First Prince of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 454 Civilization Limitations

To be honest, Zhu Biao would rather this year's grasslands be smooth and rainy without any disasters and disasters. They are now settled down, and Daming is thriving. How can Zhu Biao be willing to use exquisite porcelain to fight head-to-head with notched earthenware pots, then he will win Also lost.

It's just helpless. You can't appease them with a lot of food in order to prevent Mongolia from invading the border. How is that different from the Song Dynasty?

Zhu Biao couldn't afford to lose this man, especially Lao Zhu. He would rather die in battle than tolerate this happening. That would deal a huge blow to Ming's prestige in the dynasty. The majestic orthodox suppresses the prestige of the world.

What's more, the Ming Dynasty couldn't squeeze out enough grain to supply the grasslands. Unless troops were immediately sent to requisition the rations of the common people and the gentry, there would simply not be enough taxed grain for the autumn harvest.

In this way, contradictions cannot be reconciled, and wars cannot be avoided. This is the cruelty of reality, and it is also the inevitable contradiction between nomadic civilization and farming civilization.

The economic characteristic of farming civilization is self-sufficiency, and economic self-sufficiency can solve the problems of survival and development. The spiritual characteristics formed on this basis are static and conservative. They do not seek the expansion of space, but only hope the extension of time. , Stable and conservative, simple and heavy, calm and stable, and advocating peace are characterized by profound accumulation and strong compatibility. It is a kind of cultural integration with extensive content.

The economic characteristics of nomads are firstly monotonous and need trade to make up for their own shortcomings, and secondly, they are unstable, facing natural disasters and immediately facing survival crises. its spiritual characteristics.

Its culture is characterized by mobility and progress, advocating competition, internal unity, combativeness, aggression, and the concept of wealth. The breadth and thickness of its culture are incomparable with farming civilization.

However, in terms of fighting power or desire for war, the nomads went south, became richer and richer, and plundered all the way, and supplies were not a problem, while the farming people went north, and the more they fought, the more desolate they became. With the extension of the supply line, supply became more and more difficult. .

Nomads plunder the livestock and property of the population, and there is no loss if they lose. The farming civilization does not gain much even if it wins. There are few captives, no useful spoils, and the occupied land is not suitable for farming. As the war prolongs, morale is getting worse. lower.

This is why all dynasties and dynasties have used the mountains and rivers to stay on the Great Wall defense line, hoping to achieve the goal of thousands of Hu soldiers bowing their heads and tens of thousands of flesh and blood forging peace.

Within the linear border defense facilities of the Great Wall, successive dynasties built a large number of closed city defense systems. The Great Wall stretching thousands of miles and the countless cities built from north to south are the result of the conservative psychology of the farming nation. , The incisive and vivid externalization of defensive psychology.

It's a pity that the Great Wall, as the material existence of the Central Plains dynasty's defensive psychology, has a limited role after all. After the Great Wall appeared, from the victory in the offensive of the Qin and Han Dynasties, to the peaceful coexistence after the offensive of the Tang Dynasty, and the complete failure in the retreat of the Song Dynasty, the Great Wall It turned out to be a line of defense for foreigners.

What's more, even if the Great Wall can resist foreign enemies, how can it contain internal strife?

Disasters start within the Xiao wall, and the dangerous wall is covered among the eggs.

Therefore, Zhu Biao has always opposed the court's spending a lot of resources to build the Great Wall. As early as after he led his troops to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, many ministers in the court proposed to use Yiji Naijiucheng, Daningwei Kaipingwei and Dongsheng The three important towns of Wei are leaning on each other, with steep walls, deep moats and beacon battlements connected to each other. The mounds around the place are built higher and thicker, and the May grain, firewood, medicine and crossbows are stored on them, and wells are opened next to the pier to connect the old city.

In fact, in the final analysis, we still want to build the Great Wall, hoping to suppress Mongolia in the grassland forever. Even if they come to invade, they can use the high wall to contain the sharpness of their cavalry.

It’s just that Zhu Biao is clear that even though the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was built strong and beautiful in history, it did not stop the iron hooves of the Manchus going south. It’s not that the Great Wall is not strong enough. Wu Sangui and his ilk.

Qin Huang, Han Wu, Tang Zong all proved one thing, defense is not as good as offense, offense is the best defense, peace is not obtained by seeking, peace is achieved.

Grasslands are not suitable for farming, but they have vast pastures and rich mineral resources. Zhu Biao embarked on a great voyage to break the limitations of farming civilization. No matter what system is implemented, it will inevitably decay in the end. Only by opening your eyes to the world can you always take the initiative right.

Although the Ming Dynasty does not have enough national power to perish to the north, Zhu Biao will solve this matter sooner or later. The grassland is no other than the side of the Central Plains. How can Zhu Biao allow this problem to persist for a long time.

In 20 or [-] years, Zhu Biao will eventually save enough money to completely eliminate future troubles. Of course, he does not want to massacre the grasslands, but to assimilate after a big victory. Fortunately, under the strong influence of the advanced national economy and culture, the backward nations gradually Integration with advanced nations is the general trend of national integration.

Mongolia has ruled the Central Plains for a hundred years, but a large part of its aristocratic class has been assimilated. The abundance and enjoyment that the Central Plains can provide them is by no means what the backward grasslands can provide.

The two sides have been entangled for hundreds of years and have planted hatred, but they also have a real connection. The Yuan Dynasty ruled the Central Plains and also the grasslands, so the Ming Dynasty can do the same.

Simple killing will never solve the problem, and the uprising will never stop. When the Ming Dynasty is strong, it may be able to suppress all dissatisfaction, but once the country is weak, a single spark can start a prairie fire.

Now who would have imagined that privet, who was mixed in the black mountains and white waters, would be able to rule the Central Plains in the future, and could also tame the steppe Mongolia, no one should underestimate any nation at any time.

Unite all the forces that can be united. There are also many Mongolian generals in the Ming Dynasty.

There are also civil officials like Daotong, and there are countless people at the grassroots level. It is undeniable that there are good and bad officials, but are all Han officials honest and honest?
Zhu Biao has always believed that cultural identity is better than blood. Even if he really wants to talk about blood, it should be aimed at whites and blacks. Daming has a large population, but looking at the world, it is too small. There are only tens of millions of people. How much space can it occupy?
Of course, Zhu Biao is not a benevolent idiot. He naturally knows how much friction the national integration has to go through, and also knows that foreigners are not so easy to tame, but this is a process that a big empire must go through.

The Sinicization of the Huns from the Later Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sinicization of the Xianbei during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Sinicization of Khitan and Jurchen during the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, these experiences have a lot to learn from.

Zhu Biao has a lot of ideas nowadays, and it is precisely because of this that he has deployed Mongolia and Korea. The development of tea and silver trade is not just for making money, but a means of strengthening cultural invasion.

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(End of this chapter)