Behind Emperor Chenghua’s order to create the ‘Intellectual Property Management Office’ was the Hidden Dragon Society.
In one corner of Nanjing’s imperial palace, there was a separate palace where members of the Hidden Dragon Society resided.
Peculiarly, this palace was guarded by soldiers sent from the Empire.
The court ladies, eunuchs, and ministers all called this place by the nickname ‘Secretary Palace.’
***
When they first arrived in Nanjing and were deciding on the Hidden Dragon Society’s residence, Emperor Chenghua designated one of the many separate palaces in Nanjing’s imperial palace.
At Emperor Chenghua’s decision, not only Ming’s ministers but even the Hidden Dragon Society members rose up to express opposition.
“Your Majesty! The imperial palace is where Your Majesty resides! We cannot place outsiders in such a place!”
“Your Majesty! Though we are Your Majesty’s subjects, we are outsiders! Our residing in the imperial palace would bring shame upon Your Majesty!”
However, Emperor Chenghua dismissed all their opinions.
“These men are my hands and feet, my Zhang Liang. Naturally, they must stay near me.”
Though Emperor Chenghua firmly refused, the ministers persistently opposed him. Eventually, Emperor Chenghua had to take a step back.
“Fine. I will house them temporarily until they find residences.”
“Your grace is boundless. Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!”
However, the Hidden Dragon Society members still hadn’t left the imperial palace.
The most representative reason was Nanjing’s murderous real estate prices.
After Emperor Jingtai made his nest in Nanjing, Nanjing’s real estate prices had soared without knowing any limits.
Moreover, when word got out that the Hidden Dragon Society people were looking for houses, many deliberately quoted even higher prices.
“Rather than sell a house to those Empire bastards…”
“Those Empire people have lots of money, don’t they?”
“As the emperor’s close associates, they must have plenty of money!”
The building owners of Nanjing deliberately quoted higher prices, combining hostility toward Empire people with greed to overcharge.
When the Hidden Dragon Society members continued to stay in the palace using this as an excuse, the ministers stepped forward again.
“If ignorant people are quoting high prices, you could control it with an imperial order.”
At the ministers’ words, Emperor Chenghua’s face turned fierce.
“Are you telling me to become a tyrant? Is it your wish that I become a tyrant rather than a sage ruler?”
At Emperor Chenghua’s angry question, the ministers immediately knelt and bowed their heads.
“We have misspoken. Please forgive our mistake!”
“Before seeking forgiveness, don’t do things that require forgiveness! I’ll let it pass this time, but there won’t be a next time!”
“We will engrave it in our hearts!”
“Your merciful grace is boundless! Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!”
“If you truly want them outside the palace, then offer your own houses!”
“…”
“Why are you silent!”
“…”
“I will let them stay in the palace until they find residences on their own!”
“…As Your Majesty wishes.”
Later, when the Hidden Dragon Society members met with Emperor Chenghua, they all expressed concern.
“If we stay here, it will damage Your Majesty’s reputation.”
At the members’ words, Emperor Chenghua spoke his true feelings.
“To be honest, it’s for my safety. I’m a rolling stone, and they are boulders. They say a rolling stone displaces a fixed stone, but only when they’re similar in size. If they set their minds to it, I could become a dead man at any time. If it’s a place with Imperial soldiers and Empire people, they won’t be able to act rashly.”
Thus, the Hidden Dragon Society members continued to stay in the palace.
Emperor Chenghua didn’t just leave the Hidden Dragon Society as shadows.
He revived the Secretariat Office, which had been a nominal institution since Emperor Hongwu, and had the Hidden Dragon Society members work there.
The Secretariat Office’s work was to summarize and organize all reports coming to Emperor Chenghua to make his work easier, and to convey Emperor Chenghua’s orders to the relevant departments.
As Emperor Chenghua had said, they became his head and limbs.
The Chief of the Secretariat Office received the same rank as the Ministers of the Six Ministries. In other words, the only person with a higher rank than the Chief Secretary was the Senior Grand Secretary.
The problem was that the Secretariat Office’s work overlapped with that of the Grand Secretaries.
Until now, the Grand Secretaries’ work had been to organize each ministry’s affairs and report to the emperor, advise on right and wrong, and draft responses. However, overlap occurred when the Secretariat Office took over reporting to the emperor and conveying the emperor’s orders.
Recognizing this problem, Emperor Chenghua and the Hidden Dragon Society reorganized it in the Empire’s style.
Just as the Empire coordinated state affairs through the Prime Minister’s Office and the Royal Secretariat handled secretarial work, the Grand Secretaries took on the task of coordinating the operation of state affairs, while the Secretariat Office handled the emperor’s secretarial work.
After hearing Emperor Chenghua’s decision, the Senior Grand Secretary returned to his office and muttered to himself:
“Is this the revival of the chancellor system…”
Looking quietly out the window, the Senior Grand Secretary was full of worry.
“Will it truly be ‘under one person, above ten thousand,’ or will it just be an empty title…”
As time passed, the ministers learned where the real center of power lay.
It was when the Eastern Depot commanded by Wang Chong began cooperating closely with the Secretariat Office.
Seeing the Eastern Depot cooperating with the Secretariat Office, the Embroidered Uniform Guard moved.
As they were in charge of political and secret police work, they immediately recognized the flow of power.
With the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard working together, no one dared ignore the Secretariat Office anymore.
And as the Senior Grand Secretary had worried, the Grand Secretaries and Senior Grand Secretary became merely titular positions of ‘under one person, above ten thousand.’
***
“Though we’re cooperating with Gyeonsim, we’re still Empire people.”
“Right.”
“For Gyeonsim and Geum-soon’s safety, for our future, we need to develop Ming, but we must avoid doing anything that would endanger the Empire.”
“I agree.”
Having reached this consensus, the Hidden Dragon Society members began examining the policies Ming had implemented so far.
What they found were the promises Emperor Xuande had made to craftsmen in the past.
When Joseon was under Sejong and technological competition arose with Joseon, Emperor Xuande gathered renowned craftsmen to try to catch up with and surpass Joseon.
However, the process wasn’t easy. The craftsmen were unwilling to reveal their secret techniques.
Learning this, Emperor Xuande used both carrot and stick simultaneously.
The carrot was recognizing the value of their secret techniques and paying proper compensation, while the stick was selecting and executing craftsmen who resisted to the end.
Thanks to Emperor Xuande’s carrot and stick approach, intellectual property management began to take hold around the large arsenals built in Beijing.
Recognizing this was helpful, Emperor Xuande ordered merchant groups and craftsmen throughout Ming to follow the same rules.
Despite it being an imperial order, many merchant groups and craftsmen refused, and Emperor Xuande executed them all and confiscated their assets.
Thanks to this extreme response, the concept of intellectual property began to take hold in Ming as well.
However, when the Liaodong War that transformed Joseon into the Empire broke out, everything returned to nothing.
***
Wa, allied with Joseon, swept through Ming’s central regions, turning everything to ruins, and taking advantage of this, the Ouchi clan took away large numbers of Ming’s craftsmen.
This alone caused great damage to Ming’s technological capabilities.
Emperor Jingtai and the Ming people had to work desperately to revive Ming’s economy, which had been ruined by the Liaodong War and subsequent civil war.
In this process, Emperor Xuande’s imperial order recognizing intellectual property rights became a dead letter.
Those who possessed intellectual property for important technologies or devices had been sacrificed in the past war or taken to Wa.
In this situation, it wasn’t easy to resume production of devices while searching for each intellectual property owner.
Therefore, Ming’s young craftsmen and merchants chose the easy path.
“Let’s make and sell first!”
“I need to make a living right now!”
Thanks to this, counterfeits and imitations began flooding Ming again.
***
Having grasped the context regarding ‘intellectual property rights,’ the Hidden Dragon Society pondered why this happened and what the solution was.
-Though survival was at stake, they originally disregarded intellectual property rights.
-Though imperial orders were issued, there was no formal documentation or government office to manage it.
“The conclusion is indeed establishing a government office.”
“I agree.”
“It’s not for nothing that the Venerable Emperor and Emperor Emeritus created government offices.”
Having found an alternative, the Hidden Dragon Society members drafted a document and proposed it to Emperor Chenghua.
“Hmm… Intellectual Property Management Office. Will it be effective?”
Seeing Emperor Chenghua hesitate after hearing the proposal, Bi Su, the head of the Hidden Dragon Society and Chief of the Secretariat Office, stepped forward to answer.
“Though its effectiveness may seem low right now, it’s absolutely necessary for the future. If others copy or use without any compensation the devices and techniques that craftsmen pour all their efforts into creating as their life’s masterwork, craftsmen won’t train themselves. Moreover, if they make devices or use techniques by copying without proper knowledge, will proper products emerge? People who buy unknowingly could be endangered.”
“That’s true…”
As Emperor Chenghua nodded, Bi Su added more weight to his words.
“It’s not just Ming’s people who will suffer losses. Merchants and people from countries across the sea will also suffer. And if this continues, merchants and people from other countries won’t want to trade with Ming. If they want to continue trading, they’ll have to sell goods cheaply. Then merchants and craftsmen will make lower quality goods to gain profit, and a vicious cycle will continue. And finally, Ming itself will be perceived as a cheap country.”
“That must not happen!”
At Bi Su’s words, Emperor Chenghua shot up from his seat and ordered the eunuch:
“Gather the Senior Grand Secretary and the ministers!”
***
Thus the ‘Intellectual Property Management Office’ was created and began registering intellectual property and cracking down on unauthorized use.
However, Ming’s people didn’t change easily.
“We’ve done well until now, why make it difficult!”
“I don’t even have money to eat, why should I give to others!”
Many craftsmen and merchants began secretly trading products made ignoring intellectual property rights.
However, as enforcement intensified, they responded more cleverly.
They slightly changed the shapes of copied devices.
“It’s similar, but a completely different product!”
“It just looks similar because it has the same function!”
While such commotion was occurring outside, the Hidden Dragon Society members continued their own conversation.
“It will take some time, but once properly established, it will help Ming too.”
“And during that time, our Empire will advance further.”
“And we need to raise reformists while continuing reform with this justification. There are still many who think of challenging the Empire.”
“As long as those fools hold out, our safety is also at risk.”
The Hidden Dragon Society members did their best to find ways that would benefit both Emperor Chenghua who gave them opportunity and their homeland the Empire, while also securing their own safety.
“By the way, do they know in Seoul how much we’re suffering like this?”
“I guarantee, the officials in Seoul will all say this: ‘But you guys don’t work overtime, right?'”
“We do sometimes too…”