Bringing the Railway to Daming

Zhu Biao nodded after listening, "What you said does make some sense—in that case, wouldn't exchanging people between the two provinces of Korea and the four provinces of Japan also serve to change the dominant ethnic groups in those areas?"

Zhu Xiong Ying said, "It does have this effect, but I believe that this method should not be the main approach—the Korean Peninsula is too close to Japan, separated only by a strait, so the exchange of immigrants between the two places is not very useful."

“As for Jiaozhou, it can be used to exchange immigrants with the Korean Peninsula and Japan, thereby weakening the local major ethnic groups and making it easier for the government to govern.”

"In addition, Hainan Province can also participate in this policy, since the local population is mainly composed of the original Srivijaya people, which is not conducive to government governance."

Zhu Biao said, "Then the immigration policy for the next few years will mainly focus on inter-provincial immigration between Jiaozhou, Hainan, Japan, and Korea."

Zhu Xiong Ying nodded first, then suddenly said, "Father, if Jiaozhou is to be emigrated, the Li, Zheng, Ruan, Chen, and Hu families must all be relocated, just in case."

Zhu Biao had learned some of Vietnam's later history from Liu Kuan, so when he heard Zhu Xiong Ying's words, he knew that Zhu Xiong Ying wanted to relocate the Le, Trinh, and Nguyen families because they were the later rulers of Vietnam.

He couldn't help but laugh and said, "The Li family of Lanshan has already been exterminated for treason, and Li Ping and his son Li Li have long been executed. Why are you still worried about the Li family?"

Zhu Xiong Ying said, "Just in case, anyway, some people from Jiaozhou will have to be relocated."

Zhu Biao didn't dwell on that and changed the subject.

"In the battle of Dingjiaozhou last year, your nineteenth uncle, twentieth uncle, twenty-first uncle, and Yunwen all made certain contributions in the army. Among them, Yunwen and your twentieth uncle made quite significant contributions."

"If nothing unexpected happens, they will continue to participate in the court's campaign to pacify southern Myanmar and the wars against Lan Xang, Champa, and Siam in the following years. They will likely accumulate enough military merits to establish their own vassal states overseas."

What are your thoughts on this?

Zhu Xiong Ying looked at Zhu Biao with some surprise and said, "This is a good thing, what could I possibly think?"

Zhu Biao said, "Although there are still many places overseas that can be explored, if our Great Ming continues to establish vassal states overseas, I'm afraid there will come a day when there will be no land available overseas."

Zhu Xiong Ying said, "Father, you are overthinking it. While the number of overseas territories suitable for establishing fiefdoms is decreasing, the opportunities for our Ming Dynasty to gain military merit are also decreasing."

"If all else fails, we can simply change the tributary system and no longer allow vassal kings to establish fiefdoms overseas."

Zhu Biao frowned slightly and asked, "If we no longer allow vassal kings to establish vassal states overseas, how should we deal with those ambitious vassal kings? We can't just do what your fourth uncle, the great-grandson, did in the original history, can we?"

Zhu Di's beloved grandson was naturally Zhu Zhanji.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty's policy of treating its princes like pigs was basically initiated by Zhu Di and finalized by Zhu Zhanji.

Zhu Xiong Ying said, "Of course we can't do it like in the original history, but we also can't restore the rule that my grandfather originally set—that a prince leading troops in the country is a disaster."

"Therefore, I believe that it would be best to guide the princes toward the development of science and art."

"Why exclude both politics and business?" Zhu Biao asked.

Zhu Xiong Ying: "If a prince were to enter politics, he would inevitably develop ambitions for the throne, and therefore he could not enter politics; as for engaging in business, the court could not stop him from secretly having others invest and make money, but he himself could not engage in business."

“After all, the princes have the prestige of the royal family. If they rely on them to do business, not to mention how many forced buying and selling incidents will occur, it may also disrupt the normal operation of the market.”

"Furthermore, if the vassal kings directly engage in commerce and become large corporations like those in foreign countries in later generations, they can also influence the court and even covet the throne."

"Therefore, not only should vassal kings not be allowed to engage in commerce directly, but when the court suppresses large merchants in the future, it should also pay special attention to those who are related to vassal kings. If their capital expands to a certain extent, those who are related to vassal kings must be severely suppressed."

Zhu Biao was speechless for a moment after hearing this.

He hadn't expected Zhu Xiong Ying to be so rational and decisive in governing the country. This was naturally a good thing for the Ming Dynasty, but from a personal perspective, it seemed somewhat heartless.

After regaining his senses, Zhu Biao was about to stand up and say something, but he felt a little dizzy after only getting halfway up, so he quickly grabbed the imperial desk for support.

Seeing this, Zhu Xiong Ying hurriedly asked, "Father, what's wrong?" Zhu Biao stood up straight again and waved his hand, saying, "It's nothing, I just feel a little dizzy."

Zhu Xiong Ying frowned. "Should we call the imperial physician over to take a look?"

Zhu Biao also knew the importance of health, and nodded, saying, "Alright."

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While the Ming Dynasty captured Jiaozhou in the fourth year of the Wenlong reign and consolidated its rule over Jiaozhou through a series of measures the following year, far away in Europe, Prince Zhu Gui of Dai, after initially consolidating the basic territory of Dai, also began to fulfill his promises to Prince Su, Prince Liao, and Prince Ning.

That is, to help the three men establish vassal states in Europe.

To avoid premature competition in the future, the vassal states of the individuals naturally could not be adjacent to each other. However, for the sake of mutual assistance, the vassal states could not be too far apart.

Therefore, after some consideration, Zhu Yan, Zhu Zhi, and Zhu Quan all decided to establish their fiefdoms in the northeastern part of the former Kingdom of France and the central and southern parts of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Kingdom of France has already fallen, so let's not even talk about that.

The Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation consisting of dozens of small states.

If Zhu Yan and others had sufficient military strength, it wouldn't have been difficult to establish a vassal state within the Holy Roman Empire—of course, it wasn't that easy either, since they wanted to establish a vassal state under the Ming Dynasty, rather than a country that adhered to Christianity like other European countries.

However, with the support of Prince Zhu Gui of Dai and Prince Zhu Gang of Jin, the three of them successively established the Su Kingdom, the Liao Kingdom, and the Ning Kingdom in the past year or two.

Although the three-person vassal state has been established, its territory is currently not large—only the size of a few counties in the Ming Dynasty, and even smaller than some prefectures.

The three were not in a hurry. On one hand, they formed alliances to resist wave after wave of attacks from neighboring countries that believed in the Jidu religion, and took the opportunity to expand their territory through counterattacks. On the other hand, they learned the governance methods of the Dai Kingdom, gradually developed and strengthened their rule.

Meanwhile, with the covert assistance of the Ming Dynasty, the Ottomans once again defeated the Crusades organized by the Holy Roman Empire and conquered Byzantium. This also marked the entry of Islamic influence into Europe.

As a result, the Christian states of Europe turned most of their attention to the Ottomans, rather than just focusing on the four Ming vassal states, including the Dai Kingdom.

After all, compared to the Ottoman Empire, which adhered to Islam, the Ming Dynasty's vassal states were not countries with strong religious influence.

The most typical example is that while Quetzalcoatl could exist in four countries including the Kingdom of Dai, it was not allowed in the Ottoman Empire—one had to choose between Islam and Quetzalcoatl.

As a result, it is easy to imagine that many European countries that adhere to Christianity would be even more hostile towards them.

It can be said that since the Ottomans conquered Byzantium, apart from old-fashioned figures like Philip II of Burgundy who still regarded the four countries, including the Dalmatian Empire, as major enemies of Europeans, most other European countries turned their hostility toward the Ottomans.

Even several major powers within the Holy Roman Empire began sending envoys to contact the four nations, including the Kingdom of Désiré, hoping they would join forces to form a new crusade to drive out the Ottomans.

The Ottomans were introduced to Europe by the Ming Dynasty to cause trouble, so Zhu Gui and others would naturally not accept the goodwill of the Christian countries and participate in any crusades.

Thus, in the following years, much of Europe was plunged into war.

In the southeast, the Crusaders, composed of troops from the Christian states, primarily the Holy Roman Empire, constantly clashed with the Ottomans in battles of varying sizes.

In Central Europe, the states of Su, Liao, and Ning frequently clashed with their neighboring countries.

England was still embroiled in internal strife, yet it couldn't resist getting involved in European affairs—mainly by sending troops to seize former French territories, thus clashing with the states of Désiré, Bourbon, and Burgundy.

In addition, wars broke out in other countries due to various conflicts of interest. There were wars almost every day in Europe, but they were all small in scale.

In the course of repeated battles, the arquebuses (matchlock guns) and cannons (general cannons and tiger crouching cannons) of the four major Ming vassal states, including Dai State, inevitably fell into the hands of other countries for various reasons.

However, it was several years after the establishment of the Three Feudatories of Su, Liao, and Ning that firearms began to appear in the armies of other European countries... (End of Chapter)