Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 355: The Three Kingdoms of Daily Life, Old Zhu Asks Jiajing [Please Subscribe]

"Over the past two years, with our secret support, the anti-Ashikaga shogunate forces in the Northern Court of Japan, led by the Toki clan and the Yamana Kiyoshi clan, have grown stronger."

"After the autumn harvest last year, they defeated the Ashikaga shogunate army in the Battle of Kanagawa, and then pushed the front line all the way to the east of Nagoya before stopping."

"During this period, the Toki clan and the Yamana Kiyoshi clan formed an alliance through marriage, facilitated by Guangmingwei spies, and formed a more stable interest group."

"Therefore, after the Battle of Kanagawa, the two families, with the Toki clan as the leader, established the Yamato Kingdom and built their capital in a field several dozen miles northwest of Kanagawa, naming it Edo."

"So, today, Japan has effectively become a three-way balance of power. The Northern Dynasty occupies the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku; the Southern Dynasty, the Ashikaga Shogunate, occupies the fertile land west of Nagoya on the island of Oshima."

"The newly established Wakoku occupied a large area of ​​land east of Nagoya..."

Liu Kuan hadn't paid much attention to the situation in Japan in the past year, so he was a little surprised when he heard Zhu Zhen's words.

He remembered that in history, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, as the third shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, was quite capable and eventually unified the Northern and Southern Dynasties of Japan.

Unexpectedly, with the intervention of the Ming Dynasty, Japan not only failed to unify, but also split into three kingdoms. Later generations of Japanese people especially liked to study China's Three Kingdoms culture. Now, they can study their own "Three Kingdoms".

Zhu Yuanzhang already knew all this, but he still smiled with satisfaction and said, "Let's talk about the progress of Japan's 'conversion from rice to mulberry' and 'immigration' last year."

"Yes," Zhu Zhen replied, then continued, "By the end of last year, with the exception of the Ashikaga shogunate, which refused to switch from rice to mulberry, over 40% of the farmers in the Northern Court and Wakoku regions of Japan had become silkworm farmers."

"Although the Ashikaga shogunate did not implement the policy of 'switching rice to mulberry trees,' many feudal lords and even the samurai class secretly sold grain to the Northern Court and Wakoku in Japan."

"Therefore, famine has persisted in Japan over the past year or two, and has spread to a wider area in the past year."

"In addition, the Guangming Guards and our maritime merchants have been promoting the wonderful life after going to sea, and the number of Japanese women and young men choosing to emigrate overseas has also increased exponentially."

"According to statistics, last year alone, 370,000 Japanese women and 190,000 young men signed contracts with maritime merchants, either moving directly overseas or working long-term overseas."

"Japanese women were mainly sent to the four major divisions: China, Korea, North America, Central America, Beiyang, and Jilin. Japanese men were mainly sent to the two major divisions: Beibei and Luzon."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao, Liu Kuan and others, who understood the true purpose of the Ming Dynasty's "immigration" strategy against Japan, began to make secret calculations.

Nearly 500,000 people immigrate each year. If this trend can be maintained, the number of immigrants will reach 5 million in ten years.

Japan's population before was only over 10 million... Even if its actual population is close to 20 million, taking into account the population lost in the three-nation war and famine, Japan's population will most likely drop below 5 million in ten years.

Thinking of this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but say, "Father, if this continues, I'm afraid that in ten years, Japan's population may drop sharply to less than five million."

"By then, the idea of ​​switching from rice to mulberry trees and relocating people would probably not work."

"Your speculation is correct." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "So, when the time comes, we can directly send troops to force Japan to submit."

"Then we will relocate the powerful and influential people in their country who are willing to submit to our Ming Dynasty to places like Gansu that need population growth. As for those who are unwilling to submit to us, their families will be demoted to hard labor and relocated to the islands of Southeast Asia to open up wasteland."

"Then send most of Japan's remaining civilians and the samurai class to Ezo and Kyushu, leaving only a few hundred thousand people in the central part of the big islands."

"After that, we can gradually migrate population from the country, Korea, the steppes, the Western Regions, and the Southwest to enrich the population. This way, the Japanese islands can exist long-term under the rule of our great Ming Dynasty."

Liu Kuan immediately praised, "Your Majesty is wise—as long as the Japanese become a minority on the Japanese islands, they will no longer be able to cause any major trouble."

"If we destroy their language, writing, and even customs, and subdue them to Confucianism, then perhaps Japan will no longer exist in a hundred years."

As a person from later generations, Liu Kuan absolutely supports the destruction of Japan - not to mention that the means used by Zhu Yuanzhang now are relatively mild, even if the means are more cruel, he will support it.

Although Zhu Biao was kind-hearted, after watching so many videos from later generations and listening to Liu Kuan talk about so many things about the Japanese invasion in later generations, he also knew that the destruction of Japan was inevitable.

The strategy adopted by the Ming Dynasty to destroy Japan is already very mild. If a war is started directly, not only will many civilians die in Japan, but many Ming Dynasty soldiers will also die in battle.

Therefore, he did not raise any objection on this matter.

Zhu Yuanzhang then looked at Zhu Tan and said, "Tenth Brother, tell me about your supervision of the trial implementation of the 'tax-tax system' in Zhili last year."

"Yes." Zhu Tan stood up and bowed. "The land tax system in Zhili was implemented after the autumn harvest last year. During the land survey, the 'hidden land case' was exposed."

"As of the end of December last year, 373 landlords and wealthy families had been implicated in the case, 37 officials were implicated, and a whopping 425 clerks were implicated!"

"As of the beginning of the year, a total of over 13,000 hectares of hidden farmland have been identified... Currently, the various prefectures in Zhili have only completed about two-thirds of the survey. It is estimated that after the survey is completed next year, the above figures will increase."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up, his hands behind his back, his face stern, like an old farmer who had seen pests infesting his fields. "Over 13,000 hectares, that's over 1.3 million mu of hidden farmland. It's shocking."

"Think about it. If we are kept in the dark, and future Ming emperors remain unaware of this, and even allow officials and gentry to collude and annex land and increase hidden farmland, I'm afraid the land we can collect taxes from will become increasingly scarce."

"No wonder, historically, our Ming Dynasty couldn't collect much tax after more than two hundred years, and eventually died of poverty!"

Did the Ming Dynasty die of poverty?
Zhu Su and other princes who had never heard Liu Kuan talk about the history of the late Ming Dynasty were stunned for a moment.

Of course, Zhu Di's expression was unnatural. After all, in history, the throne of the Ming Dynasty was handed over to his lineage more than a decade later. It can be said that it was his lineage that made the Ming Dynasty poor and dead.

"After I establish my vassal state in India, I must take Liu Kuan's teachings on Ming history as a warning and do my utmost to reduce the opportunities for landlords and gentry to annex land, so that the vassal state will have a healthy financial system..."

Zhu Yuanzhang paced a few steps before returning to his chair and saying, "After the autumn harvest next year, all the princes who have reached adulthood but have not yet qualified for a fiefdom will be sent to various provinces to oversee the 'Grand Survey' and 'Equalizing the Land Tax'."

"If there are still powerful landlords and corrupt officials in the provinces who don't learn from the Zhili 'hidden land case' and cooperate with the land survey and hand over the hidden land, we will never let them off lightly!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Su, Zhu Chun and other princes could not help but feel a chill in their hearts, and observed a moment of silence for certain wealthy landlords and corrupt officials in advance, because they knew that there must be some people who still had a lucky mentality.

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang chatted with the princes about other matters for nearly an hour before ending the royal meeting.

"The eldest, the fourth, and Liu Kuan stay, and everyone else can leave."

"Yes."

Regardless of whether they were willing or not, the other princes stood up, bowed, and left the west wing hall.

After the side hall door was closed, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Liu Kuan, the fourth son is about to go overseas to serve as a vassal. I don't know when he will be back."

"The history of the Ming Dynasty that you know is ultimately related to his lineage. Why don't you tell us about the remaining emperors of the Ming Dynasty in later history today?"

Liu Kuan was speechless after hearing this.

"Your Majesty, after Zhengde there were Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, Chongzhen, and several other emperors during the Southern Ming Dynasty. Even if I don't sleep today, I won't be able to finish talking about them."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought the same and said, "Then let's talk about Jiajing's story."

"Yes," Liu Kuan agreed, then searched his memory for information about Jiajing. "In my humble opinion, Jiajing was a crucial emperor in the Ming Dynasty. If the history of the Ming Dynasty were divided into two pages, Jiajing would be considered the beginning of the latter."

"The Jiajing Emperor, named Zhu Houcong, was the grandson of Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen and the nephew of Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youtang. Emperor Zhengde had no children, so after his death, the cabinet ministers, led by Chief Minister Yang Tinghe, based their decision on family ties and age, and enthroned the fifteen-year-old Zhu Houcong as emperor."

"Zhu Houcong was intelligent from a young age and could be said to have mastered the art of imperial power without a teacher. Soon after he ascended the throne, he sparked the 'Great Ceremony Debate', a dispute that lasted three or four years, over who should be recognized as the emperor's father."

"Through the Great Ceremony Controversy, he suppressed the prestige of cabinet ministers headed by Yang Tinghe, enhanced his own prestige, and effectively gained control of some imperial power."

"At this time, Zhu Houcong was full of confidence and ambition. He wanted to be a good emperor and even achieve achievements that surpassed those of his ancestors."

"He first executed Jiang Bin, Qian Ning, and the remaining members of the Eight Tigers of Zhengde. He then released the rare birds and animals from the Leopard House and ordered the local authorities not to send any more as tribute."

"He also reduced the power of the Imperial Household Department, reorganized the imperial guards, dismissed the eunuchs who guarded the garrisons, and appointed a group of cutting-edge civil officials such as Zhang Cong and Xia Yan."

"Since the Hongxi period, that is, during the reign of Zhu Gaochi, the Ming Dynasty has had the custom of conferring titles on relatives by marriage, and often several titles are conferred on a single family, thus creating a new group of noble relatives in the Ming Dynasty."

"Zhu Houcong accepted the advice of his ministers and changed the hereditary nobility system of nobles to a lifelong system, so that the descendants of nobles would no longer inherit the nobility, thus reducing the number of nobles."

"In addition, Zhu Houcong also carried out some reforms to address the shortcomings of the economy and the imperial examination system at the time, and even tried out the 'single whip law', which laid a certain foundation for the later reforms of Zhang Juzheng."

"Under Zhu Houcong's early governance, people's livelihood and the economy, which had been depressed by various disturbances during the Zhengde period, recovered and even improved, and culture also flourished."

At this point, Liu Kuan sighed and said, "Unfortunately, perhaps the Jiajing Emperor's reforms touched upon the interests of certain individuals. After the tenth year of the Jiajing Emperor's reign, not only did his policies suffer setbacks, but he himself was also in danger several times."

Encountered danger several times?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but look at Zhu Biao and Zhu Di.

Perhaps worried that Liu Kuan might have overlooked this, Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted him and asked, "Do you know what specific danger he encountered?"

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)