The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 374 The So-Called Cultural Conflict
Zhu Jianxuan and Yang Yuchun had different considerations and analyses on how Zhu Jianxuan handled Yang Yuchun.

In addition to these two direct parties, others also have their own thoughts and speculations.

In the eyes of ordinary Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers, this meant that the emperor knew that Yang Yuchun was behaving recklessly on the front line and had personally sent people to rectify military discipline.

What they saw was that Yang Yuchun was dismissed and punished, and at the same time transferred away from the powerful department that directly commanded operations. Officers at all levels who had similar behavior were also punished in a similar manner.

In fact, the companions of the punished officers had been eager to take action after watching them harass Russian women and bully Russian men in the past few months.

If the imperial court really doesn't care, and the governor and the military court don't care either, they don't mind going out and letting themselves go.

It was mainly led by Governor Yang Yuchun, and the nature of the incident was really too bad.

The military courts below did not know what to do when there was no order from the emperor because the governor, Yang Yuchun, was in the lead.

Now seeing that Yang Yuchun had failed, everyone quickly calmed down.

Because Governor Yang Yuchun took the lead in indulgence, the military discipline of this army showed signs of decline.

Now this trend has been nipped in the bud.

Zhu Jianxuan's punishment of Yang Yuchun showed his attitude towards the matter, and the military court accompanying the army had the support of the emperor.

The Military Law Department then began to strictly discipline and punish other officers who violated discipline in accordance with Ming laws and military law.

At the same time, the same system was also formally implemented to control the Russians here.

In the eyes of most surrendered Russian nobles and a small number of Russian intellectuals, Zhu Jianxuan's actions this time were to enforce Ming laws in the occupied areas.

Most Russian nobles, like former Tsar Alexander, felt that this law was too unreasonable.

It is so unreasonable that it is incomprehensible.

If a man slept with a woman other than his wife or a prostitute, he would be caught and beaten half to death by Ming officials.

Ordinary women, except prostitutes, who slept with men other than their husbands, were also arrested and publicly beaten half to death by Ming officials.

The key is to hit them directly without asking about their identities, including the Governor and the Queen.

Moreover, after the beating, the parties are still not allowed to be together and they have to be handed over to their original families for discipline.

Even if the ex-husband kicks her out of the house, which is equivalent to a divorce in European law, she is not allowed to marry someone she has committed adultery with.

As long as a man and a woman are together illegally, they are forever forbidden to be together again.

It is absolutely not allowed to get on the bus first and buy the ticket later.

Because according to Shenzhou's legal principles, punishment is intended to educate the person concerned to reform himself, while also warning and prohibiting others from imitating.

It's not about making those who have done wrong pay the corresponding price.

This is because the laws of Shenzhou have been packaged by Confucianism for a long time and have become a tool for kings, fathers and saints to educate the world.

Since the purpose is to implement education, it is not a transaction rule of error and cost.

It does not mean that after a person makes a mistake and is discovered and admits the punishment, he can continue to do wrong things. He still cannot do that. If he does not change after repeated admonitions, the punishment will be increased.

In contrast, European law is often just a transaction.

As long as they accept the consequences prescribed by the law, they can do it.

Even the consequences are negotiable.

Because at this time in Europe there were two main sources of law, one of which was the conventions of the city's merchants and craftsmen's guilds.

That is actually a kind of contractual transaction rule.

Therefore, most European and American laws allow judicial transactions, whereby the parties can request exemption from felony charges that are difficult to confirm for the time being on the condition of voluntarily admitting a misdemeanor.

Another important origin of European law is the orders of feudal nobles in rural manors.

This is full of violence and the sophistry of those who control the rules.

It is based on this social background that rapists can marry the victims and escape punishment for rape.

The cultural traditions of the Ming Dynasty were very different from those of Europe, and were even contrary to some traditions.

In the early Middle Ages in Europe, there was a long tradition of bride kidnapping, which later turned into a tradition of using rape and adultery in exchange for recognition of marriage.

Early European laws not only punished rapists, but also raped women. In order to avoid being punished, raped women had no choice but to accept the rapist's proposal of marriage.

In classical Europe, although rape was a serious crime, it was difficult to convict in social practice.

Since the ancient Roman era, European aristocrats have long claimed that the union of men and women requires the cooperation of women, and that it cannot be completed without the cooperation of women.

So as long as the rape is successful, it means that the woman is willing, and it is not rape.

As late as the Enlightenment, Voltaire still believed that rape could not succeed if women fought back desperately.

As long as the woman survives, it's not rape.

The ancient Romans believed that conception could only occur when two people were in love, so rape would not necessarily lead to pregnancy.

On the other hand, as long as the woman eventually becomes pregnant with the rapist's child, what happened was not rape but voluntary adultery.

This is the sophistry of those who control the rules.

The feudal nobles in Europe had absolute control over everything within their estates.

His reasons are valid even if they are full of loopholes.

These things that seem inexplicable to the people of Shenzhou are their traditional social cognition.

It is because of this historical and cultural tradition that the issues of sexual consent and abortion rights have become the focus of social struggles in modern European and American societies.

But now that the Ming Dynasty has come, these things have been swept into the trash.

If the words of these former Russian nobles were useful now, they would definitely stand up and shout loudly, and would definitely resolutely reject the unreasonable laws of the Ming Dynasty.

But now we can only endure it.

Not to mention that they are no longer nobles. Even if they become nobles of the Ming Dynasty, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, nobles will be dealt with in the same way.

It’s just that the nobles of the Ming Dynasty could take concubines and have more than one legal woman.

Even the former Tsar Alexander had to obey, and the former queen was publicly beaten half to death for adultery.

These low-ranking nobles dared not say anything more.

Now the Ming Dynasty has completely conquered and occupied Russia, and as a conqueror it has declared that it will use the conqueror's system on everyone.

This is not a patchwork reform within Russia's existing system.

The biggest obstacle to reform is the vested interests. If the vested interests are completely defeated in the war of conquest, there will naturally be no substantial resistance to the announcement of the new system.

As for the Russian civilians, they were overjoyed.

In the eyes of the Russian serfs who had just been liberated, this was the Ming Emperor's prohibition on the nobles from arbitrarily violating their wives and daughters!
Not only the former Russian nobles could not do it, but also the later Ming nobles could not do it.

This is really great. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is truly a saint.

From the perspective of European commoners, adultery without guilt was a privilege of the nobility and had little to do with the lower-class common people.

It was a substantial exploitation of the serfs.

When the level of social civilization is not high enough and social supervision is not in place, all plans in the name of freedom will usually point to the worst possible outcome.

Freedom is only the freedom of the rulers, not the freedom of the ruled.

For serfs and the lower classes of the common people, the so-called freedom of love and union between men and women meant the freedom for nobles and officials to occupy their wives and daughters.

This kind of thing is a tragedy that European civilians actually encounter in their daily lives.

The prohibition of adultery is a restriction on the power of the nobility, a restriction on the upper class with power and status, and a protection of the family environment of the middle and lower classes.

The most fundamental logic behind the legalization of adultery and extramarital affairs is that European religious laws prohibit polygamy, and the nobles created this legal backdoor in order to obtain more opposite sex.

The sources of these opposite sexes were usually the wives and daughters of lower nobles and local middle and lower class families. For European feudal nobles, they could legally use the wives and daughters of serfs in their territories.

In many places, there is an open and clear legal right to first night.

That is, the newlywed wife of a serf must first serve the lord for a period of time before returning home to live with her husband. This is the lord's power directly written into the law.

The daughters of ordinary serfs were most likely not pretty, and most lords had no interest in the ugly girls in the village.

But they will not simply give up this legal power.

They usually required serfs to pay money, provide additional labor, etc. in exchange for the lord no longer using the right of primogeniture on their wives.

But if a serf happens to have a very pretty wife...

The lord would not necessarily take the initiative to ask for the right of first night, because the other party usually had already served the lord before officially getting married.

Her future husband would usually also be arranged by the lord to ensure he was always available.

So Alexander's concerns were real. There were indeed big problems with the Ming Dynasty forcibly implementing its laws and cultural systems in the occupied areas.

This is actually a culture clash.

It will also have a very significant impact on Ming Dynasty's control over the occupied areas.

But the impact is positive.

Because the cultural system of the Ming Dynasty at that time was already advanced compared to the cultural system of Europe at that time.

Europe has been in a stage of religious and aristocratic rule for a long time. Their laws were also designed based on religion and aristocratic society, which was not suitable for a society dominated by free people.

In modern times, Europeans have experienced the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, and their people of high ideals have continued to struggle for hundreds of years.

There is actually only one real core goal, which is to get rid of the influence of religion and traditional aristocracy and establish a secular society with free civilians as the main body.

On the other hand, in Shenzhou, the King of Shang proclaimed himself emperor and returned religious power to the monarch, which is equivalent to the British king also serving as the leader of the Church of England.

The great reforms during the Warring States Period abolished the feudal aristocracy, which was equivalent to Louis XIV's policy of "I am the state".

The Qin King's conquest of the world was equivalent to the Napoleonic Wars.

The chaos caused by Huang Chao and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms completely destroyed the traditional aristocratic families, which was equivalent to the two world wars in Europe.

By the time of the Song Dynasty, China had become a secular civilian society, an achievement that Europeans had not fully realized until the 20th century.

Even though the two world wars broke out, European and American societies did not completely "pass through Huang Chao" because of the refuge of the United States.

Therefore, until the 21st century, there are still many aristocratic families similar to the Five Gates and Seven Aspects in Europe and the United States.

The current laws of the Ming Dynasty were originally designed to manage and coordinate the civilian society, and the current culture of the Ming Dynasty was originally nurtured by a society dominated by free people.

Therefore, the laws of the Ming Dynasty were originally designed to protect the interests of ordinary people at the bottom of society, and the culture of the Ming Dynasty was originally more suitable for a society dominated by free citizens.

At the same time, before compulsory education became universal and before the industrial revolution was fully completed, civilians in various countries were basically illiterate.

The so-called traditional culture of this era is basically equivalent to the living habits of the aristocratic group.

For the lower-class people struggling on the brink of death, culture itself is something unimportant, and of course they don’t care who owns the culture.

The aristocratic group, which was the people who attached the most importance to cultural traditions and was also the carrier of European culture, was directly destroyed as a whole by the Ming Dynasty.

Europe’s traditional culture would naturally no longer exist, as the soil that nurtured it would no longer exist.

Naturally, there would be no substantial obstacles for the Ming occupation forces to implement the Ming legal system and spread the Ming culture among the civilians in Europe.

Big cities like Paris and relatively pure commercial cities like Hamburg, places where free civilians are the majority, are actually the places where cultural conflicts are most intense.

There were also a large number of literate people among the urban civilians, especially businessmen and scholars, most of whom were concentrated in the cities.

They can appreciate the huge differences between Ming culture and European culture.

But again, the laws of the Ming Dynasty were originally the laws of a civilian society, and were more useful to urban freemen than traditional European aristocratic laws.

The culture of the Ming Dynasty was inherently more advanced than that of our group.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty's military power was now extremely strong, and most European intellectuals admired Ming culture and were willing to accept it.

The Enlightenment was actually their active absorption of Chinese culture.

Now they don’t have to figure it out on their own. The Ming court will teach them directly, and the effect will naturally be better.

This is also a truly thorough social revolution.

Therefore, after the initial direct conflicts, the original free people and newly liberated serfs in Europe quickly accepted the basic social system of the Ming Dynasty.

Because it is in their interest.

…………

In the Indian region in the southern part of the continent, the Shun Kingdom’s capital city of Delhi, this once prosperous imperial capital has now almost become a deserted city.

Delhi was the main bombing target of the Ming Dynasty's Indian Theater Air Force.

After several months of continuous attacks by the Ming Air Force, ordinary people in Delhi had either died or fled.

Only a small number of elderly, weak, sick and disabled people who could not escape, as well as nobles and officials who could not leave, were left in the city.

In recent days, Emperor Li Celing of Shun State seemed to have caught a cold, and soon became bedridden, to the point where his consciousness began to blur.

Li Celing didn't know whether he was sick due to normal conditions or was infected by the disease dropped by the Ming Dynasty plane.

But Li Celing knew that he was most likely going to die.

Li Celing was indeed dead, but he didn't know whether he died of illness or starvation.

After Li Celing became bedridden, no one brought him food.

Li Celing was able to shout at first, but when he called for help, no one came in. Li Celing also realized that there was no one around.

The servants who were supposed to serve him ran away for some unknown reason.

It seems that he is worried about being infected.

In fact, it may be because most people inside and outside the Shun Kingdom court and the imperial court no longer want Li Celing to continue living.

Li Celing unified most of the Indian peninsula and can definitely be regarded as a great leader.

Li Celing was also a powerful monarch. The ministers of Shun State did not dare to disobey his orders, and no one dared to rebel directly.

Li Celing insisted on fighting the Ming Dynasty to the end for the sake of his own status, but not all the ministers of Shun State thought so.

There were many ministers who were unwilling to be enemies of the Ming Dynasty. They were already suffering greatly from the sanctions imposed by the Ming Dynasty, and they had become accustomed to the products of the Ming Dynasty.

After the Ming Dynasty officially launched the attack, especially when the Ottoman Empire and Russia were successively destroyed, more and more Shun Kingdom officials no longer wanted to continue fighting.

They already knew that there was no hope of winning, and the longer they continued to resist, the worse their final outcome would be.

When the plague continued to break out throughout Shun State, everyone in the Shun State court, including Li Celing's son, no longer wanted Li Celing to continue fighting.

All their overt and covert persuasions were rejected by Li Celing in a stern voice.

So after Li Celing fell ill, they just tacitly went with the flow and left Li Celing bedridden and never got up again.

Li Celing was sick and hungry, and his consciousness was gradually becoming blurred, probably due to the fever.

At the last moment of his life, Li Celing had a moment of regret.

If I had surrendered directly at the beginning, even if the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would not give me any good face, he would not let me die like this, right?
But it's too late to think about anything now.

By the beginning of September in the twenty-fourth year of Tiangong, Li Celing's body had already gone cold.

Li Celing's eldest son Li Qianguang stepped forward and led the remaining ministers in the Shun Kingdom court to write a letter of surrender and sent people to the front line to surrender to the Ming army.

Li Qianguang was only doing his job as a prince, and he didn't know how the Ming Dynasty would deal with the monarch of Shun State.

(End of this chapter)