Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty No Harmony, No Indemnity
Mao Gui accepted Zhang Ximeng's thesis composition and did not dare to neglect it at all. He put in 120% of his efforts and began to consult classics and work hard to complete the article.
As the research deepened, Mao Gui increasingly felt that how to deal with foreign countries was a huge knowledge.
According to the information found by Mao Gui, the early diplomacy should be the exchange of protons in the pre-Qin period. For example, Qin Shihuang's father was once a proton, and Qin Shihuang spent his youth in the State of Zhao.
This situation of sending protons was very common in the pre-Qin period. It was probably to show sincerity and send a son there. If the promise was violated, one would first lose his or her closest relatives.
With the unification of the world and the Central Plains becoming a unified country, foreign exchanges at this time were not between vassal states with roughly the same status, but with surrounding barbarians.
Therefore, between the Han and Tang dynasties, protons were not sent, but marriage was carried out.
Marry your daughter and turn the barbarian leader into your son-in-law.
When Zhao Song arrived, he felt that getting married was still too embarrassing, so why not... let's give him New Year's coins!
Mao Gui's combing was still very rewarding, but when it fell on Daming, it seemed worthy of scrutiny.
First of all, Zhao Song's annual coins must not be given to him. As for claiming to be a minister, it is simply a shame and humiliation. He would rather die than do such a shameless thing.
Secondly, marriage in the Han and Tang dynasties was not possible either.
How can I, the noble daughter of the Ming Emperor, marry a foreign barbarian?
Even if he comes to kneel down and ask for marriage, it will never work.
Because this matter involves national dignity.
As long as you marry your daughter and you say you asked her for it, others can say she was snatched away, and things will become unclear. And once you get married, girls will be miserable.
The foundation of our Ming Dynasty is that everyone is the same. From this perspective, women cannot be treated as commodities and sent to barbarians in exchange for temporary peace.
Moreover, a weak in-law relationship cannot truly safeguard peace. The so-called marriage often leads to one tragedy after another.
Our Ming Dynasty must be promising!
No marriage, no surrender, no money... These are the principles that Ming Dynasty should adhere to.
Mao Gui looked at what he had written and seemed to have an idea, but there was still something missing.
He did not dare to disturb Zhang Ximeng, but went to see Liu Bowen.
To be honest, Mao Gui was a little embarrassed. He was a vulgar martial artist, while Liu Bowen was a great scholar in the world and had extraordinary knowledge. That is to say, Zhang Xiang could definitely surpass Liu Bowen, but others could not do it at all!
But when Mao Gui reluctantly took out the text, Liu Bowen took a few glances and his expression became solemn.
"General Mao, you wrote this well!"
Mao Gui's face turned red, "Mr. Bowen was so complimentary, I, I just wrote whatever I wanted..."
"No!" Liu Bowen waved his hand, "You can't say that. You summarized the way of foreign exchanges in the past dynasties, and Zhao and Song died at the hands of the Mongols. In the end, China fell and China was covered in dust. For a hundred years, we have suffered from Zhao and Song.
, the shame of bowing down and surrendering! We really need to sort out our experience in foreign exchanges, and we need to get to the bottom of things, and our Ming Dynasty must not repeat the same mistakes!"
Liu Bowen said with emotion: "This article must be done well, and the truth must be explained thoroughly so that the world can understand it clearly! General Mao, if this is written well, it will definitely be famous for generations, and even be selected as a classroom textbook!"
Mao Gui's eyes widened even more, weren't you kidding?
He is now suffering from the word "school".
I was afraid that my son's grades would not be as good as my son's, and I was afraid that he would be punished by having to repeat a grade, which would make him feel bad. But to be able to write an article, and write an article that is enough to be included in the textbook, is amazing.
Stand tall in front of this brat and regain your dignity as a father!
Even if the article is completed with the help of Prime Minister Zhang and Liu Bowen, it will be something to be proud of for a lifetime.
Mao Gui became more energetic. With Liu Bowen's assistance, Mao Gui quickly enriched the information.
For example, in the foreign exchanges of the past dynasties, in addition to sending pledges, marriage, and compensation, it also included the cession of territory. For example, in the Theory of the Six Kingdoms, there is a saying that five cities will be cut off today and ten cities tomorrow.
It's just that Lao Su may not be clear about it. When it comes to ceding land, the Song Dynasty was the most powerful. First they gave up the Yanyun land, then the northwest was taken away by Xixia, and then even the Central Plains was lost.
As a result, Lu You had to go to Dashanguan to write frontier poems, which was a complete cession of territory.
So after their summary, they came up with four basic principles: no marriage, no annual coins, no ceding of land, and no surrender of vassals. These are the four basic principles.
Mao Gui discussed with Liu Bowen for some time.
They discovered that in addition to these diplomatic methods for dealing with powerful enemies, targeting ordinary barbarians, chieftains, and vassal states would not involve national dignity, but they would also suffer losses in their dealings.
It's the so-called thick and thin situation.
Mao Gui thought about it again and again and felt that he must add another core principle, which is to resolutely defend the interests of Ming Dynasty.
Liu Bowen nodded, expressing his full agreement.
"But General Mao, there is another situation involved here. If we don't give those benefits, what should we do if the other party is unwilling to accept the Ming Dynasty as the master?"
"Then send troops to conquer?"
Liu Bowen shook his head, "As far as I know, there are many chieftain tribes with sparse population and rugged terrain. If you put them there, they won't have much impact. But if you send troops to attack, even a hundred thousand troops may not be able to take them down, which will waste people and money.
It’s very troublesome.”
Mao Gui thought for a while and said: "Well, I still have to give something...but when communicating with each other, there must be regular exchanges. We can't suffer too much!"
Liu Bowen nodded, "Then add four more words: mutual benefit!"
Two people with different identities and different experiences got together, and the more they discussed, the happier they became, and they felt as if they had met each other late. Liu Bowen felt that although Mao Gui was a martial artist, he was upright, honest and straightforward.
He is a good friend.
Mao Gui also felt that Liu Bowen did not have the arrogance of a scholar at all, but instead cared about the world, and could be regarded as one of the few civil servants with conscience. The two of them got together, and after more than ten days of discussion, they finally came up with a draft.
Mao Gui called Liu Bowen and came together to see Zhang Ximeng and asked Prime Minister Zhang to comment.
At this time, Zhang Ximeng had just walked around with his wife... Originally, he only stopped in Shandong for a while to deal with the Kong family's affairs, and then went to Yingtian.
Jiang Nan also planned to go to Yingtian, but one thing happened after another. Fudan Academy was opened, troops were reorganized, and Korea appeared... Zhang Ximeng was unable to leave for a while. Jiang Nan came back from Kaifeng, but he didn't
Instead of going to Yingtian, I rushed over to be with my husband.
My first child still cannot be neglected.
Jiang Nan didn't work with a big belly after all.
The affairs of the Du branch were temporarily handed over to Han Xiuniang. For the second time in a row, women were promoted, and the Du branch also liked the title of Women's Bureau.
However, if you think that if a woman is the head of the family, there is nothing to worry about in the branch office, then you are totally wrong.
Han Xiuniang was even more ruthless than Jiang Nan. When she first took office, she continuously investigated and prosecuted officials, two ministers, three prefects, and twelve county magistrates. This was the answer she handed over to the people of the world in less than half a year.
The sharpness of this butcher's knife was enough to put Sanfa Si to shame.
Seeing Han Xiuniang being so ruthless, Jiang Nan felt more at ease. As the delivery date approached, she became more and more looking forward to adding an offspring to the Zhang family.
And Zhang Ximeng, who is about to become a father, is also full of joy and smiles.
When he saw Mao Gui and Liu Bowen and brought over their articles, Zhang Ximeng was immediately shocked... No way? No way? These few words that were talked about by future generations were actually summarized by them?
Zhang Ximeng just wanted Mao Gui to write an article that could guide foreign exchanges based on his own interests.
But Mao Gui's surprise for Zhang Ximeng was really a bit big.
After looking at it for a long time, Zhang Ximeng picked up his pen, crossed out the word "Sui Coin" and replaced it with "compensation".
Then Zhang Ximeng said: "Sui coins were used in the Song Dynasty. This compensation means that any form of giving to outsiders for peace of mind is not allowed! With this article, the so-called thick and thin,
It will be self-defeating. It is inevitable to insist on mutual benefit."
Mao Gui and Liu Bowen nodded in agreement.
After all, Zhang Ximeng is good at writing this kind of articles and is also an authority in the world.
The things Zhang Ximeng has written in recent years are naturally not majestic and powerful essays with great literary talent... Putting him together with the articles by famous writers of the Tang and Song Dynasties, his writing style will appear very rough and even immature.
But aside from the appearance, what Zhang Ximeng wrote was different. He was re-annotating the classics, summarizing the past, and elucidating theories... What he wanted to do was done by Confucius, Dong Zhongshu, and Zhu Xi.
Zhang Ximeng not only did it, but also tried to make it understandable for ordinary people. He must write the article in an easy-to-understand manner.
Therefore, under Zhang Ximeng's initiative, Ming Dynasty's official documents became more straightforward and concise, even a bit like vernacular writing.
"You have summarized it very well, but it seems there is still something missing."
Mao Gui immediately bowed and said, "Sir, please give me some advice!"
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "You said you don't want it, but what we want, it seems that we only said mutual benefit. This is just economic and trade exchanges, which is not enough. We need to add a goal and direction to our foreign exchanges!"
Liu Bowen was stunned and immediately said: "Prime Minister Zhang, we have indeed discussed it, but we haven't reached a conclusion yet. Please give me some advice."
Mao Gui also said: "Sir, he is generous with his teachings, and the students are all ears."
Zhang Ximeng thought about it for a while, then smiled and said: "I will just say a few words to safeguard the interests of Ming Dynasty and restore the dignity of China!"
After finishing speaking, Zhang Ximeng added: "Since Yashan, the Central Plains has fallen. Whether China can still survive is a very important question! Our founding of the Ming Dynasty is to tell the world that China is back! The purpose of foreign exchanges is to restore China
position, regain its former glory, and establish an order dominated by China... In one word, rebuild the Chinese empire!"
"The country belongs to the Ming Dynasty, safeguard the interests of the Ming Dynasty. The world belongs to China, establish the Chinese order. This is the foundation of our foreign exchanges!"
Mao Gui and Liu Bowen nodded in unison, "Congratulations, Prime Minister Zhang!"