Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1117 Xu Fu's Strategy

"Interesting. Shangluo, I took a look around. Guess what I found on this ship?"

"Have you discovered any ninja or other spies?"

"I found nothing. The ship is operating normally, and there are no Xu Fu's spies on board, at least not with my level of detection. I can ask the master to spare some time to tell a fortune, and maybe he can choose something."

"That's not necessary. I won't bother Master Sa. But if you calculate it this way, it's very strange. What principle did Xu Fu use to drive the formation of this 'mechanism'?"

"Could it be that Xu Fu only targeted those 'aristocratic families'?" Fu Yuanshan guessed.

This is very strange. Shangluo felt as if he had seen it, but also as if he had not seen it.

I say “I haven’t seen it” because what is happening in Japan now seems to be happening only “selectively” to the samurai class.

For 8000 million people, everything was the same as before, as if nothing had happened.

Because the common people usually lived in their own territories and had few opportunities to travel far, they would not directly deal with Edo. Even the citizens living in Edo Castle rarely left their city.

In other words, as long as they don't leave the land where they live, then everything that is happening in Japan now is the same as if it didn't happen - or in other words, they don't notice it. And if something is basically not noticed, it means that it actually has no immediate impact on daily life.

So who was affected by the "immediate effect"? Only the samurai class. Now the samurai class has become like the common people and cannot move freely. Their various lifestyles and career choices have been completely taken away. They are now no different from the common people in their own territory.

"Ah," Shangluo thought for a moment, "Does this mean that Xu Fu treated everyone equally and included them in his plan?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that Xu Fu didn't actually 'target the samurai specifically'. The restrictions he imposed on everyone were equal. But the restrictions he imposed on everyone were no different from the restrictions the shogunate imposed on the common people in the past. However, he extended these restrictions equally to the samurai class, and now everyone is equal."

"Ah," Fu Yuanshan thought for a moment, "You know what, this reminds me of some interesting stories about Tokugawa Ieyasu."

"Senior Fu, do you know anything about Tokugawa Ieyasu?"

"Because there are those reading materials, we have a lot of them here, for example, there is a book called "Japanese Studies". During the Wanli period, the Jinyiwei went to collect intelligence about Japan, and the information was sealed after they came back. But later it was seen by an unknown censor in the Censorate, and the censor thought it was very interesting, so he retrieved all the relevant files and wrote a book of miscellaneous talks about Japan, which is "Japanese Studies"." "Do censors still do this kind of work? Do they also publish it?"

"That's how the history department is. The Censorate, where many censors gather, has been a famous publisher for hundreds of years. They printed the best versions of the Four Great Books, especially the one about Pan Jinlian. You're going to study at the Imperial College, right? You'll know once you learn it.

"If you study history, you will be exposed to knowledge including but not limited to historical materials, literature, philosophy, aesthetics, politics, sociology, secretarial science, intelligence science, and even military command science. You can see graduates of the history department everywhere in the court. The only equivalent majors in science are bioengineering or chemical engineering, which are also everywhere. Some of them even become the emperor of the country and have the surname of the emperor."

"Why do I feel that the prospects of this subject are so slim?"

"Ah, that." Fu Yuanshan quickly changed the subject. "Let's talk about Tokugawa Ieyasu. He said an interesting point of view. He said: People should not be allowed to starve, but they should not be allowed to eat enough. Because people will cause trouble if they are not full, but they will also cause trouble if they are too full. In order to ensure the long-term rule of the shogunate, it is better to keep the people between being full and not full. Do you know what's interesting about this?"

"I feel like I've heard this somewhere before. Wait, give me a chance, this is from the textbook!"

"Oh, that's right." Fu Yuanshan replied, "Because it's taught in our textbooks, it would seem disrespectful if I said it again. Let me remind you, it's in the second volume of the first-year history textbook in middle school."

"Ah!" Shang Luo recalled the history lessons he had learned recently. "Shang Yang's five methods of controlling the people, right? Weak people, poor people, tired people, humiliated people, and ignorant people."

Shangluo remembered that this was the content highlighted in the textbook. History classes were set by the Ministry of Rites and were important courses for shaping students' worldviews. From the perspective of the Ministry of Rites, these parts were highlighted mainly to express a critical attitude towards Shang Yang - although it is hard to say whether it was done or not, it was definitely necessary to criticize. If it was not criticized, there would be no way to show the "benevolence" of benevolence.

"Very good, you still know this level of knowledge. It seems that you don't need to take back your graduation book. When you mentioned Xu Fu's 'equality of all beings' just now, I thought of this passage by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu may have read the relevant content, and the plan he proposed is indeed very similar to Shang Yang's plan. And Xu Fu, as a Qin Dynasty man, may very much agree with the framework established by Tokugawa Ieyasu."

"Ah, so to speak, Tokugawa Ieyasu did have such intentions. And he didn't just tire the people, he was also not very polite to the samurai class. He made the samurai class fulfill an obligation called 'Sankin-kotai', which made the samurai class run around, making them run back and forth between Edo and their own residences, which dispersed their attention. But this doesn't seem to be enough to tighten the reins."

"So I think Xu Fu finished the job - Tokugawa Ieyasu might have wanted to win over the samurai class, because he couldn't turn against himself. But for Xu Fu, everyone was the same, so he implemented the strategy of treating everyone equally, which was originally the law of the shogunate. But this time, the fish that slipped through the net last time were also included."

"That's really... really wonderful, absolutely wonderful." Shangluo shook his head, "The old Qin people really stand out wherever they go."

"You know what, this is also my first time dealing with the Qin people. Now it seems that although the Qin people have the same blood as us, they seem to be more 'determined'."

"Well, I think we can call it efficient. I think Xu Fu did a pretty good job. Why bother with him? If you want to mess with the Japanese, then mess with them. It's time to mess with them long ago."

(End of this chapter)