Episode 822 Ming and Japan – Internal stability and expansion (1)
It was not only the empire that was changing busily.
The immediate neighbors, Ming and Japan, were also busy.
However, the directions in which the two countries moved were opposite.
* * *
The direction chosen by Myeong was ‘interior’.
Seonghwa-je, who ascended to the throne after Gyeongtae-je, was nicknamed ‘the Emperor of Goryeo.’
There were many reasons why he was nicknamed ‘the Emperor of Goryeo’.
First of all, he grew up in the Empire.
Emperor Seonghwa grew up in the empire after the defeat in the Liaodong War.
Thanks to this, Seong Hwa-je’s Chinese was a bit problematic. There was no problem with the conversation, but the ent gave the impression that there was a lot of dialect mixed in.
The second was that he had an imperial empress. An even bigger problem was that he had no concubines other than the empress.
ording to traditional Chinese customs, the emperor had ‘3 pces, 6 circles, and 72 secrets’.
“You must not ignore traditional customs!”
“Having many descendants is also a duty that an emperor must fulfill!”
The ministers of the Ming Dynasty begged to take in concubines for reasons of custom and reality. Emperor Seonghwa red at the ministers who begged him to take in concubines.
“Are the Lords pleading just for that reason?”
“My beliefs are based solely on my sincerity!”
“It is absolutely necessary for the stability of the empire!”
As the ministers put pressure on him by mentioning the ‘stability of the empire,’ Seonghwaje had no choice but to take a step back.
“Good!” “I will follow your will!”
“Hwang Eun is devastated!”
ording to historical records, on the day this decision was made, Seonghwaje visited the empress and prayed that her hands would be feet.
“Geumsoon~. I really didn’t do this because I wanted to! Really! Trust me! I really only have you as Geum-soon! Uh huh! Put down the needle! Put it down! “If you’re going to throw something, throw something other than a wooden needle!”
It is said that the next day, the royal doctor of the Ming Dynasty ced many needles on the Seonghwaje’s waist and made a medicine to restore energy.
* * * As soon as
Seonghwaje’s permission was given, the ministers of Ming were busy moving about.
First, people were sent all over the country to select 5,000 beautiful girls and sent them to Nanjing.
A physical examination was conducted on 5,000 beautiful girls who entered the pce, and 4,000 girls were eliminated and had to return. Next, the ‘private parts’ were inspected and 300 people remained.
In this way, the remaining 300 people were sent to Seonghwaje for ‘practice’, and after a month, only 50 people remained and were appointed to Bibin.
In some ways, it seemed like apletely objective and fair procedure, but the problem was that out of the 300 people who came in this way, about 100 were the women of major ministers.
Their calctions were simple.
-If you can gain the emperor’s favor and ascend to Vienna or Vienna, pushing out the empress from the empire is a piece of cake!
-The Emperor of Tang Jin has a weak power base. If I can be the emperor’s father-inw, the power of the empire will be mine!
-If my daughter only gives birth to a son, my family can continue to enjoy power as maternal rtives of the imperial family for generations!
The ministers who pushed their daughters in with such greed paidrge amounts of bribes.
But the Seonghwaje exceeded their expectations.
“I listened to the advice of the officials and brought in a concubine. But after this, it’s up to Jim.”
Seong Hwa-je did not sleep with the 300 beautiful girls who came in like that.
“your majesty! “For the well-being of the empire, there must be many princes to carry on the session!”
“ah? Don’t worry about that problem. “Because Jim and the Empress are working hard.”
As Emperor Seonghwa said, Emperor Seonghwa and the Empress already had three sons and two daughters.
In the end, some of the ministers who could not stand it rose up.
“your majesty! This is a question of legitimacy! It is absolutely impossible for a prince born to a Joseon woman to inherit the throne! Joseon’s culture must not seep into the imperial family!”
“So the prince born to me and the Empress cannot inherit the throne?”
“That’s right! How can Joseon blood be mixed into the imperial family?”
“Among the concubines that Emperor Yongle had, there were women from the Empire or Joseon. “Joseon blood is already mixed in the imperial family, so what’s the problem?”
“They are far from worthy of the throne! The cases are different! “Please inform me!”
“It is absolutely impossible for anything from Joseon to be mixed with the richest blood of the imperial family! “Please inform me!”
Emperor Seonghwa’s expression became fierce as he saw the ministers desperately opposing the princes born to him and the empress.
“what? Shouldn’t Joseon’s blood be mixed with the richest blood of the imperial family? If you think about it that way, even I wouldn’t be an emperor to you? Wasn’t Jim the one who grew up in this imperial family, in Joseon, or in the empire, and was exposed to the most things about the empire? Hello! Immediately arrest these people, throw them in prison and interrogate them! It is a crime to disdain my burden! Interrogate them thoroughly and find out who they were working with and who they were taunting me with!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
ording to Emperor Seonghwa’s orders, the soldiers of the Jinyiwi pulled out the subjects in question.
The ministers desperately shouted as they were dragged away by the rough hands of the Geumuiwi soldiers.
“your majesty! It’s unfair! “Please do not doubt the loyalty of your beliefs!”
“It’s unfair! Please understand the loyalty of your beliefs!”
However, what awaited the ministers who were dragged away were advisors from Dongchang and the Geumwiwi.
In particr, the torture of the ssmate was vicious and persistent.
The head of Dongchang was Wang Chong, who returned from Seoul with Emperor Seonghwa.
* * *
A few days after entering Nanjing, Emperor Seonghwa summoned Wang Chong along with hisrades from the Jamryonghoe, his personal guard.
“King Eunuch. I had a hard time taking care of my luggage in Seoul. “Jim won’t forget that ball.”
“That’s too much praise. “I just did what I had to do.”
“I have a favor to ask of you. No, only you can do it.”
“Please leave it to me. “I will risk my life toplete it.”
“Take control of the ssmate.”
“Are you talking about ssmates?”
Seeing Wang Chong’s surprised expression, Seonghwaje got straight to the point.
“Although I became emperor at the request of the ministers here in Nanjing, you know very well that both you and I are in a situation where we may die.”
Hearing Emperor Seonghwa’s words, Wang Chong nodded without realizing it.
This was because Wang Chong also experienced reality during the journey from Seoul to here and during the few days he spent rxing in the pce.
‘I was confident when I first set off from Seoul…’
Those in Nanjing had already built up their own stronghold and were thoroughly ostracizing Wang Chong.
Seeing Wang Chong nodding, Emperor Seong continued speaking.
“Both you and Jim need to work together until the end in order to survive and gain power here. The moment one of us and you has a different mindset, both of us will be destroyed. Do you understand?”
“yes. your majesty.”
In response to Wang Chong’s answer, Emperor Seong Hwa continued.
“I will give you the power over the life and death of the eunuchs. Weed out the eunuchs and ssmates on your own. “How long will it take?”
“I willplete it as quickly as possible.”
“I want you to tell me the exact deadline. “Can it take a month or two?”
“…Please give me 100 days.”
“I understand. “I’ll give you 100 days.”
In this way, Emperor Seonghwa and Wang Chung of the Jamryonghoe came together. They came together for survival and power, no, survival.
The next day, Wang Chong received two teaching papers from Emperor Seonghwa.
One was to appoint Wang Chung as the head of the Dongchang n, and the other was an order to purge the eunuch organization over 100 days (strictly controlling and correcting corruption).
The problem was what was written in the second textbook.
-If necessary, reviewing first and second is also permitted.
-The object of purge is all eunuchs regardless of rank.
Simply put, if you fail, you are to kill him, and it does not matter if the target is of a higher rank than Wang Chung.
The moment Wang Chong read the teachings of the Holy Fire Emperor, all the eunuchs present froze and began to sweat.
Afterwards, Wang Chong selected young and ambitious eunuchs from all eunuch organizations, including Dongchang, and made them his servants.
It was not just the young eunuchs who insisted. He brought together eunuchs who werepetent but had been pushed out of the faction fight and who were close to him but had been pushed out of the mainstream, and made them part of his force.
With the power he created in this way, Wang Chong caused bloodshed within the eunuch organization. Because the emperor was a subordinate, even the head of the eunuchs, Gye Tae-gam, had to pay attention to the opinions of his second-inmand, Wang Chong.
After all this bloodshed, Wang Chong was able topletely control not only the eunuch organization but also Dongchang within 80 days.
When Wang Chong took control of the eunuch organization and Dongchang, Emperor Seong Hwa took back the authority of Xian Chamhugo that had been granted to him.
“Don’t be upset. “This is for each other’s safety and trust.”
“I know very well.”
“You know that this is just the beginning, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Wang Chong, who took control of Dongchang, secretly began inspecting the remaining royal family members and ministers.
* * *
Because survival was at stake, the bond between Emperor Seonghwa, Empress Jamyonghoe, and Wang Chong was unusually strong.
To avoid the risk of poisoning, the food for the Seonghwaje was cooked by the empress and the imperial courtdies sent to her.
Food ingredients also had to pass inspection by pce maids andwmakers sent by the empire and the imperial army.
And the food cooked with the ingredients passed in this way was eaten together by Seonghwaje, Empress Dowager Jamryonghoe’srades Wang Chung, and Seonghwaje’s mother, Lady Zhou, who was consecrated as Empress Dowager.
The atmosphere of those who gathered together to eat was friendly.
Of course, there were more than one minister who took issue with this. And every time those words were said, Seong Hwa-je answered with a smile.
“I’m sorry. After living in the Empire for a long time, I still feel ufortable with the food in Nanjing. “I keep working hard, and something like this won’t happen anytime soon.”
At the time, very few people understood the true hidden meaning of these words. But those few characters sent shivers down my spine.
‘Dangerous! ‘I can smell blood!’
‘You must never act rashly!’
* * *
This ‘lineage issue’ was a very good opportunity for Seonghwaje, who had prepared so carefully.
Dongchang, led by Wang Chong, persistently tortured the ministers in question and made them confess why this was said and who the people involved were. No, it was not a rumor, but a confession that they and their politicalrades were also involved.
And with this confession, more people were caught by their ssmates.
As the number of people caught by alumni increased significantly, the Gold Safety Committee stepped in.
“The number of sinners is too many for the ss to handle them all. Please give us a chance.”
“Let it be so. “I look forward to it.”
To Seong Hwa-je’s words, themander of the Geumuiwi bowed down on the floor and responded loudly.
“There will be nothing that goes against Your Majesty’s expectations! “Long live, long live, long live!”
It was the beginning of a great purge that wouldter be called the ‘Jade of the Holy Fire.’