Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1410 Prodigy
"Are you sure?" Zhu Zhen asked him again, "Do you want to go back and think about it for a few days?"

"No need!" Ma Junze shook his head decisively and said, "I followed the prince to Yunnan, isn't it to do something? How can I be afraid of difficulties when doing business?"

After hearing Ma Junze's answer, Zhu Zhen laughed with satisfaction and said, "Haha, great! I like your fearless spirit!"

As he said this, he patted Ma Junze on the shoulder and reassured him as usual, saying, "Don't worry, I won't cheat you. I have discussed this with Dingbian Hou before, and we are going to build a new city in the center of the mining area, on the bank of the Jinsha River, and move the government office there after it is completed."

Zhu Zhen then briefly explained the plan he had agreed with Hu Quan to Ma Junze, saying, "Remember, if we take this new city as our starting point, things will be much easier to handle and the situation will definitely improve. By then, if we can tackle the two tough tasks of Anning and Dongchuan, you will surely retain your title as a top official."

"Okay! I will remember your teachings!" Ma Jun nodded heavily and said, "I will definitely not let you down!"

"I believe you will be fine!" Zhu Zhen patted his shoulder again, and then said to Hu Yan: "You have done a great job in Dali. In my opinion, you have done the best job!"

After a pause, he said, "It's just that some things can be done but not said, so the ranking is low. It's just like the saying goes, those who are good at fighting don't have great achievements. Dali was able to eliminate the remaining poison of the Duan regime, and you have made a great contribution!"

"Your Majesty, you are too kind." Hu Yan shook his head excitedly. He was not afraid of being ranked low, he was just afraid that the prince would look down on him because of this. However, he knew that the more times like this, the more humble he should be: "It is mainly because our prefect has given up power that I can do some more outrageous things while serving as the prefect."

"You, the prefect Zhou, are not giving up power, he just doesn't dare to get involved." Zhu Zhen snorted and said, "Send this irresponsible guy to Pegu when we get back!"

~~
The "more outrageous things" that Hu Yan mentioned are indeed not easy to talk about openly - the main thing he did during his time in Dali was burning books.

He collected all the official and private classics and books from the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms, saying that they would be sent to the provincial capital for printing and preservation. However, even after all the books were collected, the warehouse was damaged.

Moreover, dozens of warehouses were damaged at the same time, and all the items with words on them were burned to ashes.

Then he used the excuse that his warehouse had been burned down and he needed to collect books again, and he dug deep among the people again, searching for old books from the previous dynasty. He would collect a batch every once in a while, and then burn them in a fire.

Later he simply stopped pretending and came clean: "I am determined to destroy Dali's cultural and historical heritage. So what?"
He brazenly stipulated that anyone who privately kept books from Nanzhao or Dali would be shackled and exiled, and anyone who reported the case would receive half of the other party's property.

It also prohibited the use of Baiman language and Bo script among the people. It stipulated that everyone must speak Chinese and use Chinese characters. Anyone who dared to violate the ban in public would be flogged the first time, forced to do hard labor the second time, and beheaded the third time.

So after a few years, the cultural imprints left by Nanzhao and Dali had been almost erased by Hu Yan.

If he only destroyed things, he would not deserve such high praise from Zhu Zhen. The key is that he also created new memories to replace the old ones. This is what makes Hu Yan really amazing.

After careful textual research, Hu Yan personally fabricated a new set of Baiyi history. He said that Dali was originally ruled by Han people during the Han Dynasty, which was the "Han era" of Dali.

Later, the Wuman Meng Dynasty stole Dali and forced the Han people to live according to their customs. As a result, the originally advanced and civilized Han race was forcibly degenerated into barbarians, but they were still better than the Nanzhao people, so the Nanzhao people were called Wuman, and they, the former Han people, were called Baiyi. This was the "barbarian era". Later, with the support of Baiyi, the Duan family eliminated the Heiyi and established the Dali Kingdom. It is said that they should have recognized their ancestors at this time, but for their own selfish interests, they were afraid that their subjects would submit to the Central Plains Dynasty, so that they could not be the arrogant king of Yelang, so they fabricated various Baiyi histories and changed the Chinese language and Chinese characters that they had used for thousands of years to Baiman language and Bowen, in an attempt to sever their ties with their compatriots. In order to maintain the independence of the Dali Kingdom.

This is the 'pseudo-history era'.

After Dali was destroyed by the Yuan Dynasty, because the Yuan Dynasty was a Mongolian dynasty, it was even more difficult to prevent the people of Dali from returning to their ancestral home. Therefore, for a hundred years, the chaos was still not rectified.

But now that the Ming Dynasty has unified the world and the Han people have liberated Dali again, they must of course help their compatriots get rid of their status as barbarians and become noble Han people again!

Of course, due to the rush of time, the history he knew still had loopholes, but the problem was that no one could refute him.

Because there is no evidence. Even if there is, no one dares to take it out. Possessing banned books will lead to imprisonment.

And the most amazing thing about his theory is that it won the support of the vast majority of Baiyi people.

As the region most deeply influenced by Han culture, Dali, like the Central Plains, revered Confucius, chanted scriptures and worshipped Buddha, and had similar traditions and concepts. The Duan family, the royal family of Dali, also claimed to be descendants of the Han people. These were used by Hu Yan as ironclad evidence that "Bai Yi were Han people." Naturally, it was very convincing.

Besides, who wouldn't want to be a Han Chinese in this era? Now that they are officially certified as Han Chinese, who would stick to their original identity except for those old-fashioned people? They all became supporters of this theory.

In just a few years, most Dali people have firmly believed that they are Han Chinese. Anyone who dares to deny this will inevitably be strongly attacked by them.

Dali also became the first "barbarian area" in Yunnan to be completely assimilated.

It's a pity that the officials who judged him had no idea of ​​how great Hu Yan's contributions were and how powerful his methods were, so they only gave him a mediocre grade. But it doesn't matter, Zhu Zhen understood him, and Zhu Zhen understood the value of this ability even more!
"Dali is already on the right track. It would be a waste for you to stay here any longer." Zhu Zhen made new arrangements for Hu Yan, saying, "Go to Ruili and use your expertise to erase the Luchuan Kingdom from the local people's memory and make them believe that they are also descendants of the Han people..."

"This is a bit difficult." Hu Yan remained calm and said, "The situation in Dali is relatively simple. The locals are basically no different from the Han people. We just need to take advantage of the situation. But in Ruili, the locals have already deeply rooted in the belief that they are not of the same race as us, right?"

"Well, everything depends on human efforts. As long as we don't discriminate and treat them differently, who would be willing to be a barbarian and not join China?" Zhu Zhen said confidently: "I don't ask you to assimilate them as quickly as Dali did. If you can assimilate them in one generation, it will be a great achievement for generations to come!"

"Yes, I will do my best!" Hu Yan responded in a deep voice.

"Haha, okay. Don't worry. I won't let you stay in Ruili for a generation. After a few years, when you have laid a solid foundation, I will transfer you to another place. There are too many places that need your expertise!" Zhu Zhen said with a smile, "I will arrange a few more apprentices for you later to carry forward your legacy!"

"Thank you, Your Highness..." Hu Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was he going to have to do this for the rest of his life?
(End of this chapter)