Chapter 29 Gao Gong Talks about Geography

After Zhu Zaigui dried his hair, he came out of the inner room again.

Zhu Zaigui apologized to Gao Gong, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, Mr. Gao."

Gao Gong looked at Zhu Zaigui who was full of apology and bowed, "How dare I? Your Majesty, please take a seat."

Zhu Zaigui said politely to Gao Gong again, "Mr. Gao, please sit down."

After the two of them sat down, the eunuchs serving outside tactfully brought two cups of tea and placed them next to Zhu Zaigui and Gao Gong respectively.

After seeing the teacup placed next to him, Gao Gong bowed slightly towards Zhu Zaigui to express his gratitude.

At this time, Zhu Zaigui also looked at Gao Gong expectantly and asked, "I wonder what skills Mr. Gao plans to teach students today?"

Zhu Zaigui got into the role quickly and directly referred to himself as a student, no longer using the titles "this king" or "I".

After hearing the title of Zhu Zaigui's student, Gao Gong could hardly contain his excitement.

I couldn't help but wonder in my heart, how many wise kings in ancient and modern times can be so respectful to the wise and humble?

After calming down his excitement, Gao Gong replied, "Today I intend to teach you some geography knowledge."

When Zhu Zaigui heard that Gao Gong wanted to teach him geography, he was stunned. Yesterday, Gao Gong was talking about Shangjunshu, so why did it become geography today?

By the way, was geography included in the formal education of the princes of the Ming Dynasty? It seems that this is a subject that only appeared in modern education in later generations.

Zhu Zaigui expressed doubts about this.

Zhu Zaigui asked: "Why do you want to teach geography to students?"

Gao Gong replied: "Your Majesty's status is different from that of ordinary people, and also different from that of ordinary princes. After the death of Crown Prince Zhuangjing, Your Majesty has become the eldest son of His Majesty, and the responsibilities he has to shoulder are naturally different from the past."

"I teach you geography so that you can have a clear understanding of the territory of Ming Dynasty and the surrounding tribes and vassal states."

When Zhu Zaigui heard Gao Gong's reason, he nodded in agreement. He felt that Gao Gong was extraordinary. Even his teaching was so pragmatic. He actually skipped the Four Books and Five Classics and the Classics and started directly with geography. It was really amazing!
Zhu Zaigui said: "Please teach me, sir."

Gao Gong cleared his throat, then opened the notes he brought and handed them to Zhu Zaigui.

Zhu Zaiqi looked at the notebook Gao Gong handed over and quickly stood up to take it with both hands. Zhu Zaiqi glanced at the notebook he had just received. The page on it was a rough map of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, if this map is shown to other people who have never seen a real map, they might be surprised and amazed that this is what the Ming Dynasty looked like.

Gao Gong preached: "The territory of the Ming Dynasty is thousands of miles, with two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Han area, as well as Liaodong, Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet, and 148 tributary states around it. Fifteen of them were countries that Emperor Taizu planned not to conquer. They are Korea, Wa, Great Ryukyu (now Okinawa), Little Ryukyu, Annan (now northern Vietnam), Zhenla (now Cambodia), Siam (now Thailand), Champa (now southern Vietnam, later destroyed by Annan), Sumatra (now Pasai, Sumatra), Western Ocean (now Coromandel Coast), Java (now Java Island), Penheng (now Malay Peninsula), Baihua (now northwest Sumatra), Sanfuqi (now Palembang, Sumatra), and Brunei."

"The remaining one hundred or so countries were the ones that Emperor Taizong Chengzu sent the eunuch Zheng He to the Western Ocean during the Yongle period to show the country's prestige and bring back tribute from thousands of miles away. And these one hundred or so countries, few of which are paying tribute now."

"So the geography that I will explain to you today is limited to the Han area of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, as well as the surrounding vassal states and the fifteen unconquered countries."

Zhu Zaigui, who was familiar with history, knew that during the reign of Emperor Yongle, Zheng He made friends with many countries during his voyages to the West, but Zhu Zaigui was not aware that the number of these countries had reached as many as 148!
This is truly an unprecedented and unparalleled world!
Zhu Zaigui took a deep breath and said with emotion: "I didn't expect Emperor Taizong to be so powerful!"

When Gao Gong heard Zhu Zaigui call Emperor Yongle "Emperor Taizong", he felt embarrassed for a moment, as he had just called Emperor Yongle's temple name incorrectly.

At this time, Gao Gong also reminded him in time: "Your Majesty should call Emperor Taizong Emperor Chengzu. In the 17th year of Jiajing, His Majesty had already issued an edict to honor Emperor Taizong as Emperor Chengzu, and to decree that Emperor Chengzu and Emperor Taizu would be the ancestors of all eternity."

After hearing Gao Gong's reminder, Zhu Zaigui secretly curled his lips. What the hell is Emperor Chengzu? He is so weird. How can he be as nice as Emperor Taizong?
Besides, given the achievements of Emperor Yongle, even if the time really came to depose him as the chief priest in the Taimiao, it was not certain that any emperor would dare to do so.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui thought that his current father, Taoist Jiajing, had raised the temple name of Emperor Yongle from "Zong" to "Zu", which was worse than not having it at all. What the hell was going on?
If there really are spirits in this world, after the old Taoist priest passed away, he would probably be beaten by Zhu Di in the underworld!
After all, the political significance of Emperor Yongle's temple name Taizong is too great. Calling him Taizong means that he is the emperor in line to the throne, and calling him Chengzu doesn't that confirm the fact that he rebelled and usurped the throne?

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui was also very disdainful of the fact that Emperor Jiajing promoted Emperor Yongle to Emperor Chengzu.

Zhu Zaigui sometimes even thought that after he ascended the throne, he would rename the temple name of Emperor Yongle as "Shizu", and then change the temple name of the old Taoist priest to "Shenzong", which originally belonged to Zhu Zaigui's future son, Emperor Wanli, so that the old Taoist priest could get what he wanted, be a "god" and satisfy his desire to be a god.

However, Zhu Zaigui could only think about it in his heart now. He did not have the courage or ability to do such a rebellious thing. If he wanted to do it, he had to wait until the old Taoist priest Jiajing passed away and he could take charge.

Zhu Zaiqi said, "I'll remember this."

Then Gao Gong began to explain the geography of the Ming Dynasty to Zhu Zaigui.

Gao Gong preached: "The two capitals of the Ming Dynasty have thirteen provinces, namely Beijing in the north and Nanjing in the south. The thirteen provinces are Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian and other thirteen provinces."

"There are also differences between the two Zhili provinces and the various provincial governments. For example, Southern Zhili, Huguang, Zhejiang and other places are rich in Ming Dynasty finances and taxes. Seven or eight out of ten salaries and food supplies for Beijing officials are supplied from Southern Zhili and other places by the canal. It can be said that the stability of the court today is also tied to this canal that spans several provinces in the north and south."

"So, Your Majesty must pay attention to the canal, Nanzhili, Huguang, Zhejiang and other places. As long as these places can be stabilized, no matter how big the difficulties of the Ming Dynasty are, they can be resolved with time. If the tax revenues of these places collapse, the consequences will be disastrous!"

Gao Gong seriously told Zhu Zaigui about the importance of the canal and Nanzhili and other places. After hearing what Gao Gong said, Zhu Zaigui sighed in his heart. The lifeblood of such a big Ming Dynasty was actually tied to such a fragile canal. No wonder the political struggles in Beijing were always so thrilling. It turned out that it was all about money!

(End of this chapter)

previouscatalognext