While Joseon, transformed into the Great Han Federal Empire, was busily preparing for its next leap forward, Beijing was in daily turmoil.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“It’s been over a year since the war ended and we’re entering the second year! Yet things are still like this! What is going on!”
Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu pounded his desk while shouting.
At the Emperor’s thundering, the ministers, including the Cabinet Supervisor, prostrated themselves and pressed their foreheads to the floor.
“Please forgive our incompetence!”
“If you’re that incompetent, then resign and withdraw! Have you forgotten the dying instructions of the previous emperor? Or have you forgotten the humiliation we suffered at the hands of Joseon, which was merely our vassal state once!”
“How could we forget!”
“Then why are things in this state!”
The ministers could only press their heads to the floor in response to Emperor Jingtai’s rebuke.
After the recent war with Joseon, Ming’s situation was devastating.
The primary cause was the severing of the Grand Canal’s midsection.
Contrary to Joseon’s expectations, when the Grand Canal’s midsection was cut, Ming didn’t become merely half-paralyzed but completely paralyzed.
“Why?”
Alarmed by the situation being more serious than anticipated, the Empire began carefully investigating the causes.
This attention was due to the fact that if chaos in the Central Plains became more severe than expected, its direct impact would significantly affect the Empire as well.
The best example of such damage was the Red Turban Rebellion, one of the main factors that led to Goryeo’s downfall.
The Red Turban invasions during the late Yuan Empire’s two campaigns turned Goryeo’s northern and central regions into chaos.
Combined with wakō raids devastating the southern and central regions, the Goryeo royal court lost its ability to govern effectively, eventually leading to Joseon’s establishment.
“Of course, the situation now is completely different from then, but we must prevent whatever damage we can.”
“Correct. And unlike before, we now control an unexpectedly vast territory, so similar incidents could occur. We must study Ming’s case carefully and establish preventive measures.”
Having reached consensus, Hyang and the ministers employed various means to thoroughly examine the cause-and-effect relationship behind Ming’s current state.
As expected, the biggest cause was the severing of the Grand Canal.
Joseon forces that advanced to Jinan destroyed not only the nearby canal but also all waterways supplying it.
This wasn’t simple destruction – they used explosives to completely destroy locks, water wheels, and important reservoir embankments.
The Yellow River’s characteristics exacerbated the situation.
True to its name, the Yellow River was full of impurities. Even under normal operations, sediment accumulating in the canal required periodic removal.
However, due to Joseon’s invasion followed by wakō raids, canal maintenance had completely ceased. Making matters worse, debris and sediment accumulated heavily among the destroyed facilities, requiring several times more effort to clear.
If this had happened due to natural disaster during normal state operations, restoration wouldn’t have been a major problem. Though it would require more effort, under normal circumstances, it would have been manageable.
However, the war with Joseon and wakō raids made this an nearly impossible challenge.
Many men had been conscripted as soldiers and sent north, and many of those who remained were killed by wakō or died fighting them.
Ming hadn’t simply stood by watching this situation.
Since Emperor Xuande’s time, plans for efficient manpower mobilization had been established.
The problem was the railway. To increase efficiency, railways were made the primary means of transportation. The strategy involved circular railway networks divided into three sections by the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, using the Jing-Hang Grand Canal for rapid concentration and movement of forces.
However, wakō who invaded Ming’s central regions completely destroyed the steel tracks and steam locomotives, shipping them back to Japan.
Though not equal to Joseon-made steel, the quality of steel used in Ming’s railways and steam locomotives was top-grade by Japanese standards. Therefore, the wakō stripped everything – rails, locomotives, and even the nails from railway ties – and shipped them to Japan.
As a result, Ming had to abandon much of the plans established during Emperor Xuande’s reign and return to traditional methods – foot travel.
This wasn’t easy either.
Ming’s north-central regions had been almost completely conscripted for the war with Joseon and to defend against the Oirats in the north.
And except for the central-western region, other central areas had been devastated by wakō.
Most of the workforce for reconstruction had to come from Ming’s southern regions. Though personnel could be quickly gathered thanks to the intact southern railway network, crossing the Yangtze River posed a problem.
They traveled as far north as possible along the severed Jing-Hang Grand Canal, but from there had to travel long distances on foot.
Moving the first mobilization of 100,000 people by foot was no simple task.
Clothing and housing 100,000 people was problematic, but feeding them was the biggest challenge.
Since the Southern Song dynasty, the Jiangnan region of central China had been famous as a granary. The completion of the Jing-Hang Grand Canal during the Yuan Empire and Ming’s Yongle Emperor’s era was specifically to transport Jiangnan’s abundant food supplies northward in bulk.
Emperor Xuande divided the industrial structure between Jiangnan and Jiangbei to maximize the geographical characteristics and the Jing-Hang Grand Canal’s utility.
He strengthened Jiangnan’s traditional agricultural focus while transforming the Beijing area and north-central regions into manufacturing centers.
This wasn’t determined solely by geographical characteristics. Emperor Xuande, who considered the Oirats, Northern Yuan, and even Joseon as potential enemies, gradually transformed Beijing and the north-central regions into industrial zones for rapid military supply and manufacturing competitiveness.
While this had positive effects like improving workforce supply and logistics efficiency, it also had the weakness of depending on Jiangnan for food supplies.
And now, the wakō invasions were making this weakness fatal.
As mentioned earlier, Ming’s Jiangnan region suffered almost no damage from either the war or wakō raids.
The problem was that with the Jing-Hang Grand Canal cut, they had no way to sell their grain.
While grain rotted in Jiangnan farmers’ storehouses, regions north of the Yellow River couldn’t obtain grain even at several times the normal price.
At this point, Imperial merchants approached offering to buy grain.
“Better feed it to pigs than sell to those Joseon bastards!”
While some used it as animal feed or distributed it free to beggars or donated it to temples, many ended up selling to Imperial merchants.
As this situation developed, merchants began appearing who made huge profits by exploiting it.
They would buy grain at depressed prices from Jiangnan farmers and sell it in the northern regions at several times the profit.
This was certainly illegal, and during Emperor Xuande’s time, not only the merchant’s entire family but even their relatives would have been executed.
However, with the Jing-Hang Grand Canal’s severance causing administrative arteriosclerosis, corruption began slowly sprouting again.
Those who accelerated this corruption were the so-called martial artists.
Martial artists who had faced major purges during Emperor Xuande’s time for opposing imperial authority had to live in hiding from the emperor’s eyes.
These martial artists resurfaced due to the wakō raids.
Rising under the banner of “Loyalty, Righteousness, and Chivalry” (忠, 義, 俠), martial artists distinguished themselves in battles against wakō.
Impressed by these martial artists’ achievements, Emperor Jingtai praised them and granted substantial rewards. This encouraged martial artists to emerge everywhere. However, their transformation into interest groups was inevitable.
Martial artists began demanding considerable benefits in the process of protecting workers and goods moving from Jiangnan to Jiangbei.
The areas devastated by wakō raids were overflowing with refugees. With even the administrative network for helping these people destroyed, they soon transformed into bandit groups.
Having lost massive forces to Joseon and needing remaining troops to face the Oirats in the north, Ming needed time to draw up forces for maintaining public security.
To buy this time, Ming reached out to the martial artists.
Merchants were in the same situation.
With the Jing-Hang Grand Canal cut, traditional methods were necessary for commerce between north and south.
This meant either shipping goods by sea or transporting them by cart over land.
However, the land routes were crowded with refugees-turned-bandits, while pirates infested the sea routes.
After Ming’s navy was destroyed in the recent war, coastal routes between north and south became pirates’ regular hunting grounds.
Pirates had little choice – the ocean routes with real money and Joseon waters were patrolled by the Joseon navy, or rather, the Imperial navy, growling threateningly. Rather than becoming fish food upon discovery, targeting coastal merchant ships was safest.
In this situation, merchants had no choice but to rely on martial artists.
And Ming’s public security became even more chaotic.
As massive profits became involved, violent conflicts erupted between martial artist groups. Organizing into orthodox and unorthodox factions, martial artists not only killed rival faction members but began attacking merchant groups protected by opposing factions.
This situation turned what should have been partial paralysis into complete paralysis.
After analyzing the situation, Hwang Hui added these words while reporting to Hyang:
“Though the Jing-Hang Grand Canal being Ming’s artery naturally greatly affects state operations, Ming’s crisis-level condition is difficult to understand.”
Other ministers all nodded at Hwang Hui’s words. After a moment, Hwangbo In offered his thoughts:
“Could it be because they’re a great power? Managing such vast territory cannot be easy.”
Hwang Hui firmly shook his head at Hwangbo In’s words.
“They selected officials specifically to manage that vast territory. It makes no sense.”
Various other suggestions followed, but no plausible explanation emerged.
After listening to the ministers’ words and organizing his thoughts, Hyang spoke:
“It’s because Emperor Xuande is gone. Looking at everything that’s happened in Ming, his hand and intentions touched every aspect. But because he collapsed without properly nurturing successors, this is the result.”
“Your Majesty’s words seem most reasonable.”
Hwang Hui immediately agreed, and all ministers nodded.
The court historian recording all this added a note:
-The historian says: His Majesty’s words are extremely pertinent. The problem is that our Empire must also deeply consider the succession issue…
“Why is the historian typing for so long? Writing another editorial again?”
“N-no, not at all!”