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Chapter 846 Key Points

"After Huang Taiji was taken back to Beijing, he was kept in the prison of the Ministry of Justice... Special personnel were assigned to guard him day and night, so there would be no mistakes before the imperial edict was issued."

While talking about the Nanjing court, they suddenly asked about the Jurchen leader. The gap was indeed a bit big, but fortunately Yuan Keli was already used to it. He not only gave an answer, but also made specific arrangements.

"Well, it's good to be alive. I want to spare Huang Taiji's life and let him lead the Jurchen army south to cooperate with Wang An and the army to deter the villains." However, Hong Tao's thoughts were not something that others could guess at will. When he opened his mouth, Yuan Yingtai and Yuan Keli were stunned.

It was thought that the emperor wanted to use the leader of the Jianlu to establish his authority, and at least cut him into pieces, so they took great pains to transport the person back from Liaodong. In order to ensure that he was alive and well, he was taken care of by special people in terms of eating, drinking, defecating and urinating. Every ten days, they had to invite Taoist priests to the prison to carefully check his body, for fear that he had a serious illness.

I didn't expect that the emperor would actually release the rebel who had plagued the Ming Dynasty for decades and then established his own country and proclaimed himself emperor, and even entrust him with important tasks. What was going on?

"Your Majesty, the Jurchens are indeed brave and good at fighting, but they are barbaric and illiterate. If we incorporate them into the army, they cannot be tamed overnight; if we let them lead an army alone, it will be difficult to control them and they will be useless!" Yuan Keli was the first to express his opposition to the emperor's idea.

The Western Expedition does require troops, and the Jurchen Eight Banners soldiers are indeed more powerful than the simple Mongolian cavalry. But we should not rush to seek medical treatment, as medicine is three-quarters toxic. If the toxicity is too great, it will do more harm than good.

In addition, the Eight Banners soldiers are not indispensable. As long as a group of Mongolian cavalry can be trained to cooperate with the army, a similar effect can be achieved.

From the perspective of the use of firearms, the young and strong Jurchens and Mongols, who had too low a level of education but too strong personalities, were not as suitable for military service as the Han people, who shared the same language and had a gentler character.

"What the Chief of Staff said is very true. The Jianlu people have a language that is not understandable and their customs are not good. It is inevitable that they will be dazzled and overwhelmed when they are suddenly in the prosperous Jiangnan area. If something goes wrong, it will distract Wang An."

Yuan Yingtai also quickly chimed in. He didn't understand military matters, so he simply looked for problems in government affairs. The point was that Jiangnan was a fertile land, so it was best to keep it stable. If the disaster was too severe, a lot of money would be lost.

"Have you ever thought about another thing? How should I deal with the more than 80,000 Jurchens? Most of them are old, weak, women and children. The Ministry of Works cannot arrange for them, and the Ministry of Construction cannot arrange for them. There are not so many miners to send them to work in, and it is even more impossible to send them to Luzon and Annan in an organized manner. Should we keep them and waste food in vain, or let them all starve to death?"

Seeing that his arrangement was opposed by his right-hand men, Hong Tao was not in a hurry. You don't agree, right? Well, I'll put the problem out there, and whoever can solve it will do it. If you can't come up with a solution, then you have to agree with me.

"...Forgive me for my incompetence and inability to think of a suitable solution. Your Majesty, please give me your instructions." Yuan Keli and Yuan Yingtai stared at each other, racking their brains for a while, but still could only throw up their hands, helpless.

The Ming Dynasty had never been so prosperous in the more than 200 years since its founding. They got more than 80,000 captives at once. If it weren't for the Mongols and Koreans who killed people and burned down the city of Hetuala, destroying everything along the way, the number would probably have doubled. But no one expected that too many captives would be a problem. Now that the emperor asked about it in person, after careful consideration, they realized that there was really no place to put them. With so many people, it would cause big problems no matter where they were placed.

Dispersed resettlement... It's easy to say, the Jurchens are good at hunting and gathering, not very good at farming, where are there so many hunters within the Great Wall? If we don't leave them a way to survive, it will be like laying mines for the prefectures and counties.

It won't be long before they all become refugees. Due to hunger, the old, the weak, women and children may kill and rob, and cause harm everywhere. It would be better to just kill them all.

"I have an idea. I'd like to share it with you two to see if it's feasible. Fujian, Guangxi, and Yunnan have many mountains and little land, and their populations are declining. However, with the large-scale planting of sugarcane, rubber trees, cocoa trees, and cinchona trees, the mountains will gradually become plantations, and by then, there will be an extreme shortage of labor.

On one hand, there are products that the court needs, but on the other hand, there is no one available. The money is piled high but cannot be obtained. Not only the people are anxious, but I am even more anxious.

In fact, it is not only Fujian, Guangxi, and Yunnan that are short of people, but also Xiaoliuqiu, Luzon, Annan, and Liaoyang. There is good land but no one is cultivating it, and the court does not have enough land to reward soldiers. This is simply intolerable!
So I wonder why we don't put the Jurchens in the provinces where they are needed to open up wasteland and build roads. In this way, they can earn a living and the court can get some farmland and taxes. Isn't it the best of both worlds?
Hey, don't interrupt me. I know what you are going to say. It's a disaster for the local people, right? I have also thought of a countermeasure. Let's take these Jurchen people as an example. Most of them live and work in a family unit, and now they have to change it.

Every five captives were paired with two convicts to form a farm. The bank would then issue loans to them to buy farm tools, seeds and food, and send them to designated areas to reclaim wasteland. Half of the reclaimed land was handed over to the court, and the other half was kept for their own use. If they were hired by plantation owners, the loan interest and taxes could be waived as appropriate.

They traveled far from the north to the south, with no relatives and no way to survive. As long as the local authorities did not threaten them with death, why would they rebel and how should they rebel?
In addition, I also plan to incorporate the Eight Banners Army into the Army, and after training, specialize in cavalry. If they fight bravely and make meritorious contributions, they can also win a better life for their families. As long as the superiors are not harsh and abusive, there should be no danger of rebellion with family members as hostages.

If this method is feasible, it can be followed as a routine in the future to solve the problem of ethnic groups being unable to return home. All should be dispersed and resettled, north and south, east and west, and migrated on a large scale. Over time, the language will be similar, the customs will be similar, and intermarriage will be formed, making them no different from the Han people! "

As the saying goes, it is easy to conquer a country, but difficult to defend it. With weapons and combat methods that are significantly different from the previous generation, the Ming army can easily defeat the army of any country or nation in the world when it is outnumbered.

However, it will be difficult to use the advantage of weapons to solve the occupation and governance problems after the defeat. We must try and summarize a set of methods that are highly adaptable, effective, and have few side effects.

If you want to solve a problem, the first step is to find the key point. At this time, we should use history as a mirror. Looking at the past and present, looking at China and foreign countries, through analysis, comparison and summary, we can simplify the complex and eliminate the false and retain the true.

Ultimately, one conclusion will be drawn: no matter how big or powerful a country is, it will sooner or later weaken and disintegrate in internal struggles. And ethnic issues are the most likely trigger for internal struggles.

(End of this chapter)