Chapter 281 The Returned Japanese Emperor (82) Appears before the Cabinet
Zhu Yijun and Liu Ping just finished discussing some matters about the Nanyang Imperial Manor. It was reported outside that the ministers of the cabinet were paying homage. Perhaps it was the good news of 80,000 hectares of fertile land that brought a good mood. Zhu Yijun met with everyone at Xinuang Pavilion with a smile on his face.
Assistant minister.
The cabinet elders came here for no other reason than to discuss the two matters that had caused a heated argument in the cabinet just now: whether to withdraw troops now; and whether to accept the annexation of North Korea.
In fact, these two questions can be further refined. For example, whether to withdraw the troops now? If the answer is to withdraw the troops, it is easy to handle. But if the answer is not to withdraw, then we need to ask again: What are the troops planning to do if they stay in North Korea?
?Should we continue to attack the Japanese mainland, or should we garrison North Korea from now on?
If we want to continue to attack the Japanese mainland, then we have to ask whether the original logistics transportation lines need to be adjusted and how to adjust them? Are the existing troops sufficient for the expedition to Japan? If not, where should they be allocated? Will the army need to be rotated for a long time?
Replacement, when to replace, and what kind of soldiers to replace? Is the reward for victory to be "finalized" now, or to be "finalized" after the Japanese mainland is defeated?
If we do not want to attack the Japanese mainland, but want to stay in North Korea, then we have to ask, how many troops are needed to help defend North Korea? Or maybe we will develop a squad army system in North Korea in the future, recruiting people from all over the country to take turns defending North Korea.
?
Another example is the issue of North Korea's annexation. If North Korea does not agree to its annexation, then that's it. There are probably two options. One is to let go completely, that is, the army will withdraw from the country and North Korea will continue as usual; the other is to retain some military strength,
This can refer to the above arrangement.
If you agree to annex North Korea, the issue will be more complicated, including at least the following:
First, how to build the administrative system of North Korea. This includes whether to establish a chief envoy department in North Korea, whether to establish a capital department or an administrative department, and whether it is necessary to set up a separate governor and governor. Speaking of which, it seems that the governor should be set up separately, but the governor
Should Governor Ji Liao serve concurrently?
Secondly, how should the arrangement be made for the King of Joseon Li Huan? Although the King of Joseon is the king of a country, according to the etiquette system of the Ming Dynasty, his status in the Ming Dynasty is not analogous to a prince, but to a county prince. A prince, a legitimate son of a county prince
The Suns all have "Top 1st Grade" or "Two Grades", but they themselves are all Super Grades, and they must go to the country where they reach adulthood. [Note: In the country, go to the fiefdom.]
Of course, Li Huo is an adult, which means that he must find a local kingdom for him. In other words, he must first find a fiefdom at the level of a county king.
North Korea's three thousand miles of country, in exchange for the most land in Ming Dynasty, this deal is certainly a good deal for Ming Dynasty, not to mention that the princes of Ming Dynasty do not have real rights to manage their fiefdoms, which means that Ming Dynasty only needs to find a land for Li Hao.
The food fief. Then, where to arrange this fiefdom, the cabinet needs to make suggestions, and the emperor needs the Holy Judgment.
Thirdly, what should we do after the courtiers of North Korea are attached? The two classes of North Korea and military generals are just fine. The selection rules for civil servants and Ming Dynasty seem to be the same, but in fact they are not the same thing at all.
It is really difficult to be a Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty, because even if your father is a pavilion elder, since the Jinshi examination papers will be published to the world, it is difficult to cheat - to a certain extent, all the scholars in the world are supervisors. Unless you advance
Once you get the test questions, you have the opportunity to prepare the article in advance.
However, according to regulations, the examiners for the general examination are temporarily appointed by the emperor. After accepting the appointment, these examiners must immediately enter a place designated by the Ministry of Rites to isolate themselves from the outside world, and then discuss the topics and submit them to the emperor.
Next, anyone involved in deciding the topics and printing the examination papers, in theory, everyone except the emperor himself must be isolated from the outside world until the examination begins... In short, there are a lot of corresponding regulations that make it difficult to cheat.
And on this basis, the imperial court also paid great attention to the possible malpractice in the imperial examinations. Like Zhang Juzheng in the original history, it was almost unique that he could arrange a top three spot for his son - after all, he himself said it,
"I am not a phaser, but a photographer."
However, the civil servants in North Korea's two classes are different. Although they all appear to be from the imperial examination, there are actually various ways for them to pass the exam easily. These have been mentioned in the previous article, so I won't go into details.
Such civil servants are naturally undesirable in the eyes of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty. However, considering that North Korea has just been annexed, for the sake of stability, these people must be used for the time being. So, how to appoint them and when to appoint them?
It all needs to be discussed carefully.
Fourthly, although most of the upper class in North Korea are fluent in Chinese, the people at the lower class are not. This definitely needs to be changed, but how to change it is a difficult problem. It also needs to discuss and come up with a charter.
All in all, there are many things, and each one needs to be carefully discussed. After all, the Ming Dynasty did not have a tradition of ruling colonies. Once North Korea annexed it, it would definitely be treated as a native country, and the implementation of various rules and regulations had to be cautious.
Thanks to Zhu Yijun, he is in a good mood now and listened patiently to Wang Jiaping, who led the cabinet, and explained these issues to him one by one.
After listening, Zhu Yijun made the first judgment: "After this battle, it can be seen that the morale of the Korean people and the army is extremely disorganized, and they have no power to fight back in the face of the Japanese invaders. From what I have seen, it is generally said that the Japanese pirates will still go and come back."
It is possible that even if the Japanese pirates do not come, if there are unscrupulous people in the country who plot to rebel, I am afraid that the King of Joseon will be helpless.
In view of this, if North Korea sincerely surrenders, we, the Celestial Empire, should take care of parents to protect their children and heaven and earth to nourish all living things, and make exceptions to grant their requests, so as to avoid the loss of life in the country that respects my name and religion."
Although Wang Jiaping broke up with those officials on bad terms today, and most of those people opposed the annexation of North Korea, as the Yuan Fu, he could not do things based on his temporary likes and dislikes. Therefore, Wang Jiaping reminded: "Your Majesty,
Since the matter is serious, should we allow all ministers and workers to discuss it together before making a decision?"
Zhu Yijun waved his hand: "If Mr. Wang thinks it is necessary, let them discuss it. In short, the cabinet must know that I have made up my mind, and all relevant matters should be done as approved by North Korea."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! It seems that Zhu Yijun is indeed a mature emperor now. He knows that the power of discussion should be given away, otherwise it will be easy to get troublesome - such as the day of the Supervisor of Ceremonies
I collected hundreds of the previous essays, all of which cursed His Majesty the Emperor for depriving them of the right to discuss government affairs, and for being a monomaniac and a traitor to the people...
Zhu Yijun was annoyed by seeing this kind of thing, but he couldn't scold these civil servants, so he might as well let them discuss it. Anyway, no matter how they discussed it, in the end it was his emperor's holy judgment that counted.
The five cabinet ministers actually knew for a long time that the emperor would agree to the annexation of North Korea. The reason is actually not difficult to find: since the year of Renchen, the last time North Korea mentioned annexation happened exactly after Gao Pragmatic personally went to North Korea.
And there is proof of this. For example, the so-called "Yu Chenglong and Quan Li conspired to rebel" in North Korea. These two people were originally Korean writers and martial arts. They had never heard of any evil deeds, but they actually fought against the 100,000-strong army of the Chinese dynasty.
Isn’t it strange to plot rebellion while gathering in North Korea?
Therefore, the cabinet ministers are aware that North Korea's request for internal annexation was most likely promoted or even controlled by Gao Pragmatic.
Since it was done by Gao Pragmatic, how could the emperor disagree? Even if there was no news beforehand, considering the relationship between the monarch and his ministers, this matter must have been settled early on.
Because of this, when the emperor finished speaking, the elders did not bother to object even if they originally disagreed. Upon seeing this, Wang Jiaping started to talk about various arrangements for North Korea in the future. Unexpectedly, he just started talking about it.
Zhu Yijun waved his hand and interrupted: "It won't be too late to discuss these specific matters when Rixin returns to the DPRK. Now there is another matter that needs to be discussed."
Wang Jiaping had no choice but to say: "Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty."
"Before Rixin went on the expedition, we had a discussion with me about when the battle would end." Zhu Yijun looked around at the five elders and said: "What Rixin means is that we can't stop at driving the Japanese pirates back, we have to end it once and for all.
, completely surrendered the Japanese country, so he proposed a cross-sea expedition to the Japanese mainland. What do you think about this matter?"
Wang Jiaping saw that the other four cabinet ministers had no intention of speaking first, so he said: "Just now, dozens of officials from the cabinet came to see them, and there happened to be a dispute over this matter. Many officials thought that the war should be dismissed.
The army should be withdrawn as soon as possible to avoid huge expenses and a waste of national strength.
In particular, the ministers complained about the increase in commercial taxes in the five provinces south of the Yangtze River. Many of them used exaggerated words and fierce tone. I was afraid that if the imperial court not only refused to stop its troops, but continued to go to conquer the Japanese country, these officials would be greatly disappointed and they would inevitably make rude remarks.
…”
Zhu Yijun doesn't know whether it's because of his nature or because he is too influenced by high pragmatism. One of the most annoying situations for him is that some people are searching for various reasons to refuse to pay taxes.
Gao Jingshi has emphasized the importance of taxation countless times in various essays in the past, and Zhu Yijun has always been very sympathetic to his views.
However, there is another saying of Gao Pragmatism that has been widely circulated now, that is, "Taxers take from the people and use them for the people." This sentence has now been widely recognized.
Therefore, if there is a need to station troops due to the annexation of North Korea, or if there is a further attack on the Japanese mainland and the troops cannot withdraw from North Korea, both of these things need to be supported by the additional "Hundred Three Commercial Taxes" levied on Jiangnan, so we must face a
Question: Can this money be considered “used for the people”?
In other words, how to explain that this approach is not a great achievement, but a real need? To put it more bluntly, is it good for the "people" and is it a big enough benefit?
Gao Pangshi had communicated with the emperor before, but at that time the emperor and his ministers mainly talked about North Korea, and less about Japan. Regarding the issue of North Korea's internal attachment, there were two key points that the two discussed at that time. First, the Korean Peninsula was in
The strategic level of the Central Plains Dynasty - or in the words of later generations, it is called the "geopolitical" level - the significance; the second is the economic level.
At the geopolitical level, Gao Pragmatic convinced Zhu Yijun that the Korean Peninsula is an important cornerstone for stabilizing Northeast China.
According to a highly pragmatic analysis, since the Qin Dynasty unified the Central Plains, every era of great unification must face at least two problems: first, how to maintain the unity of various plates internally; second, how to ensure the advantage over the northern nomads.
Although China has laid the foundation for great unification since the Qin Dynasty, the North China, Northeast, Northwest, Qinghai-Tibet, Yunnan-Guizhou, Jiangnan and other plates are naturally at risk of tearing apart due to their very different geographical environments.
In order to ensure control over various sectors, in addition to garrisoning troops and enfeoffing, the Central Plains dynasty also implemented reforms in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places to subtly enhance the control of the empire. The choice of the capital was based on the will of the ruler.
important manifestation.
Since the Qin Dynasty, Qinchuan, an eight-hundred-mile stretch in the world, has become the first choice to build the capital of a unified empire. Then as the geographical environment deteriorated, the political center of the empire began to gradually move eastward. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the emergence of the Grand Canal also provided economic benefits.
The southward shift of the center of gravity and the continued eastward and northward shifts of the political center provide the possibility.
The fundamental reason why Beijing has always been the capital of the unified empire since the Yuan Dynasty is that it is the intersection of the three major tectonic plates of North China, Northeast China and Northwest China. The saying in later generations that Beijing is "in a key position on the chicken's neck" actually puts it bluntly.
It refers to its key geographical location at the intersection of three major plates.
Of course, the current territory of the Ming Dynasty is not in the shape of a rooster, so Gao Pragmatic must use the Ming Dynasty as an example to explain to Zhu Yijun. According to Gao Pragmatic's explanation, North China is the barrier to the south, and Northeast China is the corner of North China. Only by controlling North China and Northeast China at the same time can we
Only then can we form an advantage over the ethnic minorities in the northwest.
Once there were changes in the Northeast, such as when the Ming Dynasty abolished the Nurgan Dusi, the result was that the imperial court's advantage over the Northwest, especially over the Mongolian Plateau, would soon disappear.
In fact, for the two dynasties of the Yuan and Qing Dynasties that incorporated the Mongolian Plateau into their territory, the Northeast, Northwest and North China were each other's horns. Once one of them changed, for example, the Ming Dynasty captured North China, the Yuan Dynasty, which fled back to the Mongolian Plateau, quickly lost the Northeast.
, and then completely collapsed.
The situation in the late Qing Dynasty was similar. When Mobei Mongolia was invaded by Tsarist Russia, the Northeast was no longer a safe home, and the Qing Dynasty soon fell into trouble. Of course, when Gao Pragmatic gave examples, he could only give examples of the Yuan Dynasty, but that was enough.
All in all, precisely because the three plates are indispensable, even though Beijing is located in the north,
From the perspective of building a capital, the climate conditions are not superior, and the south even needs to supply food and other important strategic materials, but it has always been favored.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic looked further in his heart, because he knew that in the original history, after Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union tore Mongolia apart, Northeast China, North China and Northwest China were all under great threat. Stalin wanted to use Mongolia as a buffer between the two countries, but this situation
But it resulted in a modern version of "the emperor guards the country's gates".
Because of this, the first-generation leadership group of the Red Dynasty repeatedly proposed to the Soviet Union to solve the Mongolian issue. However, when New China was impoverished at the time, such requests were destined to be wishful thinking. And when the Mongolian issue was a done deal, it was necessary to keep Northeast China.
It has become the most important issue for the security of the north and the whole country.
North Korea is the factor that most affects the security of the Northeast. Because the overall terrain of the Northeast slopes from northwest to southeast, the southeastern part close to North Korea has a better climate and a denser population than the northwest part, and is the center of gravity of the Northeast.
As for Japan's possible aggression, to be honest, it is not the focus of Gao's pragmatic considerations, because according to his plan, there is no possibility that Japan will invade the Korean Peninsula and then invade the Ming Dynasty in the future.
What about the possibility of more external aggression? For example, the Western colonists, Gao Pragmatic, were not too worried. After all, the southern Xinjiang system was his response to this.
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "First Login", "Yun Covers the Moon and Rain", and "Excellent Speaking" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
Thank you to the book friend "Book Friends 151019194830683" for your support with 12 monthly tickets, thank you!
ps: This chapter is a reissue from yesterday. I had a rest last night due to illness and I only recovered this afternoon. I’m very sorry. Tonight’s update should not be affected.
