The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 329: Shunguo's Way Out

Li Celing left the parade ground in a bad mood and returned to the palace where he worked every day. He called several of his most trusted ministers to a meeting.

Among the three kingdoms of Ming, Qing and Shun, which originated from Shenzhou, Shun was the one with the highest overall organizational vitality before Zhu Jianxuan intervened in the Ming politics.

They were the last to establish their own organization, and had been in a state of displacement and even war for a long time.

Over the past 100 years, from Xi'an to Shuntian Prefecture, and from the Central Plains to the grasslands, they fought and cooperated with the Mongols for decades, and then entered India from the Western Regions.

Always preparing for war, or participating in various wars, and always be prepared to deal with various unexpected situations around you.

The organization has been operating at a high intensity for a long time and has never had a chance to stabilize, entering a stage of gradual decay and degeneration.

The rate of decline in Shun State's original military combat effectiveness and organizational firepower was the slowest.

Over the past decade, while the Ming Dynasty was fighting in the north to destroy the Qing Dynasty, developing Africa, conquering America, and participating in the European war, the Shun Kingdom was also not idle.

Taking advantage of the chaos in Europe, they seized a piece of land in the Ural region, and then began to conquer the princely states in India with all their might.

If not compared with Zhu Jianxuan, Li Celing of Shun State can also be regarded as an outstanding ruler.

The original princely chiefs of India either surrendered completely and unconditionally in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Shun army, or became powerless nobles and lived in Delhi.

Or they were completely wiped out by the new army that completed the land reform during their resistance.

After eliminating these local monarchs and nobles, Shun State continued to implement land reform and social system reform in the new controlled areas.

The entire old aristocratic system in India was abolished, and most of the original land was distributed to local farmers, with a small part belonging to the new aristocracy of Shun State.

Li Celing and the previous Emperor Shun of the Kingdom initially divided all citizens into four classes: scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants, referring to the traditions of Shenzhou.

All native people of Shenzhou, including the Han and Mongolian people of Shun Kingdom, all belong to the gentry.

All the local Indians belong to three categories: agriculture, industry and business.

Originally, under the influence of India's traditional social reality, the four classes set up by Shun State would naturally form four levels.

Indians will certainly compare it with the existing caste system.

However, in recent years, the fact that the Ming Dynasty's industry and commerce have developed rapidly has had an increasingly greater impact on the surrounding areas.

In particular, Zhu Jianxuan himself named the reign title Tiangong, turning the attitude of attaching importance to industry and commerce into a national policy, which directly influenced the rulers and ministers of Shun State.

Emperor Shunguo Li Celing also referred to the situation in the Ming Dynasty and gradually improved the status of India's industrial and commercial groups.

Farmers, workers and businessmen are classified as three different types of equal "common people".

But the gentry still retained their status and were superior to the common people.

From the perspective of later generations, Shun State did not completely abolish the Indian caste system, but it did greatly streamline the caste system.

People's social status was divided into two levels instead of five.

The most crucial change was that ordinary farmers were allocated land, and all civilians could be recruited as soldiers. Joining the army was no longer a privilege reserved for the Kshatriya aristocracy.

Compared with India's original social hierarchy system, this is a huge improvement.

Li Celing sat on the throne, watching the ministers arrive and come in together, watching them bow and greet him together.

Li Celing waited until they finished their greetings before asking the eunuch to bring chairs for them to sit down. Then he asked directly:
"According to intelligence from the past few months, the Ming Empire accepted Napoleon's surrender and ended the war in Europe in a very conservative manner.

“The key point was that they did not continue to participate in the war that had just broken out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and began to establish vassal states in Europe.

"My dear ministers, please tell me what the Ming monarch and his ministers are planning now.

"They have really given up the idea of ​​continuing to expand their territory and are ready to settle down and recuperate.

"Or is it because they are not interested in Europe and actually have other plans?"

Several ministers looked at each other, and no one took the initiative to speak under such circumstances.

This kind of question seems simple, but the emperor obviously has special purposes, so try not to get involved right away.

Seeing that they were silent, Li Celing directly called out the name of the 65-year-old Wubaxi:
"What do you think?"

Wabacsi was the representative of the aristocratic group of the Dzungar clan.

What we have now is a united empire formed by the original Shun State Dashun uprising army and the Mongolian tribal alliance.

The Mongolian tribes of Shun State were mainly Junggars. The ancestors of the emperor of Shun State had also intermarried with the Junggars. The current Li Celing has Junggar ancestry.

Although they have formed a marriage, the social organization methods of the two sides are very different, and the two sides are ultimately in an alliance and cooperative relationship.

The independence of the Mongolian tribes within the Shun Kingdom has always been very high.

In recent years, the Dashun court successfully entered India, and the court dominated by Han people began to carry out land reform in India, and it was obvious that it was ready to officially take root in India.

India has rich land, abundant human resources, and an agriculture-based production method, which is suitable for establishing a traditional Chinese court.

Agricultural empires were far more productive than nomadic organizations.

Once the Han nobles and officers of Dashun took root in India, they gradually began to feel that the northern grasslands were a burden, and their relationship with the Mongols began to become distant.

But at the same time, the Ming Dynasty had already built the railway to Hami, which was close to the northern border of Shun State.

The northern border of Shun State belonged to the Mongols.

With the help of railways as a means of transportation, trade activities between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols increased rapidly.

The Mongols traded directly with the Ming people, and what they could obtain through the special products of the grassland were much more refined than what they could squeeze from India through the Shun Kingdom court.

Civilian smuggling activities and semi-official infiltration operations continue to grow in visible or invisible places.

The Shun Kingdom court did not want to have too much contact with the Ming Dynasty and hoped that the Mongols in the north would rely on material supplies from India rather than directly exchange them from the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the Shun Kingdom court has been trying to find ways to restrict trade and smuggling activities with the Ming Dynasty in recent years.

This led to greater disunity between the Mongols and the Shun court.

Li Celing did not directly invite ordinary Mongolians to discuss such sensitive issues, but called Wabacsi, who had a special status.

Although Wabacsi was also considered a Dzungar Mongol, he was not a native Mongol from Central Asia and the Western Regions. Instead, he came here from Russia with his people.

Therefore, Wubashi was relatively isolated among the Mongolian groups in Shun State.

The key point is that most of Wubashi's deployment and fellow tribesmen are concentrated in the northwest of Shun State, where it borders Russia, rather than next to the Ming Dynasty in the east.

Wubashi had no direct conflict of interest with the Ming Dynasty, so he could express relatively objective opinions on such issues.

When Wubashi heard his name being called, he carefully considered his words:

"Your Majesty, I think the Emperor of Ming is ambitious and will not stop just like that.

"Their cessation of the war now is likely just a short break, or they may even be upgrading their weapons again.

"In the past thirty years, the Ming emperor organized two rounds of large-scale wars in this way." The first round had three wars, namely, destroying Oman and conquering North Africa at the same time, conquering Korea in the north and destroying the Qing Dynasty, and finally completely conquering Japan.

“The second round also involved three wars, namely forcing Portugal to surrender, seizing Spanish colonies, and intervening in the war on the European continent.

"In the two rounds of war, each individual war did not last long. The three wars in the first round only lasted for one year.

"But before starting a war, their preparation period is actually very long, and they need to update their weapons and equipment.

“Based on previous experience, I think it will take at least three to five years, or at most seven to eight years, for the Ming court and the army to rest and prepare before a new round of war will begin.

"The target may be the Ottoman Empire, Russia, or our Dashun..."

The answer to Li Celing's question was actually very obvious, but Wabashi seemed to deliberately not fully respond to Li Celing's intention.

Li Celing's expression did not change. He followed Wubaxi's words and directly stated his purpose:

"Then if the Ming Dynasty targets the Dashun next, how should we prepare to prevent it now?"

Wubashi hesitated for a few seconds:
"According to my understanding, although the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is ambitious, he is also very cautious and very afraid of casualties.

"To this end, he not only put a lot of effort into innovating weapons, but also worked tirelessly to recruit vassal troops.

“After the war began, he sought a quick victory.

“He was unwilling to take the initiative to attack France, unwilling to fight a full-scale war with Napoleon, and instead ended the war through negotiations and recruiting vassal states.

“Based on this analysis, I believe that we can only make the Emperor of Ming feel difficult. If there is no way to defeat us with less casualties and consumption, then they may give up the war.

"We should refer to the experience of the Ming Dynasty, organize military settlements and garrisons, organize large-scale militias, and mobilize all civilians who have been allocated land to participate in the war.

"As long as we can keep the main forces of the Ming Dynasty busy, we will have a chance to succeed."

What Wubaxi said seemed to make sense, but Li Celing couldn't help but remind him:
“According to European intelligence, Napoleon did something similar to what we did and distributed most of the conquered land to the local peasants.

“But when the Ming army arrived, the farmers who had received the land did not resist.

"The Ming Dynasty announced that it would protect the land they had already been allocated, and also took out the land that Napoleon had allocated to French officers and continued to distribute it to all local civilians.

"As a result, civilians in the German region quickly switched sides and became part of the existing Ming system.

“We were able to mobilize these common people to join us in fighting against the local nobles in India because we distributed land to them.

“It is impossible for the local Indian state nobles to give up their land.

“But Ming doesn’t care about the land here and can do the same thing as us.

“Whether we rule them or the Ming Dynasty rules them directly, the benefits they receive will not decrease.

“If the Ming army defeats our army and distributes the land of our officers and nobles to the common people, the common people will be able to get more land from the Ming.

"Why would those civilians fight for us in this situation?"

Wubashi opened his mouth and had an idea in his mind that he wanted to say, but relying on his status, he finally resisted the urge:

"This... I don't know what to do. Your Majesty, please forgive my stupidity."

Li Celing did not ask any further questions, but looked at the other people at the scene:

"Do you have any solution?"

Several ministers murmured for a while, and then a Han officer in his forties stood up and said:

“Your Majesty, the land-sharing reform is powerful, but it cannot withstand the more powerful enemies who support the same system. Can we do the opposite?
"Just like the Ming Dynasty, we can grant fiefdoms to our meritorious officials and establish kingdoms for them to directly resist the Ming army in various places."

Before Li Celing expressed his opinion, another minister beside him spoke up:

"The vassal states will also turn against us. They can directly become vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. Why do they have to be vassal states of our Dashun?"

Li Celing couldn't help but frowning when he heard this. He had finally gained control of the place, but now he had to let it go again. It might be too difficult to control it.

Fortunately, this line of thinking is also useless:
"This doesn't work, and that doesn't work either. What should we do?"

At this time, an old official in his sixties spoke up:
"I think we can have both...

"We will continue to maintain the current land reform plan, while at the same time making our status as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty a reality.

"Let us truly become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty..."

Li Celing couldn't help but frown when he heard the rest:

"Do you mean to surrender without a fight?"

The old official immediately explained:
"This is not surrender, this is just the execution of Emperor Taizu's promise. We accepted the title conferred by the Ming Dynasty more than a hundred years ago.

"Now we will carry out this request normally and restore our relationship with Ming to normal..."

Li Celing interrupted the old official's explanation:

“Let’s not discuss the details of this issue for now, let’s discuss how to solve the main problem first.

"Do you think that the Ming Dynasty will ignore all our requests and simply allow us to become vassal states as a whole?
“What if they want to split us up into several provinces?
"Even if we start implementing the vassal state now, will Ming Dynasty be willing to accept such a result?
"Will you find a reason to 'suppress the rebellion'?"

Several ministers remained silent because what Li Celing said was realistic.

In reality, a vassal state was a de facto vassal, no longer an independent monarch and could no longer decide its own affairs.

The key point is that in the past, the Shun Kingdom actually practiced differential treatment, leaving behind a lot of evidence of internal emperors and external kings.

If the Ming Dynasty is unhappy with Shun State, it can use this evidence to make trouble at any time.

There was silence for a long time. No one could solve such a problem. The current situation was too bad.

At this time, Wubashi spoke again:

"Your Majesty, do you need me to go to Russia and contact the Russian monarch to invite them to cooperate in fighting against the Ming Dynasty?

"Faced with the terrifying enemy Ming, our previous conflicts with Russia are no longer a concern. We have actually become allies who are as close as lips and teeth.

"If the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Dashun, Russia would be the next target, and vice versa.

"We should even mediate the relationship between Russia and the Ottoman Empire and establish an alliance among the Dashun, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, a mutual assistance alliance against the Ming Dynasty."

The Wabashi family once mingled in both the Russian royal palace and the Ottoman court, and had some acquaintances on both sides, making them indeed suitable to be mediators.

Li Celing felt that there was nothing wrong with Wabacsi's plan, but adopting this plan would mean continuing to resist and not considering cooperation with the Ming Dynasty.

Li Ce Ling thought about it for a long time, but in the end he didn't dare to make a decision easily, so he could only try to mix the two sides:
"You should go alone, not in the name of the court, but in the name of visiting an old friend to test Russia's attitude.

"Also, the Honglu Temple sent someone to visit the Honglu Temple staff of the Ming Dynasty to find out the attitude and tone of the Ming Dynasty towards us."

(End of this chapter)