Would you like to unite the world?
In Zhu Zhongshu's "General History of the Ming Dynasty", a whole chapter is devoted to analyzing the reasons why the idea of world unification emerged in the Ming Empire and gradually developed into a mainstream trend of thought.
First of all, he asked this question - is it a good thing or a bad thing to unify the world and put it under the Celestial Alliance?
Of course, the "mixing of Yi and Xia" that appeared in the last years of Xingfu, grew up in the Xianjia period (Zhu Yiyan's reign), and finally became a national policy in the Qiansheng period (Zhu Bolian's reign) does not mean to unite the whole world. All the kings and princes clicked and replaced them with the governors and prefects of the Ming Dynasty. The emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty in this era were not so confused. They knew that their court could not control so many things.
What they want to "unify the world" and "mix the barbarians and Xia" is just to expand the Celestial Alliance to the whole world - to establish a new world order with the Ming Empire as the suzerain!
This question is indeed difficult to answer... Zhu Yaofei was of course opposed to it because he did not believe that the Ming Empire and the Celestial Alliance had the ability and necessity to conquer the world.
Because to conquer the world, it is not possible to capture places like India, the Middle East, and the east coast of Africa. You must capture the west coasts of Europe and America, which are powerful and too far away from the Ming Dynasty.
Since it can't be done, there is nothing good or bad about it.
However, Zhu Bolian said in his "General History of the Ming Dynasty" that from the end of Xingfu to the Qiansheng period when the national policy of "mixing barbarians and Xia" was finally established, most people (Ming Dynasty people) believed that the world should be under the leadership of the Ming Empire.
This is a matter of course! If the whole world really needs a leader, it should undoubtedly be the Ming Empire.
Because the Celestial Alliance led by the Ming Empire actually owns half of the world!
Since you already have half, why not get a whole one?
Moreover, the other half of the world under the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire was not at peace and was very turbulent during those decades.
First, the "War of the Regents" broke out in the Roman Empire! A civil war broke out between the alliance headed by King Philip I of Serbia and the alliance headed by the Duke of Orleans.
This civil war lasted for almost ten years, and in the end it was still hard to decide the winner. The two sides signed a "Treaty of Co-Government" in Vienna, which stipulated that the Roman Empire would be divided into two, and the Duke of Orleans would assist Louis II in ruling the Western Empire. Philip I served as regent of the Eastern Empire.
In addition, in this "Treaty of Co-Government", the Duke of Orleans and Philip I also reached an agreement to jointly attack the Ottoman Empire.
It was stipulated that Philip I would lead the Eastern Empire army to attack Istanbul and expel the Ottoman Empire from Europe in one fell swoop.
The Duke of Orleans led the Western Empire army to land in Tunisia and seize North Africa under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
In the third year after the signing of the "Treaty of Co-Government", the "Roman Heroes" who had had enough breath began to attack the Ottoman Empire.
This war lasted for eight years, and the Ottoman Empire suffered heavy losses, losing Tunisia, Algiers, and Cyrenaica in North Africa. On the European side, all territory except around Istanbul (including Adrianople) was lost, and the entire country fell into a huge crisis.
While the Ottoman Empire was in crisis, India was also in chaos. The Timurid Empire fell into civil strife and was fiercely attacked by the Dashun Empire of India. It was also in danger.
The Russian Empire fell into political turmoil after the death of Peter the Great. First, Empress Catherine, who came from a humble background, was crowned emperor with the support of the powerful minister Menshikov! A few years later, Empress Catherine died of illness and was replaced by Peter II.
Peter II died in 1730 after not long serving. The throne of Russia was suddenly placed in front of Elizabeth Petrovna and Peter I's niece Anna Ivanovna.
Among them, Peter I's niece Anna Ivanovna was the Duchess of Courland, and Elizabeth Petrovna had already fulfilled her wish and became the crown princess of the Ming Dynasty (the emperor of the Ming Dynasty at this time was already Zhu Yiyan).
In order to prevent the throne from falling into the hands of the Ming Dynasty Crown Princess, the Privy Council, the de facto highest governing body of the Russian Empire, appointed Anna Ivanovna, whose succession was not so secure, as the empress, and deprived Elizabeth Petrovna and the inheritance rights of her children.
As a result, a war of succession to the Russian throne inevitably broke out!
And this war is also seen as a prelude to "mixing barbarians and Xia"... If the son of the Ming Crown Prince (Zhu Bolian and Elizabeth Petrovna gave birth to many children) can become the tsar, then why did the Ming Empire Can’t become the master of the world?
In order to make his wife the empress of Russia and realize his ideal of "mixing the barbarians and Xia", Zhu Bolian and his wife Elizabeth Petrovna left Yingtianfu and began a 12-year expedition. At the same time, Zhu Bolian also asked his father Zhu Yi to canonize his eldest son Zhu Zhongtong as the emperor's grandson... But this long-term expedition had an unexpected consequence.
A new era of women's rights began in Ming Dynasty!
Due to Zhu Bolian's long expedition and Zhu Yiyan's doting on his grandson Zhu Zhongtong, Zhu Zhongtong developed a weak and gentle character. Because she was worried that her weak grandson would be bullied by Elizabeth Petrovna, the "crazy female", Zhu Yiran once again broke the "princess examination system" (Zhu Bolian had already broken it once before when he married Elizabeth Petrovna) and directly prepared for her grandson. She selected an eldest lady from the Quanguo Duke's mansion as the principal concubine (a descendant of Zheng Sen), hoping to use the power of the Zheng family to protect her grandson Zhu Zhongtong.
This arrangement seemed quite thoughtful, but it inadvertently kicked off the feminist era of the Ming Dynasty!
At the same time, Zhu Bolian, who was caught in a long-term war, did another stupid thing... He broke the iron rule set by Zhu Cixiang that "officers with Boy Scout background are not allowed to serve in the Guards"! Let officers with Scout background serve in the Guards for a long time - the so-called Scouts are the trainees of the Guards. They join the army in their teens and after six years of study and training, they can become official Guards soldiers by passing the assessment.
After entering the Guards, they relied on military merit to climb up the ranks. The best among them could enter the martial arts hall and then become officers of the Ming Army. However, these officers who were promoted from the Scouts and the Guards could not return to serve in the Guards. They could only lead the ordinary Ming army. The person who leads the Guards must be an officer of noble origin.
This arrangement was, of course, to prevent the emergence of close groups and factions within the Guards and to prevent the Guards from interfering in politics.
However, Zhu Bolian, who led tens of thousands of Guards troops on long-term expeditions, found that Guards officers with aristocratic backgrounds were more prone to war weariness and were unwilling to follow him and Elizabeth Petrovna's "three-point political, seven-point military" approach. Toss... Most of them are the young masters of Yingtian Mansion, and of course they are not willing to fight such a protracted war.
So Zhu Bolian simply informed his father and mobilized a group of officers with Boy Scout background who were willing to fight a protracted war. Once this precedent is set, the Guards will become more and more assertive!
Moreover, this group of Guardsmen who had followed Zhu Bolian on his expedition to Russia for many years were closer to Elizabeth Petrovna and Zhu Zhongzhen, Elizabeth Petrovna’s son for Zhu Bolian, and they were more in favor of the idea of “mixing barbarians and Xians”—this bunch of poor people The Guards are certainly more militant than the officers from Yingtian nobles.
After laying a lot of minefields and setting up an exciting ideal for the Celestial Empire. Zhu Bolian, who had just ascended the throne, became ill due to overwork and died of illness in the Forbidden City of Nanjing in Yingtian Prefecture a few days before his 50th birthday. At this time, he had already snatched the Russian throne for his wife, so Elizabeth Petrovna He was not with him, but his second son Zhu Zhongzhen (mother is Elizabeth Petrovna), who had followed him on the Russian battlefield for many years, returned to the Ming Dynasty with him and stayed with him...
