Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 430 Five Strategies for Nanyang

In the 16th year of Taichang, the imperial examination was moved to March. This was out of the emperor's great grace, but it was also because he took into consideration the heavy snow in winter and the difficulty for the candidates to travel north.

As a result, the news of the great victory in Malacca at the end of February was able to reach the capital before the imperial examination.

"The Privy Councilor went to make the plan in person. Marquis Fubo defeated the weak with his strength. If he loses this battle, it would be unreasonable!"

"It's a long way to go, and it's hard to gain anything. I think..."

"Brother, what you said is wrong..."

When Lu Xiangsheng heard the new scholars he had just met talking, he silently thought of the questions Yuan Keli had asked him in Kaifeng Prefecture.

The naval division costs money, a lot of money.

For a warship, most of the good wood is now purchased from Southeast Asia. A team of hundreds of skilled shipbuilders can only build three or two suitable warships in a year.

And this is just the beginning. The artillery and weapons needed for each ship need to be smelted and cast. Skilled sailors are different from elite land soldiers who can be trained at any time. The level of proficiency required for their mutual cooperation is far greater than the coordination between cavalry, chariots and infantry.

Every time we return from sea, the warships have to be inspected and maintained, which is like a money-eating beast.

Therefore, after the northern border was settled, the court still had to vigorously establish the South China Sea and East China Sea fleets, and there was a lot of discussion about this in the capital after the New Year.

Isn’t the existing Beiyang Fleet enough?

After Lu Xiangsheng arrived in Beijing, as the Chinese New Year was over, the news that the issue of eliminating the Japanese in the East, which was decided at the Grand Political Conference at the end of last year, was officially put on the agenda also came out.

The Ming Dynasty, which had basically focused on domestic affairs for several years, was no longer peaceful.

Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng now began to think more deeply about the question raised by Yuan Keli at that time: Your Majesty has always attached great importance to the people's livelihood. Some people in the court and the public are discussing that military expenditure is still too huge. What do you think?
In front of Yuan Keli at that time, Lu Xiangsheng could not possibly say that the emperor was ambitious. He just elaborated on the principle that if you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. He expressed that although the ethnic groups in the northern border were subservient to the Ming military, their future would be uncertain if their horses were put to rest and their weapons were put into storage. Then he focused on how to prevent the leakage of Ming military equipment technology in the context of the current booming border trade.

Yuan Keli's surprised look at that time should have been just surprise that he considered such details at his age.

But now that he was personally present at the scene of heated discussions between the government and the public, Lu Xiangsheng could not help but think about this issue carefully in private.

Yes, the emperor has always attached great importance to people's livelihood. Why didn't he spend more money on domestic affairs like the Yellow River Iron Bridge?

Is it true that the huge military expenditure every year is just to consolidate the military superiority and border defense system over the surrounding vassal states? Then why did they take the initiative to attack Malacca?
Some people would simply discuss this, while others would think more deeply.

"Everyone, I have other things to do, so I'll take my leave now."

Lu Xiangsheng said goodbye to them in the teahouse. When he was leaving, the storyteller was still telling the story of Fu Bohou's great power in Korea.

"Go to the First Teacher's Library."

The main roads were paved with cement, and a new business emerged in the capital, namely rickshaw business.

The temperature in the capital had started to pick up by the end of February, and Lu Xiangsheng and his servants could still withstand the strong wind while sitting in the carriage.

The ride on the carriage was much less bumpy than that of an ordinary horse-drawn carriage. After trying it, Lu Xiangsheng immediately understood: this was because it used new springs made in Tangshan.

It is said that there is another good thing found in Southeast Asia, which is more useful if it is wrapped on the wheels. However, that good thing is still very expensive now, and only the Imperial Household Department, the Institute of Research, and the Mechanical Institute are trying to refine it, and it is used on the imperial chariot first.

"Oh, young master, you even know this?" The cart driver slowed down his pace and answered with a smile, "I don't understand, but the shopkeeper told us to work hard. In the future, every city will have cement roads. If we do it well now, we can go to other provincial capitals to manage things in the future. That's why we all have to learn how to repair carts. I heard that thing is called rubber, and we even joked that there is something else that can be cut out of elephants besides ivory? I don't know if it is made from elephant skin like donkey-hide gelatin. Speaking of elephants, there are naturally more of them in Southeast Asia..."

Nowadays, those who can afford to hire someone to pull a cart are naturally wealthy.

If you make them happy and say a few auspicious words, you will always get more money as a reward.

Lu Xiangsheng was really fooled by him. After all, he spoke so convincingly.

Donkey-hide gelatin is indeed made from donkey skin, and the same is true for elephant gelatin.

It just sailed across the ocean from the South Seas and then was wrapped around the wheels to reduce the bumps. Isn't that a bit of a waste?

However, he was just thinking this in his mind at first. When he arrived at the library of the National Taiwan Normal University, he saw many rickshaw pullers there.

They were all waiting for the scholars or their families who came to La Minghua University and to read books in the master's library. Lu Xiangsheng faintly heard them talking about my young uncle, and he seemed to be thinking about something.

To be honest, I'm afraid this rickshaw business won't make much money. These rickshaws were made with new high-quality steel made in Tangshan, so they are naturally expensive.

Since there are nobles and relatives of the emperor behind them, it is probably the emperor's request: even if there is not much profit at the moment, just like the manager and the shopkeeper paint a rosy picture for their subordinates, the emperor is probably also painting a rosy picture for the nobles and relatives of the emperor.

He stopped thinking about it and walked into the door of his teacher's library.

This is actually the original Confucius Temple.

However, since the emperor's southern tour in the tenth year of Taichang decided to discuss the title of the Master later, it was actually confirmed afterwards, and he was only called the Most Benevolent Teacher.

Naturally, there were some discussions that followed. In short, there have been many discussions about this in the past, and it was even brought up during the Great Ceremony Debate in the Jiajing Dynasty - the Master himself was opposed to being worshipped by statues.

Finally, in the twelfth year of Taichang, the emperor set the tone: the statue was for commemoration, and there was no need for grand sacrifices several times a year. Instead, the Master's achievements in teaching and educating people should be promoted.

Therefore, there were decrees and imperial orders to convert Confucius Temples in various places into public libraries.

"It is better for the great teacher to see the diligent study of later generations every day than to worship him year after year without any effort to improve his knowledge."

Thus, the Confucius Temple in Beijing became the library of the ancient teacher. This was a good thing for many people who wanted to study but suffered from the high cost of books: public libraries could be used to study with a certificate of citizenship, and if books were to be borrowed, a deposit was required and some fees were charged on a daily basis.

Much cheaper than buying one yourself.

Lu Xiangsheng was not so poor. It was just that the Xianshi Library in Beijing was said to be second only to the Library in the Forbidden City and the Library in Tongzheng Academy, and its collection of books was similar in type and quantity to that of Peking University and Minghua University.

If you are not a student of these two graduate schools, you can only come to the library of our university to read some rare books.

The books that are not in our teacher’s library are probably those that involve military secrets, or they have not been published and are just folk scrolls.

Lu Xiangsheng came here to look for local customs and records of Western, Southeast Asian and Eastern countries.

He always felt that with the vision and insight of His Majesty and Prime Minister Yuan, such wise monarchs and wise ministers, who attached so much importance to armaments both at sea and on land, there must be more considerations.

There is a lot of discussion in the capital right now. The questions for the joint examination may have been decided long ago, but how do we know that Your Majesty will not use this as the topic for the palace examination?

At this moment, Zhu Changluo in the Forbidden City was still immersed in the joy of regaining control of Malacca City.

"From the detailed battle situation presented by Marquis Fubo, as long as the soldiers are familiar with the tactics and the warships and military preparations are not relaxed, the Western warships will not be able to shake the Zhenyang-class warships in a short period of time! In another 20 to 30 years, the Ming Dynasty will have steam ironclad ships, and it will be even more stable!"

In front of him, Tian Le smiled and nodded, and Xiong Tingbi said: "The imperial edict was passed on to Shandong, Henan, and Huaiyang, and all the candidates thanked the emperor for his grace. They went in time, otherwise many candidates would have to wait until the snow melted before returning home. But..."

"Go ahead."

Xiong Tingbi looked at Tian Le and said, "The old prime minister is waiting to select people to plan the foundation of the East Asia. I also want to select people to go to Southeast Asia to serve as officials of the Xingang Xuanwei Division. According to the report from the Southern Capital, not many people are willing to go to Southeast Asia to serve as officials. Merchants and ordinary people go to Southeast Asia to pursue profits and seek opportunities for survival. Scholars..."

The decision was postponed for a month to wait for the candidates to set off because we wanted to focus on selecting more people from this batch of new scholars and encourage them to go to Japan and Southeast Asia in the future.

Now that the Xingang Xuanwei Division is about to be established, whether or not enough people can be selected is one thing, but whether they are willing to go is very important.

Winning the battle is only the beginning of regaining control of Southeast Asia and Japan in the future.

"I have thought about this issue a long time ago." Zhu Changluo said slowly, "Prime Minister Ye is not here, which means that we have already started to make preparations."

The two of them sat together and listened.

"Xizhi knows." Zhu Changluo looked at Tian Le, "Places like Nanyang, without the efforts of three or five generations of education, can only be controlled. However, the Ming Dynasty needs to use a closer control strategy. The first is military, the second is trade, and the third is the naturalization of immigrants."

The military was simple, of course, with the Nanyang Fleet's Xingang Squadron stationed at the Malacca naval port. The trade was also simple, with Xingang Xuanweisi presiding over it, relying on the mature shipping routes there to become a foreground for trade with Europe and a "money gate" - if some European caravans were willing to go further and earn more, they could go to Nandu after obtaining permission to establish diplomatic relations, but many caravans would only reach Malacca for various reasons.

But it is not easy to make the migrants naturalize.

"After this battle, the many vassal states and small countries in Southeast Asia should all come to the Southern Capital again. This time they come to the Ming Dynasty to ask the Ming Dynasty to establish order in Southeast Asia. Taking this opportunity, there are five strategies to solve the current problems."

These five methods were discussed in detail in the Huangji Hall. Some were related to the selection and appointment of officials for the Xingang Xuanwei Division by the Jinxian Academy, while others were not.

The first method is to consider the need to encourage more Han people to migrate to Nanyang and Nanyang to further enhance the influence of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, a privilege will be opened to the coastal provinces, especially many big families that have participated in the sea expansion group: to donate money to get a special honor. However, this special honor can only be used as a vassal official outside the real land of the Ming Dynasty.

"If they spend money, they may exploit the locals and drain the pond to catch fish. Therefore, we need to make their future interests tied to the locals, so that they will really want to migrate there and plan for the long term. The way to do this is to let them negotiate with the various vassal states in Southeast Asia, open up trade ports, and then form marriages with local dignitaries. This is the second method, which is related to the third method."

The third method is to promote the viscounts and barons recognized by the Ming Dynasty in the future foreign vassal states. In addition to the titles of the prince level, duke level, and earl level conferred by the foreign vassal states, other upper-class people there can also be included in the foreign vassal lords managed by the Lifanyuan. The Ming Dynasty will naturally not be responsible for the titles and salaries of these foreign vassal lords, but there are two benefits: one is that they can set up a business to trade with the Ming Dynasty and obtain a license; the other is that if they are willing, they can settle in the Ming Dynasty and directly obtain civilian status.

That is related to the fourth method.

"For education, we have to rely on Nandu University." Zhu Changluo said with a smile, "When they arrive in the Ming Dynasty, they are just commoners. Even if they have accumulated some wealth, they are certainly unwilling. Therefore, if they want to have more possibilities in the future with this dual identity, they must arrange for their children to study in Nandu. Year after year, the standards of Nandu University alone can influence many foreign vassals to gradually move closer to the Ming Dynasty standards in their studies."

"Plus, the Han people who migrated to other vassal states and married into other vassal states have been influencing us subtly!" Xiong Tingbi understood, "It's a slow and steady process!"

Zhu Changluo nodded: "The plan of the Privy Council makes a lot of sense! The Ming Xingang Xuanwei Division and the Nanyang Fleet Military Port only control the eastern entrance of Malacca. Naturally, the Westerners will not be reconciled, and they will always find ways to do something in the west. What they call education is just preaching. But most people in Nanyang believe in Buddhism, and there is also Islam. As long as the Ming Dynasty designs a set of methods to protect them and provide a retreat, more and more foreign vassals will hide under the wings of the Ming Dynasty."

"What is the fifth strategy?"

"The fifth strategy is about the Ming Dynasty Bank." Zhu Changluo said solemnly, "The good things of the Ming Dynasty can be enjoyed by the foreign vassals, and the products of Southeast Asia will be transported to the Ming Dynasty. The flow of money will become larger and larger. The most important thing is that since they have been given the opportunity to become citizens of the Ming Dynasty, let them be willing to keep part of their wealth in the Ming Dynasty Bank. It will not only facilitate their business, but also allow them not to worry too much about fighting each other!"

Although the Ming Dynasty will divide the Nanyang into a new order, the land there is either a tropical jungle or an island. How can a mere Nanyang fleet manage everything?

The open and covert struggles among them, coupled with the unwillingness of European countries to continue to develop colonies on the western side of the Indochina Peninsula, made it impossible to avoid the "turmoil" in the Southeast Asian countries.

It is like the Ming Dynasty took back the city of Malacca and prepared to return it to the Sultanate of Johor, and the New Port Xuanwei Division was set up in the area of ​​Singapore known to later generations to control the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca. So would the Sultanate of Aceh be happy to see the Sultanate of Johor grow stronger?

This Ming Silver Bank concealed the Ming Dynasty's ambition to collect more reserve silver and establish a financial order in the future. It was indeed a good place for the wealthy and powerful people in the Southeast Asian countries to preserve their wealth - after all, they could trust the Ming Dynasty, after all, the Ming Dynasty's strategic goals were more long-term.

As long as there is enough reserve silver, the Ming Dynasty can begin to establish a new monetary system to support domestic and foreign trade, which will expand several times in scale.

We are still spending money these years! We are spending money on research and development, and on building new military and domestic systems.

But the harvest time is coming. With Portugal's defeat in Malacca, the Ming Dynasty was destined to take more of the profits of the Eastern Route.

The ocean is difficult to manage. Officials, businessmen and private businessmen have many tricks to play overseas, and tax control cannot be very strong.

But no one can do without one thing: there must always be a currency that is recognized by everyone and circulated in this broader market.

"As for the fact that the scholars of the Ming Dynasty are unwilling to travel across the ocean..." Zhu Changluo just smiled, "Then I will change the topic of the palace examination when the time comes."

(End of this chapter)