Hongwu Year 31, the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Mid-Autumn Festival.
Court was normally held on the fifteenth, but Zhu Yunwen felt that the Mid-Autumn Festival should be spent with family. He issued a decree postponing court by one day, to the sixteenth, and arranged for officials to return home for their reunions once they had dealt with confidential and important matters that morning.
The inner palace was festooned with lanterns and decorations. Palace maids and eunuchs also received mooncakes and other gifts to celebrate Mid-Autumn with the emperor and his consort.
Ma Enhui had been busy since early morning, directing the inner palace officials to prepare the family banquet.
Zhu Yunwen had wanted to sleep a little longer, but Ma Enhui roused him and called the palace maids over to dress him in his court robes, saying he had to receive congratulations in the Hall of Glorious Canopy and the Hall of Heavenly Mandate.
Red tape and ritual.
Zhu Yunwen disliked it, but he had no choice but to accept these ceremonies. Great Ming ruled the realm, and this system of etiquette played a crucial role.
The collapse of rites and the decay of ceremonial music heralded a nation's downfall.
Order at court, official ranks, speech, and conduct were all bound up with etiquette.
What clothes to wear, what belt to pair with them, how to address the living, how to weep and wail for the dead-there were prescribed rites for all of it.
A mistake would not earn merely a disapproving look or a word of reproach. It could very well lead to impeachment, with punishments ranging from docked pay to dismissal and beheading.
Living in ancient times, he naturally had to follow ancient etiquette. He could not shock the world too much. Shouting about the liberation of human nature and the freedom to dress as one pleased would get him cursed to death...
The Hall of Glorious Canopy.
Ma Enhui led Zhu Yunwen's younger brothers, Zhu Yuntong, Zhu Yunji, and Zhu Yunxi, along with all the attendants and officials of the inner palace, in kneeling to pay their respects to him.
"On this festive day of golden autumn, we offer congratulations to Your Majesty and to Great Ming. May Your Majesty enjoy robust health, and may Great Ming enjoy peace and its people prosperity."
Ma Enhui bowed respectfully.
Zhu Yunwen accepted everyone's congratulations, stepped forward to help Ma Enhui up, and motioned for the others to rise. Then he said, "Today is Mid-Autumn. We, too, hope that all of you will join your strength and unite your hearts, adding bricks and tiles to build a flourishing age for our Great Ming."
Everyone was heartened and declared that they would never disappoint the emperor's great expectations.
"What is this?"
After dismissing everyone, Zhu Yunwen noticed a document on the table and could not help asking.
Ma Enhui smiled. "Your Majesty, these are the gifts from your princely uncles. There is also a guest list for the family banquet, awaiting your approval."
Zhu Yunwen picked up the memorial and opened it. He immediately smiled.
Among his uncles' offerings, those from the Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, and the Prince of Liao, Zhu Zhi, were the most lavish. Looking at the densely packed records, he could tell without being told that both men had dug deep into their coffers.
Zhu Yunwen could understand why Zhu Di had sent such lavish gifts.
After all, a whole series of measures had been directed at Zhu Di. He was under pressure, and it was only natural that he would use this means to express his loyalty and willingness to submit.
But the Prince of Liao, Zhu Zhi, sending lavish gifts as well was rather unexpected.
Still, benefits were always welcome. Training the new army required vast amounts of money and grain. Although disbanding a hundred thousand troops had saved some expenses, savings alone were nowhere near enough to support the new army.
The key was finding new sources of revenue. These gifts were quite good. He could keep some in reserve and sell the rest for another stream of income.
"You may decide the banquet guest list yourself."
Zhu Yunwen went to pay his respects to Empress Dowager Lü, exchanged a few words with her, and left.
That evening, Zhu Yunwen hosted a family banquet in the Hall of Self-Reflection, entertaining his uncles, imperial sons-in-law, brothers, and other relatives in celebration of Mid-Autumn.
Zhu Yunwen arrived to ceremonial music. After taking his seat, he motioned for everyone to rise and said, "This is a Mid-Autumn family banquet. You are all our family. Please rise."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Everyone rose.
"We offer congratulations to Your Majesty. Beneath the bright Mid-Autumn moon, may all the people enjoy peace and well-being. May Great Ming flourish in letters and arms, its prestige reaching across the four seas. May Your Majesty enjoy robust health, and may all your endeavors proceed smoothly."
As the foremost of the vassal princes, Zhu Di led everyone in offering their congratulations.
Smiling, Zhu Yunwen again told everyone to rise before they took their seats.
"Since our accession, this is the first family banquet we have held for our uncles and brothers. Though Mid-Autumn is a time of reunion for family and country, the mourning period has ended, and our uncles must once again leave the Capital for their fiefs along the frontier. We find it terribly hard to part with you."
Zhu Yunwen spoke with sincere emotion.
Zhu Di, the Prince of Ning, and the others were suddenly startled. From the sound of Zhu Yunwen's words, did he not want them to return to their fiefs?
The Prince of Liao, Zhu Zhi, looked at Zhu Yunwen, his eyes shifting as he said, "Your Majesty's concern springs from the most natural human feelings. I have a thought, though I do not know whether I should mention it."
Zhu Zhi, the fifteenth son of the Ming founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, had been enfeoffed as the Prince of Liao and established his princely seat in Guangning-Guangning Prefecture near Mount Yiwulü in Liaoning, which would become Beizhen City in later generations.
Looking at Zhu Zhi, who was only twenty-one and about his own age, Zhu Yunwen smiled. "What can you not say at a family banquet? Speak."
"Your Majesty, the winter winds in Guangning are bitterly cold. They pierce the bones and burrow into the heart, and the winters drag on endlessly. I truly do not wish to remain in Guangning. I beg Your Majesty to grant me a different fief..."
Zhu Zhi really was not joking.
Liaodong's winters froze heaven and earth. Those bitter days were genuinely hard to endure.
He had been born in Nanjing, yet before he had enjoyed enough of Jiangnan's beautiful scenery, he had been sent off at fifteen or sixteen to a frigid region unfit for habitation.
Commanding tens of thousands of troops at such a young age was certainly glorious, but glory could not fill his belly.
Whenever a military dispatch arrived, he had to crawl out shivering like a dog. Sometimes he could not even get a peaceful night's sleep. After all these miserable years, there was no telling how deeply he missed life in the Capital.
With his father Zhu Yuanzhang gone, he had returned to the Capital for the funeral. The stark contrast in living conditions had left Zhu Zhi utterly sick of Liaodong. He had made up his mind: even if the emperor ordered him back to his fief, he would feign illness and stay.
"Uncle, you are the stone that anchors Liaodong, Great Ming's pillar there. The founding emperor personally appointed you. How could we change that...?"
Zhu Yunwen feigned reluctance.
No wonder Zhu Zhi had sent such lavish gifts. He had been hoping to slip through the back door. A clever fellow indeed.
Zhu Zhi hurriedly poured out his grievances, recounting the hardships of life in Liaodong. Finally, he steeled himself and pinched his thigh hard. Casting etiquette aside, he pointed at it and said that this was frostbite from the winter. If he went back again, he feared he would leave that leg behind.
Everyone took a look. It was plainly a purple bruise. How did that resemble frostbite? Even if you're going to fake it, at least put some effort into it! Besides, you've been darting all over the Capital these past few months. Who doesn't know your legs work perfectly well?
Had it not been for the strict mourning period, he would have stirred up plenty of trouble already.
Seeing the earnest look in Zhu Zhi's eyes, Zhu Yunwen sighed. "Since that is the case, Uncle, remain in the Capital for now and recuperate. As for your fief, we shall change it to Songjiang Prefecture."
Songjiang Prefecture!
The vassal princes were suddenly stunned.
Songjiang Prefecture had fertile soil and abundant produce, flourishing like billowing clouds and glowing rosy skies. Throughout successive dynasties, it had been an important source of revenue.
As early as the Yuan Dynasty, it had enjoyed a reputation as a "land of fish and rice."
The Ming Dynasty placed even greater importance on Songjiang. According to figures from Hongwu Year 24, Songjiang Prefecture had over forty-seven thousand qing of farmland and paid 1.4 million shi in land taxes. Though those figures resulted from heavy taxation, they also demonstrated how abundantly Songjiang produced!
With cotton and mulberry cultivation, successive rice and wheat crops, and the development of coastal mudflats, it possessed deep resources and thriving commerce. Suzhou lay a short distance to the west, Hangzhou to the southwest, and the Capital, Nanjing, was only eight hundred li away!
The emperor had actually granted such a prosperous, important region to the Prince of Liao, Zhu Zhi!
Zhu Zhi felt as though none of it were real. Only after pinching himself did he realize he was not dreaming. He hurriedly knelt in gratitude. "Thank you for your heavenly grace, Your Majesty!"
Most of the vassal princes looked at the overjoyed Zhu Zhi with envy.
But for the Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, the Prince of Ning, Zhu Quan, and others, it was terrifying.
If Zhu Yunwen followed the example of Emperor Taizu of Song, who had "released his generals from military command over a cup of wine," and staged his own trick of "changing fiefs at a family banquet," should they agree or refuse?
If they agreed, they would not even need to return to their fiefs!
They would simply hand over their military authority and move south!
If they refused, the emperor would think, What do you mean by this? You don't want to be close to me and stay here to keep me company? You don't want to enjoy wealth and honor in peace, but insist on wielding blades and bows instead?
Seeing Zhu Zhi reap the benefits, the Prince of Min, Zhu Geng, remembered his days swallowing sand in Gansu and suffering in the wilds of Yunnan. He was only twenty, yet he had already endured every hardship. Now that he had a chance to end it all, how could he fail to seize it?
Who knew where he had found a slice of ginger, but Zhu Geng secretly rubbed it over his eyes. Tears streamed down his face as he cried, "Your Majesty, I want a different fief too..."
Zhu Yunwen refused, saying that Yunnan could not do without the Prince of Min.
Zhu Geng kept crying. No matter what, he did not want to stay in Yunnan anymore. For the sake of happiness in the latter half of his life, he would endure the embarrassment.
Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty was not the Yunnan of later generations, where blossoms flew through every corner of the springlike cities and people traveled with fistfuls of cash to spend.
Quite apart from its backwardness, the indigenous peoples of Yunnan in those days refused to submit to administration. One day they would muster a few elephants for a rebellion; the next, they would grab a few javelins to plunder grain. Killings and the like were commonplace.
Besides, even in the twenty-first century, Yunnan still had many impoverished regions. How much worse must it have been in the early Ming, more than six hundred years earlier!
Zhu Yunwen had truly had enough. He waved a hand and said, "Very well, very well. We grant your request."
Zhu Geng immediately stopped sobbing and hurried to express his gratitude, chuckling with his face still covered in tears. It could not be helped-he had used too much ginger.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the others. Before Zhu Di, Zhu Quan, Zhu Gui, Zhu Yang, or the rest could speak, he said, "The rest of our uncles must not entertain thoughts of changing your fiefs. The Great Ming Empire still needs you to guard its frontiers. Only then can we sleep soundly."
"Your Majesty..." Zhu Quan gritted his teeth and called out, "I do not wish to leave the Capital. I beg Your Majesty's permission to stay."
"Uncle Ning, we have just said that you must not think of changing your fiefs." Zhu Yunwen frowned and spoke sternly. "We need you to protect Great Ming. This is a family banquet, and granting the requests of the Princes of Liao and Min has already left us uneasy. If this continues, what will become of the empire's borders?"
Zhu Quan could only withdraw his request, while Zhu Di and the others felt reassured.
As for the Prince of Qin, Zhu Shangbing, he was merely an eight-year-old child and cared nothing about such matters.
There was also the Prince of Jin, Zhu Jixi. Though he was in his twenties, he was, after all, a second-generation vassal prince.
Their fathers had died early, and neither man held much prestige in the army. Several days earlier, they had already entered the palace hand in hand to seek out the empress dowager, begging her to intervene so they could remain in the Capital.
Since the empress dowager had spoken, Zhu Yunwen naturally agreed. He simply had not announced it publicly.
Thus, three of the northern Nine Frontier Kings were removed: the Prince of Liao, Zhu Zhi; the Prince of Qin, Zhu Shangbing; and the Prince of Jin, Zhu Jixi. Only six frontier kings remained!
These were the truly troublesome men!
As for the Prince of Min in Yunnan, Zhu Geng, he had never posed much of a threat. Changing his fief was merely a matter of going with the flow.
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