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Chapter 832: Prestige or Virtue
No matter what you plant, it is the easiest thing for Chinese people to do. However, the big question is whether the government will turn against you and refuse to recognize the ownership of the land after you plant it. If you don't figure this out, the more land you plant, the more you will lose in the future.

At this time, the Guangdong farmers immediately thought of a person who could represent the government's attitude in a civilian capacity to the greatest extent possible, the manager of the Royal Sugar Factory, Mr. Zhu Que.

Although he was not an official, he had worked in the sugar factory in Guangdong for many years, and his words and deeds all represented the attitude of the government. The government never opposed anything he said he could do, and it was best not to get involved in anything he said he could not do, otherwise the navy would have to intervene even if the government did not take action.

The people who inquired about the news went back to Guangzhou to find a way to see Zhuque, but Zhuque was not seen. The armed cargo ship of the Navy Patrol Command arrived first. After landing, without saying a word, they first put a sign at the entrance of the largest Chinese village, which read: Ming Dynasty Navy Patrol Command Yizhou Qianhu Suo.

The meaning is very clear, Xiaoliuqiu is now under the jurisdiction of the Ming Navy. Faced with such shameless behavior of picking up ready-made things without any effort, the farmers on Xiaoliuqiu Island are not angry but welcome it with open arms and feet.

Whoever discovers it owns it. This kind of culture has not been the custom of the Chinese since ancient times. They believe more in the idea that the whole world belongs to the king, and they would be very scared if no one is looking after them.

Now that the navy has arrived and someone is in charge, everything feels more at ease. A few village elders and clan leaders are selected to help the navy set the rules, and the rest of the people are happily preparing to work hard and use their sweat to exchange for a happy life.

The Navy Patrol Command took over Xiaoliuqiu Island not because they found a large number of Chinese people on the island, nor because they were afraid of gathering bandits. It was no secret that people from the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong crossed the sea to Xiaoliuqiu Island to open up land, and the Navy General Staff had long been informed, but no order was given, so they could only watch and do nothing.

This time the order finally came, with two core ideas: military control plus civilian reclamation. In other words, the future defense and security issues of Xiaoliuqiu Island will be handed over to the Navy Patrol Command, while the issues of farming or planting trees will be left to the people themselves, and the navy will not intervene.

"You should all have children in your family. When children are young, their parents must provide them with food, clothing, and housing. If they are well-off, they should be sent to school. But when children grow up, they must marry and live separately from the family.

The people of the Ming Dynasty are my children. They cannot always expect to live under my wings. They must grow up and learn to find, take, and rob for their own living. They can farm wherever the land is good and mine wherever there are abundant minerals.

If the local court blocks you from going, you can complain to me and I will send troops to reason with you. But if there is no court to control the local area, I will not intervene.

This is just like when two children from two families are fighting, the adults should not go over to help. It is not appropriate for adults to beat children.

This is the case on Xiaoliuqiu Island. No one has ever come to the court to request a title, let alone submit a petition. A few barbarians are occupying the island. Why can't the people of the Ming Dynasty be allowed to live and farm there?

The people of Fujian and Guangdong have done a good job this time. You can't always wait for others to bring things to your mouth, you have to go and get them yourself. Whoever blocks you from taking them will be killed. If you win, you will share the land. If you lose, you will go home and cry. You can fight again next time when you are stronger. This is not banditry. On the contrary, it saves the court a lot of trouble. It is a great kindness. Pass on my order to investigate the leaders in Fujian and Guangdong in detail, and build a memorial archway of honor at the entrance of their village to show encouragement. Then let the patrol commander allocate some weapons and armor of the border troops and find a reason to lend them to them.

It is not enough to just conquer them, and we should not rely too much on the navy. It is most reasonable to protect our own land. But we must also make it clear to them that it is best to talk things out among ourselves. If we can't talk them out, we should go to the officials of Fujian and Guangdong to complain, and we are not allowed to use force. If we find one, we will deal with him and punish him severely! "

The incident had become so serious that the court naturally had to report it to the local government, and the court officials had different opinions on how to deal with it. Some thought that this trend should not be allowed to continue. How could farmers fight and kill each other just to occupy more land? Wouldn't this make them all bandits?

Some people are undecided, mainly because it is difficult to define the ownership of Xiaoliuqiu Island and the nature of the local indigenous people. If they are a country, they have never interacted with each other even though they are close to each other. If they are not a country, they arrived first, so it seems a bit inappropriate to rob them nakedly.

The two sides could not come to an agreement and could only ask the emperor to be the referee. No matter who was right or wrong, the final decision would be made by an imperial decree. As a result, the emperor once again surprised everyone by making the robbery sound so natural, as if it was natural to rob anyone as long as his family needed it.

Not only do we have to rob, we have to rob from both the imperial court and the people. If the imperial court cannot do something, we let the people do it. If the people cannot do something, the imperial court will support them. In a word, what is mine is mine, and what is yours is also mine!
Most of the court officials kept silent, not wanting to argue with the emperor over this minor issue. But some did not want to endure it, and began to take turns to submit memorials to explain how to reform and promote culture, and spread virtue and benevolence.

Then the emperor was irritated, and the next day he published an imperial edict in Banyuetan, titled "To Conquer People by Power or by Virtue." He did not name anyone, nor did he say who was wrong, but simply called on the government and the public to discuss the history of the expansion of the Han nationality.

According to the emperor, there is a saying of four barbarians in Chinese history, namely Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong and Beidi. The Shang and Zhou dynasties, which regarded themselves as the Central Plains dynasties, only occupied the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.

But after thousands of years of development and growth, the territory of China or the Han people has expanded many times. But where did these lands and people come from? Was it through spreading education and winning people's hearts? Unfortunately, almost none. They were all snatched away bit by bit by sharp swords and strong armies.

Only after they had seized the throne did they have the opportunity to demonstrate that the cultural level and farming technology of the Central Plains dynasty were indeed superior, which led to the hearts of the people and their fundamental recognition of the dominant position of Han culture.

This is an order that cannot be ignored or reversed. If you want to claim that the whole world belongs to you, you must first seize it, and then influence, naturalize and integrate it. Simply emphasizing advanced culture and noble morality will not only fail to win the hearts of the people, but may also lead to the loss of territory and the destruction of the country and the extinction of the race. This is also a bloody lesson.

Then why did many officials and scholars get the order wrong and always take the teachings of the saints as the only thing? The emperor said that the ancients were right, and the people today are also right. The mistake is that some people have tampered with the teachings of the saints and deliberately misinterpreted the saints' thoughts. There are bad people among the masses!
(End of this chapter)