The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 386: The Deeper Conspiracy of Enfeoffment
The people who explored Yanzhou are back?
Except for Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying who knew the news in advance, everyone else showed different expressions.

Old Zhu and Xu Da were very happy.

For Zhu Yuanzhang, this meant that the promised enfeoffment could be implemented.

What made Xu Da happy was that the army had a new direction to work towards.

The military merit system has many advantages, but also great disadvantages.

Without sufficient spoils of war, this system cannot be maintained, and an army that is overly aggressive may end up hurting itself.

Some people don't care, Li Shanchang and Qiu Guang'an are such people.

The Ming Dynasty was so rich and its production capacity was so strong that it had no demand for foreign goods.

This is also an important reason why our ancient ancestors were not very keen on expansion.

There is really no demand on the outside world, and the distant land cannot be governed even if it is conquered, so expansion often does not make up for the cost.

Although the Han and Tang dynasties fought abroad, they only had security needs for places like the Western Regions, and did not have much economic demand.

Without interests, it is naturally impossible to motivate people.

Although Li Shanchang and Qiu Guang'an had a lot of contact with Chen Jingke, they were both old-school literati.

In terms of vision, there is still a gap.

The world view that has been developed over decades cannot be changed by just a few words from Chen Jingke.

There are also people who don’t really hope that the legend of Yanzhou is true.

For example, the three cabinet scholars who came from Confucian backgrounds were very opposed to the Ming Dynasty's expansion policy.

To them, it makes no sense.

The Holy Emperor ruled with ease...

The key to peace and prosperity in the world is not how much land you occupy or how much material you have, but how much control you have over your mind.

In short, with the addition of a continent, the Ming Dynasty would probably expand outward again.

It costs the people money and labor, and is militaristic...

Unfortunately, they only dared to think about this in their hearts but dared not say it out loud.

In fact, they are still looking at the world with old thinking and have not realized that a new era has arrived.

In the past, China was unable to directly gain benefits from foreign countries, and expansion was more out of the emperor's preference and for strategic needs.

Without the support of interests, this expansion cannot be sustained.

Things are different now. The Ming Dynasty has its own interests in external expansion.

Commodity exports are exchanged for money and scarce resources, such as large quantities of food.

Once the imperial court had money and grain, it had the ability to carry out internal construction and turn these things into real material wealth.

Everyone from the imperial court to the common people benefited.

To put it bluntly, the Ming Dynasty gradually became dependent on external resources.

Where there is dependence, there is motivation.

Moreover, emerging capital was born in this process.

Although their strength is still very weak, they are indeed different from the old merchants and can become capital.

The soil for the birth of emerging capital is the New Deal.

Anyone who dares to oppose the new policy is asking for their life and will be opposed by them.

This is the real big change.

As this change deepens, emerging capital is likely to come into conflict with the old powerful.

The so-called bourgeois revolution in the West in the past was essentially a struggle for the interests of emerging capital and the old aristocracy.

The only one who can realize this right now is Chen Jingke.

Others, including Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying, were still confused.

But Chen Jingke did not tell anyone about this.

It’s not that he wants to hide it, but this is a change that can only occur under Western thinking.

China has its own situation, and such a thing will not necessarily happen.

It can even be said that the probability of such a thing happening is very small.

Simply put, the ancient policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was deeply rooted, making it impossible for businessmen to take power.

Even if a businessman seizes power, he will immediately begin to crack down on commercial capital.

Don’t talk about the inevitability of history. History is also the result of countless people’s choices. Any path is possible.

Moreover, history has proven how correct our ancestors' policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was.

Look at what has become of those countries where capital is in power.

China's unique concept of "family, country and the world" has always influenced everyone.

Being poor cares themselves, being wealthy cares the world.

Regardless of whether you believe this statement or not, if you say it often enough it becomes a standard and gradually becomes popular.

Of course, this is not to deny shortcomings. There is no perfect system and no perfect person.

But we cannot deny the advantages just because there are disadvantages.

In short, the struggle between the old and new elites that occurred in Western countries in the past would hardly occur in the Ming Dynasty.

Merchants? If they earn money honestly, the Ming Dynasty will ensure their prosperity.

Chen Jingke was reluctant to tell them this because of this consideration.

It is highly unlikely to happen, and speaking out about it may very likely undermine their confidence in change, so there is no need to say it.

At least not right now.

But nothing is absolute. Just in case, it is necessary to prepare for the rainy day.

So, even though he didn't say it, he was silently trying to find a way to deal with this problem.

There is relevant content in the idea of ​​Datong.

Enfeoffment is also a key link.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, overseas enfeoffment was an alternative version of demobilizing meritorious officials.

In Zhu Biao's view, enfeoffment was an exchange of interests.

Use interests that the court cannot effectively control in exchange for the support of the powerful for change.

In Zhu Xiongying's mind, enfeoffment was part of the imperial plan and a way to achieve dominance over the world.

In Chen Jingke's view, feudal system was a great expansion of Chinese civilization.

But it is not just an expansion, it is also a way to resolve the conflicts that will arise in the future between the old and new powerful people.

The powerful and wealthy are vested interests. In order to protect their own interests, they will unconsciously block promotion channels and suppress emerging powerful groups.

This is due to interests and cannot be changed by any ideas.

Now, the big powerful people have been separated to become kings, and the remaining small powerful people and bureaucrats have limited abilities and cannot block the promotion channels.

Talented people among the public and emerging dignitaries now have room for promotion.

Since there is room for promotion, naturally no one would want to rebel.

Therefore, there is a deeper purpose for granting the fief to Chen Jingke.

Of course, the purpose of his doing this is to maintain the promotion system.

It is sheer wishful thinking for commercial capital to want to be in power.

They earn money honestly and live honestly, so let them live a good life.

If they want more, I'm sorry, but Iron Fist is no joke.

Of course, we cannot completely block their space for engaging in politics.

It is not impossible to give up family capital and switch to politics.

There were quite a few people who did this in the previous life.

In short, what Chen Jingke needs to do is to try to give the people below more opportunities to choose.

This is the only way to keep the country active as much as possible and avoid it becoming stagnant.

He did not tell anyone about these deep thoughts, and no one knew.

Old Zhu had no idea. His mind was now entirely on Yanzhou. He urged, "Tell me quickly, is the rumor true?"

Chen Jingke nodded and said, "It's true. The people we sent circled the place and confirmed that it was a continent."

"Its area is larger than the territory actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty today, and is about 50% similar to the legendary Yanzhou."

"More details will be known after further investigation."

Normally, it would be impossible for an expedition team to make a round trip in half a year.

But with the route map provided by the caravan, and with the help of Chen Jingke using the travel book as a pretext, he provided a more specific route map.

He even drew a rough outline of Yanzhou to make everything simple.

This allowed the expedition team to bring back intelligence within half a year.

Old Zhu said excitedly, "Great, great, that's great. Send more people to investigate and find out the situation as soon as possible."

Chen Jingke replied: "The expedition team we sent was very strong. After confirming that it was a continent, they split into two."

"One group will come back to report the situation, and the other group will stay to build a settlement and further explore the situation in Yanzhou."

"This time, we invited the Emperor to come here to discuss how to develop the place."

At this time, Geng Guang asked worriedly: "Is there a powerful country in Yanzhou? Will our expedition team left there conflict with them?"

Chen Jingke said: "There are only a few natives in Yanzhou, and their lives are very primitive."

"Based on the brief contact the expedition team had, we discovered that they could not smelt metal, had no horses, and could not even make pottery..."

You can't even make pottery? Everyone was a little surprised.

Under Chen Jingke's suggestion, the Ming Dynasty established an institution specializing in regional and country studies.

Make detailed records of the customs, social structure, economic structure, productivity, etc. of every country and tribe you come into contact with.

Many of them are primitive tribes.

Many of these primitive tribes failed to master metal smelting technology, but it was rare that they could not even master pottery making.

Making pottery is really simple. Just make some clay pieces, dry them in the shade, throw them into the fire and you can make pottery.

That an entire continent had not yet figured out how to fire pottery was a bit beyond their imagination.

Xu Da couldn't help but ask, "Is this information accurate?"

Chen Jingke replied: "At present, it should be true, but we need to do further investigation to find out the details."

Xu Da emphasized: "It is crucial to determine whether the other party has iron weapons..."

"Well, tell the people going to Yanzhou not to give iron tools to the natives easily, and don't tell them the smelting technology."

Zhu Yuanzhang also said: "Yes, we must not let them master the iron smelting technology."

This is really good news since the natives don’t have iron tools and don’t have cavalry.

Soon everyone worked out a complete plan for the development of Yanzhou.

First find out the specific situation there, and then develop it according to the situation.

The development method was very simple. The imperial court first sent people to establish some settlements, and then exiled some death row prisoners there.

We are all going to die anyway, so let's make some contribution to the expansion of Ming Dynasty's territory.

But this alone is not enough. The biggest problem is how to effectively rule there.

After all, Yanzhou is too far away from the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible to rule it directly.

In fact, everyone already had the idea of ​​​​following the example of King Qin.

If you confer titles on a few princes, all problems will be solved.

Moreover, the princes were driven out of the Ming Dynasty to prevent the princes from becoming powerful.

However, establishing a feudal state there was tantamount to exile.

In fact, in many people's minds, Zhu Chong's going to Anxi meant being exiled.

It was reasonable for the King of Qin to be exiled to Anxi because he was guilty.

But banishing the innocent prince to the wild Yanzhou would be too much.

No one dared to make this suggestion. Everyone in the court knew how much Zhu Yuanzhang valued family affection.

I'm afraid I'm making this suggestion because you feel your head is too heavy and want to relax for a while.

However, to everyone's surprise, Zhu Yuanzhang took the initiative to say:

"First, find out the situation in Yanzhou and build some settlements."

"If that place is really suitable for living, we can appoint a few princes there."

Hearing this, everyone was surprised.

This suggestion was made by Lao Zhu? I can't believe it.

Then, everyone who reacted immediately stood up and said:

"Your Majesty is holy."

Looking at his expression, he seemed afraid that Lao Zhu would go back on his word.

Even the three Confucian scholars who were most opposed to expansion changed their minds.

Yanzhou’s discovery is great.

I'm worried about what to do with so many princes.

It is said that it was enfeoffed by the King of the Sea, but the overseas land is limited, and there are not many suitable places for enfeoffment of princes.

We can't just find a wild place and throw them there.

The King of Lu, the King of Shu, and the King of Xiang have all been crowned, but they have not yet been granted a fiefdom.

I see the King of Dai, the King of Su, and the King of Liao growing up...

If they did not find a way to solve this problem, the ministers were really afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would change his mind and reintroduce the vassal system within the Ming Dynasty.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang has taken the initiative to propose to confer the title of prince on Yanzhou, which is really great.

It must be sealed.

Yanzhou is such a large place that it is no problem to enfeoff thirty or fifty princes there.

Not to mention the sons of the retired emperor and the emperor, even the extra sons of the future crown prince can also be given the title.

The surplus population can also be relocated there to reduce the pressure on arable land in the Ming Dynasty.

Wow, it's just perfect.

Because of this incident, everyone became more enthusiastic about developing Yanzhou.

When it comes to investing resources, no effort is spared.

We have as much as you want, and we must develop Yanzhou as soon as possible.

It is our responsibility to expand the territory for the Ming Dynasty.

Only Xu Da and Li Shanchang, who knew Zhu Yuanzhang well, looked at each other with meaningful expressions.

Yanzhou, the enfeoffment of princes, the enfeoffment of nobles...

If they can't think of anything else, they're really stupid.

Now that all the princes have been conferred titles, do other nobles have any choice?
But they didn't say it out loud. It's better not to spread such a big thing.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally knew what everyone was thinking, but he didn't say anything.

Let you be happy first, and when the great division comes in the future, you will cry.

Our son has been conferred a title, and you still want to find fault?

Ha ha.

Even if I am not an emperor, I can still kill people.

Everyone quickly came up with a rough development plan, planning to establish a stable settlement in Yanzhou within three years and start the process of dividing it up.

As for the details and how to do it, the people below will do it.

After discussing this matter, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Chen Jingke again:
"Is there anything else?"

Chen Jingke nodded and asked, "You also received the letter from the King of Qin."

"Regarding his proposal to send troops to conquer the Western Regions while Timur is unable to look east, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)