The Six Labours of the Yongle Emperor

This is my first TL to deal with China, and as we all know, China is a big topic, so please any comments are appreciated.


The Prince of Yan usurped the throne from his nephew in 1402. The Emperor had attempted to break the power of the Royal Princes, who controlled large tracts of land in China proper (not the outlying regions to the north and west). The Jianwen Emperor was defeated by Yongle in battle and withdrew to Nanjing. The Mayor of the City, however, had come under Yongle’s sway and executed the defeated Emperor, sending his head to Yongle who entered the city in triumph. His own armies numbered thousands yet the dead emperor’s soldiers were numerous. Yongle persuaded their officers to join his army by promising them lands in China. He obtained this land by moving the Royal Princes from their rich lands in China to the northern and western frontiers where they received a small stipend and held some land. The lands vacated were turned over to the officers and generals who had defected to him, many of whom he allowed to resign their commands so long as they took up arms if he called on them. These new landowners controlled large amounts of land in Shandong and Hebei especially.
With his rule secured, Yongle then turned to the government. He began by reinstating the secretariat, which had been abolished under the reign of the First Ming Emperor, the Hongwu Emperor. The Secretariat was reformed to that there were two Chief Advisors, who were members of the Emperor’s Inner Council and led the bureaucracy. Under them were 8 Secretaries who ran the eight divisions of the bureaucracy: tax collection, provincial administration, military oversight, upkeep of infrastructure, public works, upkeep of temples, foreign relations and commerce. Each of these headed a separate department which each employed thousands of bureaucrats, administrators, soldiers, labourers and any other profession. The Provincial Administration Department and the Tax Collection Department both worked under the framework that China was split into 18 provinces and these were then split into 432 Districts (24 districts per province. Districts were determined according to population not area).
The second area of reform was the military. Having paid off many generals and officers with land, Yongle now needed a reliable class of generals and leaders. He therefore applied the Exam System to officers. The exam was modified to include War Studies (based off of Sun Tzu’s text the Art of War). Once this exam was passed, the initiates would receive five years of training before being given the command of a battalion. They would then be promoted as seen fit by the Department of Military Oversight. There were 5 Generals, who were in the Emperor’s Inner Council, and below them 100 Officers of Military planning, in charge of procurement, training, levies, campaign planning etc. and then below them the military split in two- first the Provincial Officers, who were responsible for a Province’s defence. There were also military officers, who commanded battalions, etc. in the standing army, which numbered 400,000, mainly stationed in the north and west but with some 10,000 in the south.
The third area of reform was the land-owning class. Having been all- but destroyed by the Emperor in 1402 the Royal Princes were replaced with 108 Princes, who were appointed directly by the Emperor. These owned large amounts of land and these lands were further divided among 309 Dukes, who divided their land among a total of 3,215 Knights, who then let their land to peasant tenants. The purpose of the land-owning class was to raise levies in accordance with the Department of Military Oversight and the Officers of Planning. Their second purpose was to serve as a counter-balance to the Emperor. The Yongle Emperor intended these two arms of the government to be rivals and they were, for they were generally conservative and concerned with the military, and this squabbling stopped either branch from ever posing a threat to the Emperor.

This first labour completed, the Yongle Emperor felt it fit to move his capital away from old, overcrowded Nanjing to Beijing in the north. The new city was meticulously planned, sewers, temples, roads, canals, palaces, gardens and blocks of housing were all meticulously detailed. It was laid down on a gridiron pattern and when the Emperor moved there in 1411 its population was 80,000 and ever growing. The new city of Beijing was supplied by the Grand Canal, which was dredged and restored and also extended, running through China past Nanjing, which was already beginning to be forgotten by the Emperor who looked outward for his calling.
The Three Great Civil Feats of the Yongle Emperor were, therefore, the reorganisation of the State, the relocation of the capital and the restoration of the Grand Canal. These three works would ensure his Dynasty’s survival and his own, for it meant that his people were happy as they were well run and well fed, as grain passed easily from Suzhou to the great cities. The city of Suzhou was the centre of a great trading network in central China. Local grain and rice was shipped north by the millions of litres to Beijing and Nanjing along flat-bottomed barges whose loads were so heavy that they could be barely seen but for the mountains of sacks and goods that laid them low in the water. The merchants of Suzhou were taxed heavily yet not prohibitively, and their profitable business kept China fed and happy, while encouraging maritime trade. Soon ships crossed the seas south, where the city of Guangzhou grew rapidly and became ever more important to the Emperor, especially when his attention turned south.

The other three labours of the Yongle Emperor were all either military of explorative. The Fourth labour was the pacification of Mongolia. In 1418 he led an army of 100,000 men north to the Mongol city of Karakorum which burnt and his further raids saw the Mongols humbled and in 1415 he received tribute from all their peoples. He began a programme of resettlement, as farmers were encouraged to move north, and lords were given lands there and encouraged to settle there. The great plains were unfarmable yet the Chinese peasants gathered in military encampments which soon became cities. The soldiers used firearms and their horses to subdue the Mongols, who traded with the cities who sent tax back to Beijing. Mongolia was never prosperous, yet it was stable, at least for another seventy years.
The Fifth Labour was the Annam War. Already heavily involved in the southern Kingdom, in 1418 he marched three armies numbering 200,000 men south and annexed Annam directly to China, making it a province and crushing all opposition. A wave of Chinese migrants saw Annam pacified over a matter of years, and the new Province marked the Empire’s border for thirty years.

The Sixth and final labour of the Yongle Emperor was the massive project of sea exploration. Led by Admiral Zheng He, these grand fleets sailed west throughout the Emperor’s reign. His great Junk ships were vast floating cities, with crew numbering in the thousands and with gardens, farms and herds of livestock aboard. The largest voyage, that of 1420 saw eighteen ships depart China. Zheng He sailed west, and his own personal diary records what occurred on the voyage. They sailed south, along the coast of Viet-Nam which they took tribute from. They then switched west, rounding the Malay peninsula and swinging into the Indian Ocean. They sighted Ceylon three months after departure. It was here that an argument broke out among the chain of command. The fleet had a military detachment of 4,000 soldiers and the Officer in command of these men demanded that a landing be made and the island be conquered. Zheng He, however, wanted to make contact with the people there whom he had already encountered and traded with. The Officer, Gao Zhei, demanded a landing and the Admiral refused, showing him the Emperor’s letter giving him absolute command. When Gao refused to back down, Zheng had him stripped of command. They made contact with the King of Ceylon who gave tribute to Zheng and asked to be made a Prince of China. Zheng deferred the right to do so, yet sent a message to the Emperor aboard a small boat commandeered from Ceylon. When it reached the Emperor he accepted and Ceylon was made a tributary state to China, paying tribute in various commodities, most notably precious stones.

The fleet then sailed west, encountering the east coast of Africa, which they mapped and decided to return to on their return. They then turned north and entered the Red Sea. They sailed north until they reached the northern coast where they made contact with several small communities and traded commodities. When Zheng asked a local chief who ruled the land, he replied that the Sultan of Egypt did. Zheng He sent an ambassador to the Sultan asking an audience. When Sultan al-Muzaffar Ahmad replied he could not, due to a crises in the Mamluk government (a revolt by a usurper in Syria) Zheng He departed and sailed back through Arabia and then down the east coast of Africa. Here, he discovered many new species which he brought back to China. After three years of sailing he returned to China a hero. He dedicated to the Emperor the animals which he had discovered, the tribute taken from all the kings and chiefs he had encountered and his own diary, which the Emperor read enthusiastically and applauded Zheng He for his accuracy and attention to detail. He then commanded that every officer and general keep a personal diary so that, if needed, it could be inspected by Palace officials. The Emperor promoted Zheng He to Chief Admiral and permitted him to go an another voyage, which took him through South East Asia and eventually into India and Persia.

His rule unchallenged, his power invincible, the Yongle Emperor died in 1426. He had ruled long and well, and he was universally mourned. China was the strongest it had ever been, and the old usurper was forgiven his treason and remembered as a great Emperor. His son inherited a strong and magnificent state and he continued his father’s policies of expansion. Zheng He was commanded to lead a colonisation force south and he founded the city of Singapore on an island south of the Malay peninsula. The Emperor made it Zheng’s personal fiefdom, and Zheng He was awarded the title of Prince. The first Chinese colony was not the last, and soon smaller ventures secured footholds in Taiwan, Borneo, Hainan and Java. The colonies were founded for three reasons: trade, prestige and consolidation. The Third Emperor, the Bronze Emperor, reversed his father’s tax policies on Suzhou and greatly increased mercantilism. He had distrusted the Confucian bureaucrats from the beginning and now he exercised his power on them. Merchants were given tax relief and government subsidy. Government monopolies in silk were broken up and soon a booming capitalist economy was taking over China. In 1435 he authorised the first Foreign Company, which was founded by silk, tea and cloth merchants to spread their businesses. The company planted colonies across Asia and over the years grew ever more independent.

There we have it, there's more if you want it, but what do we al think?
 
intriguing...

in OTL the expeditions were not continued because of the costs and the lack of financial gain.

I wonder if the colonies can become financially independent and the expeditions become self-paying. :cool::cool:
 
intriguing...

in OTL the expeditions were not continued because of the costs and the lack of financial gain.

I wonder if the colonies can become financially independent and the expeditions become self-paying. :cool::cool:

THe Ming Empire's going to stop funding the Treasure Fleets, but we'll be seeing the private companies expand and a certain high-ranking official becoming a leading figure in their commerce.
 
In 1432 the Bronze Emperor accepted the resignation of Grand Admiral Zheng He. The Admiral had resigned over the Emperor’s refusal to fund a seventh voyage of discovery. Zheng He left government in disgrace for abandoning his master for selfish desires yet when he arrived in Suzhou his services as a captain were eagerly sought after. One of the new companies, the Suzhou Tea Exchange, bought his services and made him captain of their small fleet. He knew the waters and peoples of Asia well, and advised them to found an outpost in Ceylon. This was accomplished in 1435 and Ceylonese tea, different in flavour and texture to green tea, sold well in China. The outpost in Ceylon grew as more of the company’s traders were relocated there and Chinese labourers were shipped in to tend the new plantations that were laid down. great junks carried casks of tea back to Suzhou where they paid a 17% tax and then sold their cargo for a profit that was sometimes over 500%. The company’s heads got together and formed what they called the Board of Directors. There were eight of them at first and each was head of a separate area of the company. One of these men was Zheng He, who advised the Board to invest in Taiwan. Trusting his advice, they used their profits to found new colonies on the small island and used it to grow Ceylonese tea. New plantations were dug and towns grew up around the vast fields. The company petitioned the Emperor and they bought the rights to the island’s trade and resources for twenty years at the cost of 3,000,000 chao. The Emperor also demanded one of his bureaucrats be on the Board of Directors. With unique access to Taiwan, they swiftly switched their operations from Ceylon to the island and soon tea production was up enormously. So great was the increase in output that Ceylon tea prices plummeted and the company almost went bankrupt.
They were once again saved by Zheng He, who advised them to diversify. The city of Singapore (it was so-called by the locals and was adopted by the Imperial system) was used as a base of operations to expand into the East Indies (so-called by Europeans). Offices were founded on Java, Borneo and Sumatra. Spices and other luxuries too began to flow back to Suzhou. These paid a 40% tax yet profits remained enormous as the wealthier members of Chinese society enjoyed the new flavours brought from afar.

The Suzhou Tea Exchange became the richest of the private companies founded by the Bronze Emperor, who resisted his Confucian bureaucracy’s calls to put an end to mercantile profiteering. The Emperor summoned Zheng He to him, and the new capitalist arrived to him in humble dress and with bowed head. The Emperor asked him in front of his bureaucrats what his desire in life was. Zheng replied that it was to serve the majesty of the Emperor and to expand his Splendour across the seas. Thus appeased, the Emperor granted him the title of Baron and land in Guangzhou province. Zheng thanked him for his gift, yet immediately signed the land over to the Tea Exchange which used it to cultivate silk worms as it expanded into the silk industry.
Meanwhile, in Taiwan, the mass Han migration had forced the aborigines inland so that Taiwan became almost like China, and the people there worked long hours for little money except for the wealthy traders and managers who worked little yet earned much. The company issued wages in silver chao and began mining in central Taiwan. Silver, gold and copper were discovered and a mining boom set in. the exchange sold much of the gold and silver to the Emperor, who purchased it at a reduced rate. The fact that the Emperor bought instead of requisitioned showed a difference between the Bronze Emperor and his forebears. He paid only 20% of the commodity’s value, yet it set an example and the Imperial government paid for what it needed and full price too. The Emperor passed an edict that prohibited unlawful requisition and the hindrance of commerce.

The Bronze Emperor earned his name from the new currency he introduced. The Rei was a small bronze coin measuring 2 cm across and with a precisely stamped hole in the centre in a pattern only the Imperial mint could make. The edges were marked to prevent clippings and the new currency was assured against the old chao, with an exchange rate of 3:1. This earned the government vast sums of money, for the chao was made of silver and so huge stockpiles f silver were taken out of circulation, thus decreasing inflation which was becoming worrying after the discovery of silver in Taiwan. The Emperor himself was mistrustful of bureaucrats, he did not trust their motives. They ostensibly served him, and his empire, yet he was not so naïve as to think that every one of them was acting for him and him alone. Now did he trust merchants, however he knew what their motives were, and so knew how they would act.
The group whom he hated most, however, were eunuchs. He hated their long, slender limbs, their hairless upper lips and their high voices. He found himself surrounded by them and then finally, in 1439 banned them from the Palace. His Empress, who was a close ally of the eunuchs, moved to the summer palace at Chengde where she held her court among the deer parks and on the man made lakes which her husband had ordered to be made. In brightly painted pagodas she and her eunuch advisors plotted. She did not like her husband, and her son, who was the Duke of Hubei, hated him as well. They therefore planned to remove the Emperor.
It was doomed from the beginning. The East Beijing Department, the Emperor’s secret police was still operational, and run by trusted eunuchs (he did trust a few) as well as other, new officers, it infiltrated the group with one Wang Gaotzing. He gained the Empress’s confidence and amassed overwhelming evidence against her and her son. He reported to the Department whose head, one of the 100 Officers of Planning, reported to the Emperor. The Emperor was silent at the news, a single tear ran down his cheek as he ordered all the plotters put to death.
The Empress, his wife. The Duke of Hubei, his son. Some 5,000 eunuchs. All executed in Chengde. They were thrown into the nearby river whose swift stream carried them to some unknown shore. The Emperor could not bear to watch, but instead met with his Inner Council (the 2 Chief Advisors, his Five Generals, three Princes) as well as Zheng He, who was the closest thing he had to a friend, and they discussed matters of state. One of the Princes congratulated the Emperor on the revelation of the plot, and was dismissed.

In 1439 the last voyage of discovery was launched. Zheng He was made Grand Admiral once more and given eighteen junks, each of them 50 metres long with three masts and steel turrets and rockets. They were the largest ships the Empire had put to sea, and the Suzhou Tea Exchange also provided six ships under their own expense also under the command of Zheng He. He sailed west with this fleet and eight months later reached India. He met with the Prince of Bengal and signed a treaty of friendship, exchanging gifts. He sailed past Ceylon whose king made him a Lord of the realm and gave him provisions. The fleet them sailed south along the African coast, charting Madagascar before switching north and sailing along the west coast. For four years they wandered, charting unknown coasts and new waters. In 1443 the Grand Admiral died, and they turned back. His death was greeted with universal mourning, and he was buried in Suzhou at the joint expense of the Imperial Treasury and the Suzhou Tea exchange.

Zheng He had revolutionised China. He and the Bronze Emperor had renounced Confucianism and embraced an era of exploration and trade. The Chinese Empire grew steadily after both of their deaths and the foundations laid by both men were the bedrock of Chinese foreign policy for one hundred years.
 
This is a very good timeline! Your knowledge of the era seems to be superb! All I can recommend is to continue writing this and not abandon it, and also to possibly resist the urge and have China discover the New World. Or maybe they do, but it isn't a big deal, because the imperial government opts to focus on SE Asia, the Indian Ocean, and other points to their west instead.

Why? It just seems to me that having a triumphant Ming China would be interesting enough without doing an alternate Age of Colonization. Unless an exapnsionist Ming would necessarily mean that they head east towards Hawaii.
 
It's good to see another China TL, China really doesn't get enough love on these forums. I don't have too much knowledge of the era or the time period, but the Ming period is definately interesting to me. You've got me subscribed. :)
 
This is a very good timeline! Your knowledge of the era seems to be superb! All I can recommend is to continue writing this and not abandon it, and also to possibly resist the urge and have China discover the New World. Or maybe they do, but it isn't a big deal, because the imperial government opts to focus on SE Asia, the Indian Ocean, and other points to their west instead.

Why? It just seems to me that having a triumphant Ming China would be interesting enough without doing an alternate Age of Colonization. Unless an exapnsionist Ming would necessarily mean that they head east towards Hawaii.

Well China won't discover America, but we'll be seeing a gradual dssemination of Chinese culture into the western seaboard around Oregon etc. we'll also see Japan and Korea brought int othe Chiense sphere, but we'll just wait and see. . .
 
A Note on Confucianism.
The relaxation of China's anti-mercantalist policies was due to the Bronze Emperor's mistrust of Confucian ideals of the hierarchical society centred around bureaucracy. The Emperor interpreted the deeply-engrained philosophy as a political plan, and so strengthend his father's governemnt reforms. However, he scrapped hierarchy when it came to economics. The liberalisation of anti-mercantalist policies therefore saw a defeat for the bureaucracy as trade was abandoned by the state. Private companies were set up, with state oversight, that would make enormous profits. In time, the Directors of these companies would be lords, officials and even Emperors.

That's for those who were curious about the state of Confucianism.
 
The question of who would replace Zheng He in the Tea exchange’s hierarchy was resolved swiftly as his adopted son, Zheng Yu was appointed by the other Directors. He was chosen because of his illustrious patronage and because of his striking abilities. He had grown up in Suzhou and had since his childhood seen his adopted father and his friends bullied and browbeaten by Confucian bureaucrats. He grew to hate these men whom he described as leeches on the great bloated body of the state, and when he was recommended to take the official Examination he refused, saying he did not want to become another bloodsucker. Zheng He eventually persuaded him to do so, saying that he did not have to accept a role in the bureaucracy but could take a post in the Exchange. He passed the Exams with flying colours- he knew his literature back to front, his calligraphy was fluent and elegant and his numeracy was unquestionable. He was recommended to join the bureaucracy yet he turned the post down, taking a position in the Tea Exchange hierarchy as a Colonial Official. He was the junior secretary to the Manager of the colony of Taipei in Taiwan. The small town was growing rapidly and he was placed in charge of the tea plantations that earned the region its money. It was on his suggestion that tea was stockpiled in Taipei in order to reduce supply and drive up prices. This kind of hoarding was to raise the ire of the people yet would earn companies large profits. In 1436 he was promoted to Manager of Taipei. He ran the colony well and for three years its profits were three time greater than the preceding years. He introduced new strains of rice which allowed less land to be cultivated for food with the same yields. This allowed his plantations to expand and the warehouses of Taipei were filled to bursting with crates of tea. In 1439 he was promoted to Colonial Manager of Taiwan. His meteoric rise can be explained by three things: his patronage- people respected his adoptive father and so trusted him and his leadership. Second as his raw ability- he was intelligent and forward-looking. He slashed expenditure and boosted profits. Thirdly, the small numbers involved in the Tea Exchange. In Taiwan there were only six hundred Exchange employees, the rest were indentured labourers who were legally still tied to their feudal lord who literally rented them out to the Exchange.
It came as no surprise, therefore, when in 1441 he was made a Director. He was summoned to meet the Bronze Emperor, who greeted him warmly and told him tales of his adopted father. Yu pledged his allegiance to the Emperor and to his realm and renewed Zheng He’s vow to extend his glory and influence across the seas. The Emperor issued him with an official seal which gave him the authority of an Imperial Officer.
The Emperor himself was beginning to show the signs of his age. He was, in 1442, sixty three years of age and although he adamantly refused to take the elixirs and medicines proscribed by his Taoist advisors, the remedies he took for his aching joints and fading vision caused him to lose his hair and his teeth. He had no clear successor- he had had his only son executed and although he had numerous other offspring he trusted none of them with the Imperial office. In 1443 he took it upon himself to resolve the issue. He had nearly three hundred concubines and eighteen wives, but no Empress. These relationships had produced nineteen sons, who ranged in age between forty two and twelve years of age. He trusted none of his wives, all of whom were angling after power and worked through their sons. He showed no interest in any of his children except for one. The sixteen year old Duke of Shandong had earned his father’s respect when the old Emperor caught him arguing with a Confucian scholar. In the course of the discussion, the scholar lost his temper with the prince and left. The Prince took this as a sign of victory and cried out to the retreating man: ‘Old grey-beard, you shall turn your backs on August monarchs for the sake of our dear master who was no more than a provincial bureaucrat!’ the scholar scolded the Prince who remained indomitable. The Emperor warmed to him and began grooming him for succession. He gave him command of an expeditionary force into Manchuria which forced back the Manchus and established a strong frontier. When he was away, however, the Emperor died. 1444 was a hard year for the Empire. It saw the death of the Third Ming Emperor: the Bronze Emperor and the struggle for succession.
The Duke of Shandong marched south with his army of 50,000 men to Beijing claiming the throne. The capital, however, was held by the Imperial Guard who were loyal to the eldest son of the Emperor, who was made the Hongxhi Emperor. He began by disbanding the secretariat and imposing martial law. He held the support of the army yet the bureaucracy deserted en masse to the Duke of Shandong, who besieged Beijing for three months. During this time he used cannon to batter the walls into submission and sailed fireships down the Grand Canal to burn parts of the city. The final assault came in Autumn 1444 when the Duke’s forces stormed the city, forcing the Guards back into the Forbidden City and there besieged them. The Duke of Shandong, looking with loathing at the prison which he had been kept in for fifteen years, ordered it burned. The moat which surrounded the Palace contained the fires and any who tried to escape down the numerous causeways were massacred. Finally the Emperor himself led a force hoping to break out. They emerged from the flames and were shot down by a hail of gunfire. The new Emperor reinstated the bureaucracy and ordered the Five Generals who had supported the Hongxhi Emperor drowned. He then ordered the reconstruction of the Imperial Palace. The new Palace was outside the city, on the banks of the Grand Canal. New roads were cut which made it a hub of communications for the Empire. With no traffic in the area it was reachable and the new grounds were more pleasant than the claustrophobic Forbidden City with its enormous barbican and its solitary, central garden, the only place where trees could be grown for fear of assassins. The Forbidden City had been built on a base of stone and brick to stop assassins tunnelling in, yet the new Palace was far more open. It had gardens and pools and ponds dug, artificial rivers curled through the landscaped grounds and coy ponds. It was encircled by a fifty foot wall dotted with guard towers and four gates which were guarded at all times by 500 soldiers armed to the teeth. There was also a deep moat surrounding the entire complex which could only be crossed at the gatehouses.

The Fifty Emperor of the Ming Dynasty proved a martial ruler. In 1446 he mustered 200,000 men and marched into Viet-Nam. The jungle proved almost impenetrable yet the coast was easily secured. A friendly pretender was put on the throne of the Viet Kingdom and was made to pay annual tribute to Beijing. After a two year campaign he returned to China and then campaigned in Manchuria, crushing the Manchus and extending the frontier north. This opened the way for another wave of migration- it is estimated that some 300,000 Han settlers arrived in the early secured Liaodong Peninsula which became a booming agricultural area.

The Suzhou Tea exchange was, by 1445, the foremost of the new Private Companies. Its operations in South East Asia made it enormously profitable and it could afford, therefore, to fund expeditions to Ceylon and India. Outposts were founded in India and deals were made with local princes. It would be the Suzhou Tea exchange that would obtain an Imperial license to produce firearms ad weaponry. They mass-produced these in factories across central China, but also in the south where population growth was faster and therefore wages could be lower. They introduced new concepts of management and production which increased output and so supplied by the Imperial Army with weapons but also sold their surplus to Indian princes who used Chinese firearms and plate steel to wage wars of conquest and defence, as the Timirud Empire began extending its tendrils south. The Prince of Bengal emerged the most powerful man in India from this, his armies of well-trained and equipped soldiers with wheel-lock muskets and steel pikes made them a formidable force. They carved out a kingdom for him so that in 1453 he crowned himself King of Hindustan. He set up his capital at Kolkata and built fine palaces of white marble and red brick from which he ruled a quarter of India. He consulted a Tea exchange official on matters of trade and this official who was elected by the Board of Directors and approved by the Emperor, became the Empire’s ambassador to Bengal.
At the same time, the kingdoms of Lanna and Ayutthaya were brought under the Empire’s sway. They were heirs to a strong and proud martial tradition and were each powerful kingdoms, yet through close economic ties they eventually became mere satellites. The Suzhou Tea Exchange made inroads there, establishing outposts in coastal cities and selling firearms to the Ayutthaya, who were more open to trade than the Lanna, who were further inland. The Tea exchange also gave loans to the King of Ayutthaya with massive interest- the third loan they gave, in 1457 had interest payable of 80%. The Ayutthaya eventually conquered the Lanna and established the Siamese Kingdom. This was ruled by Trailokanat, the white Elephant King, who instituted massive reforms that made him a Chinese style Emperor. A Sinophile, he created a government along the lines of the Yongle Emperor’s reforms. He could not afford such a huge army, however, and leased out defence to mercenaries and bands of warriors. One such band were the Cloaked Sabres, who were led by Hixu Wen, an employee of the Tea exchange. The Cloaked Sabres were another, shadowy, army of the Exchange and they grew in numbers as they offered good pay which was drawn from booty and Tea exchange subsidies. Finally in 1476 the Suzhou Tea Exchange met with the King of Siam and insisted that all military matters be signed over to them. In return, they would forgive him 85% of his debts. He agreed and so the Cloaked Sabres changed their name to the Siamese Battalion. Hixu Wen was made a general of the battalion, which numbered some 40,000 men and he was even made an Imperial General with permanent leave due to campaigning. His stand-in during Inner Council meetings was an Exchange official, and thus the Suzhou Tea exchange became intertwined with the Imperial government.
 
This is really cool stuff, the only thing I'd ask would be could you space out your posts so they're easier to read?
 
The Chinese aren't setting up colonies- it's the private companies like the Suzhou Tea exchange that are doing it. I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear but these aren't governemnt bodies, they're like the British East India Company etc. they're looking for profit ,which they're allowed to do with the relaxations of China's anti-mercantalist policies. That's why Taiwan is given over ot minign and tea growing, not because the Emperor wants tea but because the peopel want tea and the Suzhou Tea Exchange has bought the rightsto the island. We'll be seeing more big companies rise soon, although in the late 15th century the Tea Exchange is by far the largest.

About the spacing- sure I'll get right on it. I know I have a tendency to be very prosaic so I'll try and make it easy for you guys.
Watch this space folks, we'll be seeing some interesting stuff I'm sure!
 
Throughout the mid to late 15th centuries expansion into central Asia was kept to a minimum. Previous dynasties like the Han and the Tang had expanded west in order to control the lucrative Silk Road, which had seen silk, tea and other Chinese produce sold at enormously inflated prices to Middle-Easterners and eventually Europeans. However, with the collapse of the central Asian caravans after Timur the Lame’s wars of conquest, there was little need for China to expand to the west. The Emperor, who would be awarded the reign name of Martial Peace, was intent on projecting his power there however. He therefore dispatched three armies numbering 150,000 in total, west to subdue to steppe peoples. He sent an envoy to the Timirud Sultan in Samarkand and the agreed to trade and mutual neutrality- the Sultan agreed not to expand east any further and the Emperor promised not to licence Chinese merchants on the Silk Road, which was then kept as a state monopoly- all merchants travelling along it had to have licences and pay a special tax. This tax was some 120% on most goods, and relied on the fact that no other route existed for trade between east and west. This was to prove wrong, however, as Chinese exploration into the Indian Ocean made contact with Persia and the Ottoman Empire. The Emperor sent two ambassadors- one his own Imperial envoy and the other a Tea exchange representative to Constantinople in 1467. They sailed up the Red Sea to Cairo where the decaying Mamluk Sultanate greeted them warmly yet the ambassadors treated the Sultan with disdain, a small man dominated by eunuchs and slaves. They found Mamluk society strange, with slaves masters to their own servants and all the time a strange religion hanging over everything. Five times a day they would be startled by the call to prayer and the din of Cairo prevented them from sleeping. They gladly left and chartered a ship to Constantinople.

They reached the city and the court of Mehmet II who gave them an audience on the second day of their visit. They far preferred Constantinople- its streets were clean and ordered, its new mosques grand and dignified. The Sea of Marmara was blue and peaceful and the mulberry trees outside the city reminded them of China. Yet this land was so alien- the people’s tongue was almost indecipherable and their script completely illegible. Yet they well understood Sultan Mehmet, for he was almost twin to the Martial Emperor, and so their meetings went well.

Six months after their arrival, they had reached an accord. The Imperial envoy had secured a treaty of friendship and alliance between the Ottoman Empire and the Chinese Empire. He also concluded a swap of envoys- he would remain in Constantinople and Turkish envoys would be sent to Beijing. The Exchange representative too gained much. He received a monopoly on trade between Constantinople and China, and the licence for outposts in Constantinople, Athens, Thessalonica and Edirne. These were set up gradually over the 15th and 16th centuries as the Exchange expanded yet further.


The opening of diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire was ground-breaking for two reasons. The first was that it was the first alliance between China and a European power. The second was because the Emperor treated Mehmet as an equal. The days of the Middle Kingdom were numbered- the Emperor was convinced that China was great and his rule mandated by heaven yet he knew that other lands and kingdoms were across the seas and oceans and that they held great wealth, for he looked at the wealth returned by the voyages of discovery and knew that this was but a small fraction of what the distant continents held in store.


In 1483 a group of merchants in Guangzhou got together and created the Guangzhou Silks and Fabrics Company. This started small, with only seven merchants involved at first, pooling their resources to fund larger ventures, yet it swiftly grew. In 1484 they bought the rights to sell silk abroad from Guangzhou port. They bought silk, which was cheap, from wholesalers and turned it into cloth, which was also cheap. They then exported this cloth to India where it reached high prices among the elites. The King of Hindustan was the most fashion conscious- he purchased a whole new wardrobe of silk for 200,000 bronze Chao. These profits were great and so they expanded their business so that by 1495 it was the third largest private company in China (second was the Nanjing rice and wheat wholesalers, who supplied Beijing with food which produced a stable, low-profit but secure business).

Chinese trade in the Indian ocean grew enormously from 1495-1550. Chinese companies traded with the Indian states and Persia so that small Chinese communities existed in Persia from as early as 1502. In 1486 The Emperor ordered the construction of an Imperial fleet at Shanghai. At first it had twenty great war junks- they had three masts, steel turrets and 10 cannon each. These were supplemented by various smaller craft ranging from small gunboats to small galleys. These patrolled the coastline and were instrumental in the success over Japanese pirates in the anti-piracy campaign of 1495.

Korea had for centuries been closely tied to China. In 1491 however the Martial Emperor demanded tribute from the King of Joseon. The King at first refused, yet when three war junks emerged by Seoul he agreed. Korea was made a tributary nation under Chinese defence and protection. At first this had little meaning yet in the 16th century Korea would become far more dependent upon China.

The Martial Emperor died in 1504. He had defined China’s foreign policy that would serve it for two centuries. She would use the twin powers of trade and force to win over his neighbours while treating other powers with warmth and benevolence. Vasco Da Gama, the Portuguese sailor who rounded the Cape of Good Hope and explored the East African coast, made contact with the small Chinese outpost in Mombassa, a city controlled by Arab merchants and a hub un the Indian Ocean trading web. The Chinese were new there, having only been trading regularly for four years, yet when they saw Da Gama and the local’s reaction, they knew he was not a regular visitor. The local Tea exchange official, who ran the outpost, met with Da Gama and advised him to stay so that he could be conducted to China. When he heard this, Gama stated that he would come so long as he could remain on his ship. The official agreed, and wrote him a letter of recommendation to the Tea Exchange Board of Directors. He then gave Gama supplies and fruit (which he advised them to eat, seeing the state of the crew) he bid them farewell.

It took Da Gama two years to reach China, and he arrived in Shanghai feeling completely out of his depth. He landed in June 1507 and was quickly whisked to Beijing by Imperial bureaucrats. Here he met with high ranking officials who inspected him to make sure he was who he said he was, they inspected his cargo and his crew as well, and confiscated all his wares. He was finally admitted to the Sixth Emperor, who would be known as the Xian-le Emperor. He kotowed as demanded yet when the Emperor asked why he had come he had no response. His mission had been to find India, yet he was in Beijing. He was therefore kept in Beijing while he sent word to the King of Portugal. The King eventually dispatched an ambassador who arrived in 1511. He concluded a treaty with the Emperor which would see trade begin at first tentatively before blossoming into a great industry. Gama meanwhile wrote all he saw and heard and when he finally returned to Lisbon, presented his work to the King, who read it over a period of several years (he was not very literate) and gave Da Gama the title Viceroy of China, and made him head of the trade delegation that took up residence in Shanghai.

Portuguese trade with Shanghai would transform the city. Previously, Suzhou had been the centre of trade for northern China, yet with the advent of international trade it declined in import as Shanghai became a large port.

The Portuguese empire, meanwhile, expanded into the Indian Ocean as she founded colonies in East Africa. The Chinese, however, were wary of Portuguese encroachment upon their sphere of influence, and so the Emperor gave leave for the counter-colonisation of Africa. Forts were set up to control strategic areas and new towns planted. This was all managed by the Suzhou Tea Exchange, which became like another branch of the government. Profit was still its motive, however, as it secured exclusive trade with Portugal in tea and spices. The GSFC however cornered the silk trade and massively inflated the pries of silks sold to Europe. They were still cheaper than the silk brought across Asia, however, and so they made a profit. This undercutting ruined the Timirud Empire’s economy and spelled the beginning of the end for the Silk Road.
 
Top