Since the day the banner of rebellion was raised, the Zhu Emperor had been pondering the future direction. However, no matter how much he racked his brains, he could not find a reliable path.
Whether to continue using the governance of rites as in past dynasties or to fully implement the rule of law as in later generations, neither was feasible.
This was because the situation in the Great Ming was different from that of past dynasties, and also very different from that of later generations.
From the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties to the Qing dynasty, which sang its swan song, the Central Plains had always been dominated by a small-scale peasant economy. Although there were various workshops, their development was limited under the premise of a small-scale peasant economy. Whatever seedlings of such things sprouted remained merely seedlings.
The current Great Ming, however, was a land of workshops. Not only were there workshops such as the "Five Small Industries" controlled by the imperial court, but also other industries like salt and post stations, requiring far more laborers than in any previous dynasty.
One was a small-scale peasant economy, and the other was an industrial economy. The two not only differed in their levels of productivity but also in their essence. Continuing to use the old governance of rites was naturally absurd.
What about fully implementing the rule of law like in later generations?
It was equally absurd.
This was because later generations had experienced the eight-nation barbarian alliance burning the Old Summer Palace, the Jian barbarians abdicating and then being restored, the warlords carving up the country, and the Japanese invasion. A large number of intellectuals awakened, and the common people yearned for change, ultimately leading to the "Zhonghua Jia" that challenged seventeen regional powers.
What had the Great Ming experienced?
Even after the Jian barbarians entered the passes for a century and a half, those who held the power of discourse were still the local gentry and scholar-officials. Although the Zhu Emperor had cleared out a large number of them during the rebellion, it was insignificant compared to the total number of local gentry and scholar-officials in the realm.
The local gentry and scholar-officials were always adept at shifting their allegiances.
Moreover, not having experienced the eight-nation barbarian invasion or the Japanese invasion, the Great Ming had, instead, continuously expanded outwards after overthrowing the Great Qing. As a result, the ideology and discourse of the "Celestial Empire" had always persisted.
The difficulty of fully implementing the rule of law in such circumstances was not ordinary.
More importantly, the governance of rites, passed down for thousands of years, was not necessarily all dross without any benefit.
In fact, many aspects of the governance of rites were labeled as dross not because of their shortcomings, but because the governance of rites conflicted with the development of productivity.
For example, the Great Ming now had many workshops in various places, some employing men, some predominantly women, and some using both. The opportunities for strangers, men and women of marriageable age, to interact greatly increased compared to the time before workshops.
In this situation, what would happen if a male worker and a female worker fell for each other?
The governance of rites emphasized the decrees of parents and the words of a matchmaker, while the rule of law emphasized the protection of individual natural person rights. According to the governance of rites, if the parents of either party disagreed with the marriage, it meant the end of the relationship. From the perspective of the rule of law, free love itself was a right that natural persons should have.
Did this not create a conflict?
This was merely the first layer of conflict.
Next came the second layer of conflict: would workshop owners support the governance of rites or the rule of law? One did not even need to think about it; the workshop owners would absolutely support the rule of law. They would even jump up and vote with their feet.
This was because supporting the governance of rites meant losing two workers, while supporting the rule of law meant retaining two workers to the greatest extent possible.
Then came the third layer of conflict: the conflict between clans and natural persons.
This was quite obvious. The Zhu Emperor could not forcibly abolish or eliminate all clans. Even if the Zhu Emperor could forcefully replace clan authority and laws with national laws, and even if the Zhu Emperor and the court officials used all sorts of means to induce the people to split from their families, they could not completely replace the influence of clans in the local communities.
Therefore, the conflict between clans and natural persons actually represented the conflict between clan authority and national law.
According to traditional clan authority, a marriage without the decree of parents and the words of a matchmaker was elopement. Both the man and the woman were at fault. If either party was already engaged, it was an unforgivable offense, and being drowned in a pig cage would be considered justified.
But could national law stipulate this?
Clearly, national law could not stipulate this. This was because national law had to maintain stability in the realm and also restrict clan authority to prevent it from encroaching upon imperial power and national law.
Thus, the third layer of conflict arose.
This was merely the tip of the iceberg of conflicts encountered during the development of the Great Ming.
There was also an issue hidden beneath the ice that was clearly more troublesome than this.
As is well known, industrialization would increase productivity, and increased productivity would also accelerate the circulation of wealth. In this process, not only would a large number of wealthy people emerge, but workshop owners and wealthy merchants would also have some different ideas.
This was because the essence of workshop owners and wealthy merchants was still merchants, and merchants valued profit. What was the greatest profit?
The greatest profit was not how much money the Great Ming court could let them earn, but how much power they could wield and how much voice they had in safeguarding their wealth.
For instance, during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, social schools were vigorously promoted. Ostensibly, this was to benefit everyone in the realm, giving children from poor families a chance to study and become officials. This was not wrong, right?
However, what many people did not expect was that those who smeared Zhu Yuanzhang the most and opposed the promotion of social schools were precisely those officials who had succeeded in their studies from poor families.
This was easy to understand. If a family or a clan went to great lengths to support an official, they naturally hoped to improve their social status and receive rewards. Allowing more children from poor families to have opportunities to study and become officials meant more competitors, which would easily affect their interests.
The same problem also applied to the conflict between the old local gentry and scholar-officials and the emerging meritorious officials and noble relatives.
For example, a certain decadent literati's famous saying: "Why should the efforts of my family for generations lose to your decade of arduous study?"
In short, there were a plethora of messy problems. The Great Ming was currently suppressing these problems through high-speed development, but this did not mean these problems did not exist.
Thinking of these messy issues, the Zhu Emperor could not help but sigh slightly. Governing a realm was far more difficult than conquering it!
Perhaps some might say, since Emperor Zhu has copied the approach of "Tu Zi" (referring to China), why not copy it more thoroughly? If he had directly and completely imitated "Tu Zi," he probably would not have encountered these messy problems.
In fact, this involved the issue of the "dark forest" and what could and could not be copied.
If the Zhu Emperor wanted to completely imitate "Tu Zi's" approach, it would mean that the Menglianggu rebel group at that time not only had to fight the Qing officials and soldiers but also the local gentry and scholar-officials.
Given the Qing dynasty's consistent practice of prioritizing foreign powers over their own people, they might even have had to fight the foreign reinforcements invited by the Qing.
Although the ultimate victory was not in doubt, such a method of opposing the entire realm would have undoubtedly severely depleted the strength of the Central Plains during the process of conquering the realm.
If one had to find a more vivid analogy, it would be like performing a complete blood transfusion on a patient who was not yet completely terminally ill. Regardless of how high the adaptability of the blood was, the period of weakness after the transfusion was not something the Zhu Emperor could casually decide upon.
Since the Age of Discovery, Europe had been developing rapidly, while the Qing dynasty adopted a policy of isolation. They guarded against the Han more than against the barbarians. In terms of military, industry, navigation, physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and geography, they were comprehensively surpassed by Europe.
If the Zhu Emperor were to perform a major blood transfusion on the Central Plains first, it would basically mean a long period of weakness for the Central Plains. Europe would also have more time for sustained development.
Ultimately, the Central Plains would be the one to suffer.
Conversely, a small-scale blood transfusion, copying some beneficial aspects and discarding some less suitable rules and regulations, would be more suitable for the Great Ming's current situation.
The more he thought about these messy and troublesome matters, the more his head ached. The Zhu Emperor simply shook his head slightly and instructed Zhu Jianying, "First, have the 'Tianzi' dock and anchor. We will visit the Ottoman Empire first."
...
The port of Mukalla had already fallen into a slaughter of blood and fire.
Although the Ottoman army was not very efficient, and the defenders of Mukalla port had lost effective command, with the port of Mukalla and its numerous reinforcements providing support, coupled with insufficient troop numbers, the landing forces of the Tianzi fleet could not immediately capture Mukalla and could only advance inch by inch.
Deniz, temporarily appointed as the commander of Mukalla's defense, was in a panic.
Unlike the generals of the Ottoman Janissary corps, who claimed to be the Sultan's guards but in reality, were known for killing Sultans, repeatedly launching rebellions, and always believing themselves to be the best in the world, Deniz clearly knew what kind of army he was facing and that Mukalla could not hold out for long against the Ming army's attack.
Now, the only thing Deniz could count on was for the messenger to reach Istanbul as quickly as possible, inform Mustafa Pasha of the news of Sultan Mahmut II and a large number of Janissary generals being killed in one fell swoop, and then hope that Mustafa Pasha's reinforcements could arrive at Mukalla before the Great Ming launched a major offensive.
Of course, the most important thing was for Mustafa Pasha to quickly send someone to replace him as commander. Although controlling the entire Mukalla felt great, Deniz was also well aware that no matter how great the feeling, one had to be alive to feel it. Once dead, all one would experience was endless darkness.
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. Deniz kept pacing back and forth in the room, his gaze towards the surrounding Ottoman generals filled with anxiety: "Besides asking Mustafa Pasha and the nearby troops for reinforcements, do you have any other solutions?"
The Ottoman generals in the room did not answer Deniz's question but instead lowered their heads.
It was not that these Ottomans did not want to answer Deniz's question, but they genuinely did not know how to answer. The available manpower in Mukalla port had basically been fully mobilized, and even ordinary civilians who could be conscripted had been conscripted. Deniz now commanded a force of twenty thousand, an unprecedented number. But what was the use of that? They were still being suppressed by a Ming army of only three thousand!
Furthermore, Deniz had also tried to use superior numbers to encircle and annihilate the Ming army of only three thousand, but the final outcome had filled Deniz and the surrounding Ottoman generals with despair.
Yes, the Ming army that landed did indeed only have three thousand men, and it was true that Deniz could mobilize twenty thousand men. However, the Ming army of three thousand now only occupied the port of Mukalla. While the Ottoman army had a numerical advantage, the Ming army could also rely on its fleet at sea to achieve a fire superiority.
The twenty thousand "troops" under Deniz's command suffered a heavy blow in their very first charge. A large number of conscripted Ottoman civilians were either killed by the cannon fire of the Ming fleet or simply dropped their weapons and fled. The Ottoman army, which had exceeded twenty thousand, now numbered only around seventeen thousand, forcing them to rely on rounding to claim it was a grand army of twenty thousand.
Deniz had also tried to send people to contact the Ming army's generals. However, no matter what conditions Deniz proposed, the Ming army generals on the other side had only one answer: "We accept no negotiations or surrenders. If you Ottoman soldiers still have any sense of honor, fight to the death!"
It was precisely this answer that plunged Deniz and the surrounding Ottoman generals into further despair.
As for scattering and fleeing...
Deniz and the surrounding Ottoman generals had no such thoughts.
This was not because Deniz and the others were particularly loyal to the Ottoman Empire, nor because they were fearless of death, but because Deniz and the others were well aware that an army united as one could at least delay their defeat. If they scattered and fled...
They would not only face the pursuit of the Ming army and the pursuit of Mustafa Pasha for abandoning Mukalla, but more importantly, they would also face the pursuit of the ordinary Ottoman civilians.
The act of hunting down fleeing soldiers was something that the Central Plains, the Ottoman Empire, or even the nobles, gentry, and commoners of Europe enjoyed doing, as it was low in cost and high in reward.
Therefore, the situation faced by Deniz and the surrounding Ottoman generals was that they could not fight, could not surrender, and could not flee. The only thing they could do was to defend Mukalla to the death, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mustafa's reinforcements.
Of course, the prerequisite was that the messenger could reach Istanbul alive, and that their speed must be fast enough...
Seeing that none of the generals answered his question, Deniz gritted his teeth and stamped his foot in anger, shouting, "Since you have no solutions, why not listen to mine!"
As the generals looked up at him, Deniz snorted coldly, "There are many merchants from other countries in Mukalla city. Arrest all of them, no matter which country they are from!"