Chapter Fifty-Seven: Also Losing Ha Two

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Yi Shihah

Zhu Qizhen asked, “Eunuch Yi, do you have any suggestions?”

Yi Shihah bowed and replied, “Your servant has a humble idea, and begs Your Majesty to correct me.”

Zhu Qizhen said, “Speak.”

Yi Shihah continued, “Given the current situation, the Jurchen are suffering a terrible drought. If we do nothing, many Jurchen will perish this winter. Therefore, no matter what, the Jurchen will make a decisive move this year. They will cross the Great Wall and plunder the south. Most likely, next year they will send envoys to beg forgiveness and seek pardon.”

Zhu Qizhen understood well enough—these small tribes, so close to Ming, had little choice.

They could not afford to offend Ming, but without offending Ming, where could they find grain? Today, they risked antagonizing Ming so that most of their people could survive.

Then, they would come to beg forgiveness, offering a few heads to appease Ming’s wrath.

According to Ming’s political notions, it would not go so far as to annihilate them completely.

Even if there was punishment, it would still be better than letting most of the tribe starve to death in the winter.

Still, though Zhu Qizhen understood, he could not accept it.

He was the emperor of Ming, not the leader of the three Jurchen Guards. He had to be responsible for the people of Ming.

A cold glint flashed in Zhu Qizhen’s gaze as he said to Yi Shihah, “Don’t tell me that if the Jurchen invade, you are unable to resist?”

Yi Shihah immediately knelt and said, “Your Majesty, please do not be angry. It is not that your servant does not try, but Liaodong’s terrain is complex. The border stretches for a thousand li; nowhere can be guarded everywhere. Many places have no natural defense at all.”

“Yang, the Chief Minister, has already ordered the Ministry of Works to plan for the Liaodong border wall. Once the wall is completed, your servants will ensure the Jurchen dare not take a single step south.”

Zhu Qizhen never imagined that the famed Ming Great Wall of later generations was still unfinished at this time, at least in Liaodong.

He understood the geography of the northeast. Under these circumstances, blocking the Jurchen from raiding south was nearly impossible, unless they launched a preemptive defensive strike against the Jurchen, crippling them in one battle.

Yet, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Zhu Qizhen knew it could not be done.

There were two reasons: first, the Jurchen had not yet raised arms. Though restless, they had not truly confronted Ming. If Ming struck them down merely for the possibility, the hearts of the people in Nurgan would become even more difficult to manage.

Second, there was the opinion of the Grand Empress Dowager.

She had ordered all non-urgent matters to be suspended. Was waging war against the Jurchen an urgent matter? Perhaps to Zhu Qizhen, yes; but to the Grand Empress Dowager, it was not. Even if the Jurchen did not invade, would the Oirat and Tatar not come south? Ming and the Mongols had been adversaries for a lifetime.

Losses at the fringes meant nothing to the Grand Empress Dowager.

Her greatest concern was maintaining stability until Zhu Qizhen was old enough to take the reins of power.

To survive this period of uncertainty with a young ruler.

For the Grand Empress Dowager, whether it was the Oirat, Jurchen, or Tatar, all were too far from Beijing to be a true threat. The real danger always lurked within the palace walls.

All seemed calm, nothing amiss, but who could know if someone was waiting for their opportunity?

Thus, for the Grand Empress Dowager, stability was paramount. So long as the Oirat did not inflict a catastrophic defeat on the Ming army, she would not insist on launching a major campaign.

This was her guiding principle.

“What solution do you propose?” Zhu Qizhen sighed as he thought of the Grand Empress Dowager’s attitude, forced to put aside any notion of striking preemptively.

Yi Shihah secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As a Jurchen himself, he still felt a kindred sympathy toward his people, and said, “In my humble opinion, it would be best to open trade with the Jurchen.”

“Though the Jurchen are beyond the pass, they have ginseng, furs, pearls, and horses. If they are willing to exchange these for grain, your servant believes it would be wise to agree.”

“In this way, the Jianzhou Jurchen would surely be grateful, and would not ally themselves with the Oirat.”

Zhu Qizhen asked, “Have we not traded with the Jurchen tribes before?”

Yi Shihah could only explain.

The Ming court had granted official titles to the tribal leaders outside its borders. Though Ming did not pay them stipends, their seals served as credentials for tributary missions to the central plains.

By Ming’s tradition of generous gifts to foreign envoys, the Jurchen received many rewards.

Yet this practice brought considerable economic strain to the Ming court, forcing it to limit the scale of Jurchen tributes.

Now, the Jurchen wished to obtain large quantities of grain through tribute, which the court would never permit.

Zhu Qizhen asked, “If we open trade, will it resolve the Jurchen tribes’ problems?”

Yi Shihah replied, “Your Majesty, we need not solve all the Jurchen’s troubles. Merely by ordering trade, the Jurchen will lack the courage to challenge the court.”

“Even if there are some reckless ones, the tribes will settle the matter themselves, without troubling the court.”

A spark of inspiration flickered in Zhu Qizhen’s mind. He regarded Yi Shihah with newfound respect.

He had assumed Yi Shihah favored the Jurchen, but now he saw he himself was still too naive.

What was the benefit of helping the Jurchen survive the drought?

Even if Zhu Qizhen opened trade, who would truly benefit? Naturally, those loyal to Ming’s influence. As for the hostile tribes, they would vanish in the reshuffling caused by the drought.

Moreover, Yi Shihah’s approach also addressed Zhu Qizhen’s hidden concern.

If the Jurchen in Liaodong acted as middlemen, selling goods from the central plains exclusively to the Oirat, what then?

After all, priorities must be clearly distinguished. No matter what becomes of Jianzhou Jurchen in the future, Ming’s true enemy now is not Jianzhou Jurchen, but the Oirat.

Jianzhou Jurchen could be allowed a little leeway, but with the Oirat there could be no relaxation.

By Yi Shihah’s intention, he would likely not supply the Jurchen with enough grain to meet all their needs. If he provided just enough to stir discord, even if the Oirat coveted the grain, they would have to fight the Jurchen for it.

Zhu Qizhen would never force Toghon to crush the Jurchen, but Toghon would not be so foolish as to ignore his true enemy, Ada Khan, and instead snatch the Jurchen’s grain.

The more Zhu Qizhen considered it, the more brilliant the plan seemed. Without a single soldier’s effort, it would restrain the Jurchen’s unrest at its inception.

He realized that among the eunuchs, some were truly talented; Yi Shihah before him, if not a eunuch, would make a qualified commander of Liaodong.

Zhu Qizhen ordered, “Attend me. Reward Yi Shihah with forty shi of grain.”

Yi Shihah immediately replied, “Your servant thanks Your Majesty.”

The eunuch salary set by Zhu Yuanzhang was only one shi of grain per month, twelve shi a year, which was worth roughly ten taels of silver—barely enough for subsistence.

Thus, upright eunuchs like Ruan An died with only ten taels of silver to their name, about a year’s wages.

If all eunuchs lived on this alone, they would starve.

Zhu Qizhen knew well that the three eunuchs before him did not rely on their stipends.

Yi Shihah had guarded the frontier in Liaodong for many years, with plenty of ways to secretly make money; as for Jin Ying, Zhu Qizhen recalled the Grand Empress Dowager’s assessment—capable in every way, except that his black eyes could not resist silver.

Emperor Xuanzong had granted Jin Ying a residence and land, more than enough for his needs; he might be the wealthiest of the three.

As for Wang Zhen, his savings had not been much, but since Zhu Qizhen’s accession, his purse had swelled. The money was not with Wang Zhen himself, but in the hands of his nephew Wang Li outside the palace.

This information had come from Jin Ying’s secret reports.

Nevertheless, being rewarded with grain was a mark of honor, a kind of political recognition, at least showing Yi Shihah was esteemed by the emperor, not an ordinary person.

Zhu Qizhen said, “Rise and speak, I have another matter to ask you.”

Yi Shihah replied, “Your Majesty, please ask. Your servant will answer everything without reservation.”

Zhu Qizhen said, “Very well. The abandonment of Daning city—what truly happened, what was the cause and course of events? Tell me in detail.”

This question had weighed on Zhu Qizhen's mind for some time, but he had never found the right person to ask.

Now, though he addressed Yi Shihah, he was also asking Wang Zhen and Jin Ying.