Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 381 Why is it a feudal system (Part 2)
"I wonder if you two know that in the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a very common crime, and once it was proven, the punishment was very severe."
"May I ask Your Majesty, is this 'provoking a border conflict'?"
"That's right. Although there was also the reason that the Northern Song Dynasty was too weak and didn't like military affairs. However, because of the Northern Song Dynasty's policy of strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches, Bianliang was a kind of abnormal prosperity at that time. As a result, officials of the Northern Song Dynasty didn't like to serve outside Bianliang. If they were sent to the border areas as local officials, they would think about how to operate and return to Bianliang as soon as possible. And to return to Bianliang, what could be more powerful than military merit? Therefore, there were many border officials in the Northern Song Dynasty who often took the initiative to provoke the surrounding barbarians. When the barbarians couldn't stand the humiliation and rebelled, they led troops to suppress the rebellion and gained military merit."
Zhu Youdong laughed sarcastically when he said this: "It is said that there are two tricks in the officialdom. One is the sawing arrow method. In short, it is to pick up the light and avoid the heavy, and to push it away if possible. There is also a method called the smashing pot method. Originally, the pot was only broken a little, but the pot tinker took advantage of the owner's inattention and deliberately made the hole in the pot bigger. Then after the repair, he can ask the owner for more labor fees.
But there is a problem with this pot-smashing method, that is, you can't smash the pot too obviously, so that the owner can see the problem at a glance. Or you can't smash the pot to the point where your own craftsmanship is not good enough... and the fighting power of the Northern Song Dynasty, hahahaha."
"Your Majesty really knows everything. So, Your Majesty, are you afraid that after the implementation of the governor-general system, the governor-general who comes here to serve will also use these two tricks to get things done?"
"Yes." After a long sigh, Zhu Youdong said, "The Master said that food and sex are human nature. It is human nature to survive and pass on one's family name through descendants. To achieve this goal, the first thing is to seek benefits and avoid harm. Therefore, seeking benefits and avoiding harm is also human nature. If I directly implement the governor system in all the lands that are so far away from my Ming mainland, but so large in area and densely populated. Then, what will these governors think when they come? Anyway, they have a term of office, and the emperor is far away, so they might as well make a fortune here. Or, use the two tricks I just used, either to be mediocre and wait for death, or to provoke border conflicts and seek military merits and promotion. These are not what I want.
If it is a feudal system, the above question does not exist. For example, if Zhou Fan and Tang Fan are to establish their own states here in the future, the land and people here will be the foundation of your state, and you will pass it on to your descendants for generations. In this case, will you levy heavy taxes here? Will you be incompetent and idle? Will you provoke border conflicts?"
"Your Majesty is wise. He will certainly not waste his own property like this."
"So." Zhu Youdong spread his hands. "This division of territories can solve the problem of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty. Externally, it can quickly expand the coverage of Chinese civilization, just like the division of territories in the Zhou Dynasty. Hundreds of years later, China may fall into civil war again. Or the area of China may expand rapidly again. However, you and I will not be able to see these things by then... So, there are definitely disadvantages of division of territories, but that is something our descendants need to worry about and solve. And no matter what the final result is, China will benefit."
"I see. Thank you, Your Majesty, for clearing up my confusion."
Haha, actually I still have a lot to say.
In Zhu Youdong's heart, what he wanted to gain by promoting the feudal system was not just these few things.
In the historical plane, after the rise of colonialism, Portugal was a small country with few people, so its colonization was just to occupy a certain point. Spain, and later Britain and France, swallowed up and directly ruled.
After the United States became the number one superpower, it pursued economic colonization - politically maintaining a local government that obeyed the interests of the United States, rather than seeking to establish an overt colonial government in the local area.
There is no question of whether these three methods are clever or not. We can only say that they are in line with the specific circumstances at the time.
There is no need to talk about the choice of the Portuguese. With the national strength at that time, even if they later swallowed up the whole of Brazil - but how many people were there in Brazil at that time?
The native inhabitants of the American continent conquered by the Spanish were Indians. Although there were so-called countries such as Aztec and Inca, the political systems of these countries were extremely backward. There were countless other Indian tribes around them. The languages and writings were different from each other. Before such a group of people had formed their overall national consciousness, it was completely possible to directly conquer and establish a viceroyalty to colonize them.
When the national consciousness of the Americas was awakened, especially the Castilians (the Spanish called them Creoles) or the Castilian-Indian mixed races born in the Americas, Bolivar who traveled to Europe and North America, and San Martin who served in the Spanish army for a long time, rose up overnight, the Spanish colonial empire in the Americas collapsed in an instant.
The main British colonies, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, were all sparsely populated at the time. As for India, it was a wonderland, and needless to say. And North America? Everyone knows that when the North American economy developed to a certain level and national consciousness awakened, direct colonial rule could no longer be sustained.
In today's Asia, even in Southeast Asia, the various ethnic groups here have basically taken shape, with their own culture and writing. In this case, direct occupation is not impossible, but the cost of ruling will be extremely high - and this is something Zhu Youdong cannot afford.
Therefore, for countries with large populations and whose main ethnic groups have basically taken shape, it is better to adopt the economic colonialism of the United States: as long as the local government is obedient and can lie down and let the Ming Dynasty suck blood, it will be fine. The Ming Dynasty must firmly support such a government a local government, the Ming Dynasty only needs to control the core powerful group of a few hundred people in the local area, and the benefits it should get from the local area will not be reduced at all. Without a local government, the Ming Dynasty will have to directly manage hundreds of thousands or even millions of local people, and the benefits it should get may be thrown away in order to maintain its rule. How unprofitable is this?
Of course, the most important nodes such as Saigon and Singapore must be directly controlled. However, as long as there are countries established by the local main ethnic groups around these nodes, the power of nationalism can be reduced by at least 90% - don’t you see that the relationship between the United States and Cuba is like that, but there is still an enclave in Cuba?
In addition to military strategic significance, the existence of these nodes is also to better deter local countries, making it easier for the Ming Dynasty to suck blood in the future!
The above is for external use. As for internal use, the feudal system has greater benefits besides solving the problem of royal family.
"My two princes, I will be returning to the capital in a few days. You can stay here temporarily, under the protection of my Ming Dynasty garrison, walk around in your future fiefdom and learn about the situation. I will also make it clear to you that in order to help you two fiefdoms gain a foothold here, I allow you to recruit people from the Ming Dynasty to settle here."
"Ah? Your Majesty, I am so grateful for your grace!"
"Well, I have to make three rules with you first. To attract domestic people to come here, first, the people must be willing, and they must not be forced. Second, you must mainly absorb military households. The military garrison system of our Ming Dynasty has reached a point where it has to change. Many impoverished military households have no food or clothing. Coming here is to save them. Third, no matter how many people you absorb, each person and each household must report to the Ministry of Households, and only after the Ministry of Households allows and modifies the corresponding yellow book can they board the ship. When they come here, the Governor-General of Central and Southern China will check the people who disembark. Without the documents of the Ministry of Households, no one will be allowed to disembark. Is it possible to do these three things?"
"Your Majesty, please rest assured that we will never violate your three rules."
Well, very good. See, in this way, when I return to China, it will be much easier for me to completely solve the problem of military households, right?
"Uh, Your Majesty."
"What does Prince Tang want to say?"
"Your Majesty, I am wondering, in addition to ordinary households, can we publicly recruit scholars from the country to serve as officials in our two fiefdoms?"
"Hahaha! Great, that's totally fine. I'll set some rules for you. First, it has to be voluntary. Second, among the educated people, fifty out of every hundred must be descendants of our Zhu family. You should know that although there are many useless people in my Zhu clan, the literacy rate is probably the highest among all surnames in the country. You doing this will also help me share my worries. Third, you can invite students, scholars, and retired officials. However, incumbent officials, clerks, even runners, and officials and clerks who have been retired for less than five years are not allowed to be invited."
"Your Highness obeys your order."
Hahaha, great, this way, I will have a reason to thoroughly reform the imperial examination system after returning to China. After Japan is defeated, it will be much easier to bring up the war against the Confucius Mansion again - the Qin Empire was unified, and the Legalists dominated. In the late Han Empire, Confucianism dominated. In a country like China with a highly mature centralized system, the unification of political power often brings about the unification of thought.
Ideological unity is very necessary to maintain national unity, but Confucianism has been in power for too long and has become corrupt. After the feudal system was established, the princes of each country would definitely adopt different ideas to govern the country due to different local conditions. In this way, promoting domestic ideological progress is also one of the benefits of the feudal system.
"You two, especially Prince Tang, after listening to me, do you understand why I want to try to restore the Zhou Dynasty's feudal system?"
"Yes, Your Majesty has a long-term vision, and we are deeply impressed."
"Then you should understand how great the responsibility is for the Tang and Zhou vassals, and how dangerous the situation is. Yes, you will be neighbors in the future, and there will definitely be conflicts in the future. But when you see that there are so many countries of different ethnic groups around you, and the proportion of Han people under your rule is less than 10%, why would you not want to gather together for warmth?"
