Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 188: Nanyang Native Transformation Plan, Zhu Yuanzhang’s Great Harmony of the World!

Zhu Biao breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Liu Kuan did not intend to kill more than 90% of the population of the two countries.

Zhu Yuanzhang calmly asked, "What did you mean by 'making the two major ethnic groups disappear'?"

Liu Kuan said, "That post said that not only should the main ethnic groups of the two countries be eliminated, but also that their resources should be fully utilized. Although the Ming Dynasty has a large population, if they embark on the Great Navigation, they will occupy a lot of territory around the world in a few decades. Even a population of 100 million or 200 million may not be enough."

"A population of 100 to 200 million refers to the situation in the late Ming Dynasty. Today, the Ming Dynasty has only a population of over 60 million (with the conquest of Yunnan and Liaodong, the population will surge by several million). If we want to develop overseas territories, the gap will naturally be even greater."

"Also, the overseas natives are not like the Ming people who are generally good at farming and hardworking. In fact, some of the overseas natives are not only ignorant, but also dull, lazy, brutal, and difficult to tame."

"For example, many natives on the Nanyang islands are like this—and their appearance is also significantly different from ours. They are shorter than the Japanese, have darker skin, and have unsightly facial features. They're practically useless."

"Not only have the people of Goryeo and Japan been influenced by Chinese culture for many years and are therefore easier to educate, but they also look not much different from us."

"In addition, the people of Goryeo and Japan are not much worse than the people of Ming Dynasty in terms of hardship and endurance. The Japanese people are especially hardworking and even more so."

Liu Kuan paused, noticing that both Old Zhu and Zhu Biao were listening intently. He continued, "So, the person who wrote that post suggested that we send all the men from the Korean and Japanese ethnic groups to Southeast Asia and Australia to open mines, build roads, and farm."

"You don't have to use them to death. Instead, you should give them some hope, the hope that their lives can get better. That way, it will be easier to control them."

"For example, all the men from the two countries who rebelled against the Ming Dynasty could be sent to Southeast Asia to work as miners. If they performed well, they would be transferred to build roads."

"If there are any good performers among those who labored on the road construction, their status as laborers will be exempted and they will be allowed to work as farmers in Southeast Asia and Australia."

"Those who perform well in reclaiming wasteland and cultivating the land will be given native women as wives as an incentive."

"If there are any among these people who perform better and are more trustworthy, we can give them cold weapons or even inferior firearms and let them serve as pioneers to eliminate those natives and capture the native women."

"This way, we can systematically reduce the number of Korean and Japanese men through mining, road construction, land reclamation, and warfare, and also obtain wealth from Southeast Asia and Australia."

"At the same time, we can tame the men of both countries, and finally, use their blood to change the appearance and temperament of the Nanyang natives."

"After a few decades or even hundreds of years, the appearance, temperament, and even customs of the Nanyang natives will have changed significantly, making them more easily accepted by the people of the Ming Dynasty."

"Of course, this process also requires the implementation of education—eliminating the Korean and Japanese languages, writing systems, surnames, culture, and customs, and making them speak Chinese and accustomed to Chinese customs."

"In this way, after one or two hundred years, there will be no Koreans, Japanese, or Southeast Asian natives in the world, and the Ming Dynasty will have many more overseas Chinese."

Liu Kuan stopped here.

Zhu Yuanzhang was still lost in thought when Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask, "What about the women who stayed in Korea and Japan?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Highness, why do you need to ask me about this? I don't know how many men in the Ming Dynasty can't find wives. Even if everyone has wives, wouldn't it be better to allow those meritorious officers and officials to take a few Korean or Japanese women as concubines?"

How could Zhu Biao not think of this way of dealing with the matter?
He had actually thought of it a long time ago, but this method was contrary to the Confucian ideas of kingly way, benevolence and righteousness, so he found it difficult to accept emotionally.

But if we think about it rationally, if we do as Liu Kuan said in the post, we can indeed absorb the populations of Korea and Japan in a relatively short period of time.

This move is countless times more clever than brutally slaughtering more than 90% of the population of the two countries.

Thinking of this, Zhu Biao suppressed his slight emotional discomfort and thought about how to make this strategy more perfect.

He pondered and said, "If we follow this strategy to change the bloodline and customs of the Nanyang natives, we will need to issue relevant marriage policies."

"For example, men from Korea and Japan can only marry indigenous women in Southeast Asia and Australia, while women from Korea and Japan are not allowed to marry Korean or Japanese men, and so on."

Liu Kuan was delighted to see that Zhu Biao did not pedantically oppose this policy. He said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince has truly drawn inferences from one example. In fact, a similar policy was added to the post."

"Also, we can retain a small number of people in Japan and Korea who have been actively helping the Ming Dynasty from the beginning, and then migrate batches of bachelors from the Ming Dynasty to them, while also migrating young women from the two countries to the Ming Dynasty."

"If we continue to sever the cultural customs of the two countries, it will only take a few decades for Goryeo and Japan to become the same as the Ming mainland."

Zhu Biao nodded in agreement, then asked, "What about the native men in Nanyang?"

Liu Kuan said, "The natives of Nanyang are inherently difficult to communicate with and tame, and many of them are cannibals. I'm afraid many native men will die during the conquest."

"As for the captured native men, they can be sent to mine and build roads. If there are any clever and hardworking ones among them, it is not impossible to give them the same treatment as the Korean and Japanese men."

After listening to Liu Kuan's words, Zhu Biao understood something and said, "If we do this, I'm afraid those Korean and Japanese men will slaughter the native men in large numbers when they recruit the native tribes in Nanyang in order to obtain more native women."

"Plus, the natives are difficult to communicate with and tame. I'm afraid that the number of native men and their descendants who will eventually become overseas citizens of the Ming Dynasty will be very small, right?"

Seeing that Zhu Biao had seen through the "evil intentions" of the post, Liu Kuan sighed and said, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince has a keen eye. The final outcome will indeed lean towards this situation." Liu Kuan was worried that Zhu Biao would be soft-hearted towards the Nanyang natives, so he continued, "Your Highness, do you know why that post in the future targeted the Nanyang natives so much?"

Zhu Biao asked, "Could there be other reasons besides their laziness, cruelty, and poor appearance?"

Liu Kuan said, "In later history, after the great voyages of discovery began, although the Ming and Qing dynasties were primarily closed to the outside world and the imperial court did not participate in the great voyages, many ordinary people went overseas to seek survival and wealth. These people were later called Chinese."

"Because the Nanyang Islands are close to China and have many riches such as spices and gold mines, and are also a transit area for maritime trade between the East and the West, and a necessary passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, many Chinese people make a living in Nanyang."

"By the late Ming Dynasty, many Chinese had settled in the Nanyang islands, with the largest numbers in Java and Luzon, numbering hundreds of thousands by the end of the Ming Dynasty."

"However, it was also from the late Ming Dynasty, that is, starting with the Wanli period, that the Chinese in Luzon and other Southeast Asian islands were like leeks, suffering massacres every once in a while."

"During the last few decades of the Ming Dynasty alone, there were several massacres targeting the Chinese. As for how many times it happened during the Qing Dynasty, I can't remember exactly."

"Because the Chinese were hardworking and intelligent, they squeezed the living space of the local indigenous people and accumulated a lot of wealth. Therefore, in all the massacres, the local indigenous people were the main accomplices of the Western barbarians."

"So, if we talk about the hatred that later generations of Chinese patriots felt towards neighboring countries, Japan, which invaded China, would rank first, and the natives of Southeast Asia would rank second."

Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment after hearing this.

He really didn't expect that the Chinese people in later generations would have such a miserable fate. Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, they have been massacred again and again by Westerners and natives in Southeast Asia.

When he thought about his previous softness towards the natives, he couldn't help but feel ashamed - the Chinese people were oppressed and massacred by the natives of Southeast Asia and Westerners, but he couldn't bear to deal with the natives of Southeast Asia. Isn't that just a woman's kindness?

Zhu Yuanzhang, sitting on the dragon throne, slammed the table and snorted, "It's that Wanli again! He's abolished the fruits of reform for his own selfish desires, neglected government affairs for decades, smoked opium, and ignored the massacre of civilians overseas. He's even more despotic than any other emperor!"

"If I could travel back to the Wanli Dynasty, I would definitely pull him off the throne and give him a good beating!"

When Liu Kuan heard this, he almost couldn't help laughing.

I thought to myself: Old Zhu, if you were to travel back to the Wanli Dynasty, I'm afraid the first thing you would think about is how to rebel. Only if the rebellion is successful can you pull that Wanli off the throne and give him a good beating.

At this time, Lao Zhu suddenly changed the subject.

"Liu Kuan, I think the strategy posted by this later generation is indeed good. It can not only be used to absorb the population of Korea and Japan, but perhaps also to absorb the population of Europe and Africa."

"Didn't you say that Africans have charcoal-black skin? Europeans, on the other hand, have fair skin. Then, when our great Ming ships and cannons overwhelm Europe, we will send all the European men to Africa to open mines and build roads, and allow those who behave well to marry African women."

"This way, even if we can't completely eliminate black charcoal in Africa, we can at least make their skin a little lighter."

"Similarly, let's let our Ming Dynasty men marry more white European women as wives and concubines. Perhaps after one or two hundred years, there will be no real white people in Europe, and their culture will be unknown. They will all be our Ming Dynasty citizens."

"Africa is vast, so it might take longer to completely change the appearance and customs of its native people. But if we can persist for four or five hundred years, we will definitely succeed."

"By then, the entire world will be inhabited by Ming people, and there will be no more worries about national war. If we can develop high-yield crops like super hybrid rice, and if industry develops rapidly, then no one will have to worry about hunger or cold."

"In this way, the ideal of universal peace, as envisioned by the Confucian sages, is realized, and it is truly universal peace!"

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang's face was smiling but full of majesty, and it was obvious that he was not joking.

Liu Kuan was stunned.

I thought to myself, Old Zhu, you are really bold.

Qin Shi Huang simply conquered the six kingdoms and unified China, standardizing the written language and the wheel gauge.

But you want to unify the world, not only by standardizing the writing system and the railway system, but also by unifying the race and skin color.

Do you want to defy fate?

Or do you want to be the first master of the Earth and build the Ming Dynasty Universe Empire?
Although Zhu Biao next to him was not as shocked as Liu Kuan, he was also surprised. It was obvious that he did not expect Zhu Yuanzhang's ambition to grow so much.

But when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's last sentence, saying that he would truly realize the Confucian ideal of universal peace, he became extremely excited.

Then he looked at Liu Kuan beside him with a burning gaze and asked, "Brother-in-law, is what the emperor said feasible?"

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)