The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 912 Game between all parties
As soon as Dong Shaowei, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet of Qi State and plenipotentiary representative to Japan, left Tianxin City, many voices of opposition emerged in Tianxin City.

A rumor began to spread in Tianxin City that the emperor supported Dong Shaowei because the top leaders of Da Qi planned to use Jiuzhou as a model to implement reforms throughout the country.

For the officials of Da Qi, this was a huge earthquake.

Reform was nothing new in the Qi Dynasty. Reforms had been underway since its founding, and almost every emperor who came to power overturned the previous policies and implemented new ones.

As for the final reform results, they are often unsatisfactory.

As expected, Emperor Jingyan began his reforms eighteen years after ascending the throne.

Compared with the drastic reforms of previous emperors, this young emperor implemented a strategy of "curve reform", and the methods of reform had obviously changed.

In a nutshell, the goal is to implement new policies in Da Qi under the guise of reforms in Japan.

For example, officials' property and fortifications, giving more power to the feudal lords, and creating a more relaxed public opinion environment...

The emperor's ideal is very Feng Man, but it is not an easy thing to realize.

At least in Tianxin City, there were many voices opposing the emperor's reforms.

The elderly ministers were well aware of the importance of maintaining the stability and prosperity of the empire, while the younger officials advocated a tough stance against the feudal lords. In their view, any decentralization or compromise was intolerable and almost a crime of betrayal of the Great Qi.

They don't want to see any instability brought about by any change.

Stability is certainly conducive to long-term prosperity and development, but stability to a certain extent may become stubbornness.

Influenced by this trend of thought, newspapers in Tianxin City always like to "popularize science" to their readers:
The wild land outside the borders of the Great Qi State, and the indescribable chaos that occurred in the wild land.

According to them, the area outside Da Qi is composed of deserts, oceans, swamps, etc.

There is no grass growing there, and it is not just a wasteland in the geographical sense.

People living in the wild land are hungry, precarious about their future and living in a daze... In a word, they are a group of unfortunate people.

Not all people in Qi believe such propaganda - anyone who has had contact with Europe does not believe it - but there is always a group of people who are willing to believe and firmly believe that they live in the happiest country in the world.

My Great Qi is invincible in the world.

In fact, for a citizen of the Great Qi Dynasty who was born and raised here, it would cost a huge price to get rid of this kind of "teachings" that he had been exposed to since childhood.

Sometimes, the price is his life.

As the Qi poet Pushin said:

Life is precious, but love is more precious. If it is for freedom, both can be abandoned.

However, not everyone is willing to give up their lives for sobriety.

It is gratifying that the stubborn thoughts have not affected the entire country. As the Great Qi is so vast, there are always areas that they cannot influence.

For example, Japan.

So soon after Dong Shaowei left Tianxin City, various attacks and impeachments against him emerged like mushrooms after rain.

"Your Majesty! Dong Shaowei is wasting money and manpower in Japan. This so-called reform must be stopped immediately!"

"Dong Shaowei doesn't want to reform, he wants to be the king of Japan!"

According to such statements, it is believed that it will not be long before the Wa Kingdom controlled by Dong Shaowei will break away from Da Qi and adopt a hostile attitude towards Da Qi. The empire's decades of construction in the East will all come to nothing.

In the view of some cabinet members, Dong Shaowei's behavior is uncontrollable.

Being uncontrollable means committing a heinous crime!

"When the previous emperor was on the throne, everything was in perfect order. That was the golden age of the Great Qi! Why has it become like this now?"

The orderliness that the ministers talked about was this kind of order.

Except for the emperor, ministers and some wealthy people, tens of millions of ordinary people could hardly own any property. Yes, legally, all property in the country belonged to the emperor.

After all, for thousands of years, this land has emphasized "All under heaven belongs to the king."

According to Liu Zhaosun and others, the property of the Emperor of Da Qi belonged to all citizens.

This forms a closed loop.

As an ordinary citizen of Qi, he had to risk everything for the emperor and might not even have a grain of food left.

The emperor said that he would risk everything for everyone, even their lives if necessary, to revive the Great Qi.

Some people in Qi did so.

In the end, I found that I had nothing.

~~~~~~
Now Liu Fan and Dong Shaowei want to break this utopian myth.

~~~~~
For unknown reasons, the third batch of grain originally planned to be shipped from Tenshin City was delayed in being delivered to Nagasaki.

Although Japan has resumed food production, its food output is still far from meeting consumption needs.

If food cannot be delivered in time, Japan may face famine again.

For more than a month, Dong Shaowei kept sending telegrams to Tianxincheng in Nagasaki, asking cabinet officials to implement food aid to avoid a food crisis in Japan.

Officials who opposed Dong Shaowei said that such free aid to Japan would not be worth the cost, and would encourage the Japanese to despise the Great Qi. It was almost like cutting meat to feed the tiger, which was an extremely stupid act.

"The barbarians fear power, not virtue. Emperor Taizu once said, there's no need to show mercy to the Japanese!"

They suggested turning Japan into ruins first and then rebuilding on the ruins.

"As long as I am still breathing, I will never sit idly by and watch money and food go to waste, never!"

The elderly Nian Gengyao opened his sleepy eyes, pounded the table hard and screamed hysterically.

"Don't send any more grain to Japan!"

Everyone is trying their best to protect their own interests.

The reformists wanted to use Japan as a model to restore the glory of the empire.

In this way, Liu Fan's reform was in danger of failure before it even began.

He faced the same problems his ancestors had faced.

Far away in Nagasaki, Dong Shaowei, isolated and helpless, fell into chaos.

The emperor had no choice but to send a telegram to Dong Shaowei: "General Dong, please act according to your discretion. I am unable to do so and we have no food."

~~~~~~
After paying a huge price, the great famine in Japan finally ended.

It was like a story that had been repeated for thousands of years on a certain plot of land next door: after the disaster, the fields were left empty, the starving people turned to ashes, and finally, the contradiction between people and land was alleviated.

A new cycle begins again.

Only after solving the ultimate problem was Dong Shaowei able to continue his land distribution strategy.

Another large number of daimyo and samurai were purged and exiled.

A large number of Japanese farmers who were allocated land were grateful to Dong Shaowei and respected him more than any daimyo or samurai.

I wonder what Emperor Jingyan would think when he learned about this.

At least the Japanese people have no objection.

Fortunately, a new era for Japan has arrived.