Chapter 19: The Emperor Wants to Farm Himself?

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor’s food was supposed to be provided by the Court of Imperial Entertainments. However, by the Jiajing era, this responsibility had shifted to the inner kitchen, as the Jiajing Emperor did not trust the officials of the Outer Court.

The small kitchen in the Palace of Heavenly Purity was managed by eunuchs. It was a position of proximity to the Emperor, usually overseen by the Director of the Ceremonial Secretariat, the head of the Eastern Depot, and the eunuchs of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Since Feng Bao had recently fallen out of favor, this duty had been transferred to Zhang Hong.

Hearing the Emperor ask what the dish was, Zhang Hong hurriedly replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, it is a tribute from Yuegang, said to be a foodstuff from overseas. If Your Majesty does not like it, I shall not prepare it again."

"Do not speak while eating, do not speak while sleeping," Empress Dowager Li chided the young Emperor, appearing slightly displeased by his breach of etiquette in talking during a meal.

Zhu Yijun turned his head and stared fixedly at Zhang Hong, his eyes flashing with a hint of ferocity. Even when reviewing the cases of Wang Zhanglong and others, the Emperor’s expression had remained sunny and bright, but at this moment, it seemed as if one wrong answer from Zhang Hong would land him in the anatomy office to be hacked to pieces.

The Emperor’s voice trembled with intense anticipation as he asked, "Are there any left?"

"Yes, there are many," Zhang Hong replied, his spirit faltering. The Empress Dowager had already scolded him, but the Emperor’s inquiry put him in a difficult position. He did not want to end up in the anatomy office; compared to that, the Empress Dowager would only send him to the menial labor quarters.

Upon hearing there were more, Zhu Yijun immediately relaxed.

"My son," Empress Dowager Li said, her tone deepening with severity.

Zhu Yijun turned to Zhang Hong and said, "Bring them here for me to see."

"Emperor!" Empress Dowager Li was finally angry. When it is time to eat, one should eat; why look at tribute items?

"I am just curious, Mother," Zhu Yijun said with a sunny, bright smile.

Recalling that the Emperor had been performing excellently lately, she suppressed the urge to lecture him. Every child has a sense of curiosity, after all. This was the Palace of Heavenly Purity, not the Hall of Literary Brilliance, nor was it in the presence of the Outer Court officials; excessive restraint would be detrimental to the Emperor’s growth.

Previously, Empress Dowager Li had been extremely strict. The reason was simple: while Feng Bao’s schemes were a minor factor, the most important issue was that for six months, the young Emperor had failed to gain the approval of the outer officials, making the Empress Dowager desperate. Her greatest fear was that her son would not be able to take over the Ming Dynasty smoothly; her highest hope was for Zhu Yijun to firmly establish his personal rule. Now that the Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng held the young Emperor in high regard, she could afford to be a little more lenient.

Three or four round, yellowish tubers appeared before Zhu Yijun. Each was about the size of his fist, covered in tiny black spots, with no sprouts or green discoloration. Anything spoiled would never enter the small kitchen for the Emperor’s consumption; these were the leftovers after the best had been selected, intended only for the Emperor to sample a curiosity.

"This tastes somewhat like a water chestnut. What is it called?" Empress Dowager Li asked Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong hurriedly replied, "The foreigners call it a potato, because it looks like a horse bell. The Fujianese call it a 'dirt bean,' as it is a bean grown in the soil. If Your Majesty does not like it, I will send it to the vegetable farm."

"Do you know how much it yields?" Zhu Yijun’s excited heart slowly calmed as he looked at the yellowish clod of earth. It was just a potato, after all; it wasn't as if he had never seen one before.

"It was presented by Luo Gongchen, the manager of the Maritime Customs Office and Assistant Prefect of Coastal Defense. He claims it can yield twenty to thirty shi per mu in the South Seas. Most officials in the court do not believe it. It was sent last year; it hasn't been planted in the capital yet, though I hear it is being grown in Yuegang." Zhang Hong did not really believe it—twenty-plus shi per year, with a shi being 120 catties, meant over two thousand catties per mu. Who would believe that?

Zhang Hong paused and added, "Also sent along were sweet potatoes, brought by merchant ships from Luzon. I haven't had a chance to prepare those yet."

"Very well, do not prepare them," Zhu Yijun said, looking at the Empress Dowager. "The Maritime Customs Office?"

Seeing the confusion in the young Emperor’s eyes, the Empress Dowager said with satisfaction, "In the 30th year of Jiajing, when Japanese pirates raided Fujian, the Jinghai Hall was established at Yuegang. Later, twenty-four pirate leaders, including Xie Lao and Zhang Wei, were suppressed."

"In the 42nd year of Jiajing, Tan Lun, the current Minister of War, who was then the Governor of Fujian, renamed the Yuegang Jinghai Hall as the Coastal Defense Hall. Last year, the Coastal Defense Hall was moved from the Chenghai county seat to the port and renamed the Maritime Customs Office."

"The Maritime Customs Office oversees maritime duties and collects taxes—taking six out of every hundred, converted to silver, and shipped to the capital."

Empress Dowager Li spoke with great familiarity, and the potato slices suddenly tasted better. Previously, when the boy was poor at his studies and uninterested in state affairs, the Empress Dowager would tell him things, but he would be impatient. Today, he had asked of his own accord.

Zhu Yijun understood what the Maritime Customs Office was: effectively a customs house responsible for tax collection.

Empress Dowager Li continued, "Luo Gongchen is a scholar, though he passed the provincial examinations but failed the metropolitan ones."

"When the Japanese pirates caused chaos in the southeast, thousands of miles of coastline were in emergency. The smoke of war was everywhere, and the court was shaken. Luo Gongchen organized the military and civilians to resist. He managed to stand against formidable enemies with an isolated force. Later, when the pirates invaded Songjiang Prefecture, Luo Gongchen led his men on a night march to reinforce the city. He was promoted from a Surveillance Commissioner of Zhejiang to Assistant Prefect of Coastal Defense."

Luo Gongchen, a mere scholar, had achieved repeated military success in the anti-pirate campaign. At a time when the pirates were fierce, this scholar who took up the sword to fight them became quite famous. Indeed, the gap between scholars can be vast.

"He returned to the capital last year to report on his duties and met with many people, but the things he wanted to accomplish were never realized," Empress Dowager Li said, losing her appetite. She set down her chopsticks, her face filled with worry.

The struggle to open the seas in the southeast and establish Yuegang was fraught with peril. No matter how good Luo Gongchen’s intentions were, without support in the court, his efforts were in vain.

Luo Gongchen had first been introduced by his former superior, Tan Lun, to the residence of Yang Bo, the Minister of Personnel. Because Tan Lun had taken leave to mourn his parents and was reinstated through Yang Bo’s recommendation, he owed a great debt of gratitude—an immense obligation in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty. Tan Lun, thinking Luo Gongchen’s ideas were sound, introduced him to Yang Bo.

Why did the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel impeach Tan Lun? Because Tan Lun was part of the Zhejiang faction, a comrade-in-arms of Qi Jiguang, and influenced by those like Qi Jiguang and Liang Menglong, Tan Lun had become too close to Zhang Juzheng. Yang Bo, as the leader of the Jin faction, was already angry at Tan Lun for "returning evil for good," so he slammed the door in Luo Gongchen’s face and refused to even accept his calling card.

Luo Gongchen then used his connections with Qi Jiguang to get an introduction to Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng, hearing Luo Gongchen’s ideas, approved of them and signed his memorial, sending it to the Office of Transmission. However, after the Cabinet drafted the response, it failed to pass in two court debates. Eventually, Luo Gongchen’s time in the capital expired, and he had to return to Yuegang in Fujian to wait for news.

These potatoes and sweet potatoes were the gifts Luo Gongchen had brought to the capital at that time. There were some in the palace, and some at Zhang Juzheng’s All-Chu Guild Hall. Ideally, Yang Bo should have received some too, but because he refused to see Luo Gongchen, he did not. In the first year of Wanli, potatoes were still a rare item in the capital, though they had been introduced to the south during the Jiajing era.

"Why did this Assistant Prefect of Coastal Defense, Luo Gongchen, come to the capital?" Zhu Yijun searched his memory, but found nothing relevant. The Wanli Emperor had never liked administrative affairs, and with the Empress Dowager’s strict upbringing, he had developed a rebellious streak, remaining indifferent to state affairs, letting everything go in one ear and out the other.

Empress Dowager Li leaned back in her chair, slightly vexed, and said, "Luo Gongchen wanted to collect taxes—specifically, to impose and collect taxes on foreign trading ships, a six-percent levy on the foreign ships of the 'Red-Haired Barbarians'."

"Foreign ships? Luo Gongchen wanted to tax foreign ships?"

Empress Dowager Li said quite firmly, "Yes, foreign ships."

"The Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate opposed the tax increase, and his reasons were considered sufficient."

"Ge Shouli said: 'The state’s tax regulations are established. In places where trade is concentrated, we have established customs barriers; in each prefecture, we have tax offices responsible for collecting tax silver. The law is detailed and complete, leaving no room for leakage or non-collection. Taxes are already heavy; to suddenly increase them now is to contend with the people for profit.'"

"The Minister of Rites, Lu Shusheng, also opposed it, saying it violated the laws of the ancestors. For two hundred years, it has not been changed. Opening the seas to establish Yuegang for trade was already a violation of ancestral law; must we continue to violate it?"

"The Ministry of Rites also argued that the 'Great and Small Frangistan' (the Portuguese and Dutch) Red-Haired Barbarians cannot even learn proper etiquette; they kneel awkwardly, which is a loss of decorum. If we tax foreign ships, it violates the 'Doctrine of the Mean,' which speaks of 'cherishing men from afar' among the nine rules for governing the world, and it also defies the ancestral laws, potentially sparking another Japanese pirate crisis."

"The matter was thus dropped."

"However, Senior Grand Secretary Zhang still intends to push for it; he kept Luo Gongchen’s memorial and told him to wait for news."

Empress Dowager Li had only read the *Instructions for Women*, so reading such flowery memorials was difficult for her. Feng Bao, however, was literate, which was one reason she had trusted him so much.

Luo Gongchen had first approached Yang Bo, who rejected him. Zhang Juzheng, however, had a better temperament, and out of respect for Qi Jiguang, he let the man into the All-Chu Guild Hall and even signed and stamped Luo Gongchen’s memorial.

What kind of man was Zhang Juzheng? Whether they liked or hated him, most acknowledged he was a man of great talent. It was also known to all under heaven that Zhang Juzheng was a man who held a grudge. Luo Gongchen wanted to tax foreign ships, and the Minister of Rites and the Censor-in-Chief opposed it; Zhang Juzheng was all the more determined to push it through. This was a matter of authority.

As Senior Grand Secretary, Zhang Juzheng had been in power for only a few months. Taxing foreign ships did not affect the interests of the ministers in the court. Even if only to establish his authority, Zhang Juzheng would push the matter through. And Lu Shusheng, the Minister of Rites, had been recommended for his position by Zhang Juzheng himself; yet, before he had even settled into his chair, he began citing ritual and law to oppose Zhang Juzheng’s orders.

If one were to ask for Zhu Yijun’s stance on taxing foreign ships? Did it even need discussion? Collect it! Absolutely collect it! A customs office that doesn't collect taxes—is that reasonable? Is it?! One must know that the taxes collected at Yuegang would go partly to the national treasury and partly to the Emperor’s private treasury. That was his money!

Whoever stood in the way would be branded with the crime of colluding with foreigners and sent to the Yongning Temple at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River to chisel ice and catch fish.

"Mother, I want to try planting these potatoes and sweet potatoes," Zhu Yijun said after finishing his meal in silence, his tone quite serious.

Empress Dowager Li looked at the young Emperor in disbelief, stunned, and asked, "The Emperor says he wants to farm? Is this to understand the hardships of agriculture? Just have Senior Grand Secretary Zhang arrange it."

Zhu Yijun shook his head. "It is not to observe agricultural hardships, nor to perform sacrifices to the spring god Jumang. It is to actually farm—to dig pits, bury seeds, water, and fertilize. To personally engage in agriculture."

"Wait, you mean you want to work the fields yourself?" Empress Dowager Li was torn between laughter and distress. It was one thing that her son had not been studying, but now he wanted to personally engage in farm work? Was that a task for an Emperor? It was truly neglecting his proper duties.

"Yes!" Zhu Yijun said firmly. "I will plant these potatoes."

Setting aside the tax issue for now—he was not yet ruling personally, so he could let Zhang Juzheng charge into the fray. But these potatoes must be planted. The people depend on food for their lives, and food is a matter greater than heaven itself.

What is food? Food is the foundation of an indestructible imperial power.