Chapter 168 I can’t help but be surprised at this time

Author: Potato Sweet Potato Pie

Chapter 168 I can’t help but be surprised at this time

"The student's father has an old friend in Qiongzhou. At the beginning of this year, the student received a letter from him. Since his father passed away the year before last, the student read the letter after receiving it. The old friend didn't seem to know.

Regarding my father's death, I also mentioned some things about Qiongzhou in the words of greetings."

There was no way to explain why he knew the inside story. Xia Yuan could only make up an excuse and blame everything on his dead father.

Cars, horses and mails are all slow these days, and there is only enough time to love one person in a lifetime.

Just because a letter was received at the beginning of this year does not necessarily mean that it was written at the beginning of the year. It must have been at least several months ago, or even the year before. It is not impossible.

He had already thought about it. If the emperor asked where the letter was, he would tell him to burn it on my father's grave.

Upon hearing this answer, Zhu Youtang paused slightly, and did not ask where the letter was, nor did he doubt Xia Yuan's nonsense.

It has been two years since his death, and his relatives and friends who are far away from home still don’t know about it. It sounds a little strange, but it is actually normal.

Qiongzhou is too far away, nearly six thousand miles away, and we have to cross the sea. Anything can happen on the way. Maybe I sent a letter when I died, but the letter disappeared halfway.

"Your father's old friend works in Qiongzhou?"

"This student doesn't know. It's not mentioned in the letter, but it's not impossible to think about it. My father was elected in the third year of Hongzhi, and my old friend Xu was the same year as him. Now I'm afraid that uncle has passed away."

Speaking of this, Xia Yuan paused at the right time, but Emperor Hongzhi knew very well what this guy wanted to say, and he was afraid that it was gone. After all, the entire Qiongzhou was now at war, and the entire island had fallen into the hands of traitors.

"What you wrote on the policy paper about the causes of the Qiongzhou Rebellion was probably because you wanted to tell me the inside story through this method, but I didn't believe it at the time."

Emperor Hongzhi said in a leisurely tone, "It wasn't until I received this report today that I knew that you were devoted to the country, and that what you said was true. You only talked about Qiongzhou, but the actual situation in the entire Lingnan was even worse than what you said.

It’s ten times a hundred times more tragic.”

"Students are ashamed."

This is not all a cliche. Xia Yuan is really a little ashamed. He did not expect that what he did in the heart of the emperor would actually rise to the level of serving the country and the people.

This is really embarrassing.

At that time, he thought that the imperial court knew the inside story of the Qiongzhou Rebellion. After all, it had been several months. He took it for granted that the question was for the examination of tribute students.

But who would have thought that officials these days would be so bold that they hoodwinked the court like a child for several months.

Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Those officials must have felt that they were just a bunch of gangsters, so they couldn't deal with them with their hands. In the end, not only did they fail to deal with it, but they also tried to deal with it.

The lid couldn't be closed anymore, so I had to report it to the court and ask the court to send troops to solve it.

"It's not you who should be ashamed, but the people in Lingnan."

Zhu Youtang sighed a little tiredly, cheered up and asked: "As for your theory of governing barbarians, I have a lot of insights after reading it. I wanted to wait until the ceremony of passing on you before calling you for questioning, but today everything is complicated, so

I just asked directly."

Zhu Youtang actually read the contents of the paper on how to control the barbarians many times during this period. After pondering for a moment, he asked:

"From a policy perspective, I can see that you highly admire the change of Guochao to local rule and return to local rule, and have also discussed many pros and cons of the change. But what you mean is that the reason why Guochao changed the rule of state to return to local rule is to return to local rule.

The slow results were due to the fact that the Yi people were not exposed to the Central Plains culture.

Therefore, some methods were proposed for this matter, such as sending special personnel from the central government to grant official positions, going deep into the places where the barbarians gathered, educating the barbarians, and then giving some preferential treatment to the barbarians in the imperial examination.

All the cabinet ministers feel that there is something wrong, but I think it is a good strategy. All the cabinet ministers are here today, can you elaborate on it?"

Xia Yuan perked up after hearing this. This has already been talked about. Let's not talk about going deep into the grassroots. The preferential treatment in the imperial examination is one of his private goods. It is based on the later generations. I understand everything.

Then he looked at the old men in front of him. To be honest, he knew Xie Qian here and had met him when he took part in the examination.

As for the remaining old men with white beards, he didn't know who they were, so he simply asked, "I wonder what the elders think is wrong with this?"

Liu Jian said in a calm tone: "We have never had such preferential treatment in the imperial examination since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Once this is implemented, it will definitely lead to criticism and criticism from scholars all over the world. It should be noted that the world's affairs are not that there are too many troubles, but that there are too many troubles.

It’s a matter of uneven suffering.”

The world's problems are not caused by lack of supply but by uneven distribution.

In his previous life, even Xia Yuan himself felt that the preferential treatment for the college entrance examination was unfair. However, after gaining some experience and thinking about it again, he understood what the original intention of this policy was, or what its essence was.

"The worries of this elder are not unreasonable, but the preferential treatment of the barbarians in the imperial examinations always has more advantages than disadvantages. Students dare to ask, what is the reason for the rebellion among the chieftains in the southwest?"

"It is because the barbarians in the southwest only know the chieftains but not the imperial court, and are alienated from the imperial court. Whenever the chieftains have the intention to cause trouble, the barbarians will blindly follow him."

Xia Yuan then asked: "Then why are you clinging to morality?"

Liu Jiang was just about to answer, but then he realized what he was doing and said with a straight face: "Your Majesty was testing you, but now you are testing me."

"oh."

Xia Yuan groaned and had no choice but to ask and answer:

"Because the Yi people are not familiar with the Central Plains culture, they have no sense of identity with the Central Plains culture, and they may not even know that the Central Plains has a court or a Ming Dynasty.

The origin of all this is due to the shortcomings of the chieftain system, or the restraint system.

As far as the students know, this system can be traced back to the pre-Qin Dynasty, and has been used by all dynasties. However, the drawbacks of this system are particularly fatal. The people selected by the imperial court as chieftains are already local famous families. Oh, this is not very appropriate."

Xia Yuan thought for a while, but couldn't find the right words, so he could only continue: "Let's call them by famous families. These people are local famous families, and they are all hereditary. It only takes two or three generations to accumulate, or even

Without accumulation, he will have supreme authority within his jurisdiction, and he will be a veritable earth emperor. Er, mountain king."

After changing his words, Xia Yuan felt that it was not very good, and the king also felt a little taboo. He couldn't help but glance at the emperor, who was too far away to see his face clearly.

Seeing him looking up at him, Zhu Youtang certainly knew the reason, so he said: "I think the Tu Emperor is more appropriate, while the Mountain King looks like a strongman who robbed families and homes."

With your words, big brother, I feel relieved.

Xia Yuan felt deeply in his heart, and then continued: "The chieftains have the power of life and death to treat the barbarians in their respective jurisdictions, and in order to maintain their status, most of the chieftains use extremely cruel and ruthless governance methods towards the barbarians in their jurisdictions.

, in order to make those barbarians fear them from the bottom of their hearts, fear them, and listen to their words.

If the barbarians made the slightest mistake, they would be tortured by the chieftain, including having their hands and fingers cut off, their eyes gouged out, castration, and beheading."

Following Xia Yuan's voice, several ministers in the palace looked a little strange, and Emperor Hongzhi also couldn't control his expression.

They knew about the chieftain's method of ruling the barbarians, but they only reported it through Wang Shi of Pingmiru in the southwest and the factory guards.

After reading those reports, everyone had only one thought in their mind: The Yi people have been suffering from the chieftain for a long time!

Whether it's painful or not will be discussed later. He just wants to know one thing now.

After Xia Yuan finished introducing the toast's situation like a treasure trove, Zhu Youtang leaned forward slightly, with a look of deep inquiry in his eyes.

"I can't help but feel surprised at this time. You are from Shuntian Prefecture, thousands of miles away from Guizhou. How did you know about those chieftains?"

"."

Xia Yuan's cheeks twitched when he heard this. If I said that my father also had an old friend in Guizhou, and he also sent a letter, would you believe it, Your Majesty?
Chapter completed!