Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 207 The Core Interests of the "Gentry"

The famously decadent writer Zhou Xun once said: "Plans can never keep up with changes."

Before Yang Shaofeng could even turn these four scholars into qualified Han envoys, Wang Qiong, the interpreter of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, arrived in Ningyang County again, bringing news that nearly made Magistrate Yang die of anger.

Emperor Zhu Chongba planned to send troops to conquer Japan, but Liu Bowen, the emperor's chief strategist, strongly opposed it.

Here is the specific sequence of events.

In the early spring of the second year of the Hongwu reign, Emperor Zhu Chongba thought of the gold and silver mines mentioned by Magistrate Yang, and also of the Japanese pirates who frequently raided the Ming Dynasty's coastal areas. So Emperor Zhu decided to send troops to wipe out the Japanese.

However, the Central Plains gang has always valued having a legitimate reason for their actions. After all, they are the fathers, and even if they want to slap those disobedient sons to death, they still have to give them a few words of discipline and a chance to reform themselves.

Therefore, Emperor Zhu Chongba sent a group of seven people, including Yang Zai and Wu Wenhua, to Japan, demanding that the Japanese, being short and weak, properly restrain their ronin and samurai.

However, to everyone's surprise, Japan was in a period of north-south confrontation at this time. Prince Kaneyoshi was in charge of the Southern Court's government. When faced with the Ming envoy's request to restrain the ronin and samurai and to stop allowing pirates to wreak havoc on the Ming's coast, as well as the request for Japan to pay tribute every year, Prince Kaneyoshi went mad for some reason. He not only refused the envoy's request, but also killed the other five envoys except for Yang Zai and Wu Wenhua. Yang Zai and Wu Wenhua were also detained.

The first step of the Han envoy plan was successfully completed, and then Emperor Zhu Chongba began the second step.

Emperor Zhu once again sent envoys to deliver a declaration of war, indicating that since these short and ugly people were so ungrateful, they shouldn't blame Emperor Zhu for sending troops to kill them. Prince Kaneyoshi, however, directly retorted, saying: "I have heard that the Three Sovereigns established the foundation of the nation, and the Five Emperors abdicated the throne. Only China has a ruler. How can the barbarians not have a ruler? Your Majesty is the ruler of China, the sovereign of ten thousand chariots, with thousands of cities and a territory of millions of miles, yet you still have a heart that is not satisfied and often have the intention to annihilate. If we meet at the foot of Helan Mountain, let's just play a game. What do I have to fear?"

This means that you, surnamed Zhu, shouldn't be too arrogant. You want to destroy our Japan? I, Prince Kaneyoshi, am not afraid of you. Be careful, or I will capture you and bring you to Japan to dance for me. You can try if you don't believe me.

The second step of the Han envoy plan was also successfully completed. As long as Emperor Zhu issued an imperial decree to the Ming navy to conquer Japan, the rest would be the much-anticipated "burning their ancestral temples, destroying their tributes, and wiping out their descendants." Then, of course, the Ming dynasty would have an additional provincial government in Japan.

The problem was that when Emperor Zhu Chongba wanted to issue an edict to eliminate those short and ugly men and take back all the gold and silver mines of the Ming Dynasty, he was stopped by Liu Bowen.

Liu Bowen had three reasons.

The first reason is that conquering Japan would not benefit the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty still had many former territories of the Han and Tang dynasties that had not been recovered, and it also had a lot of messy problems to solve.

In particular, the matter involves a certain county magistrate who wishes to remain anonymous, many of which are related to the stability and development of the Ming Dynasty. Conquering Japan would inevitably divert his energy and resources, and might even cause internal turmoil and opposition, which would be detrimental to the long-term peace and stability of the Ming Dynasty.

The second reason is that conquering Japan would not benefit the diplomacy of the Ming Dynasty, because the Yuan Dynasty has not yet completely collapsed, Annam and Goryeo have not yet officially become vassals of the Ming Dynasty, and the Western Regions, India, Champa and other places have not submitted. You, Zhu Chongba, have already reluctantly accepted the Yuan Dynasty as the legitimate ruler. If you don't take the Yuan Dynasty's territory into your hands, then you've been holding your nose for nothing.

The third reason is that the land in the land of the short and ugly people is barren and the people are fierce. The key point is that the short and ugly people do not have enough sense of identity with the Ming Dynasty. Either we have to send people there to manage them with great effort, or we have to get rid of the short and ugly people.

So the problem has come full circle – if they want to send people to govern, the Ming Dynasty doesn't have enough officials to send; if they want to get rid of the short and ugly ones, it will affect the Ming Dynasty's foreign image, or to put it bluntly, it will hinder the Ming Dynasty from recruiting dogs everywhere.

Then Liu Bowen advised Emperor Zhu Chongba to swallow his anger for the time being. Even if he had to get rid of those short and weak men, he should at least wait until the Ming Dynasty was stable internally and externally and had recruited more dogs before doing so. He should not send troops to deal with those short and weak men just because of a gold mine and a silver mine. Besides, gold and silver mines don't run away. It doesn't really matter whether you get them back a day earlier or a day later.

……

Wang Qiong picked up his teacup, took a sip, and sighed, saying, "That's the situation. His Majesty wants to send troops to conquer Japan, but Prime Minister Li, Mr. Qingtian, and all the officials in the court believe that Japan should be spared for the time being, and that we should make plans after we have completely destroyed the Yuan Dynasty and pacified the Western Regions."

Yang Shaofeng chuckled and asked, "Have the officials in the court discussed how to solve the problem of the Japanese pirates?"

Wang Qiong was slightly taken aback, then frowned and said, "It is said that they want to ban the sea. After all, the Japanese pirates are cruel by nature and often plunder and kill. If the people encounter the Japanese pirates, they are often killed or injured. It would be better to ban the sea first and then make a plan when the court has time to deal with it later."

Yang Shaofeng nodded, then continued, "Is this Li Xiang and Liu Qingtian's own idea?"

Wang Qiong shook his head slightly and replied, "It wasn't Li Xiang and Mr. Qingtian's own idea, but the whole court agreed that we shouldn't attack Japan now, so Li Xiang and Mr. Qingtian had no choice but to dissuade His Majesty according to the will of the people."

Hearing this, Yang Shaofeng roughly understood what was going on.

Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen may not have genuinely wanted to stop Emperor Zhu, but the officials in the court were all sincerely trying to push for a maritime ban.

As the saying goes, as long as a dynasty hasn't completely entered its decline, no matter how powerful a merchant is, they are nothing more than fat sheep raised by the court, who can be caught and killed at any time.

Merchants who want to keep their money and status must have a powerful patron to rely on.

During the Han Dynasty, the powerful figures who could protect merchants were called powerful clans; during the Tang Dynasty, they were called aristocratic families; and during the Ming Dynasty, these powerful figures became more dispersed, but they were collectively referred to as gentry. Among them were "scholars" in the imperial court, "gentry" in the common people, and a large number of scholars who served as their mouthpieces.

Emperor Zhu Chongba's desire to train a navy and then launch an expedition against Japan had inadvertently touched upon the core interests of the "gentry."

Maritime trade.

Or you could say maritime smuggling.