New Shun 1730

What the emperor said is actually not quite right.

But under certain circumstances, he was right.

If you want the prince to be the conservative king of the past, then this sentence is obviously wrong.

Because this sentence is likely to develop into being stubborn, not listening to advice, Sui Yang's violence, etc.

But with Dashun's situation at this time, this sentence is correct.

In the reality that Dashun has essentially experienced serious internal divisions, if the old conservative king did nothing, it would be a devastating act for the Li family dynasty of Dashun.

Now the emperor is not afraid that he will choose the wrong prince or make a mistake in the future.

But he is afraid that the prince will not choose at all, or does not know what to do at all. This is reasonable, that is also reasonable, and if the order is changed overnight, then something will happen.

Because the separation between the two sides is too serious, once the emperor's ears are soft, it will be a devastating blow to the other side. If the old-new party struggle in the Song Dynasty really happened, and the imperial power could only choose sides, the Dashun Li family would not be far away from being destroyed.

As far as the current situation in Dashun is concerned, the separation between the traditional imperial examination officials and those who have made meritorious deeds is much more serious than when the old and new parties fought in the Song Dynasty.

In this case, if the emperor's ears were softer and he didn't have his own opinions, it would be a disaster for the Dashun Li family.

Once one faction is completely in power, the emperor and his ministers will stand together to carry out a comprehensive liquidation of the other faction.

If there is a real reckoning, it will not be a trivial matter where the old and new parties are fighting over each other. If we really want to liquidate, in the emperor's opinion, it will be a fight to the death.

So the emperor told the prince a story from the past.

"In the past few years, we discussed the matter of abolishing the canal and repairing the Huaihe River. In fact, there are still six words to talk about. Do your best and obey the destiny."

"At that time, a lot of money was spent, the national treasury was at its bottom, and the dangers were getting worse. If the Yellow River flooded at that time, the breach would go south; or, in early spring, when the river channel was not yet established, it would rain continuously and sediment would accumulate in the newly dug river channel."

"If destiny does not grant it, all efforts will be in vain."

"If at that time, we really fell short, since we are determined to be the emperor, we must hold on."

"If you don't make it today, try again tomorrow. If you don't make it this year, gather your strength and do it in five years."

"If you want to do it, let it be done."

"Otherwise, if we give up halfway and deal with those who come forward to build rivers and abandon canals, the government will be corrupted."

"It's the same thing now with the Yellow River."

"Since I am determined to build the railway, will the railway be built in places where the Yellow River burst may affect it? In fact, I have made up my mind."

"This matter should be considered when making a decision."

"In the case of the Huaihe River, the canal has been abandoned. If you fail today, save a few years of money and you will succeed next time. Even if you do your best and obey fate, if fate does not grant you, you can still afford to lose. The worst is to start over from scratch."

"In the case of the Yellow River, if we choose to open the river artificially, relocate people, and build water embankments in advance...it will not be a one-and-done effort or a year or two of finance. If it is really to be completed, it will take five or ten years; it will cost no less than 100 million taels."

"There is only one chance, and the cost is too high."

"Once you are halfway done, the Yellow River bursts without waiting for you to finish, and all your previous efforts have been wasted. By then, money and food will be wasted, and there will be no results, but there will be no chance to try again."

After all, the emperor decided to tell the prince something truly cold-blooded.

In the emperor's opinion, the prince's strategizing was still far from being cold-blooded.

Calling the prince to him, the emperor took out a map from the table, picked up the charcoal pen on the table, and casually drew a few lines and three or five circles on the map.

The vertical one is expected to be the first official long-distance railway in Dashun.

The painting is very random, diagonally downward from the capital to Kaifeng. From Kaifeng, he painted the Huaihe River, Xinyang, and further south.

The horizontal line above is obviously the Yellow River, which has not changed its course yet, but may change its course in the future.

The circle below is obviously Songsu District from Xuzhou, Haizhou to the south.

After simply drawing the map, the emperor added: "After a major disaster, there will be chaos. It is impossible to build railways to the disaster areas, and it must not be built in places that may be affected by the Yellow River disaster."

"So, relief is still quite difficult in the flooded area."

"If we can save it, it would be best so that the people will not be in chaos."

"If the people are in chaos..."

The emperor coldly drew a line on the "rerouted" Yellow River with his fingernails, and said calmly: "With the Yellow River blocking it, thieves and bandits are not allowed to go north. They must be blocked south of the Yellow River."

"The old Yellow River and the canal are blocking the way. There is also a railway that transports food to the west of the old river. The people's hearts are stable and no one will join the bandits. In addition, the railway transports troops. If the bandits form a group, they will break it. Therefore, the bandits who are disorderly and flowing will not be able to go west. Escape and contact Jingchu, Henan."

"There is a prosperous land in Songsu, Xingguogong's reform has been completed, prosperity is prosperous, and there is a constant supply of food. The place cannot be chaotic. In addition, the navy can transport troops mobilely at several ports near the sea. And the local gentry and wealthy merchants will be wary of rogue bandits and thieves entering the countryside, so they will definitely be enthusiastic Donate and support the imperial court. Therefore, thieves and bandits cannot flee south to disrupt Songsu."

"To the east is the land of death and the sea."

"No one in the southeast or northwest can escape. This is a certain death situation."

"If there is no railway, if I were the leader of the rogue bandits, I would have to fight to the death. I would not be able to cross the river to the north, nor would my troops reach the rich south. I would have to cross the canal and the old Yellow River, go straight to the Central Plains, move to Sichuan and Chu, and wait. The world is changing. Only in this way can there be a glimmer of hope."

"And once this happens, the Central Plains, Sichuan, and Chu will be corrupted, and the world will be in chaos. It will be impossible to do anything, and it is also possible to be the king's pioneer."

"However, since there is a railway, Jingchu in the Central Plains can be protected."

"At that time, it can be urgent or slow."

"If you are anxious, guard the Yellow River and the Central Plains, send troops from the East China Sea, squeeze them into a desperate situation, and annihilate them."

"If it's slow... in the future there won't be many people left, so the fields will either be laid waste or they'll be moved overseas."

"So if we build the second road, we must go from Xuzhou to Haizhou. One is to protect the salt in Haizhou; the other is to prevent chaos in northern Anhui. Cut the place so that no matter where trouble occurs, it cannot destroy several provinces. It’s just a province.”

"As long as they are trapped in one province and do not destroy several provinces, they can be wiped out with money from Songsu, grain from Liaodong, rice from Nanyang, and soldiers from the capital."

"One of the key things is the navy. Without the navy, there is no Songsu tax."

"The second thing is railways. Without railways, there is no cutting power."

"The rest can be changed or unchanged."

"For changes, the emphasis is on emigrating outside the territory. Whenever there is a disaster, we recruit young people to go to Fusang and the Southern Ocean."

"If nothing changes, everything will be the same as before, but it will only facilitate relief and suppression."

"So, the world's affairs only happen in these few places. If these few places are not chaotic, there will be no serious problems."

After that, he drew a few circles on the map with his finger.

Then he slowly said: "This is the way to maintain success. If you can't do even these few things, you won't be able to maintain success. Today's success is different from the past."

The emperor was teaching the prince step by step what "Shou Cheng" meant.

The old rules of keeping things are no longer applicable now.

And when Dashun has reached this point, to be a conservative king, it needs to build at least three railways, maintain a high-quality navy, maintain currency stability, complete currency reform, ensure the central fiscal tax source, maintain the expansion of foreign trade, and ensure the quantity of commercial grain.

It sounds like every one of them is a reform. Even if you pick one at random, it sounds incredible and requires drastic reform compared to Dashun thirty years ago.

But in fact, this is just the basic requirement for being a conservative king.

If you can't do this, you may not even be able to be a successful king.

And this can be summed up in one sentence: there are internal and external issues, but we must never regard the mainland as a colony in the first-mover area.

In fact, based on this alone, the emperor's expectations were a bit too high, even sky-high.

The emperor's meaning could no longer be understood.

Now for the imperial power, power comes from wealth, the army, rice, and grain. Where industry and commerce developed, these were the pillars of power of the Dashun imperial power.

For the imperial power, the threat came from the old and unreformed places. In these places, according to the traditions of the old times, there will be continuous uprisings one after another.

Don't fuel the uprising.

Don’t give up power either.

Internally, the past governance style continues.

In fact, it can be completely left to Tianyou Palace to organize Tianyou Palace into a group system, and let the prime ministers manage the internal affairs according to old experience and old traditions.

Purpose...what is the purpose?

What was the purpose of previous dynasties?

Do you really have any lofty ideals, are you really thinking about establishing the Three Generations Rule, or are you really thinking about establishing the well-field system?

No.

The purpose of previous rule was to rule.

Collect taxes, rule, and prevent rebellion.

Now, half of the wealth controlled by the Dashun imperial power comes from inland land tax, and half or more comes from Songsu, Northeast, Nanyang, and trade.

Among them are salt taxes, export profits, monopolies, spices, and even Indian taxes in the future.

The mainland should be governed according to past experience, whether it is light corvee or light taxation, or whatever. It should be done according to the established, original, traditional, and dynastic cycles.

The prime ministers will figure this out.

As for external commercial taxes, trade revenue, industry and commerce, navy, etc., the emperor must grasp them. As long as we seize these, be willing to provide disaster relief, and maintain the small-scale peasant economic tradition in the mainland, we can survive for hundreds of years. It seems so, the emperor thinks so.

As for the emperor, does he know that these things only treat the symptoms but not the root cause and can only be stable for a while?

Obviously, the emperor knew.

Therefore, the emperor taught the prince what it should be like to be a "ruling monarch" based on the existing foundation.

Because the emperor felt that the prince's talents were not enough to carry out reforms. It would be good to be a steadfast king.

Want to completely solve many problems in the mainland? Do you have this ability? To be pragmatic, the emperor felt that as long as you don't mess around, thank God.

The emperor's own ideas were accompanied by changes such as reforms, expansions, and technological advances that began over the past two decades.

Moreover, the emperor believed that he was definitely better than the prince, so the only way he could think of was to expand externally. Don't let Songsu attack small farmers and attack the interior. Instead, go to India, Southeast Asia, Persia, Africa, and other places. Europe.

According to the emperor's understanding, generally speaking, the cycle of a dynasty is only four hundred years of destiny, and this is how it comes naturally. Now, if we keep the situation as it is in the mainland, and rely on railway cutting, relief, and external resources, it seems that it is not impossible to double the situation and prosper the Zhou Dynasty for 800 years.

As for comprehensive and complete changes...at the very least, what do you want to become?

The emperor himself didn't even know.

The emperor's understanding of the new era was limited to the Westernization Movement-level understanding of making muskets, laying railroads, and building ships.