Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 943, strengthening centralization

"Go on."

After listening to Liu Jin's two central points, Emperor Hongzhi suddenly felt enlightened. He was still confused about the coming great era and was a little at a loss.

But now, after listening to Liu Jin talk about the two central points, Emperor Hongzhi knew what to do and how to go about it.

As long as you work around this central point, no matter how large the territory is, no matter how many people and tribes there are, there is no need to panic, because everything is under control.

"The third center is the unremitting implementation of centralization."

Liu Jin nodded slightly, and continued to speak slowly.

"The larger the territory of my Ming Dynasty and the more tribes it rules, the more we must insist on centralization. The so-called centralization should include four aspects, politics, military, finance and resources."

Hearing Liu Jin talk about the centralization of power, everyone immediately pricked up their ears. There is still history to learn from in this regard.

The history of Huaxia is actually a history of centralization.

Starting from Zhou Tianzi's distribution of feudal lords, then to the reunification of Qin and Han, and then slowly to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Yuan and Song Dynasties, the whole process is a process of continuous centralization.

At the beginning, the princes and kings were entrusted, and each prince was the emperor of the land in their respective fiefs, so the dynasty changes in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties were all about a powerful prince who overthrew the rule of the old dynasty.

It was Shang Tang who overthrew Xia, and Shang Tang was the tribal leader of Fang State, and King Wu of Zhou who overthrew Shang was also a prince of one side with great strength.

By the time of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States, these countries in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States were all princes of the Zhou Dynasty. Like Qin, they used to herd horses for the emperor of Zhou. Guo, Chu, South Korea, Wei, etc. are also all vassals entrusted by Zhou Tianzi.

The power of the princes is too great, and they are the local emperors in the feudal country, so they have the power to overthrow the central dynasty. Of course, in the final analysis, it is because the ruling central dynasty has problems, so they can take advantage of it.

In the Han Dynasty, a large part of the demise of the Han Dynasty was due to the fact that the power of the aristocratic clan was too powerful. The power from the central to the local was almost monopolized by them, and then the power of the emperor was emptied.

This is most vividly reflected in the events of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The frequently changing dynasties are basically those leading generals who frequently seek to usurp the throne. The basis of these leading generals is still the family.

Until the establishment of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the power of the aristocratic families has been very strong. In order to centralize power in the Central Plains, the emperors of the Sui and Tang Dynasties spared no effort to attack the aristocratic families.

The power of the aristocratic family was weakened, but the power of the local governors became stronger than ever, forming a separatist regime, which eventually led to the demise of the Tang Empire.

In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms after the Tang Dynasty, dynasties changed frequently, also because of the separatism of the towns. Song Taizu was a general who usurped the throne and seized power by adding a yellow robe.

Feeling the separatist rule of the vassals and towns in the past dynasties, the aristocratic clans, the warriors seeking to usurp the throne, and the melee led to the change of dynasties, so Song Taizu began to continuously strengthen the centralization of power, emphasizing civility over military affairs.

The whole process and history is actually a history of continuous strengthening of centralization.

Therefore, the farther to the back, the power of the family clan and the separatist regime of the feudal town have been wiped out, and there will be no phenomenon of generals seeking to usurp the throne in the change of dynasties.

However, because of the emphasis on literature and despise military power, the power to attack the clan's family was also affected by the weakening of China's external power. Whenever the central dynasty weakens and perishes in the later stages of a dynasty, it is often the time when foreign tribes invade, and The success rate of alien invasion is getting higher and higher.

Taking the Song Dynasty as an example, the Liao, Xixia, Jin, and Mongolia all pressed the Song Dynasty on the ground and rubbed it against the ground, and in the end it was destroyed by Mongolia, and the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the Qing Dynasty.

Is it because these foreigners have really become stronger, so they can live in the Central Plains?

Obviously not, the real reason is that the military power of the Han people was completely wiped out because of the emphasis on culture over military affairs. At the end of the Song and Ming dynasties, the rebels were all mud-legged people who had no culture and culture at all. Military literacy, it is too difficult to succeed.

However, in previous dynasties, due to the inheritance of the clan and the equal emphasis on civil and military affairs, the military power of the Han people always existed. Therefore, in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, any prairie man who could be pulled out and fought would scream and defend the land of the Central Plains. During the Three Kingdoms period, even if it was The Three Kingdoms fight is in full swing, but foreigners still dare not have the idea of ​​taking over the Central Plains.

Therefore, this aristocratic family still has the benefits of the aristocratic family. At least when the dynasties change, this great country will not be cheap to outsiders. In exchange, in the end, the Han people will be the emperor.

But the trend of historical development is to centralize power and centralize power.

"So the centralization of power in politics means that all power must be concentrated in the center of the court, above the royal power. It is absolutely not allowed to have separatist forces, local princes and kings, and a country within a country."

"For this reason, the appointment of any local officials must go through the imperial court, and the power of local officials must be limited. Military and political power must be separated. At the same time, the fiscal and taxation powers are separated from the local areas and managed by the imperial household department."

Liu Jin looked at the crowd, thought for a while and continued to speak slowly.

"In this regard, it is especially necessary to pay attention to the formation of separatist forces by tribal leaders. On the grasslands and in the Western Regions, tribal leaders have huge power and influence. In addition, they are all nomads, and it is easy to form separatist forces."

"In the past, the southwestern chieftains were capricious. They often rebelled because these chieftains held all the power in the region. Although each chieftain was not strong, they were all capricious and ambitious."

"If such a problem occurs on the grasslands and in the Western Regions, the situation will be even more serious than the southwestern chieftain's rebellion."

Hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Zhang Mao and others couldn't help nodding their heads straight away, and their expressions became serious.

In the past, the rebellion of the southwestern chieftain caused the court to be restless, and there was no good way to solve this problem.

Listening to what Liu Jin said now, everyone clearly understands the root cause of the southwestern chieftain's rebellion. In the final analysis, it is because these southwestern chieftains have mastered all the power in these places, forming a local emperor, even if they are not strong enough. But it was also ambitious, which led to the problem of the southwestern chieftain's rebellion.

And Liu Jin's policy of reforming the land and returning the natives to appoint exile officials to govern these places is to cut off the power of these chieftains, and naturally this problem can be slowly and completely solved.

Fundamentally speaking, the problem in the southwestern region is because the number of Han people in the southwestern region is not dominant. These large and small tribes in the southwest region have formed a country within a country, and rebellion will naturally breed.

And if this problem occurs on the grasslands and the Western Regions, the problem will be much more serious.

Because there are many nomadic tribes in the grasslands and the Western Regions, the characteristic of the nomadic people is that all the people are soldiers, and they can march and fight on horseback. If you don’t take advantage of the strength of the Central Dynasty to solve this problem.

If you give them time, they will soon become stronger again. At that time, these places will still be divided, and they will still be eyeing the Central Plains, and history will repeat itself.

"So that's the case. No wonder Liu Jin insists on appointing officials to manage these places. At the same time, you are also moving the tribes in these places to overseas places, and getting the leaders of these tribes to the capital. All this is to prevent They became Southwest chieftains."

Liu Jian seemed to understand it all at once, and said suddenly.

"Yes, all of this is to prevent the tribes in the grasslands and the Western Regions from becoming chieftains in the Southwest. If you want to rule these places successfully, you must not appoint their tribal leaders to manage them like the previous dynasties, but you must appoint officials. management, and at the same time bring their tribal leaders, nobles, etc. to the capital."

"The other thing is to keep moving them out, whether it's Australia, the Golden Continent, or even Africa. In short, we must always control their population, so that they cannot have too concentrated population in one place."

Liu Jin smiled and nodded solemnly.

"That's a good point, but you can see far away. Let's continue."

Emperor Hongzhi also understood at once, with a smile on his face. Now he was confident, and he was not worried at all about the large territory of Ming Dynasty and the excessive number of tribes ruled.

"Military centralization is easier to understand, that is, all armies must be concentrated under the king's authority. In this regard, it is not just that the command of the army belongs to the king's authority, but includes many aspects."

"For example, the training of the army should be trained by special trainers, while the officers and generals who lead troops should be trained by special military academies. The army must implement the idea of ​​loyalty to the monarch and patriotism, and exercise ideological control."

"At the same time, the cost and expenditure of the army must also be concentrated on the royal power, and all expenditure must be controlled by the emperor, not subject to anyone."

"In addition, in terms of the source of the army, we can no longer recruit troops from only one place like the previous dynasties. Instead, we should recruit troops from all provinces and places throughout Daming, and allocate quotas uniformly according to the population of each place."

"The soldiers recruited in a unified way will be trained and managed in a unified way. In this way, there will be no over-concentration of soldiers in a certain place, and the concentration of military power will naturally be strengthened."

After listening to Liu Jin's words, Emperor Hongzhi's eyes couldn't help but light up.

In the past, I just thought that it is enough for the army to have the final say, and it is enough to hold the tiger talisman of dispatching troops in my own hands.

Now it seems that there is a lot of knowledge here. What Liu Jin is talking about is the real centralization of power, and all aspects of design. Under this method, the military power can always be firmly controlled by the emperor.

(End of this chapter)