The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 86 The Basic Direction of American Governance and Construction
The Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin looked at his youngest son in front of him and patted his shoulder gently again.

I sighed with some thoughts that only I knew, and then turned the topic of discussion to the United States:

“Now that the United States is about to be officially established, I remember reminding you at the beginning that the situation in the United States is very complicated.

“In the future, various people from the East and the West will be brought together, and various problems will definitely arise.

"Do you have an overall idea and thought in mind about how this country should be organized and developed?"

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
"The most complicated situation is the existing colonies, which are the future kingdoms and free states.

“But the Free State has to solve its own problems.

"For a long time to come, my direct connection with the Free State as the King will be the management of the peerage system.

"The essence of this matter is to maintain contact with the local wealthy class and teach them the lifestyle of the Ming nobles.

"Let them slowly abandon their identity as European survivors and gradually move closer to the Chinese people spiritually.

“There is basically no need to deal with ordinary Europeans there, nor to interfere in the complicated affairs of the people of the Free State.

"As for the future inland kingdom provinces, there are two major things to do:
"Immigrate to open up wasteland to accumulate population, open mines and build factories to accumulate manpower."

The emperor was clearly not satisfied:

“Well, the title system is very important. It is a tool to educate and guide the barbarian upper class to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

“You must see how to use it. If you have no experience, you can go to the Ministry of Rites for consultation, or you can go and discuss it with your eldest brother.

“But you think too simply about folk affairs.

"The original inhabitants of the Free State and the immigrants who continue to arrive from Europe will also come to live in your province.

"Some of the immigrants from Ming Dynasty will definitely go to live in the Free State.

"Their very different living habits will definitely lead to various contradictions and may even lead to various conflicts of interest.

“This will definitely affect you, the king from the Ming Dynasty.

“Before the Chongzhen period, there were incidents between Ming immigrants in the Nanyang region and European merchants and natives.

"Have you ever thought about this? Have you ever made a plan?"

When Zhu Jianxuan heard his father talk about immigrants from Southeast Asia, he criticized them mercilessly:

“The tragedy of Southeast Asian immigrants before the Chongzhen period was caused by the Ming court’s failure to perform its duties.

"If the imperial court had arranged a little support, the local Europeans would not have dared to incite the natives to massacre the Ming immigrants.

"Later, the Ming court took the initiative to intervene, so now Nanyang has become the territory of our Ming Dynasty.

“The same problems that might arise in the American Free State are also the same.

"My solution is actually very simple, which is what I mentioned earlier: settle down and reclaim land to accumulate population, and open up mines and factories to accumulate strength.

"As long as the king has enough people and power, all problems can be easily solved.

“Even if the Europeans in the Free State and the people of the Ming Dynasty dislike each other and fight and attack each other, they can only do so within a relatively fair and reasonable framework.

"Otherwise it would be a civil war between the Free State Army and the King's Guard.

“When the conflicts between the two sides accumulate to the point where they have to break the rules, or even to the point where a civil war breaks out, there will definitely be a lot of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty.

"At least there won't be an order of magnitude difference between the number of immigrants and those from Europe.

"If an armed conflict really breaks out between the two sides, the Kingdom Guard Corps will support the Ming immigrants and change the Free State into a province."

The emperor thought what Zhu Jianxuan said made sense, but he was still not very reassured:
"Are you sure that your Kingdom Guards have enough combat power to defeat the Free State's army?"

Zhu Jianxuan is quite confident about this:

“The Free States are actually small semi-independent countries of a commercial nature, and the Free States are highly independent from each other.

“Moreover, the future eleven free states of the United States have been divided by me into two dominions in the middle, forming two major parts, the North and the South.

“There are obvious differences in the economic foundations between the north and the south, so naturally there will be all kinds of contradictions.

"There will definitely be some industrial and commercial groups in the Free States whose interests are deeply tied to the interests of the kingdom because of the ongoing trade in Ming Dynasty goods." And because of the influence of the aristocratic system, conflicts will arise between the wealthy class and the common people in the Free States.

“So it is basically impossible for these free states to stick together, either among themselves or among the Europeans in these free states.

“The provinces of the kingdom are all ruled by the king, so they are naturally within the same country, and the residents are definitely mostly Ming people.

“I will also do the same as I did with Australia, selecting places in the kingdom’s provinces that are rich in resources and concentrating resources on large-scale industrial construction.

“When this civil war really breaks out, it will most likely be a local battle between the government forces of a large industrial country and a few commercial city-states.

"If I can't win a war of this magnitude, I'd better go back to my homeland and become an inventor."

The emperor finally accepted Zhu Jianxuan's judgment:

"That does make sense. After the Civil War, when the Free State was abolished, you governed all the places by yourself.

"You just need to appease the surrendered European immigrants and restore social order and development, right?

"What should you do then?"

Zhu Jianxuan said without hesitation:
"Of course, it is to make ordinary European immigrants accept the lifestyle of the Ming people and truly integrate into the social system of the Ming people.

"Let the whole country truly become a country dominated by the Ming Dynasty order."

The emperor was finally basically satisfied:
"Yes, I feel relieved now that you have such an idea.

“The Ming mainland will continue to send immigrants to America, and you should prioritize settling them within the kingdom’s provinces.

"Before the population of Ming Dynasty is large enough, we should try not to let the two sides get too close.

“I also have a vision for the Great Lakes in North America.

“Several canals could be built to connect the waters of the Great Lakes, and then immigrants could be transported to the Great Lakes region through the St. Lawrence River.

“Future frontier development will also first take place around the Great Lakes.

"And connect Lake Huron and Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

“This connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico from the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes and from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River.

“Let the eastern part of North America form a continental island surrounded by rivers and lakes.

“It allows North American immigrants and materials to be transferred inland in North America without passing through areas controlled by the Free State.

"These transliterated names are really hard to pronounce. Will you come up with some official names in the future?"

Zhu Jianxuan was not surprised by his father's idea. In the past, Americans used canals to connect the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River.

However, in the past, most of the St. Lawrence River was located in Canada.

Therefore, it will not be truly completed until the United States has completely taken control of the North American order, Canada becomes independent from Britain and becomes a de facto vassal of the United States.

Before that, Americans built the Erie Canal, connecting the upper reaches of the Hudson River near New York with the Great Lakes.

It was this canal that directly contributed to the overall development of New York city.

It transformed New York from an ordinary coastal port into an estuary city with the entire five boroughs as its hinterland.

These ideas and historical experiences of previous lives can be used as references for the development of North America.

Zhu Jianxuan thought about these situations in his mind. When he heard his father's complaints about the names of these rivers and lakes, he casually named these rivers and lakes in North America:
“Since there are five lakes, let’s name them according to their directions: East, West, South, North, and Central Lake.

"The St. Lawrence River flows northeast, so it should be called the East River or the North River. The Mississippi River flows south, so it should be called the South River."

After hearing this, the emperor waved his hands in disdain:
"You are being too simplistic. The locations of the five Great Lakes are not exactly distributed in the right direction.

"Instead of calling them east, west, south, north, and center, it would be better to call them gold, wood, water, fire, and earth."

Zhu Jianxuan doesn't care about the name:
"Father is wise, so let's call them gold, wood, water, fire and earth."

The emperor was completely speechless.

(End of this chapter)