Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 569 I Have a Bottom Line
(I really want to continue writing in detail from the previous chapter, but...)
"I, Man Gui, report to the Emperor that the Royal Army swore an oath in June of the ninth year of the Tianqi reign and entered Tibet in July. The monks and officials along the way were extremely resistant. Not a single temple sold our army food and fodder, not a single city accepted our army, and not a single monk agreed to our army appointing local officials...
On July 18, our army's vanguard arrived at Chaka City. Captain Hei Mingxiao, the leader, had a conflict with the local monk official after entering the city. The monk official was so crazy that he ordered the monk soldiers to attack him. Captain Hei was outnumbered and all three of them were killed. The monk official threw his head from the city wall, causing our soldiers outside the city to be extremely angry. The next leader was Captain Hei Mingxiao's brother Hei Minglian. He was so angry when he encountered this incident of his brother being killed that he ignored the emperor's earnest teachings of "attacking the heart first" and rashly led his troops to attack the city. After the city was broken, he killed all the monk officials and many nobles in the city...
On September 26, 13 monasteries in Kham, U-Tsang and other places gathered about 20,000 people to attack our advance detachment. The commander of the detachment, Sun Zushou, led more than 3,000 soldiers of the advance detachment to defeat them. More than 1,300 enemies were killed and more than 16,000 were captured. The combat effectiveness of the Tibetan soldiers can be seen from this.
However, although our army has won a great victory, the emperor's idea of "peaceful advance is the first choice, and not resorting to force unless it is absolutely necessary" has now become a bubble. We, the ministers, have failed to carry out the emperor's will, and we are guilty of death!
In addition, the deeper we went into the snowy area, the more shocking what we saw and heard. The upper-level monks had the power to decide the life and death of the serfs under their command. On weekdays, they would torture them at will, but when they felt like it, they would skin people alive to make thangkas. Even on the birthdays of monks, their minions would kill people on the spot, and take out their wet intestines and heads to celebrate their birthdays. When monks wanted to make instruments, they would kill people on the spot, saying that their fresh skulls would be more convenient for blessing the magic power. Moreover, the matchlock guns that were eliminated in the mainland of our Ming Dynasty flowed into Tibet, and the nobles in Tibet actually used living people as targets to test the power of guns...
As we marched along the way, we saw many lower-class people digging caves in the mountains. The men were unkempt and smelled bad. The women were naked and skinny. Someone asked them, "The river is right in front of us, why don't we bathe in it?" They answered that the river was the private property of the monks and officials. In order to avoid cruel punishment, they dared not bathe in the river to avoid polluting the monks' water.
I also saw hunters, self-cultivating farmers, craftsmen and other so-called free people in the snowy areas. They were few in number and were oppressed very deeply. The taxes set by the monks were numerous, and they were still more than a hundred times more than the taxes before the tax reform of the emperor in the interior of the Ming Dynasty. If you have a child, you have to pay a child tax, otherwise the baby will be killed. If the baby has double eyelids, you have to pay about one silver dollar per child, and if the baby has single eyelids, it will be doubled! There are also complicated and shameless taxes such as new shoes tax, new clothes tax, cattle hoof tax, chicken tax, egg tax, burning wood tax, ghee tax, highland barley tax... There is also an inexplicable ear tax. It is said that people with long ears have to pay taxes, and those who do not pay the tax will have their ears cut off... Such heavy taxes and levies are difficult for the people to bear, but if they are not careful, they will owe huge debts and eventually become slaves. From then on, they will be slaves for generations and live in insecurity.
As a military commander, I usually pay little attention to people's livelihood. However, after entering Tibet today, I also know that although the people of our Great Ming have many difficulties, even before our emperor became regent, the ordinary people of our Great Ming have been blessed more than the Tibetans.
Now, my army has entered Tibet and is at loggerheads with the local monks. I beg the emperor to allow my army to act at his own will. I have been leading troops for a long time, and I have lost countless souls under my command. I thought I had become as hard as stone. However, after a visit to this hell on earth, I realized that I still have compassion! I swear here that I will not let the people of the snowy region suffer, and I am willing to die here!
Your Highness, Commander of the Xinjiang Garrison Corps and Commander of the Army Entering Tibet, Man Gui respectfully presents this.
October 16, the ninth year of Tianqi."
This time, Man Gui's memorial reached Zhu Youdong's hands first: His Majesty the Emperor had already arrived at Chongqing Prefecture of Sichuan Provincial Government during his inspection tour of the country.
After reading Man Gui's memorial, even though Zhu Youdong was a time traveler and had some understanding of the cruelty and darkness of the serfdom system in the snowy area before liberation, he could not help but gasp when he saw this vivid text in front of him.
However, after taking a deep breath, he still fell into deep thought.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world, has a harsh living environment and a fragile ecosystem. Even in the 21st century, transportation is still difficult, and its output is very limited. Logically, after taking over such a place, the Ming Dynasty will not actually gain much, and may even lose money in the first few decades.
Moreover, in this game, no matter whether his final opponent is Philip or Ibrahim, when everyone fights in the end, even if the technology has developed to a very high level, it is estimated that if the two really want to send a large army to attack him, they will not choose to march from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Of course, if he wants to take India in the future, he will never consider crossing the Himalayas from here.
Therefore, from a purely utilitarian point of view, in a game like this where the goal is to physically destroy the opponent, it doesn't matter whether you take the snow area or not. It can even be said that if you take it, the economic loss will be huge.
Moreover, it now seems that this is not just an economic problem, but will also tie up a large part of his military strength.
Yes, the fighting power of the monks in the Snow Region is indeed not worth mentioning, but you can't beat them because they have so many temples. And considering the current social situation in the Snow Region, the idea of destroying Buddhism is out of the question: it's really too advanced.
That’s right, no matter how shameful and dirty things are going on behind the scenes in the temples in the inland areas of the Ming Dynasty, at least on the surface, everyone says “monks should be compassionate” and “monks should cut off the worldly affairs and not care about the worldly affairs”. But the monks in the snowy areas, haha…
In the 20th century, a Japanese scholar named Kawaguchi Huikai wrote a monograph: "Three Years Tibet". In this book, his observations on Tibetan religious life are truly incomparable: "The idea of serving all living beings is not worth a second thought in the minds of Tibetan monks..." As for the moral qualities of these lamas, Kawaguchi did not give them a good review: "Most of the monks and nobles who never marry have other interests, and the low-level military monks are even more dissolute. The venues for ordinary welcoming and competitions are simply places where human desires run rampant... Those noble monks seem to be sincere and willing, but they are secretly engaged in corruption and deceit. They are all people who pretend to be kind to do evil... Senior monks live a very comfortable life, each with a private house or nunnery, and have 70 to 80 servants of various kinds..."
So, these monks are bastards now. But due to the reality, you can't just kill them all: in the harsh living environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, people need faith. Unless you really want to create an uninhabited area on this land, you must tolerate the existence of the sects here.
However, tolerating the existence of these sects means that they must station troops in this area, which is very expensive. If we consider that the population of the Snow Region is only two million at most, and we have to impose light taxes on these two million people... in the end, the gains will definitely not outweigh the losses.
Therefore, from a purely utilitarian point of view, even if the snowy regions are to be brought under the rule, the easiest way is to learn from the Qing Dynasty and send a minister to Tibet - those serfs are living a life worse than death, what does it have to do with me? There is really no need to change the serfdom of others while preserving the local sect - this is an extremely thankless task. Sooner or later, the central government will be backlashed, that is, the fighting power of Buddhists is far inferior to that of the Star and Moon believers, and it can't make much waves.
But... Zhu Youdong thought for a long time, and finally sighed: I am a human being. Although I have played many tricks in the nearly 30 years since I came here, I have a bottom line after all. Facing this inhuman system, I really can't stand it.
Never mind. I accept the waste of money and manpower, but as a human being, I still have to do what I should do.
"Square."
"The servant is here."
"Go and call the eldest prince's teacher, Li Jia, to come to me."
On this tour, he took his two sons with him to teach them by example, based on the idea that reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. Of course, because his eldest son Ci Yi was only eleven years old at this time, and the second son Ci Yan was only eight years old. So in order to ensure the continuity of their studies, some of their teachers also accompanied them throughout the journey.
Therefore, one of the teachers of the eldest prince, Li Jia, the head of Fangshan University, is also in the inspection team at this moment.
"Your Majesty, what's the matter with calling a student here so late at night? Alas, the weather in Chongqing at the end of October is not very comfortable. It's very cold now."
"Humph, you have been lazy and lazy for so many years. Learn from your classmates. Some of them are in the army and navy, training every day. Some are in the Royal Guards, running around everywhere . As for you, I asked you to be Yi'er's teacher, wearing fancy clothes and eating delicious food every day, but you are not happy."
"Alas, Your Majesty, students will surely enjoy themselves in a comfortable place. If students are sent to a difficult place, they will also be able to endure hardships."
"Oh? Are you serious?"
"Really? Wait, Your Majesty, do you want to exile me three thousand miles away again?"
"Nonsense! Is Singapore a place of exile?"
"After years of construction by me, Singapore is certainly not a place of exile now. But when I first went there, it was really hard work. It's so hard to talk about it.
"Okay, okay, I was so excited just now, but after you've done this, the whole atmosphere has been ruined." After saying this, Zhu Youdong handed Man Gui's letter to him and said, "Read it quickly, and talk after you've finished reading it."
"Oh." After taking the letter and reading it quickly, Li Jia closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes and said, "Does the emperor want me to go to the Snow District to be the head of civil affairs?"
"Well, I want you to go to Lhasa to serve as the minister in Tibet, commanding the three Tibetan states of U-Tsang, Kham, and Amdo."
The playful face that had originally looked like it was about to die now became serious for once: "What does the emperor want me to do?"
"On the premise of preserving local temples and some monks, destroy the local serfdom, distribute the land to the people, and liberate the serfs there."
"Your Majesty, this is forcing someone to do something against their will. General Man's memorial clearly states that the temple is the city and the city is the temple. How can you perform surgery on someone and not tear their clothes?"
"There is no way. My Ming Dynasty has not set up temporary officials there for hundreds of years. If the local ruling class is completely destroyed all at once, the Snow Region will be in chaos. Moreover, the people there have believed in various local sects since the day they were born. How could they be wiped out so abruptly? You might kill the monks to save them, but they will kill you to avenge the monks!"
"...Okay, I understand. I cannot turn a blind eye to such a cruel and inhumane thing. I will accept this matter."
"Very good. When you go there, you must focus on propaganda and guidance, and make the locals change their minds. Only in this way can there be long-term peace and stability. Of course, in order to make those monks talk to you calmly, in addition to allocating a team of personal guards to you, I will also let Man Gui do his best to cooperate with your work."
"Yes." He took another deep breath and asked, "When will I leave?"
"Hey, Ci Yi actually likes you very much, and you have taught him very well over the years. Let's put it this way, you have a good talk with Ci Yi, and then leave as soon as possible. I will ask Fang Zhenghua to draft the relevant official appointment procedures later and send it to the Ministry of Personnel in Beijing for urgent completion."
"Yes, I will obey your order. Your Majesty, rest assured. General Man has made up his mind to save the people from their misery. As a student of Fangshan, I should also keep this in mind. As long as there is still a serf in the snowy area, I will never return to the Central Plains alive!"
