Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 380 Why is it a feudal system (I)
After completing the division of the spoils, er, no, after completing the overall peace building work in Indochina, Zhu Youdong temporarily let the rulers and powerful officials of the vassal states go down to rest. Then he asked Fang Zhenghua to call Zhu Gongyao and Zhu Youjian over.
The Crown Prince of Zhou, Zhu Gongyao, was thirty-eight years old this year, while the Crown Prince of Tang, Zhu Youjian, was only eighteen years old.
Of course, age is only one aspect. At least in terms of generation, it can be clearly seen from the names: Zhu Gongyao has a wood radical, and is of the same generation as Zhu Youdong. And Zhu Youjian has a gold radical, and is of the same generation as Wanli...
Therefore, after paying respects to Zhu Youdong, the 38-year-old Zhu Gongyao had to pay respects to Zhu Youjian obediently.
After the royal etiquette was completed, the two princes sat down and calmly met the gaze of Zhu Youdong, the leader.
It is indeed the historical plane. He is one of the few capable people among the royal family in the late Ming Dynasty. Nodding with satisfaction, Zhu Youdong said to the two princes: "Why did I ask you to come here? You all know it, right?"
"I know. Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me the opportunity to display my ambitions and knowledge."
The one who stood up and said this was, of course, the young Zhu Youjian. Even though he had been in prison for sixteen years like his grandfather, he still had not smoothed out his edges. During the Chongzhen period, he actually led the army to defend the king without the emperor's order. So, Zhu Youjian, who was standing in front of Zhu Youdong at this time, was naturally very sharp.
In comparison, Zhu Gongyao was much calmer. He just stood up and nodded gently: "I already know, thank you for your trust, Your Majesty."
"Yes." He nodded and asked Fang Zhenghua to bring in a map of Siam that was found in the bedroom of Rajabhat Buddha .
"Look, you two, Siam originally had 55 prefectures. Because we need to appease the surrounding countries and treat the descendants of the King of Siam well, I have already given away 15 prefectures this morning. I plan to divide the remaining 40 prefectures into four parts. One for the current Prime Minister of Siam, Supachai, and one for their Prince Songtan. The remaining two will be given to Zhou Fan and Tang Fan respectively. Of course, you have got the largest ones. Both prefectures basically have no less than 150,000 square kilometers of land and a population of about 1.5 million. As for the specific division, well, I will use the Chao Phraya River and the Nan River as the boundary. The west will belong to Zhou Fan, and the east will belong to Tang Fan. Do you have any objections?"
At that time, Zhejiang Province was only about 90,000 square kilometers, so why would they be unhappy about such a large piece of land being allocated to them? Although the population on this land was a little small, there were probably a lot of wastelands. As the saying goes, a blank sheet of paper is easy to paint on. With a small population and a lot of wastelands, there is naturally a lot of room for maneuvering. So Zhu Gongyao and Zhu Youjian bowed down very simply and said, "Your Majesty, we have no objection. Thank you for your generous gift."
"Please stand up." Zhu Youdong helped the two men up, stared into their eyes closely and said, "I will still do as I said before. In addition to maintaining a unified voice with the motherland in diplomacy and obeying military orders, domestic affairs are entirely up to you. If you do well, the people will come to you and the country will be strong, and that's a skill. If you do not do well, you will be destroyed by the surrounding barbarians or driven away by your own people, and you deserve it! But no matter what the outcome is, all your royal fields, mansions, etc. in Kaifeng and Nanyang will be gone. Even if the country is destroyed later and you are lucky enough to escape back to your homeland, I will just let you be ordinary people. What do you think? Any objections?"
"I have no objection." Zhu Youjian bowed very straightforwardly and gave Zhu Gongyao a sharp look. "May I ask your Majesty, if Zhou Fan and Tang Fan become neighbors from now on and have conflicts and contradictions in the future?"
It hasn't even been sealed yet, and you're already thinking about a conflict in the future? Zhu Gongyao looked at Zhu Youjian in surprise. But he didn't say much, just bowed his head and bowed to Zhu Youdong.
"Hahaha~ Prince Tang, you are really brave. Oh, you and I are the same age, right? Some of my old ministers still think that I am too sharp and difficult to serve. But compared to you, I am really much better. Hahaha~"
After tapping Zhu Youjian for a moment, Zhu Youdong said sternly, "Since we have come to this point, I might as well say a little more.
The first dynasty in Chinese history was Xia, whose core area was only southern Shanxi and western Henan. The core area of the Shang Dynasty was most of Henan. The Zhou Dynasty, which came after that, started in the central and southern parts of Shaanxi. It can be said that for more than a thousand years, the area that the Chinese people could effectively control was not very large.
However, because of the feudal system of Zhou, when the Qin Empire unified the world again, the most fertile land in the entire East Asian continent was basically effectively controlled by the Chinese.
Therefore, the feudal system is of great benefit to the rapid expansion of Chinese civilization and the rapid sinicization of the land outside of China. "
"Of course, any system has its pros and cons. In the later period of the Zhou Dynasty, as the Zhou Dynasty's direct jurisdiction over land became less and less, and the surrounding vassal states became stronger and stronger, the Zhou Dynasty gradually lost control of the world. But speaking of this, I also have a question for you two princes. Why did the Zhou Dynasty's feudal system take at least two hundred years for the vassal states to gradually stop obeying the Zhou royal family? The Western Han Dynasty's feudal system lasted only a few decades before the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion broke out. As for the Western Jin Dynasty, the Eight Kings Rebellion broke out immediately after Sima Yan's death? Why is this?"
Zhu Gongyao and Zhu Youjian lowered their heads and thought for a long time, then said, "May I ask your Majesty, because the vassal states established by the Zhou Dynasty at that time were originally in wild and barren lands, where the people were basically poor and the land was barren. It would take at least two or three hundred years for the vassal states to develop to the point where they could challenge the Zhou royal family. The kings of the Western Han and Western Jin dynasties were already in places with a large population and were already very powerful. Therefore, as long as the rulers of the vassal states had the intention of being disloyal, they would naturally have the power to rebel?"
"Well, there are many reasons, but what Prince Tang said is the main reason."
"So the emperor is placing princes in many of the current vassal states. In fact, he is not afraid of a recurrence of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion and the Eight Princes Rebellion in the past?"
"Of course." Zhu Youdong smiled confidently. "Now the homeland of the Ming Dynasty is the two capitals and thirteen provinces. In the future, Liaodong, Mongolia, the Western Regions, and Qinghai-Tibet will all become the homeland of the Ming Dynasty. This homeland is much larger than the Chengzhou of the past. Such a powerful Chinese homeland is enough to guarantee absolute power to suppress the vassal states and prevent the situation where the master is weak and the ministers are strong."
After saying this, Zhu Youdong continued, "You also often read the six major newspapers. You know that Spain also has many territories outside its homeland in the Americas. They implemented the viceroyalty system and the tax farming system. So, why don't I implement the viceroyalty system and the tax farming system here? In other words, why don't I implement a complete viceroyalty system here, but have the viceroyalty and the feudal system in parallel?"
Zhu Youjian spoke bluntly, "Your Majesty, do you want the royal family and local officials to check and balance each other? After all, these places are too far away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. If we want to fully implement the county system and the system of itinerant officials in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that in the end, it will end up like Annan during the reigns of Emperor Chengzu and Emperor Xuanzong, wasting a lot of national resources and finally having to give up."
"Well, there is some truth to this." This Prince Tang really dares to say anything. It seems that this issue needs to be guided a little deeper.
