Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 922 Conquest is not easy
  The policy of restraint was the most commonly used policy in ancient Chinese dynasties to deal with remote minority living areas far away from the central court. In the pre-Qin period, this policy had already begun to take shape.

The so-called restraint, "ji" means to control with military and political pressure, and "縻" means to comfort with economic and material interests.

When implemented in detail... it is actually similar to the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty. It is equivalent to enfeoffing a small, remote barbarian country. It generally maintains its original political system and ensures that its monarch retains a considerable degree of power. Pay tribute, but its status is just an administrative unit.

One of the most striking features of the Jisi policy is that it is a tolerant policy, at least in the beginning.

Qin merged with Bashu and established Bajun in Badi and Shuhou in Shu. It seems that the handling methods are similar, but in fact they are completely different.

The biggest difference is that the surname of the Marquis of Shu is Ying!

Therefore, Bazhong belongs to Jisu, while Shuzhong... belongs to enfeoffment.

Gu Xun had some understanding of Qin's policies in Bashu and Bashu, so at this time he emphasized that it was best to follow Qin's policy of annexing Bazhong rather than Shuzhong.

Ying Zheng frowned slightly and confirmed, "What does the Imperial Preceptor mean, just like Ba Jun in the past, appoint Tian Ze to be the ruler of the Fujian and Yue generation and continue the existing political power?"

Gu Xun thought for a moment, nodded, and answered more clearly, "That's roughly the case. Of course, today's empire is different from the past. It doesn't have to be as... gentle as it was back then, but it's best not to be like Shu."

"Well...not just Minyue, I think it's best to deal with it this way for the entire Baiyue."

Ever since the Qin Dynasty set up the Shu Kingdom, there have been constant rebellions there. On the one hand, it is because of Shu's special geographical location that it is easy to breed ambitions, and on the other hand, it is also because of Qin's tough policy towards Shu.

The Minyue Kingdom... or the entire Baiyue region actually conforms to the characteristics of Shu in terms of geographical location and environment.

However, Gu Xun did not suggest that Ying Zheng should deal with Baiyue in the same way as Shu.

Judging from the current ability of the empire to control remote border areas, in fact, whether it adopts a gentle restraint policy, or completely integrates Baiyue into the empire's rule as in official history, adopts military control, and establishes the Nanhai Lieutenant to take charge of military and political power, in the end There is only one leading ending.

That is, Lingnan is freed from the control of the empire. The only difference is who is the careerist who finally becomes the king and controls Lingnan.

In the former case, it is the established indigenous monarch, and in the latter case, it is the appointed military and political minister.

As for finding a loyal enough minister to manage...people's hearts are fickle, this is purely a metaphysical operation and unrealistic.

After all, Lingnan is different from Bashu. Shu is just below Guanzhong and not that far from Xianyang.

Maybe the empire cannot maintain a stable rule in Shu, but at least it can have a timely understanding of the situation in Shu. As long as the rule of Badi is still stable, the road to Shu will not be cut off, even if there is rebellion and the empire sends troops to conquer. It's not too troublesome.

But once something changes in Lingnan, it might take months for the news to reach Xianyang.

By the time the imperial court makes a plan, mobilizes troops, horses and supplies, and then sends out troops for conquest, half a year may have passed.

It's okay to rebel once or twice. If it continues to rebel like Shu, the central court won't have to worry about other things and just concentrate on dealing with the troublesome things in Lingnan.

As the saying goes, choose the lesser of two evils, but restraint is better.

In such a large area as Lingnan, it is estimated that there will be many indigenous feudal lords. If there are too many people, it is easy to be discordant and prone to internal strife, which makes it easier for the empire to control and sow discord.

Even if the indigenous chiefs have different intentions, they may not directly rebel. After all, as long as they pay tribute every year and nominally recognize the empire's rule, everyone can still live in peace and harmony.

It's better than fighting, right?

All of Gu Xun's suggestions are based on what he understands about the situation and what he considers to be the most appropriate and benefit-maximizing plan.

But just because he thinks it's appropriate doesn't mean others do the same.

Gu Xun is not a very smart person, but after all, he has a vision that transcends this era for more than two thousand years. Even if what he has seen in the past is only a level that cannot even scratch the surface of this period of time, he has finally surpassed this era. era.

Without Ying Zheng's objection, Li Si once again questioned, "The Imperial Master should understand that there were many reasons why King Xian Huiwen used the restraint strategy to deal with Badi in the past."

"Firstly, to control Shu with Ba, gentle appeasement is indispensable. Secondly, Badi is close to Guanzhong, so the court has time to respond to changes in Badi at any time."

"In comparison, the land of Lingnan...even if only viewed from the perspective of the Minyue generation, is not suitable."

"Si believes that even if an indigenous feudal lord is retained, it can only be granted an empty title and cannot be given real power." Li Si looked at Gu Xun and elaborated his views in a cadence, "What do the Imperial Masters think?"

As soon as Li Si said this, many ministers agreed with him.

This time, Li Si was not entirely trying to please the emperor, but also his own opinions.

You are establishing feudal autonomy three thousand miles away from the political core of the empire. This is even more outrageous than the enfeoffment of the Zhou Dynasty!

Gu Xun spread his hands and shook his shoulders, "Then there is nothing to say about the surrender."

"Tianze only has some cooperation with me, and he is not my puppet. If he is not given real power, he will not be willing to surrender."

Li Si also knew that Tianze would lose his status and power by surrendering to the empire, but it was not completely without benefits.

Not only is it there, it’s big and important.

"If Tianze is willing to surrender and does not make excessive demands, at least the empire can ensure that his life is safe." Li Si said in a calm tone the greatest benefit the empire could give Tianze - his life!
  "According to what the Imperial Master said, this Tianze is not a dim-witted fool. He should understand that for the empire, it only takes a moment to capture the entire Fujian and Yue."

"If he is willing to surrender, all he will lose is his status and power. If he does not surrender, he will lose far more than that."

Gu Xun did not refute, it was indeed the case, but if this could make people willingly hand over power, then there would be no need for wars in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States centuries. Everyone would sit together to compare their strength, and then the weak would surrender.

When it comes to power, who will give up easily until they have truly fought?
  "If Wei Ting says so, then you can just handle this matter yourself." Gu Xun shrugged indifferently and gave up decisively, "There is no need to ask me to bother you. Anyway, it depends on whether Tianze can figure it out on his own. That’s the situation.”

Li Si was not unhappy with Gu Xun's attitude. He still had a smile on his face and responded seriously, "The National Master's words are serious."

"No matter what, the Imperial Master has a relationship with Tianze, and the other party will definitely be more convinced by what he says. It is most effective for you to explain the pros and cons to him."

Now that Li Si had said so, Gu Xun no longer refused and nodded, "No problem. I will send someone to contact him later."

Tianze's matter is tentatively settled now.

Of course, the matter of persuading surrender is like a negotiation. You can start the plan in just a few words, but the actual process is often a grind and requires a lot of time to agree on the terms of both parties.

Even if Ying Zheng has set a basic bottom line that Tianze cannot have military and political autonomy, there is still a lot of room for negotiation, and it needs to be done slowly.

Fortunately, the conquest of Baiyue still requires a considerable period of preparation, and there is plenty of time for negotiations.

Gu Xun looked at Li Si and asked with a smile, "So, is there anything else that Mr. Tingwei needs my help with?"

When Li Si heard Gu Xun's deliberately teasing question, he didn't care. He immediately replied cheerfully, "Indeed, there are still more." "The National Preceptor also said before that the environment in Lingnan is miserable and the roads are blocked. The imperial army wants to Breaking into Baiyue is very difficult.”

Gu Xun looked sideways at Li Si and said bluntly, "Master Li, stop beating around the bush and get to the point!"

"Haha, I once heard that the National Division's caravan specially formed a maritime fleet in order to facilitate travel to Lingnan, the Central Plains."

"Ah, you turned out to be eyeing this." Gu Xun suddenly realized.

Fleet, he did have one.

When the relationship with the Mo family broke down, the road in Baiyue could not be repaired. Gu Xun tried to ask the Gongshu family for help, but unfortunately he failed.

Gongshu Qiu himself is very willing to betray the past to find favors, but he has no choice but to do it. Gongshu's family is seriously short of manpower, so he can only turn it down.

At that time, the Qin State was still engaged in foreign wars, and the public losers needed to build a large number of machine beasts and control them on the battlefield, occupying the vast majority of their manpower.

The rest of the people were also busy building the mirage, a major project of the century. Because of Donghuang Taiyi's theory of the fairy mountain, Ying Zheng ordered Gong Shuqiu to design the mirage, a giant sea-mountain ship.

When it comes to road construction, the government can only provide suitable machinery and equipment, but it cannot allocate manpower to operate it.

Gu Xun had no choice but to adopt the last option in his hand - shipping.

In an era when river transport was almost non-existent, sea transport was not even a word.

Although Wu, Qi, Yan, Lu and other coastal countries at that time had built sea-going ships, and even King Wu Fucha used sea-going ships to transport troops to attack Qi, but they had never been used for commercial transportation.

Because the cost is too high and the benefits are too small.

How could an ordinary businessman build a maritime fleet?
  People who can afford it will not insist on transporting it by sea. Isn't it better to go by land?
  After all, the coastlines of the Central Plains countries are actually not very long, and together they are only about the same size as the Baiyue Land. Transporting them on foot is also not troublesome.

Not to mention the additional risks involved at sea.

The shipbuilding technology of this era is just like that. Even if there are mature and stable navigation routes, the risk of sailing on the sea is still relatively high.

Gu Xun had no choice but to adopt the solution of shipping once and for all.

After finding Gongshujia to build himself several ships suitable for sea navigation and transporting goods, Gu Xun also found some people with experience in sailing at sea, and thus formed a shipping fleet.

To be honest, the initial losses were relatively large because there was no safe route to Lingnan at that time, although this kind of navigation along the coastline did not actually require a route.

In short, after several trials and errors and the loss of more than a dozen ships, I finally bit the bullet and gained experience.

After all, the Gongshu family's technology is not just for show. The boats they built are indeed useful, otherwise Gu Xun's losses would have been even greater.

However, although the losses are not small, the gains are also very gratifying.

Sea transportation is more convenient than land transportation, but the prerequisites are higher and the upfront investment is relatively large.

With the help of sea transportation, Liusha's efficiency in making money from Lingnan has almost doubled several times. The most important thing is that the simplicity of the shipping process makes Liusha's confidentiality work easier.

There are some things that Gu Xun still doesn't want Ying Zheng to notice.

Gu Xun smiled and asked Li Sidao, "Do you want to transport soldiers directly into the hinterland of Lingnan through sea ships?"

"Hmm... maybe it's not just about transporting troops, grain and other logistical supplies. It should also be transported in this way."

"It's just an immature preliminary idea." Li Si upheld the humility of a Confucian disciple and replied with a smile, "The national master must know more about this aspect, and I hope he will give you some advice."

"Well... let's discuss this later. It's quite complicated." Gu Xun did not give his own suggestion immediately. "After all, we are in court now. It's not appropriate for the two of us to talk endlessly, right?"

"Yeah." Li Si didn't say anything else, nodded and returned to the queue.

Seeing this, Ying Zheng withdrew from the court and dismissed the meeting.

Originally, it was just for the government to formally confirm the military operation to conquer Baiyue. It was enough for Gu Xun to just say a few words to let him know that he would contribute in this matter. Now it has seriously exceeded the time limit.

After going to court, Gu Xun was not able to go home. Instead, he was directly called by Ying Zheng to the Shuyi Hall where he usually held discussions with ministers. It was basically equivalent to his previous study.

Not surprisingly, Li Si was also in the hall.

But besides him, there was another person, a man in his thirties or forties, with a relatively burly build and a rugged face.

He is Tu Sui who took over the position of Wei Liao and became the new imperial captain of the empire.

A few years ago, when the state of Chu was about to fall and the world was almost in the hands of the state of Qin, Wei Liao suddenly retreated bravely, resigned from the post of state captain, and left Xianyun Yehe.

Of course, Gu Xun knew that it was right for this man to resign, but he did not leave the court, but only changed from bright to dark.

After that, the post of Guowei remained vacant until recently, when Tu Sui was re-selected.

The reason for choosing him was not other than Ying Zheng's decision to appoint Tu Sui as the chief general and lead his army to attack Baiyue. As usual, he was given an official title before leaving.

Gu Xun didn't know much about Tu Sui. He only knew that this man had good leadership ability and a rather tough style. He was among the toughest group of people in the already tough imperial army.

To put it simply, he is the young man among the young men.

This war to conquer Baiyue was not without opposition within the empire, but Qian Gang's arbitrary Ying Zheng suppressed all voices, leaving only what he needed.

Tu Sui was the general he carefully selected to ensure victory in this war.

Ying Zheng also had his own understanding of the war against Vietnam.

Baiyue is, after all, a barbarian land, and it is simply unrealistic to expect the troops here to know any profound and sophisticated military tactics.

If a tough battle is fought normally, any qualified general in the empire can basically defeat the Baiyue tribes.

In the final analysis, the biggest threat is external objective conditions. In this regard, firstly, it relies on the empire to ensure logistical supplies, and secondly, it depends on the imperial soldiers to adapt to the environment as much as possible.

There is no need to say much about the former, but what the latter needs is a commander with a tough style and a strong will.

Tu Sui was personally selected by Ying Zheng after surveying the army. He felt that he was the most suitable candidate for this condition.

(End of this chapter)