Chapter 1 The Red Stream
The Red Stream in Batavia, originally named Hong Stream, was renamed Red Stream because of the massacre in 1740. Within a single week, the Hong Stream in the Chinese district was choked with the bodies of victims, the water stained red with their blood.
The Hong Stream thus acquired the name Red Stream.
At the time, the Dutch authorities, fearing that the Great Qing dynasty would send troops for revenge, proactively "submitted a memorial to the throne" to the Great Qing, expressing their hope that the incident would not affect bilateral relations. In the year following the incident, 1741 (the sixth year of Qianlong's reign), the Dutch East India Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier was dismissed.
The Tartar Qing court and the old dog Qianlong, upon learning of the Red Stream massacre, merely stated, "The matter is regrettable, but the karma is self-inflicted," and "The abandoned subjects of the Celestial Dynasty, unwilling to betray their ancestors' resting places, went abroad to seek profit, and the court takes no notice."
Then, they shifted the blame to Wanli –
"Among the four classes of Chinese society, merchants are the lowest. How can we mobilize troops for mere commoners! Furthermore, merchants who abandon their homes to wander at sea, not returning even by winter, are disdained by their fathers, elder brothers, and relatives. They are not worth lamenting, and to mobilize troops against them would be a waste of resources."
Does this sound like the tone of the old dog Qianlong regarding the Red Stream massacre?
This is what is known as the "Imperial Edict to Luzon," yet the original text of this edict has been lost! These few sentences are referenced from the writings of Xu Xueju, a Jinshi during the Wanli era, Deputy Censor-in-Chief, and Governor of Fujian.
Regarding Xu Xueju, the records in the "History of the Ming Dynasty" appear contradictory. It first states that Xu Xueju had no good feelings towards the Chinese. After hearing the Spanish explanation, in his memorial to the court, he wantonly slandered the massacred Chinese, falsely claiming they were all wicked villains who brought their fate upon themselves.
Then, immediately afterwards, in his "Memorial Requesting the Return of the Luzon Prisoner Merchants," he sought to calm the Emperor's emotions, explaining the difficulties of the expedition. At the same time, he righteously warned the Spaniards: "Our Great Emperor unified all under Heaven, his virtue eternally established; the rites, music, authority, and trust are inherited unchanged," using the victories of the Three Campaigns to display national prestige and intimidate the Spaniards.
Such contradictory records are likely to appear only in the "History of the Ming Dynasty."
In fact, for the incident during the Wanli era, the more valuable reference material is the petition from the Archbishop of Manila, Benavides, to the Supreme Court:
"This danger may be the greatest, for the powerful Chinese Emperor threatens us with a vast fleet, saying that if we do not agree to his two demands (namely, to release the detained merchants and return the confiscated property), he will send a thousand ships... It is quite possible that the Chinese Emperor will at least cut off trade with these regions, and impose heavy penalties on those who violate this, which would lead to the complete ruin of this colony."
The Supreme Court of Manila convened on June 13, 1606, to study the Archbishop's petition and made the following ruling: "It is ordered that the custodian of property promptly submit a list of all property under their care for return; upon the arrival of the ships from Castile (carrying financial subsidies), the arrears owed shall be included in the royal treasury; as for the Chinese serving on the ships, the matter is under investigation to take appropriate measures, and a decision will be made before the Chinese merchant ships depart."
Therefore, if we say that Wanli was unable to act because the national treasury was depleted by the Three Campaigns, coupled with floods in several regions of the Ming dynasty that killed 200,000 people and continuous earthquakes for two months, leaving the court in disarray and unable to cope, then it is quite possible. However, to say that Wanli, like the old dog Qianlong, uttered such nonsense as "How can we mobilize troops for mere commoners," then one can only scoff.
Including the incident in the fourteenth year of Shunzhi's reign, Zheng Chenggong wrote to a Chinese expatriate on the island of Java, urging him to cease trade with the Spanish authorities, and simultaneously prepared to lead troops to conquer the Philippines as punishment.
In the first year of the reign of the "pockmarked" Emperor, after Zheng Chenggong captured Taiwan, he sent envoys to the Governor of the Philippines, condemning their crimes of slaughtering and plundering Chinese expatriates and sternly ordering them to mend their ways.
By this time, the Spaniards had learned of the demise of the Ming dynasty. Therefore, fear? Fear was impossible. Not only were they not afraid, but they carried out another massacre.
In the ninth and tenth years of the "pockmarked" Emperor's reign, it is said that Zheng Jing, who was "quite incompetent," twice prepared to conquer Manila, but failed to do so due to various factors.
Of course, all twelve emperors of my Great Qing were wise and sagacious rulers, while all sixteen emperors of the Ming dynasty were incompetent rulers with fully developed secondary skills. It is even more fitting that staunch loyalists of the Ming dynasty like Zheng Chenggong should be damned.
Although Zhao Yi, a scholar of the Qianlong dynasty, said, "Among the recent histories, apart from Mr. Ouyang's History of the Five Dynasties, the History of Liao is brief, the History of Song is verbose, and the History of Yuan is hasty. Only the History of Jin is elegant in style, concise in narration, and somewhat commendable, but it is not as perfect as the History of Ming."
In reality, scholar Zhao was completely misled. This is because all the literati who surrendered to my Great Qing were incompetent and useless individuals. They could not compile the "History of the Ming Dynasty" properly, nor could they smear it effectively. The numerous errors and omissions were simply laughable!
Of course, Zhu Jinsong does not have time to deal with the Dutch at the moment.
For Zhu Jinsong, whether to forgive the Dutch barbarians and Indian monkeys is God's business, and Zhu Jinsong merely intends to send them to God's hands at an opportune time.
Clearly, the time has not yet come.
Zhu Jinsong casually set aside "History of the Ming Dynasty, Biographies, Volume 221" and said to Zeng Cheng and a group of other big shots, "With the second eldest prince marching into Jiaozhi, some people are bound to become restless."
While Zeng Cheng and the other big shots were bewildered, Zhu Jinsong nodded to Ke Zhiming and instructed, "Have Prefect Zeng and the others take a look as well."
After Zeng Cheng and the others received the intelligence distributed by Ke Zhiming, their expressions also became subtle.
As Zhu Jinsong had said, with Zhu Erdan beginning his advance into Jiaozhi, Siam, Burma, and other Southern Ocean states became restless.
After all, there has never been a shortage of intelligent people in this world.
Bai Ziqi first advanced into Jiaozhi under the pretext of restoring power to the Li dynasty, and then caused the entire family of Li Wei Qi to die inexplicably. Following this, as soon as Zhu Erdan led his troops south, Bai Ziqi impatiently raised his banner and surrendered, transforming himself directly into the Marquis of Anle of the Great Ming.
After all, these Southern Ocean monkeys are not fools; they cannot fail to understand the twists and turns of this matter.
However, it is precisely because they understand that the Southern Ocean monkeys have decided to play the fool. After all, intelligent people often die too early; it is better to be a bit foolish.
Now, these Southern Ocean monkeys who have forced themselves to be foolish have prepared their national letters and gifts, intending to personally come to Jinan Prefecture, both to "congratulate the new Emperor of Great Ming on his enthronement" and to express their attitude of "having received the grace of the Great Ming dynasty for generations, willing to be eternal subjects of the Great Ming, and to defend the Southern Frontier for the Great Ming."
The problem is that Zhu Erdan has already led his troops to deal with Jiaozhi –
Although the "Great Ming Newspaper" did not mention dealing with Siam and Burma, Zhu Erdan is the younger brother of Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of Great Ming, the Prince of Qin, and the Grand Governor of the Capital Prefecture of the Army. If he deals with Jiaozhi and then also deals with Burma and Siam, can the Great Ming court possibly execute him?
A toast of punishment would be more than enough!
It is precisely because of this that the expressions of Zeng Cheng and the others appear so subtle.
After much deliberation, Zeng Cheng frowned and said, "Why don't we trouble the people under Commander Ke's command a bit?"
Ke Zhiming looked at Zeng Cheng with the gaze of a foolish child, mockingly saying, "Prefect Zeng, do you consider the Embroidered Uniform Guard to be the same as the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the Yongle era?"
"If it were the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the Yongle era, and His Majesty ordered them to die at the third watch, no one in this world could keep them until the fifth watch."
"The problem is that the current Embroidered Uniform Guard is not the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the Yongle era. The establishment of fourteen thousand households has not yet been filled, and infiltration into the Southern Ocean states is not yet in place."
"In fact, I have also tried to send people to the Southern Ocean states to contact the remaining Embroidered Uniform Guards, but those who can truly be contacted are less than one in a hundred. If we wait a few more years, I'm afraid not a single one will be contactable."
Ke Zhiming sighed, shook his head, and continued, "Moreover, by the time the news arrives, the King of Burma, Meng Yun, and the King of Siam, Chao Phraya Chakri, will have already set off from their respective countries. It is estimated that by the time the Embroidered Uniform Guard receives the order, they will have already entered the territory of Great Ming – if there are no accidents, they should arrive in Jinan Prefecture in about a month's time."
Upon hearing Ke Zhiming's words, Zeng Cheng also felt a bit flustered.
If Meng Yun and Chao Phraya Chakri were still within the territories of Burma and Siam, it would be easy for the Embroidered Uniform Guard to deal with them; at most, they could blame mountain bandits afterwards. After all, they were small vassal states, and it was quite reasonable for them to have a few groups of mountain bandits, right?
The problem is that they absolutely cannot be dealt with within the territory of Great Ming. After all, they are the rulers of small vassal states, and they are coming to acknowledge their father under the guise of celebrating Zhu Jinsong's enthronement. If they die within the territory of Great Ming, history books will not speak favorably of this – even if the Great Qing can arbitrarily change history and smear others without consequence, the Great Ming court absolutely forbids such things.
The Great Qing may not care about its reputation, but the Great Ming does.
As Zeng Cheng and the other big shots were racking their brains, Zhu Jinsong was also troubled.
The emperor, in his early twenties, suddenly having several sons in their fifties... This is not just a headache, this is a damn pain in the backside!
...
The closer they got to Great Ming, the more alarmed Meng Yun and Chao Phraya Chakri became.
Since ancient times, the influence of the Central Plains courts on their surroundings has been pervasive, from military to politics, to people's livelihoods, economy, and culture, it has basically spread outwards from the Central Plains courts.
Of course, this also includes the Central Plains courts actively absorbing good things from abroad and transforming them into things that have always belonged to the Central Plains courts.
For example, the music of Kucha, the dances of the Western Regions, and the suona.
How many people know that the suona, a traditional ethnic musical instrument, originally originated in Persia?
The key is that Kucha, the Western Regions, and Persia have never raised any objections.
The same is true now.
When the Great Qing was still prosperous, apart from the queue hairstyle, the clothing styles and culture of the Great Qing began to slowly spread to Burma, Jiaozhi, and Siam. Now that the Great Qing has declined, the monkeys in these places have begun to imitate the clothing and culture of the Great Ming.
The closer they were to Great Ming, the more pronounced these elements became.
And when Meng Yun and Chao Phraya Chakri and their entourages officially set foot on the soil of Great Ming, the various Southern Ocean lords finally recognized the difference between Great Ming and the Great Qing.
Meng Yun, the King of Burma, turned ashen and said, "It's too late, too late! The Tartar Qing has betrayed me! If I had known Great Ming was like this earlier, I should have submitted my memorial to the Sage and declared myself a vassal long ago. Now..."
The King of Siam also had an unpleasant expression. However, the King of Burma lamented to himself, while Chao Phraya Chakri vented his anger on his entourage: "You useless wretches! If I had gathered information about Great Ming earlier, would I not have submitted my memorial to become a vassal long ago? Now, look at this, the foundation of my Siam for centuries is about to be buried in my hands!"
After scolding his entourage of officials to the point where they couldn't raise their heads, the King of Siam, Chao Phraya Chakri, ordered, "Someone, prepare yourselves. I am going to visit the King of Burma."
When he arrived at the residence of Meng Yun, the King of Burma, Chao Phraya Chakri spoke directly, "The Great Ming of today is not the Great Ming of the past. This audience, I fear..."
Meng Yun also frowned and said, "I know. Prince Qin is leading troops to attack Jiaozhi, and it is estimated that Jiaozhi will be completely abolished as a vassal state. Now I fear that our two countries will suffer the same fate."
After Chao Phraya Chakri nodded, Meng Yun continued, "Now, we can only place our hopes on the Emperor of Great Ming, to see if he still has any sense of decency."
Upon hearing the words "Emperor of Great Ming," Chao Phraya Chakri's heart stirred, and he said with a smile, "He should, shouldn't he? After all, Great Ming is the Celestial Empire."
After a perfunctory laugh, Chao Phraya Chakri seemed to recall something and said, "Right, I suddenly remembered I have something to deal with, so I'll be going back. I'll come back to find you after I've handled it."
After Chao Phraya Chakri departed, Meng Yun's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
This was because Meng Yun had figured out the reason for Chao Phraya Chakri's drastic change in expression – Chao Phraya Chakri came to find him because of the words "Emperor of Great Ming," and Chao Phraya Chakri's hasty departure was also because of the words "Emperor of Great Ming"!
In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi's reign, the Qing army invaded Yunnan, and Zhu Youlang fled to Mandalay in Burma. Later, Wu Sangui invaded Burma, and the King of Burma at the time handed him over to Wu Sangui, which ultimately led to Emperor Yongli being strangled by Wu Sangui in Kunming.
Chao Phraya Chakri must have also thought of this, which is why he left in such a hurry!
The problem is that this point is almost insoluble for Meng Yun.
No matter how much he quibbles, it cannot change the fact that the King of Burma handed Emperor Yongli over to Wu Sangui – as a vassal state of Great Ming, handing over the Emperor of Great Ming to Wu Sangui is itself a betrayal!
Meng Yun slumped into his chair, muttering to himself, "It's over, it's over. I didn't think of this before, and now it has become a death knell for my Burma. I don't know how the Emperor of Great Ming will deal with my Burma!"