New Shun 1730

The emperor still took it for granted that Liu Yu was part of the ruling class of Dashun. This was similar to the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty before Zhu Yunwen, or the Guanlong nobles in the early Tang Dynasty, or the feudal dukes before the collapse of the Spring and Autumn Period. They were "one of our own people".

When facing "one of our own people", there was no need to hide what was said.

To put it bluntly, the armed forces that Dashun could trust were composed of self-cultivating farmers, government soldiers, and good family children. As for those who were recruited from disaster victims and factory workers, they could be used for external wars, but they could not be used as the base.

Therefore, the troops stationed in Songjiang must be mainly composed of good family children, self-cultivating farmers, and government soldiers.

Once something happened in Songjiang, it would be either a rebellion by hired workers or a rebellion by wealthy merchants. There were only two possibilities.

As for the self-cultivating farmers or government soldiers who paid blood taxes instead of currency taxes as garrisons, there would be no mercy when it came to killing these two types of people.

The Dashun royal family has always been very clear about who is the base, who can be relied on, who is a friend, and who is an enemy.

As for Liu Yu, the emperor may have a lot of ideas, but he cannot avoid the ultimate desire of "governing the country and pacifying the world", which are the two traditional literati or aristocrats. It's just a different route.

Although the route is different, you can still call him "Love", but there is still a long way to go before you are called "traitor".

Liu Yu certainly understood the emperor's meaning. At this time, he could only flatter and shout "Long live the emperor". He then followed the words of the Minister of the Household Government and praised His Majesty for his wisdom. But he would not say the idea of ​​"saving money to let retired soldiers enter the handicraft workshop" that the Minister of the Household Government was thinking about.

The emperor was very happy listening to Liu Yu's flattery. Because the only person who might think that the emperor might "throw the baby out with the bathwater" was Liu Yu.

Now that the disposal method has been explained, it has proved that he will not throw the baby out with the bathwater, and has also made clear his own response strategy. At this time, of course, he is eager for the praise and recognition of his ministers.

This has nothing to do with power. The emperor will do it whether he agrees or not. But the approval of some people will make the emperor particularly satisfied spiritually.

"Since the Whale Marquis also thinks this method is very good, let me ask you, you have a deep understanding of the situation outside the Celestial Empire, and you must know the deep reasons for the Batavia incident. In this case, has the Whale Marquis ever thought about whether the Celestial Empire is prepared?"

Liu Yu hurriedly said: "I think the incident in Batavia is actually not a big deal. I was training troops in Wendeng. The year before the great famine in Japan, famine broke out in our dynasty from Penglai to Songjiang. Hundreds of thousands of people starved to death, which was not a big deal. What's the big deal about those few people in Batavia?"

"Besides, the local situation is different. The people who started the uprising in Batavia can shout "Tang people are united". And Your Majesty The next person is the Han people, what reason do they have to unite with the rest of the Han people? Therefore, it is not that I don’t know, but I just think that… a bean worm is afraid of being eaten by ants, so it tells the elephant how terrible the ants are. The elephant looks down at the ants and thinks that’s it? ”

“Or like a pony crossing a river, the squirrel exclaims that the river is bottomless, but the old cow says that the river is only knee-high, how can they be consistent?”

This metaphor is not new, in fact, it is a variation of carving a boat to find a sword. The emperor knows two allusions that Liu Yu often says, one is “those who are good at curing diseases and think they are meritorious or good at making plans have no illustrious name”, and the other is “carving a boat to find a sword”.

Hearing a similar analogy again, he couldn't help but smile and said, "It seems that the words of the Whale Lord have been thought through. I have also thought about the Batavia incident, but there are still too many uncontrollable things. For example, the Japanese trade mentioned by the Whale Lord, the Persians holding the Persian king hostage to make the princes finally follow Cao Pi, etc. These things are really difficult to control."

"But thinking about it again, it seems that what the Whale Lord said makes sense."

"After all, the Dutch army is weak."

"If Persia is compared to Korea, if such a big thing happened in Korea, the Celestial Empire has its own means to deal with and put pressure on it. In the previous dynasty, the dispute over the throne of Korea, the former Ming Dynasty only needed one word, and Korea would be silent; in this dynasty, the king of Korea's accession to the throne was suspected of being a candle shadow and an axe sound, but a small official of the Celestial Empire's Li Government still made him tremble."

"If the Netherlands can control Persia as a tribute and control Japan as a vassal, the sugar trade will not be like this."

The emperor's words were not arrogant, but his horizons were broadened at this time, and he really felt that the Dutch army was weak.

The population is only the size of a state, and the land is only the size of Tianbao Prefecture. Thousands of soldiers and horses, crisscrossing the South Seas, are invincible?

It really makes the emperor feel that the sultans and Buddhist kings in the South Seas are really useless.

Whenever he heard about the Dutch rule in the South Seas, after the military reform, the emperor always thought that if the Netherlands really had the guts, they would come to the Central Plains to try their luck. After the navy in Weihai was initially established, he also thought that if the Penghu and Zhoushan incidents in the Tianqi period of the previous and current Ming Dynasty happened again, he would definitely let the Netherlands know what the power of heaven is.

I just feel that I really dare not go to Europe to fight you, and I can't beat you. But can you occupy my Zhoushan at my doorstep?

Thinking about it this way, I really feel that the countries in the South Seas are too easy to fight.

Let alone the Junggar tribe, if it is in the South Seas, with the Netherlands's delivery capabilities, can it beat the Junggar? This is really a question.

Li Gan has often looked at the world map in recent years, but he just can't understand why the Sultanate of Madarama can't defeat the more than a thousand troops of the Dutch East India Company?

Some people in the court opposed Liu Yu's "warmongering" advice before, always thinking that war is too difficult and too risky.

Now that Japan has been defeated, on the one hand, the emperor really understands how terrible Liu Yu is proving the crisis in the southeast coast, and on the other hand, he feels that it is not difficult to continue to expand.

Can Japan defeat the Sultanate of Ma and Lan? Li Gan thought that there was no problem, and the shogunate might not even need to go all out. Satsuma could do it on its own.

In this case, if he did not go to Southeast Asia before the Western powers had "established a foothold in India" as Liu Yu said, he would be really incompetent.

So at this time, on the one hand, he did not want to be a person who "throws the bathwater" in front of his ministers, and on the other hand, he also recognized Liu Yu's statement that "expansion can suppress internal chaos".

Even if the other important ministers did not agree with the current tribute and trade policies of the court, they could see that the emperor really wanted to change them. Korea had been forced by Dashun to open and abandon the trade preferential treatment of the Korean delegation in the capital... Among the tributary countries, Korea was the ceiling. If Korea was like this, the future of other tributes could be imagined.

However, the emperor did not publicly express his idea of ​​going to Southeast Asia, but only complained about the weak military of the Netherlands.

Then he asked: "This business is different from the past. Whether it is the criminal, household and other government departments, they all need to be treated with caution. I am worried about only one thing. Is it that people who come from the imperial examination can manage these things clearly?"

This question should not be asked to Liu Yu, after all, Liu Yu has nothing to do with the imperial examination, and he is not from the imperial examination, so it is useless to ask.

But after the emperor said this, he did not look at the people who came from the imperial examination around him, but looked at Liu Yu.

The emperor pretended to be confused, just needing Liu Yu to make a statement.

At this time, Liu Yu had two choices.

One is to say that this kind of thing is new, and the things learned in the imperial examination are not manageable at all.

Or as it was said before, "The king does not rule the barbarians", using etiquette and laws to ask the barbarians, isn't that playing the lute to a cow? The same is true for the business. Using the words of the scriptures and the righteousness of the gentleman to ask the merchants and manage trade, isn't that nonsense?

Therefore, it seems that the imperial examination should be reformed.

Another option is to say "OK, no problem, I can definitely manage it well".

According to common sense, everyone knows that Liu Yu is not from the imperial examination and has always advocated practical learning, so if he directly chooses the first option, no one will say anything.

Including the emperor.

Even the ministers next to him at this time felt that the emperor was taking advantage of the topic and wanted to use Liu Yu's mouth to blow the wind of "imperial examination reform".

But unexpectedly, Liu Yu said: "Although I don't agree with the principle of 'the ultimate principles of heaven and earth are all in things, and if you study one thing, you will understand the principles of all things', I think this matter is not difficult. Those who come from the imperial examination can also manage it well."

"In the past, although Wang Jinggong promoted 'new learning' and 'three houses'. But Wang Jinggong was also a Jinshi who passed the imperial examination. He came from the old school, but he did new learning, and there was no stagnation."

"The imperial examination selected all the smartest and most intelligent people in the world, and there should be no problem in handling such trivial matters."

"It's nothing more than an ox pulling a plowshare. A calf can't do it, but it will learn it after a few days of pulling. The court has its own laws. If there is no precedent, a new law will be established. It is said that it will not be used as a precedent. That's all. I am only a third- or fourth-rate person. I have only seen and heard it before."

"If the border affairs are stable in the future, I think anyone can do it well after trying for a few years."

The emperor nodded in approval, thinking that you are quite sensible. It seems that you are really preparing for the Nanyang affairs. You have to learn from Li Weigong to "close the door and guard yourself."

Seeing the emperor nod, Liu Yu was relieved.

He thought, it was thanks to Zhenyi who gave instructions all day and talked more about the situation in the court. Otherwise, I am afraid that I would say the wrong thing again today.

There are many examples that can be cited, but the example of Wang Anshi was cited, which actually showed an attitude to the emperor.

Wang Anshi was not only a reformer, but more importantly, Wang Anshi was a "leader of consciousness and learning" and had his own set of theories.

Just like the imperial examination, your answers must at least conform to the official ideology.

When Zhu Xi's school of thought was the official ideology, if you wrote a bunch of thoughts of the former Qin philosophers or the thoughts of Yongjia and Yongkang when answering questions, you would definitely be questioned.

Wang Anshi carried out reforms and then developed his own "new school".

He developed his own ideology and used the new annotations of the Book of Songs, Book of History, and Rites of Zhou as the standard ideology of official schools in the future, and developed the new school of Jing Gong.

The three-house system for selecting scholars and the unified ideology of official schools are the reforms. If you don't learn the new school of Jing Gong and don't use the new ideology, do you want to be an official? Don't even think about it!

It's also easy to understand with all kinds of things in later generations. For example, when taking the essay test, you write a bunch of absolutely wrong things. There must be a standard of right and wrong. The word "one" in the world is not as simple as an emperor sending some county governors and county magistrates.

The current situation of Dashun is very complicated, so complicated that it can be summarized in four words, that is, "destroyed but not established", so that one cannot.

Zhu Xi's school of thought was destroyed, but the new school of thought has not been established yet. A complete system has not been developed, a complete system that runs from the upper foundation to the lower level.

When the emperor asked this question, the subtext was actually to ask Liu Yu, is practical learning a technique? Or is there also Tao in it?

You are now considered the leader of practical learning in the court. Are you the first person to do technique? Or are you going to do Tao by the way and become Wang Jinggong? Shoulder the responsibilities of a reformer and a leader of consciousness?