It was no wonder the Ming emperor felt lost.
Words like science, technology, mathematics, era, innovation, dissemination and many others were unfamiliar. If he pondered them one by one, he could roughly grasp their meaning. But when a whole flood of such strange terms poured over him at once, even he felt overwhelmed.
Not to mention phrases like arithmetic progression or axle-frame warping. Even after thinking about them, he remained baffled.
So in the end, what truly caught his attention was the final sentence drifting past the screen. The meaning of decline was clear enough.
He slammed his palm down and declared loudly,
"What is there to regret about my Great Ming!"
That immediately made Empress Ma's brows rise. She slapped the table as well, though for a different reason.
"Lower your voice!"
"If you have that much energy, go fetch brush and paper and start writing things down."
Still grumbling under his breath, the emperor obeyed. Yet even as he picked up the brush, confusion lingered.
"If we must record this, why not summon a few palace maids to write for us?"
Empress Ma did not even look up. She kept her head lowered, brush moving in steady strokes as she tried to capture every unfamiliar phrase she heard.
"At first we did not know whether this was fortune or disaster. If it turned out to be misfortune, how could we drag innocent people into it?"
The emperor fell silent.
The kindness of the Ming empress was known to all.
When they once held Hezhou with only a handful of defenders, she had soothed the families and strengthened their resolve. After entering Yingtian, she stitched clothes and shoes for the soldiers with her own hands. When Chen Youliang's army pressed against the city, she distributed gold and silk to reward the troops.
Compared to that, what had he himself done recently…
With a quiet sigh, he bent his head and first copied down the later generations' accusations against him.
Seeing his troubled expression, Empress Ma softened slightly.
"Among these words, there may be wisdom for governing a state."
"If we write them down now, what we do not understand can later be asked of officials and scholars. We can even send written questions to that long-observing Tang Taizong, or to the Marquis Huan."
"But if we fail to record them, and later forget them, regret will come too late."
Zhu Yuanzhang did not expose the tangled thoughts in his heart. He simply nodded and resolved to ask questions later.
---
The voice from the screen spoke again.
[Lightscreen]
[As usual, before ending, let us chat briefly about another topic.
During the Two Song period, relations between China and Japan were rather interesting. Compared with other dynasties, they were actually quite simple.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era, Zhu Wen formally invested Qian Liu as King of Wuyue, establishing a state with its capital at Hangzhou.
Wuyue had a very southern style of governance. It focused on making money.
With its ports and shipbuilding advantages, its trade routes stretched north to Bohai and south to the Southern Seas. Khitans, Goryeo, Southeast Asian states, and even Arab merchants were all customers.
Japan at that time maintained maritime restrictions and forbade its own ships from going abroad. Yet it had no authority over foreign vessels. Meanwhile, ever since the Tang era, Japanese elites had long coveted Chinese goods.
So although there was no official diplomatic exchange, ships traveling to Japan for trade were extremely numerous.
Spices, ceramics, brocades, dyes, medicines. Anything carried there could be exchanged for gold dust in return. Japan might lack many things, but precious metals it had in abundance.
The gold island of Sado was already famous among the Japanese. Legends said gold flowed in the streams. Prospectors heading north in search of it were endless.
To give a sense of scale, from the beginning of official mining in the shogunate era until closure four centuries later, the island produced seventy-eight tons of gold and over two thousand tons of silver.
For comparison, across the entire Ming dynasty, official records list only about one and a half tons of gold output. The richness of the islands is obvious.
This pattern of trade continued into the Song. Zhao Kuangyin was busy stabilizing domestic life and paid little attention to Japan.
But as trade grew, news that China's chaos had ended spread across the sea. Eventually private parties could not resist.
In 983, a monk from Todaiji named Chonen traveled to Song territory through merchant routes and met Zhao Guangyi. They conversed amicably, and the emperor granted him purple robes, treating him generously.
The first real political exchange came during the reign of Emperor Shenzong. A drought struck the capital, and local monks failed to bring rain. Someone suggested trying a Japanese monk. By coincidence the weather changed and rain fell.
Delighted, Shenzong rewarded him richly and also sent a letter to the Japanese ruler.
What should have been routine diplomacy instead caused debate in Japan. The phrase "reciprocal gift" in the letter sparked argument. They debated for five full years before finally replying in the name of the Dazaifu administration, effectively rejecting the notion of reciprocal tribute.
Put simply, they believed the Tang was gone, the Song had weakened, and now power in the eastern seas belonged to them.
In truth, they were winking at a blind man. Messages took months or years to travel, and with five years of debate added on, the Song probably never even realized what had happened. Besides, Northern Song wealth made such gifts trivial in their eyes.
This awkward state lasted throughout the Northern Song. Eventually Emperor Huizong sent a letter urging Japan to demonstrate sincerity through tribute of rare products.
That finally wounded Japanese pride. After three years of heated debate, Japan decided to cut off official relations. From then on, they would accept gifts but send no replies.
Besides Huizong's letter, another event shaped Japan's attitude toward the Song and also affected its internal politics.
After the Chanyuan Treaty, Song and Liao ceased hostilities. Freed from southern pressure, the Liao turned north to eliminate the remaining Balhae forces.
After Abaoji destroyed Balhae, the Liao had tried establishing the Dongdan Kingdom with a Khitan ruler. But Balhae survivors resisted, founding successor states and continuing rebellion.
Once the Liao could focus fully, the remnants were quickly crushed. The Balhae population scattered.
Some were relocated into Liao territory and absorbed into Han society. Around three hundred thousand fled to Goryeo. Some sailed south to Song lands. Others joined Jurchen tribes with similar fishing and hunting lifestyles.
As Liao expansion continued, most Jurchen groups submitted. But some, after absorbing Balhae shipbuilding and navigation skills, chose to escape eastward by sea.
In 1019, these groups raided Goryeo shipping and people along the way. They regrouped, seized Tsushima Island for supplies, and after half a month launched an attack on Japan itself.
About three thousand fighters sailed in more than fifty large ships and over a hundred smaller vessels.
Like most sea raiders, they burned and plundered successfully at first, but lacked endurance. After two successful assaults, they encountered heavy defenses along the Kyushu coast and were forced to withdraw.
On the return voyage, they were ambushed by the Goryeo navy and destroyed.
Later Korean records indicate the main force came from Jurchen groups living around Changbai Mountain and the Songhua River basin.
Japan recorded the incident as the Toi Invasion.]
---
Inside Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin stroked his chin slowly.
Then he nodded.
"Write this down."
"Send it with urgency to Deng and Lai."