Chapter 281 The 'Eternal' Temptation of Returning to Japan (Basan)
Zhu Yijun first repeated this statement to the five cabinet elders. As the chief assistant, Wang Jiaping was obviously very moved by this. He was neither an official of the Practical School nor an official of the Xin School, but a typical supporter of traditional Neo-Confucianism.
, I am happy to look at the problem from the perspective of traditional "security thinking".
According to Gao Pragmatic's words relayed by the emperor, North Korea is the guarantee for Liaodong, Liaodong is the guarantee for the capital, and the capital is the guarantee for North China... and then there is no doubt that North China is the guarantee for the Central Plains, etc., and so on.
.
To put it simply, the Ming Dynasty directly administered North Korea, which would greatly improve the overall security of the country. As a traditional official, the security of the country must be the first issue that the dynasty needs to consider, and Wang Jiaping was naturally very moved.
Moreover, another characteristic of traditional officials is that once they feel that something is important, they are often willing to invest huge national costs for it.
For example, in the Ming Dynasty, when the flooding of the Yellow River was becoming more and more serious, when it became very realistic that water transportation was inferior to sea transportation, the court was still unable to firm up its will to change water transportation to sea transportation because "the food and clothing of millions of water workers depended on it", and it went back and forth a lot.
Back then, the reform was not completed until Gao Gong and Gao Pragmatic's uncle and nephew.
Although Wang Jiaping was moved, because he had paid very little attention to North Korea before, he could not help but doubt whether this statement was true or false, or how likely it was true, so he raised a question: "Your Majesty, what the Nanning Marquis said
Is there more evidence to prove it?”
Not only did he say this, the other four cabinet elders also looked at Zhu Yijun, obviously they were also very concerned about this. This is not surprising. If there is evidence to prove it, it will be easier to convince other officials from outside the country. This will be important to the cabinet.
Words are very important.
Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "I have here a secret report written by Rixin before he went to North Korea. It contains a very thorough description of the various connections between Liaodong and North Korea. You can take a look. Oh, by the way, Japan
A new word has also been coined here, called geostructure.”
As he spoke, he stood up and rummaged through the bookshelf, found a thin book, and motioned to Liu Ping, who was waiting at his side, to hand it to Wang Jiaping. Wang Jiaping stood up, took it with both hands, and immediately started reading. The words in this thin book
It was not too much. After reading it, Wang Jiaping handed it to Liang Menglong, and then circulated it to several cabinet ministers in turn.
In the "Appendix" of Gao Jingshi's secret memoir, he first talks about the geographical structure of the Changbai Mountains, the main mountain range of the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Plain. [Note: Gao Jingshi explained the concept of "Northeast Plains" here.
.]
For a mountain range, the ancients often named a certain section from their own perspective. Based on the development of technology, later generations will find that these mountains with complicated names and continuous relationships with each other are actually all
A component of a group of large mountains. The main veins located in it often radiate out some seemingly independent mountains.
What later generations call "mountains" are often just the main veins, and those extended mountains often still have separate names in official documents.
For example, the Zhongtiao Mountains, Wutai Mountains, and Hengshan Mountains are actually extensions of the main Taihang Mountains in different directions. In the case of the Taihang Mountains, if these branches are not included, it can be called the Taihang Mountains in a "narrow sense"; and if
If these branches are included, it belongs to the "broadly defined" Taihang Mountains.
Since it was impossible for Gao Pragmatic to show any satellite images in the Ming Dynasty, the concept of mountain ranges could only be dismissed as "according to Jinghua Mining Exploration Discovery". Fortunately, no one in the entire Ming Dynasty would doubt Jinghua's exploration capabilities.
Justify your theory.
This situation also exists in the Changbai Mountains he analyzed in the article. He analyzed in the article that from a broad perspective, the "Changbai Mountains" is the collective name for the mountains that stretch across the entire northeastern region of Northeast China. In fact, the north reaches
The Sanjiang Plain (the northernmost mountain is called "Wanda Mountain"), and the southern part runs through the Liaodong Peninsula and is connected to the Bohai Sea (the southernmost mountain is called "Qianshan Mountains").
Since the Changbai Mountains well protect the eastern border of the Northeast Plain, it is often considered to be the geographical dividing line between the Northeast Plain and the Korean Peninsula. In fact, the problem is not that simple.
This is because when the main vein of the Changbai Mountains extended southward to the middle of the Sino-North Korean border in later generations, it did not simply extend to the Liaodong Peninsula in the southwest, but also extended to the Korean Peninsula in the southeast.
In other words, the mountains in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and the Changbai Mountains can be seen as a whole. And if the perspective is extended to the Korean Peninsula, this mountainous area covering the entire northeastern corner of the East Asian continent appears as a "human" shape as a whole.
, the mountains of the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula are actually two branches of it.
In fact, if we judge the main vein of this mountainous area from the height, the mountains in northern Korea with an average altitude of 1,200 meters and the Gaima Plateau as the core are more qualified to become the entire mountainous area than the mountains in the Ming Dynasty (average altitude of 800 meters).
of crest.
[Note: The word "altitude" was first proposed by Guo Shoujing, a scientist in the Yuan Dynasty of my country; the unit of length "meter" has been popularized among scholars and businessmen in books because of its widespread use in Jinghua.]
After explaining the branches and heights of the mountain ranges, Gao pragmatically went on to write that from the perspective of human survival, low altitude often means more living space. The excessively high altitude in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula makes the entire northern part of the Korean Peninsula cultivable.
There is a serious shortage of land.
It is precisely because the mountains in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula are too high and too dense that even the fishing and hunting peoples who set out from the Songnen Plain in the past found that when they penetrated the Korean Peninsula, they had to go around the Liaohe Plain and then cross the lower altitude.
The Liaodong hills and the route across the Yalu River from the lower reaches are the most feasible routes.
For the Chinese farming people who set out from the North China Plain on the southern route, they would feel that there is no reason to touch the high mountains in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! This is because the route along the Lower Liaohe Plain, the coastal corridor on the southern edge of the Liaodong Peninsula, into the western lowlands of the Korean Peninsula, in addition to the gentle terrain, is also
The climate will not cause discomfort to these ethnic groups from the North China Plain (the northern part of the North China Plain, the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, and the northwest part of the Korean Peninsula are in the same latitude range and have the same altitude).
If the Korean Peninsula has enough strategic depth and uses it to confront the entire Middle Kingdom, perhaps the current geographical dividing line between the two sides will be established on the main line of the Changbai Mountains - the Liaodong Hills (the Qianshan Mountains as the main line). The problem is
In terms of the strategic depth of the Korean Peninsula, they are even unable to confront the fishing and hunting peoples of the Northeast Plains alone.
Therefore, in history, it has been shown that there are basically no cases of penetration into the Northeast Plains starting from the Korean Peninsula - unless they can reach an alliance with the main ethnic groups of China on the East Asian continent by sea. A typical example of this is
Goguryeo. From a geographical perspective, Goguryeo is actually a typical political power upgraded from the fishing and hunting peoples of Northeast China.
Due to the obstruction of the Yanshan Mountains, the Chinese nation's control over the Lower Liaohe Plain has always been unstable. In other words, the control of the Lower Liaohe Plain has always been alternated between the Northeast fishing and hunting people and the Chinese farming people - the most recent example of this is actually
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a fierce game between the Jin regime and the central court of the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, Gao Pragmatic could not give this example, so he had to take the Liao Kingdom's suppression of the Jurchens and the Jin Kingdom's defeat of the Liao Kingdom as an example.
The Goguryeo regime was the first Northeastern fishing and hunting nation to successfully enter the Lower Liaohe Plain. Of course, this "earliest" is relative, because before the Chinese nation entered the Lower Liaohe Plain, this was originally the territory of the fishing and hunting nation.
It's just that in constant contact with the Chinese people in the Lower Liaohe Plain (from the Warring States Period to the Han and Tang Dynasties), the Goguryeo people took the lead in absorbing advanced experience (including organizational forms and production methods) from the Chinese people, and stood out among the fishing and hunting peoples in the Northeast.
The state emerges on the geopolitical stage.
In this sense, Gao Jingshi stated in the article that he believed that Goguryeo was actually the representative of the entire northeastern fishing and hunting nation, and was similar to the birth process of the Zhongshan Kingdom.
The Northeastern fishing and hunting people represented by Goguryeo, after occupying the Lower Liaohe Plain, the most tempting option is of course to cross the Yanshan Mountains and enter the North China Plain. However, due to the geographical potential of the Northeastern Plain, it is difficult to directly compete with the entire Central Kingdom.
The core areas are relatively confrontational. Therefore, after achieving this step, what the Northeast fishing and hunting ethnic regime often does is to first expand its sphere of influence in the east and west directions.
Based on the comparison of strength, the nomadic peoples on the Mongolian Plateau often adopt alliances, while for the long and narrow Korean Peninsula, military conquest is the most common method.
If the three geographical forces of the Mongolian Plateau, the Northeastern Plains, and the Korean Peninsula can be integrated, these northern marginalized ethnic groups will have the ability to confront the Chinese nation on an equal footing.
Based on this calculation method, the most successful one in history was of course the Manchu regime established by Nurhachi. Of course, the person who really completed this idea was Huang Taiji - however, because Meng Guzhezhe had already become a highly pragmatic concubine.
, Huang Taiji estimated that there was no chance of being born.
Therefore, Gao Jingshi cited a counterexample in the article that failed to achieve success: He believed that the reason why the Jin State only obtained half of China's territory in the end was that the Jin State could neither capture the entire Korean Peninsula nor actually control the Mongolian grassland (the Jin State's control over Mongolia)
The control is basically similar to China’s custodial system), so not only is it lacking in national strength, but it is also easily subverted in terms of geographical structure.
Gao Pragmatic believes that after the northeastern fishing and hunting people occupy the hub area of "Xia Liaohe Plain", they will not necessarily change the agricultural attributes of this area, such as changing it to fishing and hunting. Because everyone sees the geographical potential stimulated by agricultural production.
owned.
Therefore, the Lower Liaohe Plain will not only become a bridgehead for the southward march, but will also provide a major source of food for the fishing and hunting regimes, and enable the fishing and hunting regimes to have the strength to stabilize according to the organizational form of the Chinese nation.
This is similar to the fact that if the Chinese people want to gain an advantage in the war on the Mongolian Plateau, they must first occupy several geographical units (such as Hetao) that can become good pastures.
Of course, the war horses used by Gao Pragmatic to pacify Mongolia came from Mongolia (Tumut). This was caused by the special conditions caused by Mongolia's own division and the fact that one of the parties was controlled by the Ming Dynasty through paying tribute to the economy.
Of course, whether they are fishermen, hunters or nomads, they know very well that even if they occupy the Lower Liao River Plain, they still cannot compete with the core area of the entire Central Kingdom. The advantage they have lies in their own production methods.
Provide military power with higher quality and proportion than that of farming nations.
Therefore, in terms of organizational structure, these horse ethnic groups are more willing to use their own advantages to control a sufficient number of agricultural populations so that they can manage these cultivated lands. For example, Gao Pragmatic said that when Anda Khan plundered the population from the Ming Dynasty, it was to a large extent that
to this end.
Of course, what Gao Pangshi actually wanted to say in his heart was that Huang Taiji wantonly plundered people from the Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, it maintained its own advantages through paramilitary operations such as hunting; on the other hand, it used administrative means to prohibit bannermen from engaging in agricultural production. The Qing Dynasty acted as
The pinnacle of the "feudal" system, it has a long enough history as a reference, whether it is controlling the administrative methods of the central state, or exploiting strengths and avoiding weaknesses, and stabilizing the dominance of the Manchu regime.
From the perspective of Goguryeo, they did not pose a substantial threat to the Middle Kingdom. Because in its 700-year history, it has been working hard to integrate the Korean Peninsula and failed to reach a real agreement with the nomads on the Mongolian plateau.
alliance.
The reason why Goguryeo is so famous in history is not only that the ethnic groups on the Korean Peninsula in later generations wanted to cling to this ethnic group that was obviously different from its geographical attributes, but also because it was the first regime to unify the geopolitical power of the entire Northeast Plain.
, and based on this, it occupied the hub area of the Lower Liaohe Plain.
Gao Zhishi wrote here that the reason why Emperors Wen and Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Tai of the Tang Dynasty, and Emperor Gao Erzong would never give up until Goguryeo was destroyed was because they realized that if Goguryeo continued to develop, it would have a huge impact on the Central Plains in the future.
Threat, so we have to do it.
In fact, before this, the Chinese nation had relied on its strong geographical power to penetrate into the Lower Liaohe Plain, and even the Liaodong Peninsula and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula (from the late Warring States Period to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty). After that, the Chinese nation had to deal with people coming from the Mongolian Plateau in addition to
geo-political pressure, we must also pay attention to the pressure from the Northeast Plains.
After the Yan people became the first Chinese people to enter the Lower Liaohe Plain, the hilly areas of the Liaodong Peninsula naturally became the control area of the Yan people. However, the Liaodong Peninsula is dominated by hilly terrain, and the coastal areas are troubled by sea inundation. Therefore, the Yan people
After crossing the Liaodong Peninsula, people hope to penetrate into the Korean Peninsula.
Although the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula is a densely mountainous area, the terrain has become gentle as it extends southward to the western part of the Korean Peninsula, which is the coast of the Yellow Sea. With the joint efforts of the rivers originating from the mountains in the northeast, the low and gentle terrain
The hills have been filled with vast stretches of alluvial plains. Among them, the Datong River plays the greatest role.
If we were to find a mother river for future generations of Korea, it would definitely be the Taedong River. The necessary condition for it to become a mother river is that its downstream area can provide a sufficient area of alluvial plain, and this plain is in the geographical unit where it is located.
It occupies a central position. From this point of view, the Taedong River is most capable of becoming the mother river in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Gao Pangshi attached here a map of North Korea drawn by Beijing Huawei, and compared it with this map to explain: Looking at the outline of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, you will find that there is a triangular bulge on its west side near the Yellow Sea. Forming this
The skeleton of the triangle is the hills that extend from the northeastern mountains, and the plains filled in between are mainly the result of the Datong River system.
This triangular plain-hilly area has become the area with the greatest geopolitical potential in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, and has certainly become the geographical core of the northern part of the peninsula. Therefore, if the Yan people want to make a difference in the Korean Peninsula, their strategic goal is
Occupy this geographical core area.
As for the mountains in the northeast, they did not arouse the interest of the farming people. After all, in that era, occupying the core plain of a region could be considered to control the surrounding mountains.
Although these plains regimes would not even be interested in sending officials there symbolically (unless there are major transportation routes), marginal ethnic groups living in the mountains can often accept it as long as their lives are not greatly affected.
After all, this kind of nominal leadership needs to be exchanged with the residents of the plains for many daily necessities.
The plain area located in the lower reaches of the Datong River has been the geographical core of the northern peninsula for more than 3,000 years. During this period, the ethnic groups who arrived here chose to establish their establishments in the northern part of this triangle area.
own political center.
This choice was made because, on the one hand, the main stream of the Datong River is in the northern part of this triangle (the southern part is formed by the alluvial tributaries of the Datong River, mainly the Zaining River); on the other hand, because the geopolitical pressure on the Korean Peninsula mainly comes from the north.
, that is, the direction of the Liaodong Peninsula.
Therefore, it is necessary to concentrate the main resources on the northern line to maintain its war potential. Otherwise, both the Chinese people and the Northeast fishing and hunting people may quickly break through the Datong River defense line. In other words, based on the conditions in the lower reaches of the Datong River,
With strategic depth, it is impossible to engage in level-by-level resistance, and a decisive battle must be established at the first opportunity.
The political center on the side of the Datong River is naturally Pyongyang. Therefore, this geographical unit, which is alternated with hills and is even worse in area and smoothness than the "Xia Liaohe Plain", is also called the "Pyongyang Plain" by Gao Pangzhi in the article. However,
Gao Pragmatic further explained that in fact, the name "Pyongyang" has a long history and was not created by North Korea itself.
When the Yan people entered the Korean Peninsula, its name was "Wangxian City". And since it is called a "city", of course it means that there is already a mature political power that has settled here before the Yan people.
This regime and the ethnic group to which it belonged were no strangers to the Ming Emperor and the five elders. It was the "Jizi North Korea" established by the Shang remnants who were unwilling to submit to the Zhou Dynasty.
Gao Pragmatic explains here the reason why the Zhou people feudalized the Yan State in the northern part of the North China Plain. In fact, the strategic purpose of the Yan State's feudalism was to prevent merchants from entering the North China Plain again. In order to achieve this purpose, the Yan people needed to
The entire area south of Yanshan was adopted as its own, and the Yanshan Mountains were used as a natural defense line. This was enough to ensure the geographical security of the Zhou Dynasty.
Because of this, after the Yan people integrated the south of Yanshan, they had no idea of moving northward for a long time. It was not until the late Warring States Period that they were forced by the geopolitical pressure from the southern front and hoped to find new strategic depth north of Yanshan.
Infiltrate to the north.
Then Gao pragmatic continued to analyze why Jizi did not choose the Lower Liaohe Plain as a base, but instead bypassed the Liaodong Peninsula and entered the Korean Peninsula. He believed that this was of course related to the sensitive location of the Lower Liaohe Plain, and he chose to establish a base in such a
With a foothold in the hub area, even if the geopolitical pressure of the North China Plain cannot be felt for the time being, the nomadic people moving east along the west Liao River and the fishing and hunting people in the hinterland of the Northeast Plain will not make them feel safe.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Therefore, the Pyongyang Plain in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula has become a paradise for merchants to live in peace. Jizi and his descendants did live and work in peace and contentment for hundreds of years, until one day
One day, Yan people appeared at their door.
After analyzing these, Gao Pragmatic had enough reasons to put forward his own opinion to the emperor: Although Korea is now a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, Jurchen is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, half of Mongolia is under the direct jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty and the other half has become a vassal state, but considering that they
Each has its own language,
It is not completely integrated with the Ming Dynasty. If something happens within the Central Plains in the future, and a strong man appears in these three places and takes the opportunity to unify them, the Ming Dynasty will face huge national defense pressure and fall into strategic passivity.
Therefore, as the master of the ZTE, the emperor must also have the spirit of "not worrying about future generations" to completely bring North Korea into his rule. In the future, he will gradually Chineseize these three places and expand the strategic buffer zone for the core farming areas of the Ming Dynasty.
Only in this way can we "set the foundation for eternity" and become an eternal emperor on par with the First Emperor!
As the five pavilion elders read Gao Pragmatic's submission one by one, there was silence in the entire Xinuan Pavilion, and even the sound of breathing could be heard clearly.
"Eternal Emperor", it is self-evident how attractive this title is to the Wanli Emperor, who is now at the peak of his martial arts. Moreover, it is not only such an attraction for Zhu Yijun, don't you all here feel that
Are you excited? Of course not, they are very excited too!
Auxiliary ministers of emperors throughout the ages, don’t they deserve to be recorded in the annals of history and be famous throughout the ages?
When they thought that such a grand blueprint only lacked North Korea, and all that was left was the subtle and gradual sinicization of the local people, the five cabinet ministers couldn't help but look forward to it: It turns out that as long as I express my approval of North Korea's inclusion now, it will be possible in the future.
Will be regarded as one of the famous ministers throughout the ages...
There are such good things in the world!
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ps: At this point, I can still finish coding at night...after all, most people haven't gotten up yet, right?