My father is Jiajing

After Zhu Zaigui paid homage to all the statues of previous emperors in the Fengxian Hall, Emperor Jiajing finally stopped standing so laboriously.

He found a cushion beneath the statue of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and sat cross-legged on it. His body did not seem to be straining at all and he seemed extremely relaxed.

Emperor Jiajing waved his hand and asked Zhu Zaigui to follow him and sit on another cushion in front of the statue of Emperor Taizu.

Zhu Zaigui did not hesitate at all, nor did he feel that there was anything wrong. He simply pulled another cushion and sat next to Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing looked at Zhu Zaigui who was sitting in front of him and couldn't help but chuckle, "San'er, you said that our Emperor Taizu was born a beggar monk. I am a devout Taoist. What would he think?"

Zhu Zaigui smiled and said, "Father, since the Tang Dynasty, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have merged. These three religions are all part of each other. Except for uncivilized places, where Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are still relatively distinct, in the mainstream culture of the Central Plains, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have long been one and the same, and none of them can be missing!"

"Moreover, when Emperor Chengzu was in the Jingnan Campaign, he used Yao Guangxiao and others to create miracles. It is said that Emperor Chengzu was the reincarnation of the Northern Zhenwu Emperor. You should know that Zhenwu Emperor is a Taoist deity. If we follow the opinions of those nitpicking people, doesn't it mean that Emperor Chengzu was disobeying Emperor Taizu from the beginning?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Jiajing also laughed, "They dare not, nor do they have the guts, let alone the intention! Throughout the dynasties, the most taboo thing is religion interfering in politics. Therefore, whether it is Taizu, Chengzu, or me, we all have the same views on Buddhism and Taoism. These are just the means for me to integrate power and shape the legal system."

"Emperor Chengzu built the capital in the north and Wudang in the south. He moved the capital in the south to the north and built the temple of the gods in the north to the south."

"But it didn't affect anything. Instead, it further shaped the sacredness of Emperor Chengzu. So much so that later on, the great monks on the plateau had to pray for Emperor Chengzu in the same way they prayed for Kublai Khan, and revered Emperor Chengzu as the reincarnation of Manjusri Bodhisattva. This confirmed the court's authority over the plateau."

"I have read the administrative divisions of the Ming Dynasty that you gave to Li Chunfang. Your idea is good, but it lacks leniency. Whether it is Mobei or other border areas, they would rather believe in the empty blessings of gods and Buddhas than believe in the hopeful solutions that the court has sorted out for them."

"So, today I will teach you how to use these things to sanctify yourself, so that you can manage those foreign peoples who have never seen you but still worship you."

Zhu Zaigui listened to the words of Emperor Jiajing carefully and respectfully. He agreed with some of these principles, and although he did not agree with some, it did not prevent him from understanding more.

So Zhu Zaigui also bowed respectfully to Emperor Jiajing and said: "Please teach me, father."

Emperor Jiajing was in high spirits at this time. He wanted to teach Zhu Zaigui more of the imperial skills he had learned over the years, and also wanted to give Zhu Zaigui some inspiration when he ruled the country alone in the future.

Emperor Jiajing said: "The art of controlling people lies in the technique, not in the control. Do you know what this is?"

Zhu Zaigui asked curiously, "I don't understand. Please explain it to me, father."

Emperor Jiajing stretched his legs that were about to be numbed by the pressure, and changed to a more comfortable sitting position and continued, "Because you are already in a high position of controlling people, you can skip the control stage. Now you need to seriously learn and comprehend the technique."

"This technique is the way to control people, and sometimes controlling people is not just about controlling individual people, but groups, or even everyone in the world."

"If you don't understand the difference and the truth behind it, and you use the methods you use to control an individual on a group, it can cause chaos and problems."

"So first you have to understand how to divide and use your people. For example, I used Zhang Cong, Xia Yan, Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan. They were used by me because I saw through their minds and thought of their uses."

"So, when my foundation was unstable, I used ministers like Zhang Cong who dared to speak for me and support me. At the same time, I also returned the favor by giving Zhang Cong a high position so that he could realize his ambitions."

"But unfortunately, Zhang Cong's foundation is shallow. Whatever he wants to do, there will be ministers who will trip him up openly or secretly and refuse to cooperate. As a result, most of the things Zhang Cong wants to do are abandoned halfway, and the various new policies that I wanted to complete in my early years have failed."

"Later, in order to ease the conflict and the relationship between me and the ministers, I agreed to Zhang Cong's resignation and employed Xia Yan, and asked him to serve as the teacher of your brother, Prince Zhuangjing. But Xia Yan wanted to be the second Yang Tinghe, so I couldn't tolerate him, so I employed Yan Song instead."

"And when I was using Yan Song, I did give Xia Yan a chance, but he failed to appreciate my kindness. Instead, he became even more evil, and ended up with his head and body separated. He brought all of this upon himself."

"So, after Xia Yan, I learned from my mistakes and thought about finding a better way to control people. So I chose Xiu Xuan. I used Qing Ci as a riddle and asked Yan Song and others to guess and do it."

"Although the final effect is not very good, it is still much better than people like Xia Yan who like to get along with me. Moreover, in order to check and balance Yan Song and Yan Shifan, I also used Xu Jie."

"Who knew that Xu Jie was such a man who could only judge a person by his appearance and not his heart, and actually allowed his family to do such shocking evil things in Jiangnan. Fortunately, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, Hai Rui, Yan Maoqing and others you used are also capable."

"I have to admit that you did a great job in preventing Xu Jie and his gang from hiding under the prosperity and eroding the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. You have the ability and style to take charge of the overall situation!"

Zhu Zaigui listened to the praise from Emperor Jiajing and smiled shyly, "Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and the others were all chosen by my father for me, so all my achievements are ultimately due to my father's foresight."

Emperor Jiajing laughed again. He looked at Zhu Zaigui and continued, "But these are just means within the scope of power. For things outside of power, these means are useless."

"For example, the Tatar Autonomous Region and the Plateau Autonomous Region that you are going to set up this time, as well as the Heilongjiang General, Shenyang General, and Liaodong General under the Nurgan Regional Command. There is also the Hami General of the Hami Guard. The governance of these places cannot copy the governance methods of the Han areas of the Ming Dynasty. New changes must be made according to local conditions."

"And the core of this change is you. You must be an absolute god in the hearts of the people in these places. Only then can you hope to make these fools turn their hearts to the Ming Dynasty and gradually achieve the effect you wanted to achieve in the beginning."

When Zhu Zaigui heard this, he couldn't help but think of the Ming Dynasty's historical governance methods for these places.

After Emperor Chengzu, successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty were not only the supreme emperors within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but also the common rulers of the Mobei grasslands.

Although the disputes and grievances between the Ming Dynasty and the grasslands became more serious after the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the chiefs of the various tribes on the grasslands who were fighting against the Ming Dynasty still recognized the titles given to them by the Ming Dynasty.

Otherwise, how could Anda kneel so easily? Although he was unexpectedly defeated by Zhu Zaigui in the suburbs of Beijing, as a grassland leader, he only needed to quietly hide and lick his wounds for ten or twenty years, and he could still cause crises and border problems that were difficult to solve for the time being to the Ming Dynasty.

But Anda did not do so, because not only was the cost high, but he would not be able to bear the consequences if he failed.

Therefore, Anda wisely chose to surrender, and his surrender did not cause any discomfort within the grassland. It can be seen that within the grassland at that time, the tribes and leaders still recognized the identity of the common leader of the Ming Dynasty.

Otherwise, how could they convince their people to submit to the Ming Dynasty in exchange for time and space?
What Emperor Jiajing wants to teach Zhu Zaigui now is how to use this identity to shape his absolute sacredness among the foreign races surrounding the Ming Dynasty!

Emperor Jiajing continued, "Next month, the leaders of the Tartars and the great monks on the plateau will come to Beijing. I will also summon the Taoist masters from famous mountains and Taoist temples such as Wudang Mountain and Longhu Mountain to come to Beijing."

"Yes, I will let you host the reception of these people. You must take this opportunity to make them cooperate with you in a grand ceremony to recognize you as the most sacred person in the world!"

"With these sacred halos, you can save a lot of trouble when you use them to manage those places where administrative measures are not very effective for the time being. It is more useful than a hundred thousand soldiers!"

Zhu Zaigui understood what Emperor Jiajing said as soon as he heard it.

This is to stack buffs for him!

When these sacred buffs are fully stacked, he will not only be the emperor on earth, but also the god in heaven!

As a god, it is indeed much more effective to manage the people he shepherds than the imperial power alone. And as far as Zhu Zaigui knows, in the era when he traveled through time, some remote areas still hung portraits of the supreme leader for the local people to worship in order to enhance the local people's psychological sense of belonging.

After all, the stupidity and ignorance of some people are simply unimaginable. Even if you instill in them the knowledge of modern civilization, they will still be obsessed with the world of belief in their own imagination.

Moreover, most of the places that Zhu Zaigui is going to touch are still uncivilized or semi-civilized areas.

The governance and administration of these places originally relied on the power of religion.

If Zhu Zaigui did not know how to use these forces to influence reality, then even if he used military forces to suppress the rebellion year after year, and poured countless materials and manpower into changing local customs and habits year after year, then

The most likely outcome is the creation of another Annan and North Korea.

These two places are the most prominent examples. In terms of culture, they share the same roots with the Ming Dynasty. However, if the Ming Dynasty wants to completely take control of these two places, without considering the cost of ruling, the people here will unconsciously unite as a whole to resist the invasion of "foreign enemies".

Therefore, to deal with such places, a single method of Chinese translation will definitely not work.

This will not only indirectly help them establish their own national narrative concepts, but will also arouse their spiritual resistance, which is obviously not worth the loss.

Therefore, if you want to rule and assimilate these places, you have to do as Emperor Jiajing said, first stack buffs, let their uncivilized people believe in their hearts that the Ming emperor who rules them is their lofty god, and then guide them step by step to sinicize and let them integrate into a large collective. This is the right way!

In this way, not only can the problem of identity be solved on the spiritual level, but it can also achieve unity on the cultural level.

It is like the process of Qin Shihuang unifying the six kingdoms. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which lasted for hundreds of years, although there were constant hegemons and powerful countries, the written history was not exactly the same.

However, due to their identification with Zhou culture, these Spring and Autumn hegemons and Warring States powers all believed from the bottom of their hearts that the other side was also part of themselves.

Therefore, talents from various countries move back and forth among them, and they never have any sense of national guilt, which shows that their spiritual core is the same.

Therefore, when Qin Shihuang unified the country and standardized the writing system and the wheel gauge, apart from some conservative people who complained a lot, when Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he did not return to his hometown in glory and restore the old Chu characters.

It can be seen that in terms of the psychological identification of people at that time, no one thought that there was any big problem with Qin Shihuang's unification of the six kingdoms. What they talked about most was Qin's tyranny, rather than the barbaric process of killing people when Qin unified the country.

Now the road that Emperor Jiajing wants to pave for Zhu Zaigui is to create a series of identity buffs for Zhu Zaigui, so that he can gain unprecedented spiritual support in the subsequent administrative divisions of the Ming Dynasty, allowing him to smoothly complete the Ming Dynasty's deepening control and annexation of surrounding areas.

Zhu Zaigui bowed deeply to Emperor Jiajing and said, "Thank you for your good intentions, father."

Emperor Jiajing laughed, "I'm glad you understand. Come, help me up."

Emperor Jiajing had sat on the ground for long enough and wanted to get up and walk around.

Zhu Zaigui immediately stood up and helped Emperor Jiajing up from the cushion on the ground.

After Emperor Jiajing stood up, he did not leave immediately, but smiled and said, "My legs are numb."

Zhu Zaigui also laughed and said, "Just stand for a while."

After Emperor Jiajing stood for a while and the numbness in his legs eased, he left Fengxian Hall with Zhu Zaigui.

The moment they left Fengxian Hall, the portraits of previous emperors in the hall seemed to be gently blown by the wind outside. In the moment when the portraits floated slightly, they seemed to reveal an extremely relieved smile.

It seemed that they were also imagining the conversation between Zhu Zaigui and Emperor Jiajing, and what Zhu Zaigui would do in the future.

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