Chapter 282 The Background of Inside and Outside the Palace (Thirty-seven)
Since the New Year is coming soon, the Nanning Marquis Mansion has been very busy these days. In addition to cleaning and decorating with lanterns, countless gifts need to be counted, and there are also an absurd number of gifts that need to be given out.
With his highly pragmatic background and current status, plus the fact that he has served in many places and managed affairs, the gifts he has received are naturally varied.
There are thirty-six flawless pure black Eastern beads from the Yehe tribe in the east, a cart of deer antlers from the Hada tribe, nine complete tiger skins from the Ula tribe, and two carts of ginseng from the left and right tribes of Jianzhou.
, there are even red jade ornaments of the twelve zodiac signs sent by the former King of Joseon and the current respectful King Li Huan who calculated the time in advance.
From the south, Siam sent the ivory-inlaid gold waistband of the Eighteen Arhats, Annan sent the Ten Confucian Philosophers withered agarwood, Nanzhang sent a cart of Ganoderma lucidum, Burma sent the Jade Buddha III, and Cambodia sent ebony wood.
Twenty carts of furniture, as well as ten carts of bird's nests, sea cucumbers, shark's fins, badi cloth, etc. sent by the "Old Port Xuanwei Department".
In the north, there were a hundred high-quality Ujumqin stallions sent from Han Naji and Zhongjin Hatun. Most of the leaders also sent treasure bows, BMWs, treasure saddles and other items. Ordos Taihu rarely had the same, Yin
Ledouzi and others had no other special products to give, so they still gave away a hundred stallions.
Only the gift from Erdemutu was special. He may have thought that the teacher liked all kinds of minerals, so he sent some bluish transparent stones that he didn't know, nor did Gao Pragmatic. Later, he learned about it after Liu Xin pointed out
That's lapis lazuli. With the current level of technology, we really don't need it, so we can only play with it.
In addition, Liu Xin estimated that this stuff probably came from near the North Sea - near Lake Baikal in later generations. This area is still the territory of Transkarkha, but it is also inaccessible. God knows how Erdemutu got the lapis lazuli.
The most shabby gift is probably from the west. Huo Luochi from Qinghai sent ten kilograms of Cordyceps sinensis. How should I say this? Although Cordyceps sinensis is a precious medicine, it is nothing to the rich and pragmatic Gao. But this
It’s not hard to blame Huo Luochi for not trying his best. After all, Qinghai’s development level in this era is too low. What else can there be besides Cordyceps? Even for Kunlun Stone, Huo Luochi’s people don’t know how to mine it, so they can’t pick it up by luck.
The above are all gifts from outside the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and there are even more in China. There are so many that I can list them in a separate chapter, so I might as well not mention them at all.
As the saying goes, reciprocity means that the more gifts you receive, the more gifts you will receive in return. The Secretariat has been busy in the past few days in order to give and return gifts. There is a constant flow of traffic outside the gate of Nanning Marquis Mansion, with cartloads of gifts coming in and out.
So, when Gao pragmatic returned to the house, he was almost embarrassed to call the secretaries for a meeting. Fortunately, Liu Xin did not need to take responsibility for these mundane affairs, and she herself had some time to spare. Seeing Gao pragmatic's heavy face, she took the initiative to ask the reason.
After learning the details, Liu Xin immediately said that this matter should not be delayed and a meeting must be held immediately to discuss it, so he quickly sent people to find everyone who should be attending the meeting. At this time, Gao Pragmatic discovered that the eucalyptus table in Liu Xin's study room
There are many Kantu maps of the western region.
"Hey, are you preparing a plan for the Western Expedition in advance?" Gao pragmatically asked.
Liu Xin pursed her lips: "Although it is not yet known which official the imperial court will send to manage the Western Expedition, but since you named my brother to go and asked me to lead the Erdemutu generals, then I
You have to do some homework in advance, right?"
Anyway, it would take some time to wait for the meeting, so Gao Pragmatic planned to talk to Liu Xin about the Western Expedition, so he asked, "So what do you think you have learned now?"
Liu Xin curled her lips and said: "I can't speak of my experience. Judging from the troops you are currently planning to mobilize, no division means that the troops are divided into two routes, one is correct and the other is strange. The southern route follows the ancient Silk Road along the old land of Hehuang.
This can be called a serious soldier; on the northern route, we can walk through the grassland, as long as there is plenty of water and grass, and we can go any way. This can be called a surprise soldier."
She swept her hair and said: "On the northern front, the main force must be the Mongolian cavalry from Tumut and Ordos. They have been on the Western Expedition countless times. This offensive route is familiar to them.
Nothing can go wrong.
In this way, the firearm-based cavalry, mainly our Jinghua musket-equipped cavalry, can hitch a ride, which not only saves them the trouble and danger of finding a way, but also allows them to rely on their supplies to save resources..."
"Wait a minute." Gao pragmatic interrupted: "Although the Beijing cavalry can eat the supplies of the Mongols on the road, they cannot eat and drink for free. We must communicate with Bahan Naji, Zhongjin Hatun, and Taihuhan in advance.
As a result, Boshu Ketu, Yin Leduqi and others agreed that those who should pay should pay, and those who should give materials should be given materials.
All in all, what I mean is that not only can we not steal their wool during this war, we even have to make them feel that this deal is a good deal."
Liu Xin was slightly startled at first, but then she understood immediately and said with a smile: "I see, you mean 'if you want to take something, you must give it first', right?"
"No, I didn't mean to 'take what I wanted'." Gao Pragmatic shook his head decisively and said: "If I had the intention of 'taking what I wanted', it means that I always regard them as outsiders.
But you have to know that my long-term goal is to never treat them as outsiders - what I want is not Han chauvinism, I want 'Chinese nationalism', so in my eyes there is no real difference between the Mongolian people and the Han people, they are nothing more than
The lifestyle is just different.”
Liu Xin sighed and said helplessly: "If it weren't for the clear family tree of Lao Gao's family, I would have suspected that you were a Mongolian... This statement really sounds like you are speaking from the perspective of a Mongolian."
"If you say that, then I have objections." Gao Pingshi shook his head and said, "It is precisely because I am a Han that I can say this openly and with a clear conscience.
The Han and the Mongols, or the Han and the steppe peoples, have been fighting for thousands of years, but the age of firearms has arrived, and it is no longer possible for the steppe peoples to gain a strategic advantage.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Assume that the two sides are still hostile to each other for a long time as in the past, and are incompatible with each other. In the future, the Han people will definitely carry out a one-sided massacre and bloodbath against the grassland peoples. But I want to ask, is this possible?
Is it necessary?
The Han people are a farming civilization, not a nomadic civilization, let alone a pirate civilization. Massacre and plunder have never been the background of farming civilization. The background of farming civilization is to obtain profits through large-scale production, so it has the most stable economic production model and society
Construction is conducive to the inheritance of social culture from generation to generation.
Nomadic civilization and pirate civilization are different. The productivity of the former is seriously insufficient. Once the weather turns cold, they can only plunder to survive; the productivity of the latter is between farming and nomadic, so it needs the ocean as a convenient material trading channel to achieve production.
balance with consumption.
During the heyday of nomadic civilization, that is, the period when the Mongols established a super empire, they found that they could defeat almost all opponents and became the "superior" from then on, so they continued to expand until they collapsed;
After the Ottoman Empire interrupted its trade with the East, the pirate civilization had to open new routes to maintain the balance between production and consumption, so it searched for roads to the East through the ocean.
However, their luck or 'luck' happened to be right. They first discovered that America and Africa were less civilized than they were, so they regarded these two places as their sources of raw materials and labor, and completed primitive capital accumulation through plunder.
Moreover, due to the need for suppression and the fierce competition for interests within the pirate civilization, they have been in a long-term internal war, which in turn promoted the advancement of science and technology, especially military technology, and ultimately allowed them to dominate the world with tyrannical force for hundreds of years.
Later Westerners often use various so-called "advanced" and "civilized" to whitewash their ancestors. In fact, from a civilized perspective, pirate civilization is fundamentally a predatory civilization. Their most accustomed practice
It is always about oppressing and plundering other people through military conquest, rather than attracting others to join you through the development of productive forces like agricultural civilization.
I remember I told you before that around the Zhou Dynasty, concepts such as "Huaxia" and "Zhonghua" appeared in China, and they were used to distinguish themselves from the Yi and Di.
But unlike the pirate civilization, which likes to strictly distinguish itself from the conquered, one of the biggest characteristics of "Huaxia" is that "when the barbarians and the Di enter China, China will follow."
This means that our ancestors have not judged advanced and backward based on superficial bloodline. Instead, when someone is willing to implement the same production and living system as ours, we recognize him as one of us and no different from us.
To.
Could it be that a civilization with such a broad mind is not the right direction for historical development, but is a pirate civilization that is always based on the essence of oppression the right direction for historical development?
If there is no Chinese civilization as a comparison, even if the pirate civilization develops for ten thousand years, it will still be a civilization in which a small minority oppresses the majority. Those descendants of the pirate civilization at the top of the pyramid will always consider themselves superior and will always engage in all kinds of evil.
All kinds of racial discrimination and cultural discrimination.
If they find that some so-called "backward nations" are developing so fast that they feel chilled, they will definitely regard them as the biggest threats in the world, and then unite as much as possible to suppress them as powerfully as possible.
This kind of 'subversion' is strangled in the cradle, in its infancy.
Instead of relying on the resilience of civilization to rise or revive in the face of adversity, why not quickly expand the scope of this civilization now, include more civilizations that have been deeply influenced by us in advance, and gain the ability to compete with us earlier?
What is the power of confrontation between pirate civilizations?
That’s why I said that I am not talking about the Chinese nation from the standpoint of a Mongolian, I am talking about this from the standpoint of ‘China’ as a Han Chinese.
I hope that one day, there will be no such thing as Han, Mongolian, Jurchen, Miao, Tong, Yao, etc. in China. I hope that by then, everyone will only have the same answer in their self-awareness: I That is China.”
Liu Xin listened quietly to Gao Pangshi's long speech, and said with emotion: "I have been wondering about one thing for a long time, that is, you already have such a strong strength, among the people and even the military. You also have a high reputation, but why do you have no intention of rebelling at all?
You said before that you don’t want to see civil war among the Chinese. I...how should I put it? As someone who grew up in the same education system as you, I can understand this sentence, but I still feel that this truth is not true. Very sufficient. However, after hearing what you just said today, I think I roughly understand what you mean.
The biggest threat in your mind is never the opponent you need to face if you 'rebel'. Whether he is the current emperor, the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, or other forces - they are not opponents of the same level in your eyes. , you don’t care how they will resist, because you are confident that you can solve them.
Your situation is much higher than establishing a new dynasty, because your opponent is not a dynasty at all, but a civilization, a pirate civilization that should have dominated the world for hundreds of years in history.
The only thing I'm curious about now is, why do you think you don't need to establish a new dynasty, but just pass some reforms to fight against that pirate civilization?"
Gao Pragmatic was silent for a moment and suddenly asked: "Have you ever heard of a British professor named Martin Jacques?"
"The professor who proposed that 'China is a civilization disguised as a country'? I have some impressions." Obviously, Liu Xin had indeed heard of it, but he might not be very familiar with it.
"Yes, but what I want to discuss now is not the quote you quoted, but another less dramatic quote he mentioned in another speech.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! I can't remember the original words, but it probably means, 'They (China) have been the most advanced and powerful country in the world for thousands of years. One, so we should not be surprised by their current rise, but should explore what happened in China between 1800 and 1949.'"
Liu Xin thought for a while and was a little confused, then said: "Yes, why? 1800...when was that?"
Gao pragmatic shrugged and said: "The second year after Qianlong's death."
Liu Xin said distressedly: "My majors are different from yours. I don't have much research on history, culture, and civilization. Why don't you just tell me the conclusion?"
"My conclusion is not necessarily correct, it only represents my opinion... Of course, I admit that now I have a certain ability to correct some things that I think should be corrected based on my understanding."
Liu Xin asked: "For example, through your series of reforms?"
"Of course, this is the main method." Gao Pragmatic admitted frankly.
"How complete is it now?"
"It's difficult to quantify, so it's impossible for me to give you an accurate percentage value." Gao pragmatically said: "But I want to say that there is a very important reform that I have been laying the groundwork for more than 20 years, but it hasn't happened yet.
Take a practical step. Once the matter of canonizing the crown prince is completed, I will start taking action."
"You mean to wait until you become the chief minister?" Liu Xin was very curious and asked with a blink: "You dare to make drastic reforms on the old and difficult issues such as Beijing business, commercial taxation, and vassal ban. What else can you do?
What makes you so cautious that you dare not take action after more than 20 years of preparation?"
"The foundation of the country..." Gao Pingshi smiled, spread his hands and said, "Imperial examination."
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "So Nervous_Going to Get Rich", "cxxmp", and "Doubu" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
ps: I saw that people backstage have been discussing these recent chapters quite heatedly. Some friends have expressed a considerable degree of recognition for the literary drama and have relatively high expectations for the follow-up plot. I am very grateful, but at the same time I feel deeply pressured. In recent days
The slow update is also due to this reason. I am really cautious in writing, and I am very worried about creating hard bugs.
All I can say is that I will try my best to connect with the previous article and pave the way for the following article to develop this plot reasonably. As for the number of updates that have fallen in the past few days, you don’t have to worry. At this point, I should still have credibility, maybe
The time for delaying the make-up is not so fixed, but it will definitely be made up in the end.
