At Emperor Jingtai’s command, all ministers, starting with the Head of the Grand Secretariat, stirred with unease.

“Your… Your Majesty. Did you say relocating the capital?”

The Emperor nodded at the Head of the Grand Secretariat’s question.

“Indeed. Consider when would be best to move the capital to Nanking. In Our opinion, the sooner we move, the better.”

At Emperor Jingtai’s response, the Head of the Grand Secretariat carefully inquired about the reason.

“Though I tremble to ask, might Your Majesty share what prompted this sudden decision to relocate the capital?”

Emperor Jingtai explained his reasoning:

• Consider the adage “When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold”[1]. Beijing now faces the loss of its lips. Therefore, moving to Nanking would benefit national defense.
• Examining the current situation in Jiangnan, though the conflict between traitors claiming to be Emperor Hui and Zhu Wenguei has somewhat sorted itself out through mutual destruction, chaos still remains. With the Grand Canal restored, now is the perfect time to lead the Imperial Army south, eliminate the remaining rebels, and stabilize Jiangnan.

“…Remaining in Beijing makes it difficult to seize this opportunity. Hence, We must relocate to Nanking.”

The Head of the Grand Secretariat and ministers nodded at Emperor Jingtai’s words, finding his reasoning sound.

Ultimately, they bowed deeply and responded:

“We shall obey Your Imperial Command!”

***

After the meeting concluded, the Head of the Grand Secretariat and the Ministers of the Six Ministries gathered in the former’s conference room.

“What are your thoughts on His Majesty’s imperial command?”

The Minister of War spoke first in response to the Head of the Grand Secretariat’s question:

“From a defense perspective, His Majesty’s decision is sound. Looking at Beijing’s current situation, we have the Oirats to the north and Joseon right at our doorstep. In the past, Liaodong served as a buffer zone, but with Liaodong gone, moving to Nanking is the logical choice.”

The Minister of Rites raised an objection to the Minister of War’s response:

“Is not Nanking’s situation similar? We have Joseon to the east across the sea and Japan to the south.”

The Left Commander responded to the Minister of Rites’ observation:

“However, they must cross the sea to threaten Nanking. The sea can be a good passage, but it’s also a formidable barrier.”

“A formidable barrier? What do you mean?”

The Left Commander elaborated in detail to the Minister of Rites’ question:

• The sea cannot be easily ventured without proper preparation.
• The most crucial element of this preparation is the crew. Even for river boats, sailing without skilled boatmen means risking one’s life, and this is far more severe at sea. When preparing for land warfare, even untrained peasants can become minimally useful after 100 days of training. But this is impossible for naval forces.
• This applies not only to sailors but also to warships. Building proper warships requires significant time and money. Thus, losing warships makes replenishment extremely difficult.

“One need only look at our navy’s current situation to understand this.”

The Left Commander’s words caused the Head of the Grand Secretariat and ministers to feel a bitter pain in their hearts.

***

In the recent war, the Ming navy that Emperor Xuande had painstakingly built up was literally shattered. Dozens of large treasure ships, praised as “fortresses of the sea,” were destroyed by a single Black Dragon ship from Joseon, while the supporting large and medium vessels fell to Joseon’s Challenger-class and Sea Response-class warships.

As a result, the Ming navy now struggled even to defend the entrances of major ports.

They were barely managing thanks to Japan’s new king gradually subduing the various daimyo and Joseon’s navy clearing pirates from deep waters.

***

“Given this background, invasion by sea is no simple matter. If we strengthen our defenses by building larger and sturdier artillery batteries at major ports than before, even Joseon won’t easily attempt a naval invasion.”

As the Head of the Grand Secretariat nodded at the Left Commander’s words, he asked the military officials:

“Speaking of which… how progresses the replication of Joseon’s cannons and firearms captured in the recent conflict?”

The Minister of War sighed before answering:

“Whew~ While the replication of cannons and firearms is somewhat on track, the problem lies with the gunpowder. Though we’re pushing the craftsmen, they still haven’t found the answer.”

“Hmm~ Are our craftsmen’s skills so far behind those of Joseon?”

The Minister of War responded with a gloomy expression to the Head of the Grand Secretariat’s question:

“The situation is worse than expected. But what’s even worse is that many craftsmen were killed or abducted by Japanese pirates who swarmed in during the recent conflict. And worst of all… we lack funding. Creating gunpowder or producing quality explosives isn’t possible with just one or two experiments, but budget constraints are holding us back.”

“Oh my…”

“Haah~”

All the ministers, including the Head of the Grand Secretariat, heaved long sighs at the Minister of War’s response.

Taking a sip from his teacup to wet his throat, the Minister of War continued:

“I believe relocating the capital is our best option to overcome the current situation, now that the Grand Canal has reopened and the Imperial Army can return to Jiangnan. We must stabilize Jiangnan and restore normal tax collection as soon as possible. Otherwise, catching up to those Joseon fellows who keep boasting about being an empire will only become increasingly difficult.”

The Head of the Grand Secretariat shook his head at the Minister of War’s words:

“True, but relocating the capital is no simple matter. That’s the problem.”

“Isn’t everything already in place in Nanking? It shouldn’t be too burdensome, should it?”

The Head of the Grand Secretariat sighed and responded to the Minister of War’s observation:

“That ‘everything is already in place’ is precisely the problem.”

***

When the Ming dynasty was founded, Nanking was chosen as the first capital.

Later, after seizing power through the “Jingnan Campaign,” Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing and changed Nanking’s designation from “Imperial Capital”[2] to “Southern Capital.”

Though the capital moved to Beijing, the administrative organization remained in Nanking. Subsequently, Nanking functioned as a second capital where the Crown Prince would reside while learning statecraft.

This was why the Head of the Grand Secretariat worried. Although the officials in Nanking held lower ranks than those in Beijing, they were deeply entrenched stones.

Once the rolling stones from Beijing entered Nanking, factional fighting would inevitably erupt.

To be precise, while high-ranking officials like the Head of the Grand Secretariat and Ministers of the Six Ministries wouldn’t face major issues, fierce factional battles would break out among the middle and lower-ranking officials.

***

The Minister of Revenue, understanding the Head of the Grand Secretariat’s words, shared his thoughts:

“Since relocating the capital would merely swap the positions of Beijing and Nanking, wouldn’t that avoid major problems? After all, officials must remain in Beijing just as they’ve stayed in Nanking until now. The factional fighting you’re concerned about seems unlikely?”

The Minister of Personnel shook his head at the Minister of Revenue’s words:

“Do you think we can work efficiently if we leave behind those we’ve coordinated with all this time? We might end up having to tread carefully around those already in Nanking. Moreover, if only we leave, how will we maintain the morale of officials remaining here?”

“Oh dear…”

The Minister of Revenue fell silent at the Minister of Personnel’s point. The Minister of Personnel continued:

“We might think relocation is easy since Nanking remains intact. But the biggest challenge lies in selecting who goes and who stays. As the Ministry of War mentioned, Beijing is crucial for northern defense. If the morale of those managing such a place hits rock bottom, we could face serious troubles later. Yet if we take everyone south, forget factional fighting – we’d leave this place completely undefended. That’s not all. The majority of facilities producing military weapons, railways, iron horses, and steam engines are concentrated around Beijing. We must also consider what to do with them. Should we take them along, or leave them behind?”

“Is there any need to take them along? That would just be a waste of money.”

The Minister of Personnel countered the Minister of Revenue’s words:

“Are you suggesting we leave the military weapons production facilities unsupervised?”

“That’s…”

The Minister of Revenue’s face turned pale as he cut off his words. The reason these factories were placed around Beijing was precisely for surveillance. Leaving factories outside supervisory oversight would result in many items leaking out regardless of how strictly they were managed. And if those leaked weapons fell into the hands of subversive elements, the situation would turn catastrophic.

The Minister of Personnel’s words made the ministers newly aware of the gravity of the capital relocation issue. It was certain that problems far more serious than factional fighting would emerge in succession if they made even small mistakes.

“Hmm…”

“This is troubling…”

While everyone pondered for a good solution, the Head of the Grand Secretariat made the first decision:

“Let’s establish that the currency printing facilities and military weapons production factories must accompany this relocation. If we keep those two under our control, we can prevent most problems before they arise.”

All participants nodded at the Head of the Grand Secretariat’s decision.

“That seems the best approach.”

“Moving everything at once would be ideal, but our finances are far too insufficient…”

Having confirmed the participants’ agreement with his decision, the Head of the Grand Secretariat moved on:

“It seems we’ve reached a general conclusion regarding the capital relocation. Are there any other issues?”

The Minister of War spoke up at the Head of the Grand Secretariat’s question:

“We mentioned the Imperial Army earlier, but there’s actually a problem with it.”

“A problem?”

“There’s an issue with mobilizing troops for the suppression operation.”

The Head of the Grand Secretariat’s expression grew serious at the Minister of War’s words. While troop movements and operation planning for war fell under the Left and Right Commanders’ purview, all rear support duties like troop mobilization and supply were the Minister of War’s responsibility, and now the person in charge of these duties was pointing out a problem.

“Problems with troop mobilization? Please explain in detail.”

The Minister of War explained the problem at the Head of the Grand Secretariat’s request:

• After excluding troops lost in the recent conflict and those assigned to defense duties at the northern and eastern borders, about 1 million troops remain.
• However, these 1 million troops have been deployed in the Grand Canal and transportation network restoration projects. And that time has well exceeded three years.
• The border defense forces cannot be withdrawn immediately. Even now, they’re barely maintaining the necessary combat power.
• This means we must deploy the troops involved in restoration projects for the suppression operation. But looking at the soldiers’ condition, they need to be retrained from scratch.
• Even setting aside the training issue, morale is a problem.

“It’s been over three years since their conscription. Though three years might not seem long, the problem is that three years have passed since the end of the conflict that led to their military service. Now we’re talking about retraining them and deploying them to life-or-death battlefields? We could face mass desertion if we’re not careful. Yet if we send them home, we’ll have problems with the Jiangnan suppression operation. It’s quite the headache.”

The Minister of Personnel raised an objection to the Minister of War’s words:

“But there haven’t been any reports of mass desertion so far, have there?”

“That’s because they were at construction sites, not battlefields. Plus, they received their wages reliably.”

The Minister of Personnel fell silent at the Minister of War’s meaningful response.

“Hmm…”

At the Minister of War’s point, the ministers began brainstorming solutions again.

Shortly after, the Minister of Revenue thought of an approach:

“What about using those who recently returned from Liaodong?”

“Liaodong? You mean those driven out by the Joseon people?”

“Yes.”

The Minister of Revenue explained his idea:

• The returnees from Liaodong currently have no means of livelihood.
• Looking at the situation in Jiangnan, many lands have lost their owners due to the conflict caused by the rebels.
• Use the ownership and cultivation rights to these lands as bait to mobilize the returnees as soldiers.

“Those without any means of livelihood would likely volunteer in large numbers. Moreover, many among those hoping to return home after the restoration projects end might also volunteer. This could largely resolve our troop problem.”

All ministers simultaneously exclaimed at the Minister of Revenue’s proposal:

“Now that’s an excellent plan!”