RPAGF Chapter 042 Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot
Chapter 042 Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot
Chapter 042
Chen Ying was also a man with a temper. He couldn't afford to offend Wei Zhongxian and Xu Xianchun, so he just smiled and begged them to stop. But who did Chen Wanyan think he was, daring to push his luck?
Do you really think Chen Ying is easy to bully?
"you!"
Chen Wanyan was furious that Chen Boying, a mere military man, would dare to contradict him so directly: "What right do you, a mere military man, have to run a school? Does your school have even a trace of the demeanor of a scholar? There is no distinction between superiors and inferiors, no order between elders and juniors..."
"none of your business?"
Chen Ying scoffed, "Who says a thousand-household garrison can't run schools? As early as the first year of the Hongwu reign, Emperor Taizu issued an edict allowing garrisons to run schools. In the first year of the Zhengtong reign, the court issued an edict that garrisons should universally establish garrison schools to stabilize morale. During the Chenghua reign, a system was established that garrisons with four or more guards could have eighty military students (equivalent to prefectural schools). A single garrison could have a total of about forty students, including those with stipends, additional students, and students in both civil and military fields. Although my Shahe Garrison is a thousand-household garrison, it belongs to the Central Military Commission and is equivalent to a guard. According to the system, it can establish forty students, including those with stipends, additional students, and students in both civil and military fields, which is equivalent to a county school!"
Chen Ying had done his homework on this; he wanted to use this opportunity to his advantage, so he naturally needed to be familiar with the Ming Dynasty's system.
"With His Highness Prince Xin here, how can you be so indulgent? Furthermore, what are you teaching here? If His Highness neglects his studies, can you bear the responsibility?"
Chen Ying understood. Chen Wanyan was worried that he would take away the right to educate Prince Xin. Did that mean that Prince Xin was now the emperor in the making?
Considering the history of the Tianqi Emperor, whose three sons all died young—first in the Tianqi Explosion, then by drowning—it's hard not to suspect a conspiracy.
Prince Xin, Zhu Youjian, ascended the throne hastily. Before becoming emperor, he had not received any training on how to be an emperor. Emperor Tianqi, on the other hand, was born as the crown prince. Although he served as crown prince for a very short time, he was a grandson of the emperor from a young age and received orthodox training.
The fact that Emperor Tianqi used Wei Zhongxian to check and balance the Donglin Party shows that Zhu Youxiao was not fooled by the Donglin Party from the beginning. In fact, the Donglin Party had done a great favor for Zhu Youxiao. As early as the succession struggle, Emperor Wanli favored Prince Fu Zhu Changxun, the son of Consort Zheng, and wanted to depose Crown Prince Zhu Changluo.
Because the Donglin Party fought against Wanli for more than ten years, they finally pushed Zhu Changluo to the throne despite the pressure. After Zhu Changluo's death, they then supported Zhu Youxiao as emperor.
Zhu Youxiao first used Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe to check and balance the Donglin Party, and then used Wei Zhongxian to suppress the Donglin Party. It can be said that Zhu Youxiao never believed the Donglin Party's lies for even a single day.
But the problem is, what about Zhu Youjian? He was just tricked into attacking Wei Zhongxian. With a new emperor comes a new court. It's not wrong for Zhu Youjian to deal with Wei Zhongxian, but the problem is that he spent six years purging the eunuch faction, and he didn't distinguish right from wrong. Anyone who had been suppressed by Wei Zhongxian was given important positions.
However, the crux of the matter is that although Wei Zhongxian fabricated many unjust cases, these were merely procedural injustices. Almost none of the people Wei Zhongxian killed were innocent; even the Six Gentlemen of the Donglin Party were merely stubborn individuals.
The Donglin Party represented the interests of the landlords and gentry in Jiangnan and opposed mining and commercial taxes. So the question is, shouldn't the Ming Dynasty collect commercial taxes? Those salt merchants were richer than the country, but they paid less than 600,000 taels of silver in taxes every year. Instead, they kept shifting the tax burden onto the farmers. For the sake of reputation, they advocated for light taxes, but the problem is, without tax revenue, how can the court operate?
The imperial court was essentially a department that spent money. Officials needed money, local schools needed money, bridges and roads needed to be built, cities needed to be repaired, ditches needed to be dredged, and disaster relief needed to be provided. None of these things required money.
More importantly, the collapse of Liaodong led to a sharp decline in national fiscal revenue, yet they were powerless to resolve the border defense crisis. Instead, they resorted to empty talk and misleading pedantic scholars who were in high positions.
Chen Ying seemed to have grasped a thread of the problem. Could this be a roundabout tactic?
Wei Zhongxian was a typical short-sighted person who only cared about the immediate situation and not the long-term consequences. They had already begun plotting against Zhu Youjian.
Chen Ying suddenly smiled: "Scholar Chen, may I ask, in the main hall, has His Highness Prince Xin ever taken the initiative to discuss scholarship and explore issues with his classmates? Has he ever had in-depth exchanges with them?"
Chen Wanyan knew very well what Zhu Youjian was like in the Grand Hall. He naturally knew that Zhu was mostly taciturn, answering only questions briefly, and listless. Zhu Youjian was the only student in the Grand Hall; where did he get any classmates?
Before he could answer, Chen Ying continued, "Confucius said, 'Education should be provided to all, regardless of social class.' But the sage didn't say that the sons of military households shouldn't attend school, did he? Shouldn't you reflect on this? Memorizing books and turning people into wooden blocks is not the true meaning of education, much less the sage's intention. As a disciple of Confucianism and a Jinshi (successful candidate in the imperial examination) of this dynasty, don't you even understand this basic principle?"
"Scholar Chen, whether you mislead students or not is not judged by whether you appear quiet and well-mannered, but by whether you can truly teach your students something, help them understand principles, develop skills, and improve their physical and mental health."
Chen Wanyan was speechless for a long time after hearing these words. He was proud of his extensive knowledge and upright character. He had never been taught like this by a military officer.
"This is sophistry! This is fallacy and heresy! I will certainly report this to His Majesty and have you impeached for disrespecting education and misleading a prince!"
"Oh, is this Scholar Chen's skill? The more you argue, the clearer things become. You can't argue with me, so you start throwing accusations around?"
Chen Ying scoffed, "Scholar Chen, please submit your memorial. His Majesty will make his own judgment on right and wrong. However… Scholar Chen, Prince Xin skips classes at the Grand Hall but willingly comes to study at my Shahe Academy. Shouldn't you reflect on this? You, a dignified Hanlin Academy Reader, are not even as well-taught as those at our Shahe Academy. You have quite the nerve. Who is truly misleading the students?"
"you……"
Chen Wanyan was so angry he almost fell over.
Chen Ying said no more and turned to leave.
Song Xianze asked, puzzled, "Brother-in-law, how did you offend...?"
"That old man deserves a scolding!"
Chen Ying turned around and laughed, "Have you forgotten? I'm a member of the eunuch faction now. If a member of the eunuch faction isn't hated, is he still a member of the eunuch faction?"
"But what if... Eunuch Wei?"
Chen Ying sighed and said, "That's actually perfect. I have no direct conflict of interest with Eunuch Wei. He can take his power, I can make my money, and I'll give him a share of what I've made. What's there for him to be unhappy about?"
Chen Wanyan was furious and decided to return to the capital immediately to file a complaint.
Chen Ying also packed his things and said, "Let's go to the capital!"
"Bo Ying...did I get into trouble?"
Zhu Youjian was a little scared.
"What are you afraid of? This has nothing to do with you!"
……
The West Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City.
Emperor Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao, was bending over in front of a half-finished pavilion model, carefully polishing a corner of the eaves with a small file, his expression as focused as if he were carving a timeless jade disc.
Wang Tiqian tiptoed in and whispered, "Your Majesty, Chen Boying, the commander of the Shahe Garrison, has submitted a plaque outside the palace gate requesting an audience, saying that he has some newly made military equipment to present to Your Majesty for inspection."
Zhu Youxiao paused in his actions, then looked up: "Chen Boying? He's arrived at the perfect time. Summon him. Let Wei Banban come and take a look too..."
"This servant obeys the decree!"
Before long, Chen Ying entered the warm pavilion, led by a palace attendant. He carried a long, narrow wooden box in his hands: "Your subject Chen Ying, the commander of the Shahe Garrison, pays his respects to Your Majesty."
"Rise."
Zhu Youxiao put down his tools and dusted off the sawdust from his hands: "What new and interesting thing has Chen Qing come up with this time? Is it related to that plate armor?"
"Your Majesty, this item was made by Huang Yongxiang, a craftsman from the Ordnance Bureau!"
Chen Ying was not lying. He issued a reward system in various bureaus, which attracted a large number of craftsmen to start developing new equipment. After all, this was a system that could earn generous rewards. If successful, they could not only be rewarded with a house, but also with land. This got the craftsmen thinking.
Chen Ying also knew that he was not omnipotent. There were many things he had only seen or knew the principles of, but it would be very difficult to create them.
This product was not actually Chen Ying's original creation, but rather invented by Huang Yongxiang. The reason for the invention was that Huang Yongxiang's brother-in-law was a musketeer in the Liaodong Army. He died in battle in Liaodong three years ago, and his sister also died of grief.
He knew that when his brother-in-law died, the Jurchens rushed in front of him and hacked him to death along with countless musketeers. He thought that if there had been a weapon, his brother-in-law would not have been hacked to death, and at least he would have had a chance to fight back.
However, when Chen Ying saw the musket, he realized that modern musketeers needed bayonets even more than infantrymen in later generations. After all, modern musketeers fired lead bullets at a slower speed, and they would be at a great disadvantage if the enemy got close.
However, the problem was that the caliber of the muskets in the Ming Dynasty was not standardized. As a last resort, he made some improvements to the bayonet, which was directly attached to the barrel of the musket, just like the broadsword in the Song Dynasty.
The bayonet has a tapering tube at the rear, with an outer diameter ranging from 30 millimeters to 10 millimeters. To increase the bayonet's lethality, Chen Ying also lengthened the blade, making the entire blade over two feet long, with an eight-inch handle, similar to a regular waist knife.
"This is a musket; it may alleviate some of the close-combat difficulties faced by our musketeers."
Chen Ying opened the wooden box and took out a strangely shaped weapon with both hands. The front part was a three-edged spearhead nearly two feet long, with a cold gleam and three deep blood grooves. The rear part was a cylindrical handle about eight inches long, hollow, slightly thick at the opening and gradually tapering inward.
Zhu Youxiao took it: "This is... used to attach to a musket?"
"Your Majesty is wise! I have observed that musketeers can only fire one or two shots in battle, and are helpless when the enemy suddenly attacks. The craftsman Huang Yongxiang has invented a slide bayonet. When in use, one only needs to slide this slide onto the muzzle, and the musket instantly becomes a short spear. The three-edged design penetrates deep into armor, making the wound difficult to heal. The blood groove can dissipate force and also makes it easy to pull out. The inner diameter of the slide gradually tapers from three-tenths of an inch to one inch (Note: one-tenth of an inch in the Ming Dynasty was about 3.2 mm, and one inch was about 32 mm). It can be used with eight or nine out of ten calibers of muskets used by the Beijing Garrison and border towns."
Zhu Youxiao examined the bayonet repeatedly, then demonstrated a few thrusting motions: "Excellent! This way, musketeers can also defend themselves and counterattack. Minister Chen, how much does this weapon cost?"
"Your Majesty, if it is forged from wrought iron and quenched with fine craftsmanship, each one, including the workmanship and materials, would cost approximately one tael and five mace of silver."
The bayonet improved by Chen Ying weighed one pound and five ounces, and the material cost was eighteen coins. Even with the charcoal and the craftsmen's wages, the cost was only seven coins, leaving a net profit of eight coins.
"One and a half taels? Commander Chen, that price... isn't expensive at all. A good ordinary waist knife would cost two or three taels of silver."
"Your Majesty is wise. This item uses few materials and has a relatively simple production process, so the cost can be kept low. If Your Majesty grants permission, my workshop will work at full capacity to produce six thousand pieces in ten days."
"Wei Banban, you've come at the right time, take a look at this..."
Upon hearing Zhu Youxiao's introduction, Wei Zhongxian ordered, "Send a squad of musketeers over!"
"Yes, sir!"
Before long, a dozen or so musketeers lined up and arrived. Wei Zhongxian said, "Load the muskets and give it a try!"
A member of the Imperial Guard stepped forward, took the musket, attached it, and thrust it at a shield.
"Pfft..."
The iron shield was pierced instantly, and when armor was put on the puppet, the result was even more astonishing: it pierced through two layers of iron armor effortlessly.
Seeing such results, Zhu Youxiao was already tempted.
With the Liaodong war at a stalemate and military expenditures enormous, any equipment that could enhance combat effectiveness while saving costs was extremely attractive to him.
He immediately said, "Very well! Then manufacture ten thousand...twenty thousand of them and send them quickly to Grand Secretary Sun in Liaodong, instructing him to distribute them to the battalion commanders under his command who are skilled in firearms for trial use, to see how effective they are in actual combat!"
Although the Ming Dynasty's muskets often exploded, the Ming Dynasty still had quite a few muskets in its arsenal. The main reason was that muskets were expensive to manufacture, so money could be made from them. If it were to manufacture spears or waist knives, how much money could be made from them?
"Your subject obeys the decree!"
Chen Ying was certain that the deal was done.
Twenty thousand bayonets, each worth eight coins of silver, that's sixteen thousand taels of silver. If you give another six thousand taels of silver to Wei Zhongxian, he'll dare to equip all the troops in the nine border regions with bayonets.
If a Ming musketeer were to be charged at by a Jurchen, he could simply attach his bayonet and turn it into a short spear, and could pierce the heart of any soldier, whether they were in red armor or white armor.
Just then, another eunuch came to report that Academician Chen Wanyan urgently requested an audience, as he had important matters to report.
Wei Zhongxian raised an eyebrow and looked at Chen Ying. He naturally knew that Chen Ying had clashed with Chen Wanyan. Six of the eunuchs around Cao Huachun were Wei Zhongxian's men. It could be said that if he wanted, he would know even what time Zhu Youjian urinated.
However, what pleased Wei Zhongxian was that Chen Ying appeared calm and composed, as if he knew nothing about it.
Zhu Youxiao frowned: "Summon them."
Chen Wanyan strode in: "Your Majesty! Prince Xin is of noble birth, the foundation of the nation. How can he continue to mingle among the sons of soldiers and artisans, learning miscellaneous subjects without understanding the classics, and engaging in the frivolous behavior of common children? Chen Boying's actions not only overstep the bounds of the Imperial Academy but also mislead the Prince and shake the foundation of the nation! I implore Your Majesty to severely reprimand him, order Prince Xin to immediately return to the Imperial Academy to study, and punish Chen Boying for his reckless actions..."
The warm pavilion fell silent for a moment.
Zhu Youxiao remained silent. Wei Zhongxian lowered his eyelids, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Chen Ying bowed calmly to Zhu Youxiao: "Your Majesty, I cannot agree with what Scholar Chen has said. His Highness Prince Xin is studying and practicing martial arts at Shahe Academy, and is friendly with his classmates. Recently, he has felt that he has made great progress, and his spirit and physique are better than before. The teachers at the academy are all loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and they uphold the principles of filial piety, brotherly love, and diligence in farming. There is absolutely no dissenting opinion. Moreover, the establishment of schools in the garrison is an old system established by Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu. I am running the school in accordance with the system. How could I be overstepping my bounds? As for His Highness's studies, I believe that the essence of learning lies in understanding principles and applying them, rather than memorizing verses. His Highness Prince Xin is able to take the initiative to learn and enjoy it. Isn't that a good thing? If Your Majesty and Scholar Chen are still not at ease, you can regularly test His Highness's studies and then you will know the truth of what I have said."
Zhu Youxiao said, "Master Chen's loyalty is commendable. However... Prince Xin has indeed been more lively than before. A few days ago, I tested him on a passage from Mencius, and he was able to relate it to the hardships of the soldiers on the border, which surprised me. Shahe Academy, perhaps... is indeed somewhat different."
Chen Wanyan was struck dumb, staring at the Tianqi Emperor in disbelief.
Zhu Youxiao continued, "Alright then, since Prince Xin wishes to go to Shahe, let him go. His studies at Dabentang... shouldn't fall behind; he only needs to attend for two days every ten days. If Master Chen is truly worried, he can occasionally visit Shahe. If he doesn't trust Shahe Academy, please have Master Chen personally serve as the headmaster of Shahe Academy and teach the students there..."
"Holy crap..."
Chen Yingchong secretly gave Emperor Tianqi a thumbs up: "You really know how to play tricks!"