The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 618: I only wear eight sets of clothes for four seasons

There is a Republican Parliament Palace in every Nanyang province. Of course, Guangnan Province and Shangchuan Province are not included in the Nanyang area and are not under the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Prime Minister.

So at this time, there were seven provinces under the jurisdiction of Nanyang:
Nien Nam Province (central Vietnam), with its capital in Hoi An

Xingtang Province, with its capital in Gia Dinh (Southern Vietnam, Cambodia)

Phnom Penh Province (southern central Thailand, Mon State and Tanah Ratan, Myanmar) with its capital in Bangkok
Andai Province (most of the Malay Peninsula) with its capital in Pattani

South Java Province (Java Island) with its capital in Jakarta
Hanchon Province (south-central Myanmar) with its capital in Daguang (Yangon)
Kaqing Province (Kalimantan) with its capital in Pontianak
There is also the Royal Governor-General's District (Laos and northern Thailand) with its capital in Vientiane. The Governor-General's District only obeys the arrangements of the Prime Minister of Nanyang to a certain extent.

The actual government affairs were managed by the shogunate provided by Nguyen Ngoc Xiu, the fourth son born to Mo Zi Bu, Azhe, who was granted the title of Prince of Vientiane.

In addition to these seven provinces, which are said to be directly under the royal jurisdiction, there is Vientiane in fact, the future feudal kingdom.

Luzon was still in Spanish hands.

The island of Sumatra is inhabited by relatively warlike ethnic groups from Southeast Asia, such as Aceh. It is not difficult to defeat them, but it will take a lot of effort to completely deal with them.

As for the sparsely populated islands such as Sulawesi, Timor, and New Guinea, which are basically tropical rainforests, they are simply in a state of grazing.

Some Chinese people who are particularly hardworking and brave have opened up small colonies on these islands.

The Renaissance Company and other large commercial companies occupied some areas and forced the indigenous people to grow spices, and the imperial court did not care at all.

There is no way around it. The current scale of Nanyang is due to the fact that the imperial court spends more than 10 million taels of silver every year to subsidize medical care, travel expenses for the people, and organize the people to travel overseas.

This proportion is very close to one-tenth of the annual income of the Dayu Dynasty and half of the military expenditure. If it were not for Mo Zibu's arbitrary and forceful push, it would not have been implemented at all.

According to the current situation, reducing this expenditure has been put on the agenda. There is simply not enough manpower, material resources and financial resources to occupy the entire South Seas. Those pristine tropical rainforests are not worth such a large investment.

. . . .

The Republican Parliament Palace in Hongxing City was built on the site of the former Dutch Governor's Palace in Batavia. Its exterior is completely European, but once you enter, the layout is very Chinese.

The main hall of the Republican Palace at this time, where the members of parliament voted, had a very unique architectural style.

It is said that it was modeled after the meeting hall of the Western Zhou Dynasty Republican period, which was researched by the Minister of Rites Ji Yun and Ji Xiaolan from ancient classics.

The design adopts the Bagua pattern, with the members of parliament sitting on the periphery and surrounding the center.

At the position of the yin-yang fish eye in the middle, the chief elder of the council, also known as the chief speaker, sits at the position of the yang eye on the upper left.

Below the chief elder's seat, there is a podium for the members of parliament to speak.

The Yinyan position is where royal representatives, clan recorders, and law enforcement elders and Nayan elders who are responsible for discipline, announcing results, and presiding over meetings sit.

At eight o'clock in the morning, all the members of the Provincial Council and the Republican Council had arrived. Above the Hongxing Republican Parliament Palace, a large flag with a red background and a golden sun and moon, symbolizing the emperor, and a large flag with a black background and a red tile dragon, symbolizing the Republican Parliament, were raised.

Then Zheng Miao, the Grand Elder of the Republican Parliament of the Nanyang Mission, rang the bronze bell at the highest point of the Parliament Palace.

The sound of bells echoed throughout Hongxing City. The gate of the Parliament Palace slowly opened, and the members of the Senate and the Public House entered first.

They were not numerous, and consisted of vassals of the Nanyang Earl or above, wealthy merchants who paid taxes exceeding 50,000 silver dollars per year, meritorious men who had made special contributions to colonization, and those appointed by the emperor himself.

The members of the Zhaogong Court wore black gauze folded turbans on their heads, purple robes, and the mythical beast Bai Ze was embroidered on their chests.

This is a mythical beast with a dragon head, green hair and horns. It can speak like a human and distinguish between loyalty and treachery. When Emperor Huangdi was on his eastern tour, it came to report the sufferings of the people and eliminate harm for society.

Therefore, it is believed that when the monarch is wise, a beast that is fair, strict, and understands the people's sentiments will appear.

After the members of the Council of Commons entered, it was the turn of the members of the House of Commons, the Republican Parliament.

Republican members also wore black gauze folded turbans and dark blue robes with the mythical beast Di Ting embroidered on their chests, symbolizing their duty to understand the sufferings of the world and report to the king.

There are quite a lot of these people, and their members come from all walks of life.

From nobles such as viscounts and barons who could be considered as high-ranking feudal lords, to small nobles such as garrison commanders, even manor owners, as well as merchants of all sizes, ship owners, and even mercenary leaders.

Well, the Dayu Dynasty now also has mercenaries, composed of many guys who are too lazy to manage their estates after retirement or who can no longer adapt to retirement life and feel itchy all over if they don’t touch swords.

Of course, they are not called mercenaries, but bodyguards.

As long as you pay, they will do it, whether it is conquering native tribes when establishing a fiefdom, or clearing out the natives after establishing a fiefdom, or escorting the transportation of important supplies.

The recommendation of Republican members is very oriental in nature, mainly based on reputation and the system of recommendation.

The Chinese have been playing with this for thousands of years and are very experienced, but Republican lawmakers have promoted it to various industries, not just scholars.

The procedure for producing such a candidate was that the local county would first recommend the candidate, who would then be evaluated by a jury composed of elders from the provincial Republican Assembly. The candidate would then be recommended to the Imperial Clan Court that managed the Republican Assembly, and the Imperial Clan Court would then report the recommendation to the emperor for review and approval.

This system means that those who work as farmers or laborers are not eligible for selection, and it is bound to be accompanied by social connections and corruption and bribery.

There are many problems, but compared with the feudal era, at least they are much wider.

Doctors with superb medical skills, wealthy businessmen with broad knowledge and experience from humble backgrounds, gangsters such as big guns and dock tow chiefs, all have the opportunity to become Republican members of parliament.

At least in China, this is no longer the era where one can be the master of one's own affairs by doing nothing but reading a few books.

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki and others from Owari Domain were very lucky, because this Republican Parliament specifically allowed members to bring people to observe, which was the emperor's preparation for introducing the parliament to the mainland.

So they followed Yamagami Toru and entered the Republican Palace smoothly.

Before the formal voting meeting begins, each provincial council must first hold an internal meeting, and then at the voting meeting in the main hall, they can fight for their own interests.

The republican elder of Nanji Province was the close vassal of Wanlong Junbolin Tonghuo. This was the reward for him and Ye Xiancai, who had stood firm under the guns of the Dutch and done a lot of preliminary work for the court to seize Nanji Island.

“There are two main topics this time.

First, it is likely that a large part of the annual subsidies that the imperial court provides to us, the vassal statesmen in Southeast Asia, for purchasing quinine water, Hexianshi powder (montmorillonite powder) and making allicin will be cancelled.

In addition, this battle was not only for the rebellious natives in Aceh, but for the entire island of Sumatra.

This matter concerns the well-being of the people of Nanyang. Therefore, the Nanyang Mission will provide supplies such as gunpowder, lead bullets, rice, ships, mules, and horses, as well as auxiliary personnel such as volunteers and laborers. Let's discuss how much we should contribute."

As soon as Lin Tonghuo finished speaking, the Nanji Provincial Councillors below immediately started chattering. As the saying goes, it is hard to give up good money, and naturally no one is willing to take money out of their pocket.

"Isn't the court's move a bit too big this time?" Baron Pearlan said somewhat unhappily:
"The reduction in subsidies has already caused us a huge loss. It's unreasonable to ask us to bear so much more for this military deployment!"

Strictly speaking, the Barony of Perlan is not on Nanji Island. It is located more than 100 kilometers east of Surabaya, which is actually the later Bali Island.

The Barony of Perlan occupied 40% of Perlan Island (Bali), and the remaining 60% was occupied by three garrison commanders and eight manor owners.

In later generations, Bali was famous for its beautiful scenery and magnificent views, but in this era, beautiful scenery is not a good word.

Because whenever we describe a place as having beautiful scenery and magnificent views, it must have complex terrain, many strange rocks and lakes, and be sparsely populated and have inconvenient transportation.

This is the case with Perlan Island. Including the indigenous people, there are only 180,000 people. Baron Perlan sounds okay, and the area is not small, but the output is only one-third of that of Yamagami Toru, the Yamaga Guardian.

In addition, a lot of loans were borrowed when the vassal state was established, so the economic situation was a bit bad. Naturally, he got furious when he heard about paying money.

Xu Zongzhi immediately started to worry about the little Baron Perlan. The agenda was presided over by the prestigious Earl Wanlong, and there was also a special envoy from the Ministry of Revenue sent by the emperor. How dare he speak so bluntly?

You have to know that in the original Japanese country, if a daimyo with only 10,000 koku in Japanese currency dared to say such words while serving as a lord, that is, when meeting the Shogun, he would probably be demoted on the spot, or even lose his daimyo status. However, unexpectedly, the chairman, Count Wanlong, was not angry at all, but quickly explained:
"The imperial court has its own difficulties. The preferential treatment we are receiving now is a reward, but it is not something we deserve."

After hearing this, Lord Pearlan stiffened his neck and said, "It is a reward, but we didn't get it for nothing. This Nanji Island is almost at the end of the world. Throughout the dynasties, those who committed the crime of disrespect were only exiled three thousand miles away.

We have voluntarily gone into exile thousands of miles away to expand our country, so why should the imperial court save us a few melons and dates?"

Lord Song, why don't you explain the court's policies in detail to Lord Polan and all of us? "

Lin Tonghuo didn't need to explain. As a vassal, he had to stand on his own collective position at certain times.

Lord Song from the Ministry of Revenue, who came as a special envoy of the court, nodded. He was not surprised at all. This was not the first time he had seen this scene. He had been to Southeast Asia many times and had seen it many times.

"Lord Polan, just as Elder Lin said, the reduction is a reward, not the imperial court's subsidy. The dynasties that followed were too slow to reform the land system, so how could you build your own foundation and still have the imperial court give you money?

Since the second year of Guangzhong, the court has provided subsidies for ten years, with a cumulative amount of over 100 million silver dollars, which has never been heard of since ancient times. Now that your foundation is stable, you should understand the difficulties of the court, as there are too many places to spend money.

Your Majesty has had it tough, too. You only have eight sets of uniforms for the four seasons. In the twelve years since the restoration of China, you haven't even chosen a single concubine. Besides rebuilding the Imperial City of Nanjing, you haven't built any palaces."

Well, if you look at it in detail, this is indeed true.

Mo Zibu indeed had only eight sets of regular clothes for the four seasons, because in addition to his regular clothes, he also had formal clothes, court clothes, etc.

Moreover, what Mo Zibu liked to wear most were the robes and Taoist robes that ordinary people wore. He especially liked to wear short jackets in summer, and he had no shortage of these things.

It is true that he did not build a temporary palace, but he had many small palaces, such as the Tangshan Palace in Nanjing and the Yuexiu Palace in Guangzhou, which were built and given to him by the meritorious officials and nobles below.

Moreover, the Qing rulers seemed to have a special fondness for palace gardens. They had been tinkering with the gardens for the past one or two hundred years, causing Mo Zibu to be unable to take over all the palaces. He even gave them away because of the high maintenance costs.

As for the fact that there was no selection of concubines, that was even simpler. Mo Zibu did not select concubines because the six Oriental provinces in Korea and Japan, the Ahom Kingdom in the northeast of India, Mongolia in the south and north of the desert, and Mo Zirong far away in Europe were all constantly presenting beauties to the emperor.

There are so many people that when Rost's envoy Dashkova left two years ago, she gave him four beautiful Mao girls, and she still hasn't eaten two of them.

There are also twenty or thirty other beauties from all over the country waiting in line to receive the emperor's favor, so there is no need to select concubines to fill the harem.

But then again, the emperor didn’t have a palace for cultivation, didn’t select concubines, and had only eight sets of daily clothes for the four seasons!

When Lord Song mentioned the emperor, Lord Purlan's attitude softened.

Because he knew very well that without the emperor, he would still be fishing on the West River and occasionally doing some no-cost business, and he would not be as prosperous as he is now.

"Your Majesty, I, Zhao San, will never be able to repay your kindness even if I die. Since this is your Majesty's will, I will resolutely carry it out."

Seeing that Pearlan Junnan had surrendered, Lord Song, an experienced hand at handling such matters, did not continue to force him. Instead, he decided to stop while he was ahead and gave him some preferential treatment.

"Your Majesty is aware of the Baron's loyalty and patriotism, and has therefore issued a special order to give the utmost consideration to vassals like Lord Pearlan, who live in the most remote areas.

Therefore, the imperial court decided to cancel basically all subsidies for rich and profitable areas, and to cancel 70% of subsidies for medium-sized areas with small harvests.

For places like Pearlan, located in remote areas with few mines or spices, and those on the front lines of the conquest of the indigenous people, only 30% will be eliminated. For those facing real economic difficulties, the Reconstruction Bank will provide interest-free loans."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Lord Puran shouted, then bowed and kowtowed towards the north.

Afterwards, these republican members and a small number of members of the Council of State began to engage in heated discussions on the amount of subsidies and the money, food, and laborers that could be provided for the troops.

Jinshi Fangbo Ma Jin also summoned his six Republican members. This Fangbo, who was born into a Dutch military family and was a little greedy for money, said worriedly:

"We, the Jinshi clan, are relatively wealthy. When the expenses are reduced, we will definitely be the biggest spenders. So, everyone, think about the tragedy in your own territory now and exaggerate it, otherwise we will suffer a great loss."

After hearing this, Shan Shangche's eyes widened in anger.

In his heart, the emperor who made him leap from a town samurai to a daimyo with a lord of 400,000 koku is the only god in the world, the father of all people in the world, and the best monarch and father.

Now your father is in financial trouble, and instead of repaying his debt, you try to cheat the court out of its money. Shan Shangjun was furious.

"Master Fang, my Jinshi clan is more than just wealthy. This clan is close to Sishui and is the richest clan in the eastern part of Nanji Island. According to my hometown, the Jinshi clan has a wealth of at least four million.

How could such a powerful vassal state resort to fraud for a mere trifling profit? I, Shan Shangchong, would be the first to refuse. I am willing to serve the country and voluntarily give up the subsidy!

Ma Jin, the prefect of Jinshi, turned pale and red in the face, and then he became furious.

Yamaga Town Governor Yamagami Toru was his subject, although not a family retainer, but Ma Jin had the authority to punish this vassal who was originally a fiefdom taken from his territory and had to pay tribute to him.

Xu Zongzhi was also frightened. It was too easy for the main vassal to punish a branch vassal.

It’s a pity that Ma Jin was angry for a while and then he was angry again.

Because Shan Shangche is different now, he is a Republican member of parliament.

Without the initiative of one of the elders of the Republican Parliament, the approval of more than half of the members, and then reporting to the Emperor to remove his status as a Republican parliamentarian, no one can touch a hair on Shan Shangche's head.

"Shan Shang, how could you be so rude to the Earl? Apologize immediately!" Wei Da blinked at Shan Shang Che and said to Ma Jin:
"This Shan Shangche has done great things for your majesty. For this reason, the governor should not treat him with any respect."

In fact, Wei Da was not very satisfied with this guy. With such little merit of his, His Majesty spent a huge amount of money to give him a vassal earl in order to stabilize the Dutch, but he didn't know how to be grateful. He seemed to be obsessed with money every day.

Ma Jin was pushed again, neither hard nor soft. Although he felt unhappy, he had no choice but to give in.

Afterwards, the Nanji Provincial Council completed its discussion and basically divided the scope of subsidy cancellation, and roughly outlined the amount of money, food, and civilian laborers to be used for sending troops.

Then at 11 a.m., the voting meeting officially began.

Members of the provincial legislatures voted on the issues one by one in the presence of the emperor's special envoy, the representative of the Fuxing Central Bank, and the captain of the Jinyiwei Northern Pacification Division stationed in the Nanyang Division.

After the Republican House passed it noisily, the Public Council closed its doors for final consultations.

They had a quick lunch in the Palace of the Republican Parliament, and it was not until the afternoon that a preliminary plan began to emerge. It was said that the final plan for its implementation would have to go through several discussions before being submitted to His Majesty the Emperor for approval.

Xu Zongzhi watched the whole thing with his mouth open. Several businessmen from Jiangnan and several Chinese representatives from Spanish Manila were just as stunned as him.

"The Holy Son of Heaven is truly like the Emperor of Heaven, supreme in his position, ruling with ease and giving the people the power to participate in government affairs. This is the key to the prosperity of Nanyang!"

A Jiangnan businessman summed it up: in fact, the most important thing is two words: protection.

Protect and support the rights that developers should have, limit the imperial power and the government's ability to take whatever they want from everything in the world, and form a good mechanism of checks and balances.

It allows those who are rich and capable to dare to come out and work hard without worry. This is an important reason for the booming development of Nanyang.

"Your Majesty stated ten years ago that you wanted to bring the parliament to Tangshan, but you have been obstructed by all parties. I feel that the time is finally ripe."

A big businessman from Jiangnan said with a firm expression that after twelve years of development, a large number of wealthy bourgeoisie had emerged in the Jiangnan region.

Although many of these bourgeoisie came from the old local gentry and wealthy families, and were even the white gloves of some Jiangnan nobles.

But when they really stepped into the front row and felt that they could touch power, their ambitions immediately swelled, and naturally they also had political demands.

The powerful, officials, wealthy and capitalists can be one person or many individuals, each with their own demands and ideas.

As the emperor, Mo Zibu had to classify them one by one and stimulate the energy of each individual, and the Republican Parliament was the best tool.

(End of this chapter)