New Shun 1730

At the beginning of the conversation, Li Li did not know Liu Yu's deep meaning.

He thought it was just an "academic" issue.

They were just discussing the relevance of free trade.

In fact, one of the reasons that prompted him to deliberately take off his eye mask and put on glasses was that before the outbreak of World War I, Liu Yu chose to go to Shandong to repair the Yellow River.

Before that, Li Li was not without his own little thoughts.

In terms of connections, he had been in the first-developed regions for so long.

In terms of guns, he had been in charge of the navy of Dashun for many years.

In terms of prestige, those who are good at fighting do not have a glorious name, and those who are good at planning do not have glorious achievements. It is he who has won a series of battles in the Atlantic and obtained West African and European trade for Dashun.

Xiao He's first achievement, but in later generations, people remember him as the Marquis of Huaiyin.

How could he not have his own little thoughts?

However, before the outbreak of World War I, Liu Yu finally pointed out the problem that Dashun had been avoiding for many years - the possibility of the Yellow River breaking north.

He ran to repair the river.

Confucius said: A gentleman is modest but not quarrelsome, and he is in a group but not in a party.

Wen Zhonggong said: Generally speaking, gentlemen and gentlemen are friends because they share the same principles, and villains and villains are friends because they share the same interests. This is natural. However, I say that villains have no friends, but gentlemen have. Why is that? What villains like is fame and fortune; what they covet is wealth. When they share the same interests, those who temporarily form a party and make friends with each other are fake; when they see the benefits, they compete for the first place, or when the benefits are gone, they become distant, and they will harm each other, even brothers and relatives cannot protect each other. Therefore, I say that villains have no friends, and those who temporarily form friends with each other are fake. Gentlemen are not like that. What they uphold is morality, what they practice is loyalty and trustworthiness, and what they cherish is reputation and integrity. If you cultivate yourself with it, you will benefit from the same path; if you serve the country with it, you will be of the same mind and help each other, and you will be consistent from beginning to end. This is the friend of a gentleman. Therefore, as a ruler, you should dismiss the false friends of villains and use the true friends of gentlemen, then the world will be governed...

It is true that at the end of the previous dynasty, there were some dirty things such as shaving the hair and submitting a petition.

However, in the prosperous times, there were still people who considered the country.

Liu Yu’s direct lineage was actually not many, and this was clear to the court. Many times, some personnel issues were deliberately avoided.

Liu Yu’s opponents and enemies were naturally not few.

However, even if it is said that the descendants of the Yanli School, who usually sprayed and mocked Liu Yu, could only support him when facing the issue of river repair. Some people even "brought their own dry food" to Shandong.

After all, the Yellow River is a big deal.

How big is this matter? It depends on how you look at it.

Just looking at a wave of floods, it seems that only a few hundred thousand people will be drowned.

Actually, it is not, and it cannot be viewed that way.

A breach is a breach.

The Yellow River is the Yellow River.

The Yellow River channel is the Yellow River channel.

Without the Yellow River channel, the Yellow River water is not fixed on the North China Plain. It goes to Hebei today, Shandong tomorrow, Daqing River the day after tomorrow, and Xiaoqing River the day after tomorrow. Then the Yellow River is still the Yellow River, but there is no fixed channel.

Understand that "the river channel is the river channel, and the Yellow River is the Yellow River".

Then, you will know that if the dam really breaks, it will not be a "small" matter of drowning hundreds of thousands of people.

Instead, it will directly lead to salinization of cultivated land in the North China Plain, collapse of small farmers, land degradation, uprisings, plagues...

Even the actual class base of the Dashun court - the small peasant class in North China - will collapse.

At that time, it will not be a matter of hundreds of thousands of people at all, but may be a major event that will affect decades and have far-reaching impacts.

The Yellow River issue has never been raised in Dashun.

Before the canal transportation was changed, everyone knew that something was going to happen, and everyone pretended not to know that something was going to happen.

After the canal transportation was changed, everyone knew that the Yellow River could be repaired, but everyone knew that it was a mess - digging the river was easy, but the people along the way, land acquisition, Shandong salt industry, and other issues were not something that the Shandong Jiedushi could solve. The frontier officials were not of high enough rank, so they had to become important officials of the court; the important officials of the court were of high enough rank, but they didn't want to cause trouble for these messes, and they didn't want to leave the center. People from Tianyou Palace couldn't go, and there were not many military nobles who could accomplish this.

Finally, Liu Yu stood up before the first battle.

Everyone was happy.

Li Li also put away those thoughts.

Because, how can the Yellow River project be completed?

Or, in the feudal dynasty, what is needed to complete the Yellow River project?

Answer: A unified empire is needed, the Tianyou Palace and the Privy Council of the Six Governments are needed, the resources, food and finance allocated by various provinces are needed, hundreds of professional talents in water conservancy projects are needed, and millions of laborers are needed. In short, a group of "conservatives" in the empire are needed to stabilize the empire and prevent chaos.

At least, there should be no chaos before the Yellow River channel is repaired.

Dashun has done many great things before.

For example, the reform of the southwest to the flow of natives. This is not a big deal, and it is not necessary to unify the empire.

However, the reform of the southwest to the flow of natives and the Yellow River channel are not the same level of things as far as the dynasty is concerned.

At this time, Liu Yu's choice to pick up the mess of the Yellow River channel also has a bit of "political statement" meaning-supporting the smooth transfer of the throne and supporting the prince. Whoever makes trouble, his dog head will be smashed.

Of course, Liu Yu's real direct line, especially the direct line with personal dependence and binding relationship, is actually not many.

However, the truly capable people in the practical learning school also hold this "conservative" attitude on this matter.

That is, to some extent, the meaning of "gentlemen gather together but do not form parties."

They are "the conservatives of the empire."

In other words, they "support whoever sits on the throne."

This group of "conservatives" don't care about coups, as long as they don't do anything that is completely reactionary and regressive, which will harm their interests.

If you have the ability to do Xuanwumen, you can cause chaos for three days. This group of "imperial conservatives" don't care.

After three days, if you dare to sit on the chair, they will dare to celebrate.

But if you don't have the ability to do Xuanwumen, and end up doing Jingnan or something like that.

I'm sorry.

If the world is in chaos, the Yellow River cannot be repaired.

The righteousness is on the side of "conservative stability". Who dares to lead the team? Now this group of practical imperial conservatives who support the repair of the Yellow River and recognize that repairing the river is the righteousness will directly lead troops to twist off their heads.

And basically, the money bags and guns left by Dashun in recent years, or the old emperors to take over, are all this kind of imperial conservatives, not the prince party.

The prince party was to gradually take over power after taking over, but before the prince gradually took over power, there was no prince party, all of them were conservatives.

What is the conservative party of Dashun at this time?

Xiao rules Cao follow.

Support external expansion, support internal and external division, support temporarily not changing the imperial examination, and support the selection of colonial officials from practical studies.

In short, support the status quo, support the current policies and systems.

That is, the radicals 20 to 30 years ago.

They are the beneficiaries of Dashun's reforms and foreign wars in recent years.

Including most of the people who climbed up in this wave of conquests from the Western Regions to the First World War, the largest wave of conferring titles in Dashun except for the beginning of the founding of the country.

The common feature of this group of people is that they have handed over real power, but they have prestige in the army.

There are also some people who are living in the Privy Council of the General Staff, which has degenerated into a nursing home.

Can fight.

Can do economics.

Rebellion, not good.

Peace, very good.

Of course, if you say that the new emperor killed the meritorious officials as soon as he came to power, they might not wait to die, but the problem is that the new emperor's brain is not so bad. What level is that? Do you think you have conquered the world by yourself? Or do you have strong connections and skills like the old emperor?

So, in Li Xi's opinion.

Since Liu Yu used "repairing the Yellow River" to express his position, or expressed his position on behalf of the emerging military nobles.

Then, unless it is Li Xi's brother, as soon as he came to power.

Without saying anything, he killed a wave of those who were granted titles during the boom period; then announced that his reform attempts in Hubei were too scary and all were withdrawn; then announced that it was too expensive to maintain the navy and all were disbanded; then announced that the policy of distributing land in the South Ocean for retired soldiers was too expensive and the tickets were too expensive and all were cancelled...

Then, Li Xi felt that if this was the case, he would have a great chance.

Otherwise, there would probably be no chance.

Therefore, now that Liu Yu has returned to Beijing, he will discuss his views on "free trade" with him.

Li Xi can only treat it as a purely academic issue.

So, he naturally avoided the issue of Dashun's domestic market.

Instead, he talked about his idea of ​​"free trade" as a new world etiquette and expanding the concept of the world as a navy.

Li Xi felt that if Dashun tried hard, it could actually become the emperor of the earth.

Replace "Zhou Li vassal" with "free trade".

Each country has its own division of labor and each has its own duties, such as Chu is responsible for grass and grass, and Qi contributes fish and salt.

Compared with this time, even if Shun is the emperor, other countries may produce grain, produce white paper, dig silver, make markets, grow sugarcane, twist cotton yarn, or fight for the Fangbo to fight against the disobedient, or be barbarians and the world will attack them together.

Each has its own duties and divides its ritual vessels.

The emperor has six divisions, and the princes have a quota of ships.

Free trade, and new etiquette.

Financial merchants from various countries are officials with titles.

If someone violates the rules and regulations, the emperor will lead the army to attack him, just like the story of the Great Shun forcing Britain to dissolve the East India Company, cancel the tea tax and the ban on cotton cloth.

If someone violates the division of labor, the emperor will lead the army to attack him, just like the story of the Great Shun destroying the weaving in Mumbai, Surat, Dhaka and other places. If you are told to spin cotton yarn but not weave cloth, you spin cotton yarn but not weave cloth. If you want to upgrade, you can use the local financial comprador Su Feng Dafu as an insider and get rid of him as soon as possible.

Li Li talked from the perspective of the navy, or from the perspective of the Great Shun as a tool to gain commercial hegemony.

This idea was actually basically formed when it was in the Atlantic.

But, obviously, this is not what Liu Yu wants to hear.