unclear

Chapter 1466 Prepare for a rainy day
At this point, a governor-general and a whole system of officials should be dispatched to take up the post; this was the case in Luzon, Annam, and Port-au-Ngoc. The problem is that North America is different from all previous overseas territories; it is not only vast and rich in resources, but also far from the reach of the central government.

If the rulers of Luzon and Annam were to harbor disloyal intentions, the navy could arrive in no time to suppress them, and the army could arrive within half a month, so they wouldn't be able to cause any trouble. Although Ngoc Port is far away, its territory is small, consisting of only one city and one port, so no matter what happens, it won't affect the foundation of the empire.

North America, however, is completely different. That place has fertile fields, pastures, forests, minerals, and a large number of animals—it has almost everything you could want. If you add enough manpower and an official system, wouldn't that be a country?

The biggest problem is that the territory is too large. Sending tens of thousands of troops is simply not enough; we can't cover everything at once. Even if we can't defeat them, they can retreat inland, making them very difficult to wipe out.

And once such things happen, if they cannot be quickly and completely eliminated, they will be like rats on the grassland, having one litter after another, endlessly.

At that point, the Empire would be in a very passive position. If they ignored it, the governorates they had built up with so much manpower and resources would be wasted, essentially handed over to others, who might even become enemies. If they intervened, the distance was too great, and there was no permanent solution; the longer it dragged on, the faster the Empire would bleed.

The reason he risked being accused of overstepping his bounds by speaking these words to the emperor was to fulfill his duty as a subject and see if he could eliminate the potential threat in advance. He and Li Ruzhang hadn't come up with a solution, but that didn't mean the emperor couldn't, given the numerous miracles that had preceded them.

"Grand Secretary Yuan, you are well-versed in history. In the past thousand years, has anyone found a solution that can solve the problem once and for all?"

At this point, Hong Tao understood everything. They were worried that the North American Viceroyalty would become disloyal after growing stronger. It would be a lie to say he hadn't considered this, but thinking about it was pointless. As long as humanity exists, this is an unsolvable dilemma; such is human nature.

"Does Your Majesty have no good solution?" Li Ruzhang certainly hadn't read the history books thoroughly, but he also wanted the emperor to appear again.

"I'm not a god or Buddha, how could I possibly have a solution to everything!" Hong Tao felt somewhat embarrassed as he looked at the hopeful glint in the eyes of his two old ministers. He'd been brainwashed a bit too much over the years, and raising his prestige too high wasn't entirely a good thing.

"...Has Your Majesty ever considered restoring the old system of the previous dynasty, whereby eunuchs were sent to local areas to fulfill their supervisory responsibilities?" Seeing that the emperor had seriously admitted his incompetence, Yuan Yingtai hesitated for a while but couldn't help but make another suggestion.

"Well, this is truly a case of grasping at straws in desperation! Grand Secretary Yuan, I must speak to you in detail today. Come, come, both of you, sit down. Wang Chengen, go and get some food, let's eat and talk!"

Hong Tao understood what Yuan Yingtai meant by the so-called "old system of the previous dynasty." He planned to appoint eunuchs to official positions to check and balance local officials, divide their power, and thus prevent potential rebellions. Examples include the garrison eunuchs and supervisory eunuchs in various regions during the Wanli era, as well as mining supervisors, tax supervisors, and so on.

The problem is that history has proven this tactic to be ineffective and even counterproductive, which is human nature.

Most eunuchs suffer hardships from a young age, slowly climbing the ranks in the palace, eventually only managing to reach a position like the Grand Secretary or the Secretary of the Imperial Household Department. They spend all their time hovering around the emperor, but unless the emperor is too blind, they don't actually gain much power; at best, they are mere figureheads, using the emperor's authority for their own benefit.

But if they were sent to distant lands, thousands of miles away, and given considerable real power, their mentality would be completely different. Even if Wang Chengen and Wei San were sent there, Hong Tao couldn't guarantee that they would remain as loyal as they were three, five, ten, or twenty years later. People are fickle, changing with their environment and status. Officials are like that, and so are eunuchs; they are all human, and none can escape the flaws of human nature.

If I actually did that, I'd be responsible for most of the blame when they made mistakes. Wouldn't that be deliberately pushing them into a fire, as if I were afraid they wouldn't have the chance to commit serious errors?

"Let me be frank, it is impossible to restore the old practice of eunuchs guarding local areas, because that method has already been proven to be undesirable, so why try it again?"

As for whether the governors of overseas territories will become too powerful to control, I believe there is no way to completely prevent it. We can only minimize the probability as much as possible, and the specific measures are nothing more than these few.

First, one must be willing to delegate authority. The more restricted one is, the more likely it is to trigger a rebellious mentality, leading to distrust of the court.

It could follow the model of Luzon in the past, with the governor in charge of political affairs and some personnel arrangements, but without the right to interfere in military affairs. For this reason, new military commands should be established for both the navy and the army to facilitate deployment, with rotations still every three years.

Second, there must be strict monitoring measures. Branch offices should be established in the General Staff Statistics Department, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Royal Advisory Office, and personnel should be rotated regularly to promptly report the situation of key officials in overseas territories to the court.

Third, we must be prepared for any eventuality. As the saying goes, one should not harbor malicious intent, but one must be wary of others. The concerns of my two ministers are not unfounded; necessary precautions must be taken. It is not that I distrust my officials, but rather that my duty dictates that I must be cautious.

The measures I can think of at present can be broadly divided into two categories: those targeting individuals and those targeting the whole. As for individuals, it's easy to understand: since the position of governor-general is a temporary post, he should not purchase property or bring his children with him during his term of office.

The situation is a bit more complicated overall. Western North America is rich in natural resources, and after several years of development, most of its civilian and military supplies are basically self-sufficient, which is a good thing.

However, for security reasons, the imperial court could deliberately select one or two key industries not to be developed. This would artificially disrupt the self-sufficiency of the governor-general's territory, forcing it to rely on the local area to a certain extent, which should help reduce risks.

However, special care must be taken when choosing industries. Avoid those that are large in size, heavy in weight, easily imitated, or inconvenient for maritime transport, as these would add unnecessary costs to the shipping sector. I suggest you consult the Ministry of Chemical Industry on this matter; Minister Bi should have a more perfect answer.”

In fact, even without reminders from Yuan Yingtai and Li Ruzhang, Hong Tao would have paid close attention to these aspects. Moreover, this work had been planned for more than 20 years, with Luzon, Annam, Inner Mongolia, Yarkand, and the Ngum Port Special Economic Zone serving as pilot areas.

But after so many years of testing and summarizing lessons learned, we still haven't found a way to solve the problem once and for all, or rather, such a way simply doesn't exist in the world. We can only try to reduce the probability as much as possible.

(End of this chapter)