Su Yonglin asked in one sentence. Seeing that no one else was speaking, Yelu Yuanyi stood up and spoke first.
"Your Majesty, I think that whether this matter is a big deal or a small matter, what your Majesty is worried about is that after the destruction of the Kelie tribe and the Qiyan tribe, without their checks and balances, the other tribes will be able to grow bigger, so it is best What he did was nothing more than Ming Dynasty taking direct action to manage the grasslands.
But the problem is that the Ming Dynasty currently has many things to do and does not have enough financial resources to support the occupation and rule of the grasslands. The management of the Yellow River consumes most of the Ming Dynasty's energy, and the remaining daily government affairs are also very complicated. Direct management of the grasslands is beyond its capabilities. "
As he said that, Yelu Yuanyi looked at Lin Jingchun who was sitting aside.
Noticing Yelu Yuanyi's gaze, Lin Jingchun glared at him.
"What do you want me to do? No money! Your Ministry of Civil Affairs has already given you this year's budget, what else do you want? You don't build the Yellow River! What do you need so much money for? The grassland is a big hole that can't be filled. Even if it has to be filled, it won't be filled. not now!"
Lin Jingchun was a little nervous because he was asked for money many times at the recent government affairs meeting. Anyone who looked at him felt like they wanted to ask him for money, so his reaction was more intense.
The last sentence was said looking at Su Yonglin, basically for Su Yonglin to listen to.
It seems that he is really worried that Su Yonglin has ideas about the grassland again and wants to spend a lot of money to manage the grassland and add a bottomless pit to the Ming Dynasty that cannot be filled no matter how hard it is.
Su Yonglin laughed dumbly at this.
Su Yonglin smiled, and the other big guys also laughed.
Otherwise, Lin Jingchun has been a bit funny lately. He looks like he wants money from everyone. He holds his money bag wherever he goes, for fear that someone will take it out of his pocket before leaving.
It is said that people in various departments of the imperial court are betting on which department boss can collect money from Lin Jingchun in addition to the predetermined share. If anyone can collect it, this department will have great face in the imperial court.
"I didn't ask for money, Mr. Lin, don't be too sensitive. I just lamented that it's not easy for you to be in power."
Yelu Yuanyi shook his head helplessly, and then said: "The Ministry of Finance obviously can't come up with more money. Without money, there is no way to operate the grassland, and operating the grassland itself is also very difficult, no matter in the past Neither the Liao Kingdom nor the Jin Kingdom directly governed the grasslands, and the methods used were nothing more than Jisi."
Su Yonglin was silent for a while.
"Yuan Yi, what do you mean, the Ming Dynasty should also learn from the Liao and Jin countries and use restraints to control the grasslands?"
"Your Majesty is holy."
Yelu Yuanyi said: "Neither the Liao Kingdom nor the Jin Kingdom were able to directly control the vast grassland, but by supporting and suppressing many tribes on the grassland, they both succeeded in leaving no absolutely powerful tribe on the grassland that could command the heroes.
As long as there is no absolutely powerful tribe that can control the situation and command the heroes, the grassland cannot threaten the Central Plains. In the past, the reason why the grassland could threaten the Central Plains was nothing more than the emergence of unified orders, such as the Xiongnu and Xianbei in the Han Dynasty. "
"Well, keep talking."
Su Yonglin nodded.
"According to the order."
Yelu Yuanyi then said: "I think that if you want to prevent the grassland from threatening the Central Plains, you only need to do four words."
"What four words?"
"hoe the strong and help the weak."
As soon as Yelu Yuanyi said this, Su Yonglin was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help laughing loudly.
"Hahahahahahaha! Help the strong and support the weak! Hahahahahaha..."
Many people in the audience couldn't hold it any longer and started laughing loudly.
Yelu Yuanyi also laughed out loud.
Indeed, quite funny.
It was obviously for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty that he became a troublemaker on the grassland, making it impossible for the grassland to live in peace. He also dealt ruthless blows to those who took the lead and never allowed anyone to challenge the dominance of the Ming Dynasty. But in Yelu Yuanyi In his mouth, this matter suddenly became just.
Look, how righteous are these four words: "hoe the strong and help the weak"?
Because of these four words, everything the Ming Dynasty does in the future, everything it does to the grassland, can be regarded as justice, even infinite justice.
Because I am hoeing the strong and supporting the weak, I am supporting the weak, I am attacking the strong, and I am doing the right thing.
As long as I can always hoe the strong and help the weak, as long as I can always hoe the strong and help the weak, then the grassland will never become a threat, and I will always be just.
Of course it's hilarious.
However, Su Yonglin also knows very well that it is difficult to be strong forever, and it can even be said to be non-existent. The Ming Dynasty is not sure that it will always hoe the strong and support the weak without helping the grassland to raise Gu King.
Anyway, when the Jin people decided to eliminate the Tatar tribe, they certainly did not think about raising Temujin to be the final Gu King.
Anyway, when Li Chengliang decided to raise bandits to fight against the imperial court, he certainly did not expect to develop Nurhaci into the ultimate Gu King.
Raising Gu is a very dangerous thing. There are always some people who are smart enough to think that they can control the situation forever through micro-management. They always feel that these chess pieces cannot escape their Wuzhishan.
But they are not Tathagata Buddha either.
Su Yonglin felt that hoeing the strong and supporting the weak could be used, but it was only a stopgap measure. It was a stopgap measure during the period when the Ming Dynasty had no time to fully intervene in grassland management. Once it was free, it must bring the grassland into its rule and completely solve the grassland threats.
As for the method…
Su Yonglin suddenly thought of the cattle and sheep on the grassland, the conditions for animal husbandry on the grassland, and the sheep on the grassland, and then his mind jumped to the British sheep-eating enclosure movement.
The root cause of the enclosure movement was the world connectivity brought about by the Great Navigation, which made Britain a world trade center. The wool textile industry developed greatly and market prices continued to rise.
Some British people saw business opportunities, so they began to enclose land for grazing and raising sheep to make money. Over the past few hundred years, they turned half of the arable land in the UK into pastures. A large number of farmers went bankrupt, lost their land, and had no choice but to enter the city.
The industrial revolution and the proletarian workers transformed from bankrupt farmers then entered the stage of history and changed the course of history forever.
The British are different from the Ming Dynasty. The British are here to make money, while the Ming Dynasty not only wants to make money, but also needs to tame the grasslands and eliminate the threat to itself from the nomads - using economic means.
For the Ming Dynasty, it was indeed a common sense move to develop the wool textile industry to stimulate demand for the grasslands and thereby promote the expansion of the Central Plains dynasty into the grasslands.
If this one-stop industrial chain is opened up, the overall situation can be revitalized.
But Su Yonglin quickly realized that there was a serious problem.
Wool spinning, like the development of all textile industries, started two to three thousand years ago. Wool spinning technology has always been available in the Central Plains, and people do not know that wool can be used to weave clothes.
But the problem isn't here, it's efficiency.
The efficiency of spinning wool products through traditional handicraft textile technology is too low. In the end, the price is high and it becomes a luxury product. It is not enough to promote industrial upgrading, nor can it form a large-scale industry and generate large-scale economic benefits. This prompted the Central Plains dynasty to permanently occupy the grasslands.
From the traditional point of view, from harvesting wool to sorting wool and then to the final textile process, the manpower and time required are quite staggering. Without technological revolution and progress, mass production and price reduction of wool textiles cannot be achieved. This is The idea is simply not feasible.
If woolen fabrics become a luxury product, the demand will only be greatly restricted, and it will not change the economic ecology of the Central Plains and grasslands.
Therefore, the most critical part is to improve the existing textile machines and technologies, and to carry out technological innovations in the entire wool textile industry so that it is no longer a luxury product and exclusive to the nobility.
Thinking of this, Su Yonglin knew what he should do.
"It certainly makes sense to hoe the strong and support the weak, but hoeing the strong and supporting the weak cannot solve the fundamental problem."
Yelu Yuanyi nodded.
"Naturally, hoeing the strong and supporting the weak is just a temporary measure. The real solution will have to wait until the Yellow River renovation project is completed. The imperial court will have sufficient finances and can free up its hands. Naturally, it will be able to use a large army to march north to the grassland and completely solve the grassland disaster."
As soon as Yelu Yuanyi finished speaking, Zhou Jiang, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, stood up and refuted.
"What Yelu Shangshu said is certainly reasonable, but I don't think it is the final solution."
Yelu Yuanyi turned to look at Zhou Jiang, his face full of displeasure.
"Shilang Zhou, what do you mean?"
"Literally speaking, the most violent Northern Expedition on the grasslands was none other than Han Wu. However, after the attacks of several generations of emperors after Han Wu, have the grassland disasters been resolved?"
As a Shandong person, Zhou Jiang has always been dissatisfied with this group of Khitans, so he doesn't have a good look towards them and never says anything nice to them.
Yelu Yuanyi knew Zhou Jiang's virtue, so he took a deep breath and his face became grim.
"The Xiongnu, who were once in great prosperity, can no longer be a scourge to the Central Plains. Isn't this enough?"
"Of course not enough."
Zhou Jiang said sternly: "The Xiongnu did decline, but then the Xianbei power became strong, and Wuwan followed closely behind. The Later Han Dynasty was extremely distressed, and the border erosion was almost unstoppable. It was the origin of the Five Chaos in China! It caused the Central Plains to be destroyed. Full of fishy smell!"
Yelu Yuanyi's expression suddenly changed, as did the expressions of Yelu Chenghui, Yelu Jin, Li Baocheng, Mi Yuan and others present.
They are all foreigners, not Han Chinese, and all belong to outside ethnic groups. Zhou Jiang's words sounded like he was scolding the Wuhu at that time, but in the current context, it was obvious that he was referring to Sang and Huai, and he was scolding them all together.
"Shilang Zhou, be careful what you say!"
Yelu Chenghui has always been known for his good manners, and his behavior is quite like that of an ancient Confucian. Some people even say that he is too refined to be a Khitan. But now that he was criticized by Zhou Jiang, he was obviously unhappy.
But it doesn't matter. Although his grade is higher than Zhou Jiang's, Zhou Jiang doesn't care at all.
If you look down on me, you look down on me. If you are unhappy, you are unhappy. I didn’t mention him by name. What can you do to me?
"Why speak cautiously? I am just discussing the matter, do you have any opinion? Is what I said not what really happened? Or do you think what I said is wrong? If so, please correct me."
Zhou Jiang smiled slightly, and Yelu Chenghui's face suddenly turned dark.
He swore that he had never hated Zhou Jiang as much as he did today, and even vaguely hated his identity as a Khitan.
The minister, who was also a foreigner, looked at Zhou Jiang as if he were an enemy, and there were faint signs that he could no longer bear it because of his rising anger.
Their dissatisfaction with Zhou Jiang and their unfounded inferiority made them extremely angry.
Su Yonglin saw that it was almost over. If it continued, it would turn into a debate meeting on ethnic conflicts. That was not today's topic.
So he spoke.
"Whether Han people, Khitan people, Bohai people, or Xi people are all citizens of the Ming Dynasty, they all speak the same words, write the same characters, wear the same clothes, read the same books, and eat the same food. They insist on distinguishing themselves. If we come to each other, I'm afraid we'll get entangled, so don't say this again in the future."
The emperor personally came down to smooth things over, and the others had nothing to say and could only leave it at that.
Zhou Jiang also wisely did not continue to use the topic as an excuse.
He saluted Su Yonglin and said: "Your Majesty, the Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition to the grassland has exhausted the world and reduced the domestic household registration by half. It has been so violent that it still cannot conquer the grassland. After the Xiongnu, there were Xianbei and Wuwan, and then there were Wuhu. This shows that simply using troops cannot solve the grassland problem."
Yelu Yuanyi couldn't hold it back and rolled his eyes.
"Then tell me, how can we completely solve the grassland problem? Kill them all? Kill them completely?"
Zhou Jiang looked indifferent.
"I'm just saying that Yelu Shangshu's method is not working, and I didn't say how to solve it. If the grassland problem can be solved so easily, it won't drag on for a long time, and it still can't be solved until today, I don't have that much talent."
"you……"
Yelu Yuanyi was furious and pointed at Zhou Jiang: "Are you teasing me? Are you just against me?"
"Don't dare."
Zhou Jiang cupped his hands and saluted: "It's just a matter of fact. I have limited talents and cannot solve this eternal problem. Please don't blame Yelu Shangshu."
After saying that, he sat down peacefully, with a decent smile of a winner on his face.
This makes the ferocious-looking Yelu Yuanyi look like a clown.
Having lost face, Yelu Yuanyi was furious, but had no choice but to swallow his anger and sit down angrily.
The deep-rooted feuds and prejudices between the foreign clan and the Shandong clan cannot be resolved, and no one can resolve them. The Yanyun clan and the Yuancong clan have no opinions on this, let alone trying to resolve the conflicts between them.
Su Yonglin did not express his opinion on this dispute, but only mentioned it in a vague way.
"It is okay to object. There is no saying that you are not allowed to object. You must object to wrong things, otherwise you will be irresponsible. However, the objection must either have something to say or come up with a more practical strategy. You cannot oppose for the sake of opposition, or To object for unnecessary reasons is not a discussion, that is a party dispute, and you need to remember this."
Su Yonglin's faint warning was both a response and a declaration, and all the ministers expressed that they already knew.
As for whether he will do it again, that's another matter.
