! The Ming Dynasty will not be responsible for the security of their country!"
Zhu Houzhao said.
Kang Hai couldn't help being surprised after hearing this, and thought in his mind: "The tribute is paid once every three years. Calculated as one silver dollar per person in the vassal country, the number of tribute silver coins is equal to the population. And Korea alone is estimated to have to pay tribute of millions of silver coins. One million silver dollars is a huge sum of money for the Ming Empire, and it is even a huge sum of money for North Korea! ”
Therefore, Kang Hai couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, this will place a huge burden on the vassal states, and I'm afraid they will no longer be willing to recognize the Ming Dynasty as their suzerain state."
"Then the Ming Dynasty has no need to protect them, nor does it have the need to respect their territory and some sovereignty," Zhu Houzhao said.
Kang Hai could not refute what he heard and asked again:
"As your Majesty said, in this case, how should matters involving the diplomatic relations between the two countries be handled? Does the Ming Dynasty still need to send envoys to announce the mission?"
"Those who are willing to establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty or recognize the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain country, I can let them rent a house in the capital of the empire as an embassy. And before severing diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, the country's embassy can always exist. They can send officials to the embassy to communicate with them. Daming for exchanges! Of course, I will also send an ambassador to the country to establish an embassy!”
After Zhu Houzhao said that, Kang Hai once again fell into doubts and thinking. This was the first time he heard the word "embassy", but he could understand it and just asked: "May I ask your majesty, who is this embassy?" Do we provide protection and money? ”
"Of course not, it will be provided by their own countries," Zhu Houzhao said. He would not let the embassies of various countries in the future be like the current Huitong Pavilion, where the Ming court took full control of the food, drink, and toilet of the envoys of these countries. Although the Ministry of Rites Most of the money is earned by Jiaofangsi, but it cannot be spent in vain.
Kang Hai asked a few more questions and left Xiyuan after thoroughly understanding Zhu Houzhao's intentions. At this time, it was already the beginning of the lanterns, and students from the Capital University began to dig through the walls of the princes' mansions and some of the rich men. During the private meeting with the young lady, Kang Hai did not go home. Instead, he went directly to the cabinet, thinking about how to complete the task of reforming the tribute system that His Majesty had to reform.
When Kang Hai woke up at the desk at dawn the next day, Xi Shu, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, found Kang Hai and reported to Kang Hai that the North Korean envoy Cui Chonghong intended to bribe him. The reason why Xi Shu reported this to Kang Hai Naturally, he was worried that if he was accused of taking bribes in the future, it would be nice to have a superior officer testify for him that he had not taken bribes.
"This Cui Chonghong! He dares to bribe our officials. He is deliberately corrupting our Ming Dynasty officialdom! However, this also shows that he has other intentions! But we can't control him now. Now, His Majesty intends to reform our Ming Dynasty's tribute system;
But now, Ouyang Dan, the Minister of Rites, is recuperating from illness. You and the officials of the Host and Guest Department will immediately draft a new tribute and diplomatic system for the Ming Dynasty. When the time comes, after I and Your Majesty approve it, it will be handed over to the Hanlin Academy and recorded in the " "Da Ming Hui Dian"! ”
After Kang Hai said this, he explained the Ming Dynasty's new foreign policy in detail to the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, Xi Shu.
Xi Shu was very shocked after hearing this: "Shou Kui! This, this, is this too overbearing? I'm afraid that the foreign vassal countries will no longer be willing to recognize the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain country. Then won't your majesty's great emperorship be ruined in one day?!" < br>
"How could your Majesty end his own imperial career? Your Majesty is a once-in-a-lifetime great emperor, and his strategies are naturally further ahead than yours and mine. If these foreign vassals are supported by our Ming Dynasty as they are now, they will only respect my Ming Dynasty on the surface, but in their hearts they will He will not be afraid, and will even devour my Ming Dynasty territory if he has the opportunity. When Korea was Korea, he didn’t intend to encroach on my Liaodong territory!”
"Today, in order to prevent the foreign vassal countries from becoming bigger and threatening our Ming Dynasty in the future, we can only cut off their opportunities to rise first!"
After Kang Hai said this, he asked Xi Shu to draft a new tribute and diplomatic system.
Xi Shu knew that he was just a third-rank official, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Etiquette, and was not qualified to question the imperial court's new policies, so he honestly wrote according to Kang Hai's wishes.
Three days later.
Kang Hai officially handed over Ming Dynasty's new foreign policy to the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao.
After Zhu Houzhao saw it, he was very satisfied and asked the other two cabinet ministers to take a look. However, at this time, Zhang Cong on the side said: "Your Majesty, I suggest that if a country recognizes the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain country, then it will recognize the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain state." When other countries are suzerains, they should pay the same tribute to the Ming Dynasty when paying corresponding tributes to other countries. Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty can regard the vassal country as betraying the Ming Dynasty. ”
Zhu Houzhao agreed very much after hearing this, and hurriedly asked Kang Hai to join him, thinking that if a vassal country such as Korea really surrendered to Japan or other countries, then when granting the privileges and treatment to Japan and other countries, it must also give the Ming Dynasty the same privileges and treatment as Japan and other countries. Same privileges and treatment.
Looking at the newly released foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao believed that this was the beginning of the modern diplomacy of the Ming Dynasty, and the diplomatic history of the Ming Dynasty was destined to open a new chapter. It was no longer the gentle and benevolent diplomatic method of the agricultural civilization period, but A diplomatic approach that puts national interests first.
(End of chapter)