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Chapter 900 Arrived just in time

It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. The Khojas, emirs, beks, and chiefs who have been fed by commercial taxes for several years have already become fat and bloated, and have formed a community of interests with inland merchants.

How many people are willing to abandon everything they have gained, become penniless, then ride on their horses, raise their scimitars, face extremely powerful enemies and start all over again?
There will certainly be such people, but not many. As long as there are not enough of them, they will not make any waves. At most, they are just embellishments on a certain page of history, and they cannot shake the direction of history.

Why go to such trouble? Kill as you go, there will be at most a few hundred thousand people, kill 60% to 70% and then fill the gap with immigrants, wouldn't that be much easier and more convenient?
It cannot be said that it is completely unsuccessful, but it will cause endless troubles. This is what Genghis Khan did back then. Those who surrendered were organized into an army and charged into battle, and those who did not surrender were killed directly.

It seemed to work at the time, but as time went on, internal divisions became more and more serious. First, the four khanates were independent, and then the khanates were torn apart. After hundreds of years of fighting, a large number of local forces and countries were left.

Then someone asked, why didn't the Yuan Dynasty assimilate? This is because Hong Tao was lucky. He happened to be born in the family of the Ming Dynasty emperor. If he had become Ligdan Khan, he wouldn't have been able to do that.

The reason is simple: insufficient numbers and backward culture! If you want to assimilate others, you must first meet a basic condition, population size. Usually the majority of the population assimilates the minority, and the number must be overwhelming.

The second is the level of culture. The barbaric mode can defeat the civilized mode, but it is difficult to wipe out the advanced civilization. If you insist on being closely integrated, you will be assimilated by the advanced civilization.

There is another factor that prevents Hong Tao from taking the approach of wiping out all enemies, and that is geopolitics. Looking westwards, all the way to the Mediterranean coast, if you count them one by one on your fingers, almost all of them are Islamic countries and forces.

You want to do business with others, but you are labeled as an Islamic butcher. No one will ignore this. At that time, Ming merchants will become hated by everyone, and they will be robbed wherever they go, and even banned from entering the country.

You can't use the Ming army to attack all the way to the Mediterranean. Who will you do business with if you kill everyone? The fewer people there are, the smaller the market will be. For the Ming, whose products are relatively strong, that would be a disaster.

It is impossible to dump goods, and the domestic market cannot consume so much. The economy cannot develop, and the distribution of benefits will be biased. Then the contradictions will become more and more acute, and fewer and fewer people will support the new policies, forming a vicious cycle.

If this is the case, it would be better not to open the Silk Road. If the New Deal is changed to a different way of playing, instead of focusing on foreign trade, the country will compete for supremacy in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and control the Strait of Malacca, so that it can at least last until the end of its life.

After listening to the emperor's explanation, the officers nodded to show that they understood. This is the benefit of personal education from a young age. If you are obedient, at least for a period of time, you will not have too much rejection of the idea, which can also be considered blind obedience.

When they have gained more life experience, started to think, and have a different understanding of the world and life, it is time for them to leave the army. Then they will be replaced by the next batch of junior brothers and sisters who are as passionate and loyal as they were when they were young, and they can continue to follow blindly for another ten or eight years.

As long as the army is under control, Hong Tao is not afraid of any opposition, and will thoroughly implement the new policy. At the same time, effective adjustments should be made to the distribution of interests, and vested interest groups must exist, and there are no fewer than in previous dynasties.

The difference is that the previous interest groups became stronger and stronger, and eventually got out of control, taking over interests that did not belong to them, causing an imbalance and ultimately leading to a major collapse.

The only way to make it controllable is to reshuffle the cards through a change of dynasty and readjust the distribution of benefits. If the same mistakes are made again after one or two hundred years, then there will be another collapse, another reshuffle, and another adjustment.

The interest groups under his rule must be under control, otherwise he will proactively reshuffle them without waiting for their collapse, so as not to allow conflicts to accumulate to the point where they cannot be reconciled.

Every day from now on, I will create beneficiaries, and then watch how they eat. Whoever eats too much will be killed, and then new ones will be created, and the cycle will repeat, with the old and the new taking over. "General, besides eating and drinking differently, do they have any other taboos?" Someone asked again, but it was no longer a question, but a request for specific details.

"Women! You and your subordinates, every one of you, take care of the things in your crotch. If anyone dares to resist in this regard, don't wait for my personal order, just solve it yourself, and I can still show some mercy!"

At first, Hong Tao spoke passionately, but as he spoke, he noticed that many officers turned their heads to look at the carriage. Gulandam was sitting by the carriage, eating alone, and she would glance over here from time to time. Even with a veil, her beauty could not be concealed.

"Where the hell are you looking at? Get out of here after you finish eating, don't make trouble!" It's outrageous. How dare you question the emperor's character! This may be the side effect of childhood education. Once you understand his temper, you won't be so afraid.

"Your Highness, Your Highness... Pingtou is back!" The officers were scolded and ran away. Hong Tao had to eat alone. Just as he picked up the yogurt, Li Shi ran over panting.

"So soon... let him come over!" Hearing the name of the flat-headed man, Hong Tao's heart couldn't help but twitch. It should take about ten days for him to arrive. It's not a good thing to arrive earlier. Could it be that something went wrong with the Northern Army?
"Your Majesty, Huang Taiji is here, and he brought a few guys from Yarkand City with him. The leader is called Shadi, and he said he is here to negotiate." Before Li Shi could get up, another Gecko, who was in charge of the outer security, ran over.

"Hey, if you don't want to come, then don't come. If you want to come, let's come together... Let Huang Taiji wait for a while, and tell him that I'm going to eat." Who should he see first? Hong Tao chose Pingtou without hesitation.

It was too late to negotiate. Even if Shadi Khoja came in person, this battle had to be fought, otherwise how could they find an excuse to uproot him and some of the more powerful Emir families?

These people must be eliminated, including Latif Khan's Khan clan. Even if they surrendered voluntarily, they would still be killed for a reason. It was not a personal grudge, nor a national hatred, but simply to make room for the puppet. Whoever has deep roots will be a trouble. This is God's will, there is nothing we can do about it.

"Your Majesty, I have fulfilled my mission and returned ahead of schedule. Governor Sun..." After a while, Li Shi and the honey badger came over. The boy's voice arrived before he did.

"Wait, what happened to your leg? Is that blood?"

But Hong Tao stopped his report with his hand and stood up and walked over. He was not afraid of leaking secrets, but he found something unusual. When the flat-headed brother came over, he limped, and there were dark spots on the inner thighs of his military pants. He looked very haggard.

"It's okay. I'm just wearing my skin out from riding a horse. My skin is a little scratched..." The honey badger wiped his dusty face and grinned.

"A broken skin can bleed so much! Wang Chengen, ask someone to come and take a look at the wound. Lie down first and take off your pants yourself... What's the matter, I'm not keeping my word, am I?" But Hong Tao was not fooled. The smile was too unnatural, and his lips were trembling a little.

The flat-headed brother was injured, and it was quite serious. It was not because he was beaten by someone, but because the saddle was worn. In order to save time, this silly boy rode his horse non-stop from the beginning of his journey to Guazhou.

They went to Guazhou to meet Sun Chengzong, stayed there for only one night and then headed back, still not resting the horses. Each person led three horses and traveled day and night. When they met herdsmen or the Ming army along the way, they would change horses and run back in one breath like postmen.

But the postmen had to be replaced, and Flathead Brother only changed horses but not men, which wore out all his followers. His body was able to withstand it, but the skin and flesh on his thighs were not able to withstand it, and they were all worn out. There was also some inflammation, and it was so swollen that he couldn't even take off his pants, so he had to cut them open.

(End of this chapter)