People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 509 You can’t do it! Find someone to marry!

To be honest, Xia Yuanji, Lan Yu and Wang Bi who were following behind were all very surprised by the Queen Mother's sudden and unprovoked threat.

Why did the Queen Mother have such thoughts at this time?
How did she come up with that? How does her brain work?

Perhaps it was because she was suddenly threatened by a young man like Xia Yuanji, which made her very unhappy.

After all, this empress dowager, who was only in her forties, once had the final say in the court of Srivijaya.

This was not only because her family was so powerful and controlled the selection of the Srivijaya bureaucrats, but also because she had already secured her position as the Queen Mother at a young age. Not only did she have a large number of supporters, she even controlled many of the king's decisions.

It was precisely because of this kind of self-confidence that made her very dissatisfied that Xia Yuanji dared to threaten her like this in her home.

It was precisely because of her dissatisfaction with such things that she felt she was qualified to criticize Xia Yuanji in her own home.

Even if you, Xia Yuanji, come from the Ming Dynasty, even if you, Xia Yuanji, have the Ming Navy backing you up, but how many soldiers does the Ming Navy have?
Even if your weapons are very advanced, the pirates and Majapahit Kingdom can be driven into hiding by muskets and cannons, and you can even control the country of Majapahit in a short period of time.

so what?

Even though I, a weak woman, don't understand many issues such as military wars, I understand one truth.

That is, when the pirates and Majapahit were fighting against your navy, they had already clashed with many of our Srivijaya generals several times.

Under the desperate resistance of so many of our Srivijaya warriors, the Majapahit Kingdom and the pirates were already at the end of their strength, and your Ming Dynasty navy simply got an advantage at the last moment.

But you actually took advantage of us and still acted ungratefully, and refused to leave our Sanfuqi, and even wanted to control our Sanfuqi.

Even if you, the Jinyiwei, killed our prime minister in the process and took control of most of our main government offices.

But don't forget that although Sanfuqi is not big, it still has a population of millions.

How many people would your Ming Dynasty need to send to guard such a large place?

Don't you think about this problem carefully?

She was very confident when she said this, and she was even very angry about the disrespect Xia Yuanji had shown her just now.

After all, I am a capable woman. I have already made concessions to allow you to visit my home, and even shown such great sincerity in entertaining you. You should be a little tolerant of our behavior.

Even if we have the same idea as you said, so what?
To be honest, it is very difficult for you to raise a child from a poor family to become an official who can govern a region, but it is different for the children of our family.

Normally, they are brought up in this kind of environment for handling court affairs. Through what they see and hear, they have already become very experienced in handling important court affairs. But you ignore these and insist on choosing among the so-called children of poor families. Isn't this picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons?

When Xia Yuanji and Lan Yu heard the Queen Mother's threat, they were both a little surprised. After looking at each other, they not only did not feel any danger from the Queen Mother's threat.

Even the two of them burst out laughing, and this laughter made the Queen Mother even more hysterical.

When the Queen Mother saw the two people laughing, she felt it was the greatest insult to herself.

"Grand Commander, I know that your Ming army is powerful, but there is a very good saying in your Central Plains, which is that a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake, and we are the local snake. Although you are powerful, your number is too small. Even if you want to rule the entire Sanfuqi, do you think you have a chance? Without our cooperation, how much effort will you have to spend on Sanfuqi?

I know that what you Ming Dynasty wants is just what we, Sanfuqi, want obediently, and that we, Sanfuqi, provide enough food and fodder to cover the expenses of the entire Ming Navy in Southeast Asia.

We can meet all the conditions you want, and even double them.

But we also have a request, that is, whether you are selecting officials from children of poor families or from children of family members, children of our family must account for half of the quota, especially our family. "

She felt that the conditions she proposed were reasonable. After all, her family once had a firm control over the entire Sanfuqi.

Now she has only made a small request. In her eyes, Sanfuqi belongs to the Ming Dynasty, but the people below must belong to our family.

You want the face and we want the substance. It would be best if everyone can live in peace. Otherwise, everyone will suffer.

The Queen Mother summoned up her courage and said again: "I wonder what the Grand Commander has to say about the conditions I have proposed?"

After listening to the Queen Mother's words, Xia Yuanji had only one thought in his mind, that is, sometimes women are really naive, naively thinking that everyone has to agree to their requests, naively thinking that they can threaten others.

Little did she know that her naivety was so ridiculous that it made people laugh and cry. Let's not talk about other things first, just talk about the conditions he mentioned. If Xia Yuanji agreed to any one of them, he would not be able to explain to the Ming Navy.

Not to mention that Xia Yuanji had already issued an ultimatum to her, telling her that there were Jinyiwei people planted in his family to monitor her every word and action. As for the conditions he proposed, which one was not what the victors should propose?

Lan Yu and Wang Bi listened to the translation and shouted coldly after the translation, "Is there such a good thing in the world?"

Wang Bi replied: "I have never heard of this, Marshal. If there is such a good thing, why would our Ming Navy still want to kill the pirates and the Majapahit Kingdom?

It would have been better to just watch from the sidelines and wait for Majapahit to annex Srivijaya, and then destroy Majapahit.

If that were the case, then none of these things would be happening now.

Some people just ate their fill and watched from the sidelines, not feeling tired at all. Some people even thought that they could actually resist our Ming Dynasty Navy.

I don’t know who gave them the confidence. They can’t even defeat a country like Majapahit, yet they actually want to clash with our Ming navy.”

Facing Wang Bi and Lan Yu's humiliation in front of her, Queen Mother Srivijaya blushed and said with eyes wide open, "Why do you think your Ming navy was able to destroy the pirates and Majapahit so quickly?

It’s because I felt that I had to preserve the strength of the 30,000 elite soldiers in my hands, so I didn’t send them to the front line and didn’t engage in a head-on confrontation with Majapahit.

However, they did not expect that the Majapahit Kingdom had obtained the inside information of the pirates and knew that the 30,000 elite troops had not been sent out, so they were rampant on the border.

In the final analysis, we were too reserved and believed that the Ming Navy was here to help us. If we had known that the Ming Navy would have such ambitions, we would not have allowed the Ming Navy to march straight into the territory of Srivijaya and destroy the Majapahit Kingdom.

In fact, you, the Grand Commander, should understand that the Ming Dynasty’s occupation of the islands of Srivijaya and Majapahit was also due to the contribution of us in Srivijaya.

We have been fighting with Majapahit for several months, and both sides have suffered losses. You have taken advantage of us, so shouldn't you treat our subjects of Srivijaya well?"

If the two people were doing business, what the Queen Mother said seemed to make some sense.

After all, the Ming navy was able to advance straight into the country and destroy the pirates and the Majapahit Kingdom, and it was actually due to some of Srivijaya's contribution.

But there are not so many reasons to talk between countries.

Originally, the Ming Dynasty wanted to annex this island and then encircle the entire Indochina Peninsula.

Attack from both north to south and south to north to form a strategic encirclement.

The destruction of Srivijaya and Majapahit was only a small tactical goal in this strategy. Now that the tactical goal has been achieved, we must start working towards the strategic level of annexing the Indochina Peninsula.

So the Queen Mother is just wasting her time by talking so much.

After listening to the Queen Mother's twisted logic, Xia Yuanji and Lan Yu didn't want to talk to her any more, so Xia Yuanji began to attack her.

"I have said so much to you, but it is really like talking to a cow. Let me tell you this. As for your so-called million-dollar flood, this governor promises you here that after you say this, except for those families related to your interests who are willing to take a step forward, go and ask the other people who are willing to follow you?

You people are really flattering yourself, and have no idea what the ordinary people down below are thinking?
Do you think you are the life-saving Bodhisattva or the boy named Shancai? What have you done to the common people?
When you families were smuggling, did you ever think about the common people?

You families control all the government offices and official positions in the country of Srivijaya. Have you ever thought about the common people?

You keep saying here that before our Ming navy arrived, you held on to the 30,000 elite soldiers and refused to give them to the king. To what extent has your king been forced?"

Lan Yu, who was standing beside him, crossed his arms and sneered, "I heard that they have been forced to pull all the criminals out of prison to form a mob and go to the front line to fight against the Majapahit Kingdom."

Wang Bi added, "It is said that your king promised those criminals that if they killed one enemy on the battlefield, their crimes would be reduced by one level, and they might even have the chance to be promoted to an official position and make a wish."

Xia Yuanji took over the conversation, "This is your situation at that time. Don't forget that when the people on the border were slaughtered by the Majapahit Kingdom, even the common people picked up hoes to fight against the Majapahit Kingdom. What did you do?
You, the vested interests who enjoy the profits from the food and cotton grown by the people and use them for smuggling, just watched from behind as the king was helpless and had no choice but to be forced to commit suicide, and then you did nothing.

Do you know why the people were willing to follow the king to the front line to fight against Majapahit?
It’s not because of how much they love your court, or because of how much benefit you have brought to the people.

But one of the king's reforms was very important, which was to exempt the people from 90% of taxes, so that the rich would bear the heavy taxes.

It is precisely because of this that the people are willing to follow the king and risk their lives.

But precisely because of this, you guys watched helplessly as the ragtag group of people that the king had assembled died tragically on the border. Even after all the troops that the king had assembled were killed in battle, the 30,000 elite soldiers who were truly capable of fighting were still controlled by you.

Even now, you are still here shamelessly saying that you can launch a million-strong flood of Sanfuqi to attack our Ming navy. To put it bluntly, our words are more effective than yours. "

When Xia Yuanji said this, the empress dowager was so embarrassed that her face turned pale.

He didn't expect that Xia Yuanji was so familiar with the situation here and knew what they were thinking at that time.

It was also the Queen Mother's fault that she was too confident. She thought that Majapahit only wanted to rob, that the king's reforms would have a huge impact on their family, and that the Ming Navy was only trying to help Srivijaya.

They were even prepared to negotiate with the Ming Navy. If they controlled Sanfuqi in the future, they could sell the Ming Navy's food and fodder at a discount.

However, the Ming navy did not intend to leave after arriving at this place. Xia Yuanji continued, "And the rule we implemented in Sanfuqi is the same as the reforms of your king.

The Four Books and Five Classics were introduced into the imperial examination system, removing all the written language from the Three Kingdoms. This was the first step.
The second step is to let ordinary people pay only 50% of the taxes, and the rest will be borne by the rich.

Even wealthy merchants in Srivijaya have to pay a hundred times more tax than before.”

When Xia Yuanji proposed such a reform, the Queen Mother was stunned and asked, "Do you think it is possible? Won't the rich resist?"

Xia Yuanji said: "You can resist, go ahead and we will tell the local people that as long as you report those rich people who evade taxes, if it is confirmed after investigation, 10% of the rich people's property can be rewarded to the reporter."

Lan Yu and Wang Bi who were listening on the side burst into laughter, because this system was actually the baojia system in the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone was in the same baojia system. If someone was found to be evading taxes and not reported, everyone would be implicated once it was discovered. Therefore, no one really dared to evade taxes blatantly, at least no one dared to do so during the Hongwu period.

The same situation applies to the use of Trivial Purchasing Sultanate. Once the rich dare to evade taxes, the common people can get certain rewards as long as they report it. That would be quite exciting. In the future, local people will surely join the reporting army enthusiastically.

Moreover, according to reliable information, the serfdom system was still practiced in Sanfuzhi, and many people lost their freedom and suffered torture in the landlords' homes.

This type of people is exactly the top priority for liberation in the future of the Ming Dynasty, and this type of people knows the situation of the landlords' families best.

With their participation, this work will surely be very easy to advance.

Even if the Ming Dynasty introduced such a policy, it would surely win the support of many poor people.

Those people don't care who rules them, they only care about who can give them enough hope to survive.

Xia Yuanji finally said to the Queen Mother, "Give up your unrealistic ideas and find someone to marry."

……

(End of this chapter)