Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Just as Zhu Youjian changed his attitude and forced immigration, Liu Zongzhou's thinking in Annam also changed.

This transformation occurred gradually after Liu Zongzhou arrived in Annam.

At first, he didn't realize it until his disciple Huang Zongxi came to Annam to ask for advice, and Liu Zongzhou then realized that he had completely accepted the emperor's point of view.

The story begins with Huang Zongxi's experiments in his fiefdom.

Last year, with the help of Tian Jianxiu and others, he revised the policy of preferential treatment for scholars and recruited enough immigrants.

After arriving at his fiefdom, Huang Zongxi relapsed into his old ways. Adhering to the principles of benevolence and righteousness, he accepted all the obedient local people and gave them the same rights and status as the Han people.

This caused many problems. When Huang Zongxi visited his teacher in Annam, he was troubled and said:
"Sir, you say that the natives of Southeast Asia are not much different from the people of the Ming Dynasty, so why are they so different in how they do things?"

“I allocated land to the people of the Ming Dynasty within my fiefdom, and they all knew how to cultivate it and were never idle.”

"But those natives of Southeast Asia, even if they submit to the rule and are willing to assimilate, are always lazy and don't farm properly at all."

“When they are hungry, they pick fruit or hunt wild game. The land allocated to them has not yet been cultivated.”

Liu Zongzhou had heard of such things in Annam, but they did not happen often there.

Because Annam was deeply influenced by the Ming Dynasty, many people there still have Han Chinese ancestry, and they are more diligent than other indigenous people in Southeast Asia.

Especially under the pressure of capturing barbarians, many Annamese people are working hard to learn Chinese, learn the Han Chinese way of life, and make themselves look like Han Chinese.

The lazy and uneducated Annamese mostly fled to the mountains. If they were captured, they would be sold into slavery in other vassal states.

Thinking about these things, Liu Zongzhou said to Huang Zongxi:

"Being lazy is normal; it's their way of life."

"His Majesty once said that the lifestyles of tropical, temperate, and frigid zones are all different."

“Southeast Asia is located in the tropics, and the high temperature makes people sweat easily. If you work like you do in the north all the time, you will not be able to stand it. You need to have more rest time.”

"In addition, it's summer all year round here, and there are always fruits and wild game available. They can eat their fill by gathering and hunting, so they don't have the pressure to survive and naturally won't farm properly."

"This is also why they need to be educated. If the Ming Dynasty wants to promote agriculture here, it must change their customs of gathering, fishing and hunting."

This was a principle Huang Zongxi had never considered. He hadn't expected his teacher to offer this perspective.

This explanation does indeed explain why the natives of Southeast Asia didn't farm properly. Huang Zongxi decided to go back and strengthen their education.

But his troubles didn't end there. Thinking of what some people in the fiefdom had said, he said to his teacher:

"The problem is that only the natives in my fiefdom are lazy, while the natives in other people's fiefdoms in Southeast Asia are very diligent after being demoted to slaves."

“Now the Han people in my fiefdom are all saying that we shouldn’t have assimilated so many natives and allocated land to them.”

"They demanded that those people be reduced to slavery and whipped to work the land."

This was what troubled him greatly. He felt he had been good enough to the natives, as long as they did not resist his rule, they were all assimilated into Chinese society.

However, not only were these people not grateful, but the Han people in the fiefdom were also dissatisfied.

They watched as other fiefdoms used native slaves to cultivate wasteland, while they could only toil away in misery.

These people harbored resentment and wanted Huang Zongxi to demote the natives to slavery.

But how could Huang Zongxi do that? It wouldn't be in line with his belief in benevolence and righteousness.

This resulted in his fiefdom being developed relatively slowly, lagging behind the surrounding areas.

Huang Zongxi really didn't understand:

Why is it that I, who practice the Great Way, am inferior to those who lack benevolence and righteousness?
Upon hearing this, Liu Zongzhou couldn't help but sigh.

He recalled the emperor's answer when he questioned him about the use of slaves:
Western colonizers used slaves, so the Ming Dynasty had no choice but to use them as well.

Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty would not have been able to compete with them in overseas expansion.

This kind of thing is now already happening in Huang Zongxi's fiefdom:

If his fiefdom does not employ natives as slaves, it will fall behind its neighbors.

This is an unsolvable problem at present. Unless a way is found to develop faster without slaves, slave plantations will inevitably proliferate.

However, most of the indigenous people of Southeast Asia had not yet entered into an agrarian civilization and had no idea how to be self-sufficient farmers. Without being whipped and instructed, these people would not know how to farm properly.

Liu Zongzhou grew increasingly disheartened, for he realized that although the emperor had never been to Southeast Asia, the events unfolding there were exactly as he had predicted:

"His Majesty's wisdom and insight are truly boundless!"

“The native people of Southeast Asia do indeed need to be educated in plantations.”

"Only after they accepted the Ming Dynasty's education and learned farming could they be naturalized as Chinese."

"Your policy needs to be changed; you should allow the use of slaves."

Huang Zongxi looked at his teacher in surprise, never expecting that his teacher would change so much after coming to Southeast Asia.

Startled, he blurted out:

"Sir, have you forgotten what benevolence and righteousness are?"

"Do you think that benevolence and righteousness cannot be applied to the natives?"

Liu Zongzhou blushed slightly, feeling rather embarrassed, but then said seriously:

"Benevolence and righteousness are for people, not for barbarians."

"His Majesty said that barbarians are beasts and cannot be regarded as human beings."

“They fear power but do not appreciate virtue. We must use the whip to teach them a lesson, let them know the majesty of the Ming Dynasty, and then we can influence them with benevolence and righteousness.”

"Now is the time to let them know the power of authority. Only after they learn Chinese, understand the culture of the Ming Dynasty, and know how to benevolent can we show them benevolence and righteousness."

"The order must be correct; we must first instill fear in the barbarians."

This is his understanding; he believes that the benevolence and righteousness he advocates are correct, but the time is not yet right.

If we now extend benevolence and righteousness to barbarians, they will not understand. They cannot even comprehend it; we must first educate them before bestowing favors upon them.

Benevolence and righteousness should be reflected in their education and edification, allowing them to become naturalized as Chinese, or even Han Chinese.

Liu Zongzhou called this a long-term, great benevolence, rather than a small act of kindness that simply rescued them.

He even went so far as to call the indiscriminate rescue of slaves a false act of benevolence.

Rescuing those natives and leaving them to fend for themselves is actually irresponsible towards them.

These people must be exposed to the civilization of the Ming Dynasty, and their descendants must be taught so that they may become Chinese.

To educate and civilize barbarians is true benevolence, and it is the righteousness he seeks to practice.
-
Huang Zongxi listened to his teacher's teachings and nodded thoughtfully.

He began to understand why, despite his repeated orders, some of the locals simply wouldn't listen, and even refused to change their bad habit of urinating and defecating anywhere.

It turns out that I taught them in the wrong order. The consequence of starting with benevolence and righteousness was that those people didn't even know what authority was.

Since that's the case, he should be stricter when he returns. He should let the natives of his fiefdom know what the authority of a lord is.

However, he still had some doubts and asked the teacher:
"Sir, do you really think all barbarians are beasts?"

“They look just like us, they have two arms and two legs.”

"Some people are quite compliant and willing to accept education." "Why do the sages and Your Majesty say that barbarians are beasts?"

"According to this logic, if we educate barbarians, wouldn't we be turning beasts into humans?"

Liu Zongzhou also couldn't answer this question.

In fact, he also had doubts in his heart: why were the barbarians called beasts when they were clearly human?
But so many sages have said this, there must be a reason. He could only say:
Emperor Taizong of Tang once said: "The Rong and Di peoples have human faces but beastly hearts. If they are slightly displeased, they will surely turn around and cause harm."

"This is the nature of beasts, hence they are called beasts."

“But barbarians who lack the nature of beasts can be educated and transformed into human beings.”

This explanation makes some sense, but it's hard to convince more people.

In fact, although the slogan of "barbarians and beasts" is shouted loudly, there are always some people who forget—

Seeing that the barbarians resembled themselves, they found it difficult to completely regard them as beasts.

If a friendship is established after getting to know each other, the other person will be regarded as a complete human being.

This was also the most frustrating aspect of Zhu Youjian's promotion of the distinction between Chinese and barbarians: he could not clearly distinguish between barbarians and Chinese.

Without distinction, nationalism naturally cannot be promoted. The number of people who accept the distinction between Chinese and barbarians has never been large; most simply do not oppose it.

In order to change this situation, Zhu Youjian allowed Ai Nanying to stay in Annam to find a more reliable theory.

He also offered many points for Ai Nanying to consider, hoping that this person would point out a more obvious distinction.
-
After months of agonizing thought in Annam, Ai Nanying finally achieved his goal.

While Liu Zongzhou was discussing Huang Zongxi's issues with him, Ai Nanying laughed and said:
"Lord Liu, the reason why barbarians are beasts is not only because they have the nature of beasts."

"Also because they are not the same kind of people as us in essence."

"According to His Majesty, this is the difference between long-lived and short-lived species."

Long-lived species? Short-lived species?
Liu Zongzhou listened, completely bewildered.

He didn't know why the word "species" was added to these two words, nor did he know why the emperor believed that immortal species existed.

Could it be that the emperor truly believed he was the Son of Heaven, a being capable of immortality?

Thinking of the fate of those emperors who sought immortality, Liu Zongzhou felt he should offer advice.

However, Ai Nanying's subsequent explanation made him realize that the so-called "long-lived species" and "short-lived species" were only relative terms.

Ai Nan Yingdao:

"The so-called long-lived species are people with a long life expectancy."

"For example, people in the Ming Dynasty, as long as they reach adulthood smoothly and do not suffer from terminal illnesses, can basically live to their fifties or sixties."

"Only those who are seventy years old can be called 'elderly,' so it's quite rare to see them."

"It can be said that most people in the Ming Dynasty have a life expectancy of fifty or sixty years."

"The life expectancy of scholars is longer than that of ordinary people, so when Your Majesty determines the ranks of officials, it starts from the age of forty."

"Officials in their fifties can still be included in the ranks."

Liu Zongzhou agreed with this statement.

Despite losing his father at a young age, most of the scholars he knew lived to be in their sixties or seventies.

He is fifty-five years old this year, but he doesn't feel old and unable to move. He is still at an age where he can serve as an official and pursue scholarship.

He never gave up his work on collating and annotating the Four Books and Five Classics, and used the theories within to help the emperor re-establish rites and music.

According to Ainan Ying's classification, he is undoubtedly a long-lived species.

In fact, the average life expectancy in the Ming Dynasty is about 46 years for men and about 51 years for women.

Considering the relatively high infant mortality rate, most adults can live to their fifties or sixties.

For example, Qian Qianyi lived to be over eighty years old, but the average lifespan of his family members was not high—because three of his sons died young.

Although Liu Zongzhou may not live to a ripe old age due to his simple and frugal lifestyle, it is still possible for him to live to seventy like his teacher Xu Fuyuan.

At such an advanced age, one can indeed be considered a long-lived being.

After Ai Nanying understood, she said again:

"But the barbarians are different. They live in harsh conditions, and their medical and sanitation standards are far behind those of the Ming Dynasty."

"Let alone ordinary barbarian people, even the nobles among the barbarians mostly don't live long."

“The title of Prince Shunyi was conferred 61 years ago, and it has now been passed down to the fifth generation.”

"It can be said that their lifespan is relatively short, with an expected lifespan of only thirty or forty years."

"Compared to the people of the Ming Dynasty, they are a short-lived species."

This is also the current reality, Liu Zongzhou nodded in agreement.

The difference in life expectancy between Chinese and non-Chinese peoples will inevitably lead to huge differences.

Liu Zongzhou already sensed that Ai Nanying's next words were definitely not simple.

This might explain why barbarians are considered beasts.

As expected, Ai Nanying composed herself and continued:

"The people of our Great Ming are long-lived, expected to live to fifty or sixty, so most people think that they should study hard in their youth to lay a foundation for the future."

"Climbing the career ladder in middle age, accumulating year by year."

"The elderly can finally relax and enjoy their grandchildren at home."

"This was all expected, and we had enough time and patience."

Liu Zongzhou nodded in agreement, and felt that even in old age, there would still be opportunities to advance one's career.

In his later years, Jiang Ziya returned to the Zhou Dynasty and assisted King Wu in overthrowing the Shang Dynasty, eventually establishing the state of Qi.

Emperor Gaozu of Han was nearly fifty years old when he was still able to establish the Han Dynasty and become its founding emperor.

Sima Yi, who was repeatedly mentioned by the current emperor as a warning to his ministers to retire due to old age, launched a coup in his seventies, laying the foundation for his usurpation of the Wei Kingdom.

All of this demonstrates that the Han people, as a long-lived species, have ample time and patience. Even at seventy years old, they are still capable of striving.

To put it more recently, Wang Xiangqian, whom the current emperor appointed when he first ascended the throne, probably never imagined that he would receive the honor of being granted the title of Grand Protector even when he was over eighty years old.

As these thoughts raced through Liu Zongzhou's mind, he heard Ai Nanying say:

“Barbarians are different; their life expectancy is very short, and they don’t even have that awareness.”

"I live one day at a time, and I don't have any long-term plans."

"So these people either drift through life lazily or seize opportunities at all costs when they arise."

"The northern barbarians repeatedly encountered setbacks in the Ming Dynasty, yet they continued to invade without any remorse. This was because they knew they wouldn't live much longer, and when they saw an opportunity to invade the Ming Dynasty, they risked their lives."

"The difference between the long-lived and short-lived mindsets lies in the mindset of the Chinese and the barbarians." (End of Chapter)