Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 97 I'm going to start keyboard politics!

"call!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stepped into the Qianqing Palace of the Jianwen Dynasty and looked around. It was not much different from his own place.

However, some of the palace utensils of the past were added or reduced, such as palace lanterns, curtains, etc.

At this moment, all the court officials were kneeling outside, while Zhu Di ran outside the palace to discipline the soldiers.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked straight to the left, passed the west warm pavilion from the left corridor, and came to the study where he usually reviewed memorials.

The study room still looks the same as before, but the layout is slightly different. There is no sofa that Zhu Yunfeng moved from the modern world, and the desk is placed next to the window.

Warm sunlight poured in from the window, and the bookshelves on both sides that used to hold some of the books that Lao Zhu often read were replaced with other picture albums.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat behind the desk, and Zhu Yunfeng, Ji He and Zhu Di walked over obediently.

Old Zhu's appearance just now was terrifying. His aura was so terrifying even if he was just standing there. Until now, the three of them could hardly believe that this was the Old Zhu who looked kind and benevolent on weekdays.

But this is actually what Lao Zhu really looks like.

In the past, he only concealed his decisiveness in killing in front of his children and grandchildren, revealing his kind side and his indifference to them. But once he really wanted to kill someone, I'm afraid there would be a river of blood.

"I didn't expect that I would come to the Jianwen Dynasty. Yunfeng, Xiaoji, tell me what we should do next."

After Zhu Yuanzhang sat down, he did not ask how to deal with the situation here, but asked how he should deal with the emergence of the Jianwen Dynasty.

This is a very realistic problem.

The fun was over and the matter was done. Although it was unexpected that it happened during the Jianwen Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang still handled the matter according to his heart.

He hated Zhu Yunwen for treating his sons like this. It was not just about reducing the power of the princes, but about killing all of his sons.

Moreover, two of them had been forced to death, which was something Zhu Yuanzhang, as a father, could not tolerate.

But what next?

He can make the final judgment on the Jianwen Dynasty.

Those officials who instigated Zhu Yunwen were executed, and Zhu Yunwen was deposed and imprisoned.

He even issued an edict to allow Zhu Di to succeed to the throne legitimately.

But then there has to be an explanation.

I can't just come here once and never care about it again.

"Cough cough cough."

Zhu Yunfeng thought so too. The fun was over and it was time to get down to business. He said, "Grandfather, I have a solution."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly changed from his previous intimidating look to his usual kind-looking old man, smiling and saying, "Tell me about it?"

"It actually depends on what you think. Do you want to control this world or not? If you don't, then you are helping the Fourth Master of this world now. Let him handle the future development on his own."

"Well"

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered and said, "You mean to subsidize the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu Period by plundering the resources of the Ming Dynasty?"

"You're going a bit too far."

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "It's not a matter of resource plunder. It's borrowed and will be returned in the future. And with the support of modern industry, it's not difficult for you to complete industrial upgrading. I'll buy more hydroelectric generators, get more electricity knowledge atlases, and train some skilled electricians, and then we can carry out a small-scale electrification industrial revolution. By then, the two Ming royal families can hold Ming royal salons regularly in my house to talk about life and ideals. We can also carry out advanced reforms in the Hongwu years first, and let the fourth child in the Yongle years learn advanced experience."

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes, and after a moment, he said, "Why should we let the fourth brother here know about modern times?"

Zhu Di standing beside him was shocked.

Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He looked at each other and thought that their ancestor was really cruel and did not even let his own son go.

"What do you mean?"

"Just think of it as my spirit appearing. Let him repair the underground palace and make it into a small temple, and offer sacrifices to me."

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Of course you can't tell him about the exchange of stone tablets. The stone tablets on your side are usually moved away. Just put them in place every day according to the time we agreed on."

And this kind of operation?

Zhu Yunfeng thought.

This is to establish supreme authority in the heart of the fourth brother here.

But this is Zhu Yuanzhang.

Although this is also the Ming Dynasty, it is not his own Ming Dynasty after all.

Even if there is another me and another group of children and grandchildren in a parallel world, they are probably someone else's children and grandchildren in his heart.

"Then we should do as our ancestors said. What do you think about the Ming Dynasty?"

"Ji He, you should stay here permanently."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Ji He, "Help me keep an eye on this side."

"I?"

Ji He was stunned, his two fat pig ears fluttering, pointing at himself and saying in disbelief: "I'm here to monitor the middle-aged Zhu Di?"

He kills people without blinking an eye and you want me to care about him?

Are you kidding me?

"Can you do it?"

"It can't be done."

Ji He spread his hands and said, "Do you think I can hold him down?"

"Well, Lao Si, come on."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di again and said, "Do you know what to say?"

Zhu Di scratched his head and said, "Just say that my father became a god and pulled me out of the long river of time when I was twenty years old?"

He had watched short videos about cultivating immortals, so he could also come up with an excuse.

"Well, even if he doesn't believe it, the facts are right in front of him and he can't help but believe it."

Zhu Yuanzhang then said: "Yunfeng, think of a way to let the Ming Dynasty here help me supply my Ming Dynasty."

"Understood. I'll think about it then."

Zhu Yunfeng said this, but in his heart he was thinking darkly whether he should spread some new ideas in the second world, and try out some new political systems or something like that?

To be honest, the Ming Dynasty's institutional system and ideology were true feudal monarchy.

Both feudal and imperial.

And Confucianism has always occupied the mainstream position.

This is something that has been determined by the feudal monarchy for two thousand years. It cannot be changed by force, and there is no possibility of any subversion.

In order to prevent his regime from being overthrown by modern society, Zhu Yuanzhang was only willing to talk to Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He, and was unwilling to have contact with any other modern people. The root of his true isolationism came from this.

Therefore, Zhu Yunfeng didn't even use one tenth of his keyboard politics skills. Besides, he didn't intend to engage in keyboard politics at the beginning. He just wanted to make a lot of money.

With Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty, it would be difficult for him to do anything except input industry, technology and knowledge.

It is extremely difficult to input thoughts.

If there is no input of ideas, the example of the French Revolution is there, the Industrial Revolution will greatly change the existing lifestyle and traditional ideas.

The emerging bourgeoisie will inevitably come into conflict with the old aristocracy.

If we can continue to make the pie bigger and improve productivity, food will be fine to ease social conflicts.

However, once the expansion of the bourgeoisie cannot be satisfied, the old social order will easily be replaced by a new one, causing unprecedented social unrest and the collapse of the dynasty.

Therefore, if a country wants to last long, it must carefully analyze the pros and cons. The system is one aspect, and the ideology is another.

How to grasp the future direction of a country and conduct in-depth research on discovering and solving problems.

Lao Tzu said it very well on this point: Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish.

But at least this was not possible under Zhu Yuanzhang. He would not allow you to conduct any social experiments or make any fundamental changes to the social order and system he created.

Zhu Biao's patching of the national policies he formulated was like building a temple in a snail shell. Like a paperhanger, Zhu Biao patched up the dilapidated world.

But the new Ming Dynasty before us is different. It is definitely a testing ground.

In fact, Zhu Yunfeng looks down on Western things. The so-called democracy and freedom are actually ridiculous things when you look into them. They are just barbarians who pretend to be a civilized society under the guise of such things.

The inherent cruelty and hypocrisy, not to mention the evil they have done in the past, just look at what has happened in Gaza in the 21st century and the attitude of the Western world, it is enough to prove everything.

So just look at Western things, don't try to learn them, it's easy to ruin yourself, just play with your own Chinese system. Under the same unified system, there are more things to explore.

It can only be said that Zhu Yunfeng's knowledge was indeed very miscellaneous. Even if he had only learned half of it before, it would be useless in front of Old Zhu.

But this was not necessarily the case during the Yongle period.

Although Zhu Di and Old Zhu were of the same type, that was after Old Zhu died. When Old Zhu was alive, no matter how powerful Zhu Di was, he had to be a son.

The most important thing is that he has the backing of Hyundai, and has the capital and space to trial and error.

Even if you are only a half-baked person, you can still continue to learn, figure out the operating logic, and apply it to ancient times to conduct keyboard politics experiments. Maybe you can really make some suggestions?

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunfeng carefully chose his words and said, "Perhaps the Ming Dynasty of the Yongle Dynasty is not a bad thing for you, my ancestor. You can even find a way for the country's future development."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang became interested and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Too complicated."

Zhu Yunfeng scratched his head and said, "Political system, ideological change, external expansion, economic and military, educational development, central-local conflicts, imperial power going to the countryside, class discourse, I can't finish talking about it for days and nights, even the Industrial Revolution is nothing."

“The Industrial Revolution is nothing?”

The little Zhu Di next to him was surprised and said, "No way."

In his impression, nothing is more important than the Industrial Revolution.

"What is the Industrial Revolution? It is a process of capital density. As capital continues to increase, industrialization can proceed smoothly."

Zhu Yunfeng recalled Professor Wen's words and said, "The above-mentioned political system, ideological changes, etc., will affect the development of industrialization. If the political system is appropriate and the ideological concepts have changed, then industrialization will be an objective law of natural development and will be formed in accordance with the trend. The traditional feudal monarchy emphasizes agriculture and suppresses commerce, which has suppressed the development of capital and thus delayed the realization of industrialization. Therefore, in the theories of our later generations, the feudal monarchy and industrialization are opposites. If we want to complete industrialization, we must overthrow the monarchy."

"Ok?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, realizing that the matter was not simple, his face became serious, and he looked at Zhu Yunfeng with a sharp gaze and said, "What did you say?"

This look was so fierce that Zhu Yunfeng couldn't stand it. He couldn't help shrinking his neck and hurriedly explained: "Those are the theories of later generations. In fact, I think as long as the problems and contradictions are coordinated well, such problems will not occur."

"You go on."

Zhu Yuanzhang had no expression on his face, but this was the most wonderful expression.

Zhu Yunfeng felt a little regretful.

If I had known this earlier, I would have pretended that the second world did not exist and continued to happily be a trader between the two worlds. Why did I have to be so curious to run to the second world?

Even if they come, just watch for fun. It's enough for Lao Zhu to help Lao Si once.

Then the stone tablet was moved, and the middle-aged Zhu Di became the emperor legally and legitimately, and everyone was happy. Why did he get addicted to talking nonsense and making political demands again?

But now that he has finished talking nonsense, he can only bite the bullet and continue: "In fact, if we really study the world's political systems in depth, we can find that they are nothing more than two types."

"So the left and right wings have to constantly adjust their political systems and ideologies, and fill the gaps through military and economic means. For example, in the United States, the political philosophies of the two parties kept changing, and in the end, the two parties even exchanged their bases."

“To some extent, human development is like driving a car on an unknown road. You can either step on the brakes to slow down or step on the accelerator to go far away, but no one knows what the fork in the road is.”

“It may be a cliff, or it may be a broad road. The brake and the accelerator are under your feet. If you make the wrong choice and step on the accelerator, the regime will be destroyed very quickly. If you make the right choice but step on the brake and fail to keep up with the historical process, you will still not be able to escape the historical fate in the end.”

"It is very important to balance the timing of braking and accelerating. In short, we must keep pace with the times and adjust our country's development path according to needs."

"Zhang Juzheng was the brake man of the Ming Dynasty. If Zhang Juzheng had not stepped on the brakes and immediately changed the road when he found the cliff ahead, the Ming Dynasty would have perished long ago."

“So no matter whether there is technological progress or how things develop, if we encounter problems in the political system or economic development, we must quickly make changes and respond.”

"If the Ming Dynasty cannot make continuous adjustments and changes in politics, even if it completes the Industrial Revolution, the future will eventually be like what I said before. The system will continue to become rigid, and then it will perish in more than 200 years. It will not be able to escape the fate of history."

Speaking of this, Zhu Yunfeng thought of what Mr. Huang Yanpei once said.

Today is a prosperous era.

Europe is in dire straits and the Americans are unable to take care of themselves. Looking at the world situation, the scenery here is the best.

So Zhu Yunfeng also wanted to see whether changes could be made in the ancient world.

After all, in his opinion, many things are similar.

Including political system.

They are all centralized systems.

It’s just that in ancient times, the emperors were autocratic and one family ruled the world.

Things were often fine in the early years of a country's founding.

Even in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was able to keep the country running by killing so many officials.

It was at the end of the Yuan Dynasty that the world was reshuffled, a large number of people died, and then the people divided the land, easing land annexation.

The vested interest groups have not formed immediately, the whole country is in an upward stage, and everyone can get a piece of the pie.

But by the end of the Ming Dynasty, when Chongzhen hanged himself, the cake had been divided up. A large number of interest groups emerged and ate up the cake, which had not been increasing in size to begin with.

They huddled together, stood against the emperor and the people, and pushed the emperor out as a shield.

In the end, the Ming Emperor lost his kingdom and was replaced by a new regime, a new Qing Emperor. However, interest groups continued to bully the people and act tyrannically.

So Zhu Yunfeng wanted to see whether, under the ancient imperial system, he could create a miracle, find the right direction, and break away from the cyclical nature of history.

Although people who really understand politics will find it very difficult, after all, to put it bluntly, Europe was the first to complete industrialization.

However, after the French Revolution, five republics rotated.

After the demise of Germany I, Germany changed its regime four times, from Germany II to Germany III and then to the Federal Republic of Germany.

Britain seems to be slightly stronger, but its strength is limited. It survives purely by relying on its isolated geographical location and its first-mover advantage, the legacy of the sun never sets. Otherwise, the royal family would have been hanged long ago.

Therefore, it does not mean that the regime can be maintained by achieving industrialization and scientific and technological progress.

Rather, it depends on whether the interests of the majority of people are taken into account during the process, and whether the pace of development and progress cannot be stopped.

Otherwise, once the growth rate of productivity and the pie cannot meet the interests of all parties, the industrial countries may perish faster than agricultural countries.

Because human desires are endless, in the agricultural era everyone's desire was to have enough food to eat. When more than 95% of the people in the country were farmers, things tended to be stable.

Even if faced with natural disasters, man-made calamities, rebellions or famine, as long as the court had tax revenue, it could quell the situation or provide disaster relief. The Song Dynasty was a typical example.

Once the industrial revolution begins, the wealth of a large group of people in the country will expand rapidly.

This group of people want to move up the channel, but those below feel unbalanced.

Moreover, the Industrial Revolution will give rise to a large number of wealthy classes and interest groups. Officials and dignitaries will easily collude with the rich to infringe on the interests of the lower classes.

So politics is essentially about balance, balancing the interests of all parties. Raising per capita disposable resources and tilting wealth as much as possible toward the middle and lower classes is the olive-shaped social structure theory.

If the situation cannot be balanced, the only options are to send out troops to kill large numbers of vested interests, or to invade and plunder wealth in order to forcibly balance the situation.

This is also why the military is the main factor in the extension of politics.

But Zhu Yunfeng is actually very optimistic.

First, the resources of the three worlds are an unimaginably huge number. If they can be integrated, no one can imagine how big the cake will expand.

Second, in our time, Europe relied on its first-mover advantage to occupy the vast majority of the world's resources. But if the Ming Dynasty had the first-mover advantage and swallowed up the world's resources, how far would it have developed?

Third, the change of regime lies in the lag of policies. People often think about resolving problems only after they discover them. As a result, it is too late to change them and they have to watch the country perish.

This was the case in both the late Ming and late Qing dynasties.

As people of later generations, we are forward-looking when it comes to discovering problems and can make plans in advance.

In addition, Lao Zhu is a person who can solve problems. After all, he may not be able to solve the problem, but he can get rid of the person who created the problem.

Just like in the late Ming Dynasty, if you asked Chongzhen whether he could take action to eliminate the corrupt officials, nobles, gentry, Shanxi merchants and other elements in the world, he would most likely not be able to do it.

But if you ask whether Lao Zhu can use a knife, then he can definitely do it. If he really encounters those vested interest groups, Lao Zhu can kill them all and make rivers of blood flow.

So Zhu Yunfeng thinks that the three should be combined.

Basically, as long as the Ming regime was not stupid enough to cause internal political chaos and eventually perish due to civil strife, it should have been easy for it to survive for another 500 years.

Anyway, if there are too many internal problems, we can expand outward. In Southeast Asia, America, Africa, Europe, and Australia, there is always a piece of land suitable for the increasingly expanding interest groups in the country to cultivate.

It was because of this that Zhu Yunfeng's soul of politics, which had been immersed for a long time, began to burn when he discovered the Yongle Dynasty.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's rule, his political ability could not be fully utilized.

He has all the skills to slay dragons, but is unwilling to be a dog for Zhu Yuanzhang. All he can do is give Zhu Biao some advice, and that's all.

But during the Yongle Dynasty, if Zhu Yuanzhang's power was used to bully others, it might work.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunfeng's addiction to politics was about to come back.

(End of this chapter)