The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 601 This is China
It’s not even September yet, but Shuntianfu in Beijing is already bustling with activity.

People from all over the world, from east to west in the desert, of all ethnic groups and skin colors, have begun to gather here.

A large part of them were merchants from all over the place, who brought rare treasures from all over the empire and even from outside the country to Beijing.

At this time, passing in front of the British delegation was a group of laborers from Shandong. Shandong suffered severe cold damage this year and spring plowing could not begin until May. Then it encountered a severe drought.

In nearly a quarter of Shandong Province, grain production has dropped by a terrifying 40%, and millions of people are facing the threat of starvation.

Historically, this drought was known as the Qianlong Drought, affecting the entire Shandong Province, northern Henan, southeastern Henan, northern Jiangsu, and the Jianghuai region of northern Anhui.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of people starved to death, millions of people were displaced, and the people who lost their land headed towards Yunyang Prefecture in northwestern Hubei, where the land had not yet been fully reclaimed and occupied by the landlords.

Their sudden arrival pushed the already underdeveloped northwestern Hubei beyond its carrying capacity.

In addition, they were refugees and had lost the protection of their clans, so government officials could harm them at will. In a short period of time, the Yunyang area became a living hell.

More than a decade later, these people and their descendants, unable to bear it any longer, launched the White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan and Hubei, which completely exposed the Qing Dynasty's fig leaf.

In other words, the refugees from Shandong, northern Jiangsu, and southeastern Henan who are now gathering in Beijing are the backbone of the White Lotus Uprising in history, or their parents.

But now, these Shandong disaster victims are carefree, happily playing and joking as they head to the labor camp in the city.

In fact, if you only consider filling your stomach, disaster relief really doesn't cost much. An adult male needs less than one or two taels of silver to fill his stomach in a month.

As long as you organize it properly, the value of his labor will definitely exceed, or at least be equal to, one or two taels of silver.

In other words, as long as the imperial court can complete the disaster relief work well and does not let the victims wait for relief, then the disaster relief will not be a loss, or it will not be a serious loss.

But these four words "proper organization" place extremely high demands on a regime's mobilization and organizational capabilities, the quality of its officials, and discipline.

In the middle and late stages of many dynasties, or even just after their booming early stages, it was difficult to guarantee this disaster relief capability.

It is worth celebrating that the Dayu Dynasty is currently in its prosperous stage. The emperor is dedicated and the officials can basically fulfill their duties.

More importantly, although Mozibu did not foresee the severe drought this year, he knew the significance of corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes to farming people.

Even in this era, these three crops could not reach the terrifying gap of wheat yield of 1,100 to 200 kilograms per mu and corn yield of 2,000 kilograms per mu in later generations.

But in Shandong and Henan, the wheat yield of 300 kilograms per mu, and the corn and potato yields of 450 to 500 kilograms per mu are still guaranteed.

Moreover, corn and potatoes do not need to be grown in good soil, and the manure fertilizer they require is only two-thirds of that of wheat.

This led to the fact that five years ago, after Mo Zibu forcibly used administrative assignments in Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Shangqiu in Henan Province and Heze in Shandong Province to link officials' performance to planting these three new crops, crops such as corn were rapidly promoted due to their excellent per-acre yields.

Henan Governor Song Xiang said to Mo Zibu with great emotion: "Henan Province is located deep in the interior, and the cost of transporting rice from Southeast Asia is extremely high. Far water cannot quench near thirst.

It seemed that people would die of starvation on a large scale this year, but the three crops of corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes that had been stored in the three prefectures of eastern Henan over the years gave the court a lot of buffer time.

When the drought ends, the province will plant large quantities of corn, and the yield per mu will help it overcome the food shortage the following year."

James Watt was very confused when he saw these workers who were very happy despite the disaster.

He didn't understand why these disaster victims could be so carefree even though they had lost their homes.

The official from the Honglu Temple who was in charge of reception looked at Watt with the same confusion, "It's true that they are disaster victims, but they haven't lost their homes.

For those who own land, Your Majesty has reduced their taxes, and when the disaster is over, their land will still be theirs.

Most of the landless tenants can still return to their hometowns to rent land after the disaster, but I think they will not choose to return to their hometowns.

Because the imperial court has already prepared land and farmers' cooperatives for them in Pingliang and Lingwu prefectures in Gansu Province in the northwest, Guiren Prefecture in Rinan Province in Southeast Asia, Xingtang Province, Nanji Province, and the Kingdom of Jinqin, so they can settle down there."

After listening to this, Watt was silent for a long time. This man was more of a talented engineer than a scientist.

He knew nothing about business, so he needed to hand over all the patents to others. Matthew Bolton, who was by Watt's side, helped him manage the patents and open factories.

Although he had no talent in business, Watt still had some insights into politics and the operation of the country. Historically, he wanted to enter politics with his status as a member of the Royal Society of London.

But unfortunately, except for his mother who came from a declining branch of a small noble family, the five generations before him in the Wa family were all inferior people.

Even though his invention played such a great role in the Kingdom of England, he was not qualified to be awarded a knighthood.

Therefore, he frantically amassed wealth in his later years, hoping to become a capitalist by relying on his wealth, so that he could join the Whig Party, which was mainly composed of big capitalists and with middle-class capitalists sharing the spoils. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, he failed to achieve his wish in the end.

At this time, after hearing the explanation of the Honglu Temple official with a bit of pride, Watt nodded.

"Your country, Seris, is so rich, so vast, and so populous that you have enough industrial labor without resorting to cannibalism.

With such a vast territory, one can conduct business even if one relies solely on the internal market, without having to cruelly exploit everyone and drive down costs to the extreme in order to compete.

So, the people of Seres are happy. Even if you are not in heaven as some people boast, you are still much happier than the people of England! "

Of course, Watt didn't know that during the Qianlong period in history, at least one-third of these people died, and the rest were displaced.

There is no chance like today where one person can feed his whole family by working hard to dredge and widen the Grand Canal.

Of course, Watt was right about one thing, that is, the current territory of Dayu has given Dayu unlimited trial and error costs and the confidence to provide a safety net for all its citizens.

Just like in the future, if Southeast Asia can become the Republic's reservoir and flood discharge area, and Japan and South Korea can be its younger brothers, then the lives of the Chinese people will be taken to a higher level.

. . . .

In the Forbidden City in Beijing, Mo Zibu was holding his last imperial conference, because after this, he would go to Chengde.

This year's Chengde pilgrimage meeting will be extremely grand, with the participation of princes from various Mongolian towns in the south and north of the desert, and the five great Buddhas: Zhangjia, Dalai, Panchen, Cihang Pudu, and Jebtsundamba.

The chiefs of the twenty-four tribes of the Inner and Outer Khingan Mountains, King Li Sun of the Li Dynasty, Xu Jiazhi, Duke of Jiang in the Land of the Rising Sun, and the Ryukyu Kingdom, whose surname was Mu and was elevated to the treatment of a prince.

As well as the vassal states of Korea and Japan, the Thai vassal states in Southeast Asia, the Lanna Kingdom, the three kingdoms of Nanchang, the Burmese King Meng Yun, the Mysore Kingdom in India, and so on.

There will also be envoys from eleven countries including France, England, Russia, Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, and the Netherlands.

This was not just a pilgrimage, but also a grand event for Mo Zibu to be crowned as the Great Emperor of the Eastern World.

However, the content of the ongoing imperial meeting was giving Mo Zibu a headache.

The biggest problem is that the sense of division within the Dayu Dynasty is too severe, and two kinds of public opinion have emerged that make Mo Zibu extremely vigilant.

One is that the vast tracts of land in Dayu, including the northwest and northeast, are of little use and no further investment should be made in their management.

We must concentrate all our efforts on developing maritime trade and allocate all our money and national mobilization power to Southeast Asia.

The second type is more dangerous. The wealthy capitalists from Fujian and Guangdong in Lingnan and the gentry and wealthy merchant groups in Jiangnan really want to turn other parts of the country into colonies, colonies in all senses of the word.

Economically, it attracts population, resources, and markets.

Politically, officials from Lingnan and Jiangnan, who have already accepted new things and whose administrative abilities and vision are far ahead of those from other places, should be sent to other places to serve as chief officials, and administrative power should be used to bring them to the status of colonies.

Before Mo Zibu held the imperial meeting, he saw the report submitted by the Jinyiwei and couldn't help but break out in a sweat.

He came to reshape the country and the nation, not to create a great division. At this moment, Mo Zibu suddenly understood Zhu Yuanzhang's helplessness.

Without the North-South List, the Southern faction would completely control the government economically, culturally, and politically. If the nobles were not killed, these people and their descendants would continue to occupy the top of the country, squeezing out any newcomers, and eventually forming an ironclad system that no one could interfere with.

So that’s it!
Haha, if we don’t strike against the gentry and civil servants in Jiangnan, how can the world know that the emperor is still the father of all the people in the world?

If the nobles of Fujian and Guangdong are not curbed, how can the world know that this dynasty is the emperor's dynasty and the nobles are just subjects, not shareholders?

“Your Majesty, I suggest that the embassy be expanded to the entire country, divided into five embassies: Nanyang, Dongyang, Northwest, Northeast, and Southwest, with ministers from the royal family assigned to lead them.

Restrictions were placed on people from Jiangnan and Lingnan to serve in these five commissioner offices as county magistrates and below, to prevent them from using their experience from Jiangnan and Lingnan to give arbitrary orders.

At the same time, the Daoist school, which had become basically ineffective, was abolished in Jiangnan and Lingnan, and a new school system was implemented.

Huguang, Central Plains, and Bashu adopted a gradual reform approach, slowly popularizing the new school of thought and the new imperial examination system that complemented it over a period of ten years.

At the same time, a number of imperial academies were built in various diplomatic missions, especially in Huguang and Central Plains, to cultivate new talents.

Let them serve as officials in Jiangnan and Lingnan more often to see the new world, and among the high officials of the court, we should also make sure to reserve positions for people from these places."

Lin Tong’s suggestion is actually the same as the local bureaus that were first implemented in the Republic.

They were all newly established dynasties. There were huge gaps in all aspects of the country, the territory was too vast, and transportation was relatively difficult. However, construction had to be taken into consideration, so a governance method had to be adopted.

"Then how should we solve the problem of the developed areas siphoning off the developed areas?" Mo Zibu asked softly.

"It can only be compensated through financial means. I suggest that after collecting taxes from Lingnan and Jiangnan, the state will allocate funds to compensate the remaining provinces."

Lin Tong gritted his teeth and said that he didn't have any other good ideas at the moment. Using financial compensation was the best solution he had found after careful research and deduction.

Mo Zibu nodded. It was fiscal transfer, and it was also used in later generations.

It’s just that it worked very well in later generations because transportation, payment, transfer and account books had become extremely convenient.

We certainly cannot reach that level in this era, so it is very difficult to implement and the effect may not be very good.

But despite its shortcomings, this is the only feasible policy at present. If there are problems along the way, we can make changes while implementing it.

"I agree with the strategy proposed by the Earl of Enping. At the same time, I also suggest that Your Majesty restrict the meritorious officials of Fujian and Guangdong and the gentry and civil officials of Jiangnan from using their businesses to expand into the inland areas.

We should divert their capital as much as possible to the coal and iron industries and Southeast Asia, and even provide high rewards for developing continents and North America to encourage them to expand abroad."

The one who agreed with the policies of the Grand Secretary Lin Tong was the Second Grand Secretary Lin Qiaoyin.

When they heard Lin Qiaoyin's agreement, the other Grand Secretaries, Ministers of various ministries, etc. also expressed their agreement.

This can be considered a blessing in the midst of crisis. At least in Mo Zibu, he still has a group of reliable civil and military officials who are willing to safeguard the interests of the country even if it means damaging the interests of their own class.

This may be an important reason why Confucianism has been able to stand firm for thousands of years, because what Confucianism has advocated throughout the dynasties are people with a spirit of sacrifice who serve the country and the people.

Everyone discussed for a while and after basically determining the future plan, the Prime Minister led the various departments to refine it, while Mo Zibu picked up the meeting minutes of the Inner Court Hanlin Sheren and began to read them.

The solution is actually not complicated. It is to set up local bureaus to coordinate the development of various places, and the emperor will concentrate his main energy on controlling the seven provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong (Guangnan), headed by Lingnan and Jiangnan.

Huguang, Lianghe, Liangshan, Shaanxi, and Bashu, as the next level of important regions, implemented a gradual reform approach to gradually bring them into the new era.

In addition, the remaining areas were controlled by local envoys and were presided over by royal family members, clan members and other nobles.

Specifically, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet and the Western Regions were incorporated into the Northwest Mission, with Lanzhou as its center.

The five provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Upper Sichuan and Hanchuan (Upper and Lower Burma) were incorporated into the Southwest Mission, with Kunming as its center.

Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning were incorporated into the Northeast Mission, with Alchuka, which is Acheng near Harbin in later generations, as its center.

As usual, there are five levels of vassal states in the south and north of the desert, which are controlled by the emperor himself.

The rest of the Nanyang and Dongyang missions remain unchanged.

In terms of economy, fiscal transfers are used to strengthen the construction of inland provinces. In terms of politics and military, a certain degree of inclination is also given to ensure the unity of the provinces.

As for the extra energy of the aristocratic capitalists who will appear in Lingnan and Jiangnan in the future, let them invest it in Southeast Asia and the coal and iron industries.

It is not even ruled out that parts of Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North America will be used as flood discharge areas for all forces and capital in the future.

"Father, I think there will be a lot of problems in the future!" Asen was also attending the meeting today, observing the government. This kid has already regarded this dynasty as his family's property, so he is very worried.

"If this is the case, the local officials will have too much power and there will be a danger of independence.

And what about those nobles who were prevented from continuing to make fortunes by establishing businesses and purchasing land inland? What if they disobey the imperial court's orders and even cause trouble?

Mo Zibu laughed, waved Asen over, and explained it to him carefully.

"My son, you should never expect that there will be a perfect policy that will work once and for all.

All policies are time-sensitive; what may be good governance at one time may be harsh governance at another. Therefore, continuous trial and error, corrections, and adjustments are necessary during implementation.

Furthermore, the reason why an emperor is an emperor is not because he is born noble, nor because he sits on the throne of supreme power, but because he has power!

Mo Zibu raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist, then waved it in front of Asen, "If the honorable officials dare not follow the law and cause trouble, then we will dispatch the navy to suppress them.

For Lingnan and Jiangnan, maritime trade is their lifeline. As long as they have the navy in their hands, they have no say.

"Local envoys are at risk of becoming independent. Our Imperial Guards and the Imperial Guards are prepared for them. If anyone dares to cause trouble, we will dispatch the army and kill his entire family!"

"Oh, yes!" Asenyang's eyes lit up. This kind of knowledge was something her mother and godmother, Concubine Ye De, had never taught him.

"We have an army. We have four fleets in the navy, and the army has the Imperial Guards and the Beijing Battalion. Anyone who dares to disobey will be beaten!"

"Yes, don't be afraid of people causing trouble. Instead, it can train your ability to fight against troublemakers. Only when there is pressure can the army not become corrupt." Mo Zibu touched Asen's head.

“Besides that, the Fujian and Guangdong meritorious officials and the Jiangnan gentry are just general terms. It is impossible for them to be like one person, completely united in mind and will.

If such a force really exists, our family deserves to lose its throne, and the country should belong to them.

So among these people, there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of independent individuals.

As long as you control the army and make it impossible for them to resist with force, you will always find a way to drive every independent individual.

Divide them into loyal ministers who uphold justice, treacherous ministers who are easy to use, obedient ones, those who handle affairs, those who produce, spies, lackeys, and so on, and then use these people appropriately according to the situation."

Mo Zibu stood up with great emotion, "Moreover, the greatest benefit of Confucianism being passed down to this day is that it has injected the Four Sentences of Hengqu into the Chinese spirit.

Establish a mission for the people, establish a mind for heaven and earth, carry on the lost knowledge of the ancient sages, and bring peace to the world for all generations.

Among all Chinese people, no one can resist the temptation of these four sentences!
You and I, our father and son, as long as we can grasp these four sentences and put forward the conditions that can fulfill these four sentences, countless people will continue to come and build this country for this ideal.

So, forget about the nobles or the wealthy merchants; they are completely vulnerable in the face of the culture represented by the Four Sentences of Hengqu!"

"This is China!"

(End of this chapter)