Zhu Jianyan finally decided to make Ming Dynasty strong forever.
Provide the local directly-administered areas with as complete and excellent natural geographical space as possible.
The eastern part includes Kuwu, Ezo, the Japanese Islands, the Korean Peninsula, Ryukyu, and Dongning Island, all directly under the jurisdiction.
The north includes the Outer Xing'an Mountains, Beihai, and the entire Xianbei Wasteland except the Western Xianbei Principality.
The west includes Balkhash Pool, Congling, Tianshan Mountains, Kunlun Mountains, and the end of the Himalayas.
The south includes a circle of peninsulas and islands including Myanmar, Siam, Malacca, Old Port, Borneo, and Luzon.
The land area extends directly to the two oceans, is surrounded by natural geographical boundaries, and has multiple completely enclosed inland seas.
Many times, many things are difficult to determine. The key reason is that the decision-maker cannot make up his mind, or no one takes responsibility.
The emperor made up his mind and determined the direction, and the plans for the local provinces were quickly determined.
Local core areas, densely populated areas, are traditionally set into smaller provinces.
In border areas, sparsely populated areas, larger provinces were established.
Only one Xianbei Province was set up in the outer Xing'an Mountains and north of Beihai, and the Xianbei region that Zhu Jingyuan originally mentioned was completely gone.
In addition, there is one province in Mobei Mongolia, one province in Monan Mongolia, and three provinces in the northern frontier.
The Lelang Chief Envoy Division in the Liaodong region was split, the western part was merged into Liaodong Province, and the eastern part was merged with Kuwu to form Jinghai Province.
The logic of such a split is to expand Liaodong as much as possible without allowing Liaodong to have a Jinghai coastline, reducing the complexity of Liaodong's geographical scope. The Whale Sea coastline on the mainland is completely given to the Whale Sea Province.
Together with the basically unchanged Heishui Province, there are three northeastern frontier provinces.
On the Korean peninsula, two chief ministers were merged to form the Korean Province. Two and four chief ministers on the Japanese Islands were merged into two provinces, Edo and Nara. The Haidong chief minister, including Ryukyu and Dongning Island, was merged. Incorporated into Fujian Province.
In this way, there are three provinces in the east, east coast, and Asahi.
There is one province in the south: Luzon, one province in Borneo, one province in Malacca and Old Port, and three provinces in the southern coast.
Yunnan merged with the entire Burmese Chief Executive Department, Cochin, Lancang, and Chenla merged to form Guangnan Province, and Siam became a separate province.
Three provinces were established in the west: Xijiang, Xueyu, and Qinghai.
Other original core area provinces remain basically unchanged.
In this way, there were originally 13 provinces in the mainland, two capitals, and 15 provinces in the border areas. The Ming Dynasty had a total of 30 provinces in the direct jurisdiction of the mainland.
On the contrary, Nanyang was dismantled, and peripheral areas like Luzon were completely gone, as were key core areas like Borneo, Old Port, and Malacca.
In this way, the remaining Nanyang Islands are basically miasma.
Among the remaining areas, only Java has a slightly larger population, and then there is Tiannan Continent.
The remaining land was basically south of the equator, so the Nanyang Region was simply gone and renamed the Tiannan Region.
After the relevant decisions were finalized, they were not made public immediately, but adjustments were implemented step by step.
But Zhu Jingyuan, as the most special participant, immediately received a message directly from his father.
Zhu Jingyuan was confused as he looked at his father's explanation and the general map plan.
I explained the pros and cons clearly to my father. I originally thought that my father, as a traditional monarch, should consider and decide in a way that limits the scale and geography of the local area.
As a result he went in completely the opposite direction.
Zhu Jianyan was too shy to let his son guess his true inner thoughts.
Based on the mentality that since his father educated himself, he should also find opportunities to educate his son, Zhu Jianyan wrote down all his thoughts and decisions.
Zhu Jingyuan was completely confused after reading these explanations.
"Is this really the Ming Emperor's way of thinking? Are you sure he's not a nationalistic and angry young man?"
Zhu Jingyuan looked at these words and understood what his father meant.
After thinking about it for a long time, I slowly realized that I was different again.
My previous judgment on the difference in thinking between myself and my father and grandfather was not accurate.
The biggest internal difference in self-perception between myself and my father is not at all a question of whether I think the traditional monarchy is backward, or whether I consider the possibility of the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.
The fundamental difference is that I think I am Chinese, while my father, the emperor, thinks he is a Ming Dynasty person.
The point is, the concept of oneself as Chinese is complex.
My father's concept of Ming people is very simple.
In this world, of course there is the concept of China, but this China is not that China.
The most direct meaning of the word "China" in Zhu Jingyuan's mind is the name of a country.
But in this world, the "two characters" of China in Ming culture are not the name of a country.
It is not the official name of any ethnic group or dynasty in China, nor is it even an informal folk name.
The imperial court and bureaucrats spoke like "I am the Ming Dynasty", and ordinary people also spoke like "we are the people of the Ming Dynasty".
The word "China" is a broad identity positioning and is basically only used in the scope of historical and literary research.
Zhu Jingyuan remembered that in the fourth year of Xigong in "The Legend of Gongyang":
"The southern barbarians and the northern Di were at crossroads, and China was as close as a line. Duke Huan saved China and fought off the barbarians and Di, killing Jing. This was the king's duty."
Duke Huan of Qi rescued Xing State, Wei State and other countries, and was called "saving China". This shows that the word itself was a general reference at first.
Confucius’s Spring and Autumn Annals include:
"The princes who use barbarian rituals will be barbarians, and when they advance into China, China will be conquered."
Han Yu's "Yuan Dao" includes:
"Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals. The princes used barbarian rituals to treat barbarians, and when they entered China, they were treated as Chinese."
The words of Han Yu and Confucius, one is the original words and the other is a quotation, of course the meanings are exactly the same:
"If the princes learn the etiquette of Yi Di, then they will be regarded as Yi Di. If the princes use Chinese etiquette, they will be regarded as members of China."
It can be seen that the word "China" is also an identity label, used to distinguish those within the group who adhere to tradition and those who betray tradition.
If you, a prince, use Chinese etiquette and law to deal with me, then I will recognize your status as a prince.
If you don't use Chinese etiquette to deal with me, then I will treat you as a barbarian.
The popularity of this definition and related topics is basically inversely proportional to the strength of the central dynasty.
When the central dynasty was at its peak of military power and culture, basically no one would bring up this topic.
Because there is basically no possibility of betrayal by members of the group, there is a difference between being laughed to death and being beaten to death directly.
Only when it starts to go downhill and various problems break out will it be taken out to identify traitors.
When the central dynasty finally fell, this conversation would turn to the other side.
During the Yuan Dynasty, there was a saying that "if you can use scholars today and practice the Chinese way, you will be the master of China."
During the Qing Dynasty, there was a saying that "if the Chinese are the barbarians, then the barbarians will be with them; if the barbarians are with China, then the barbarians will be with them."
The scope of identification of "China" has expanded from whether there is betrayal within the group to whether outsiders can integrate.
Nowadays, scholars from various countries in Thailand and Spain often discuss these topics enthusiastically.
They basically adhere to a two-way logic, that is, regardless of whether they are born Chinese or Yi Di, their actual identities can be transformed into each other through learning.
This is the theoretical basis for their desire to become Ming people.
The Ming Dynasty is now extremely powerful, and this kind of topic has no place in the Ming Dynasty's own country.
If there must be an explanation, it would be that the place where the Ming Dynasty ruled and where the laws and etiquette of the Ming Dynasty were used was China, but not vice versa.
So what is Daming?
Compared with Taixi, Ming Dynasty is another world.
Compared with the European and Western countries, the Ming Dynasty was another country.
Compared with the various ethnic groups in Thailand and the West, the Daming people are a unified name for another group of people.
Compared with the languages of various countries in Europe and the West, Daming Yayan is a unified name for a language.
The Thais and Westerners in this world will not use China to refer to the Ming Dynasty, but they will judge whether others are Chinese enough.
When Westerners learn the language of the Ming Dynasty, they do not say that they are learning Chinese, but they are learning "the elegant and correct pronunciation of the Ming Dynasty".
When writing the text of the Ming Dynasty, I will not write Chinese characters, but write the "Da Ming Yawen orthodox style".
Because the exchanges between Taixi and Ming Dynasty are very close, because the two sides have gone from communication to trade to fighting for hundreds of years.
Because the Ming Dynasty was absolutely powerful compared to the whole world.
Because the Thai people know enough about the Ming Dynasty.
The Westerners know that the Ming Dynasty is the current official name of the indigenous ethnic groups and political power in China.
The names of Qinstan, Khitan, Qinna, and Kaina, which have been handed down from ancient times, are all inaccurate transliterations that have been passed through many hands. No one has used them for a long time.
The key is that if the countries in Europe and the West continue to use that title, the Ming court and people will not pay attention to them at all.
This is completely different from Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, during the Qing Dynasty.
The Qing Dynasty did not require the Western countries to refer to it as the Qing Dynasty. Instead, it was changed from the Qing Dynasty to China in accordance with the habits of the Westerners.
Ordinary people in the Qing Dynasty did not think they were Qing people, they were bannermen or other people.
Even among the bannermen, there are the Upper Three Banners, the Lower Five Banners, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Han Army Banner, the Mongolian Banner, etc...
At that time, the Qing Dynasty was completely torn both internally and externally.
This situation at that time seriously hindered the efficiency of the Qing Dynasty's thorough reform and pursuit of industrialization.
Today's Ming Dynasty has achieved complete uniformity among ethnic groups, cultures, titles, countries, royal families, and courts from the inside to the outside, from top to bottom, from self-recognition to external recognition.
This is the prototype of the nation-state that developed naturally in modern times.
They speak the same language, use the same words, have the same identity, have common cultural habits, and are all proud of them.
In this environment, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty said, "I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty."
Just like Napoleon during the French Revolution, his title of emperor was Emperor of the French, not Emperor of Rome.
The Ming Dynasty in this world is smelting out an ethnic group named "Da Ming", an ethnic group named after the country where they live.
Zhu Jingyuan even considered that if such a Ming Dynasty unified the whole world, would the earth still be called the earth?
The earth is actually no longer called the earth, but now the world, the world, and the universe.
If the Ming Dynasty unified the whole world, then this world would be the Ming Dynasty, just like the Qin Dynasty that unified the world would still be the Qin Dynasty.
If we go one step further, Ming Dynasty will enter the cosmic era, if it comes into contact with other alien civilizations.
The Ming Dynasty may even become a representative name for all human beings, and the civilization of this planet is called the Ming Dynasty.
After Zhu Jingyuan figured out these things, he realized again that his buttocks had drifted and his head and buttocks were separated only by himself.
My father, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, has a very stable butt and brain.
Zhu Jingyuan also realized again the urgency of integrating other ethnic groups within the Ming Dynasty.
The ethnic group of the Ming Dynasty is not yet completely stable, and is still in the process of "retaining similarities and discarding differences."
Keeping similarities and discarding differences has two meanings.
One is to keep the same places and discard the different places.
The second is to retain those who share a common understanding and discard those who do not.
In today's Ming Dynasty, if someone claims that he is not a Ming Dynasty person and does not want to be a Ming Dynasty person, then this person will have a difficult time in the Ming Dynasty and even in the world.
Therefore, there is no such thing as seeking common ground while reserving differences, it is about keeping similarities and discarding differences, and completely melting the entire country and people into one.
In this process, everyone in the entire country will "unify their thinking" to some extent.
When faced with certain national-level issues, most people will naturally make the same choice.
As a result, the entire country can erupt with very terrifying power.
In the traditional classical dynasty era, a country with 10 million people would be considered good if it could provide 100,000 soldiers.
At that time, ordinary people became soldiers to make money, to survive, and to fight for kings and nobles.
But once a nation-state is formed, a country of 10 million people can even recruit an army of one million people.
The military of such a country will take it for granted that they are fighting for their country.
As a result, not only will the mobilization capability skyrocket by an order of magnitude, but the combat enthusiasm will also increase by a large level.
Even if the productivity is the same, nation-states that have unified their thoughts will be crushed compared to traditional classical countries.
There are indeed many advantages, but the disadvantages are also very obvious, especially for the royal family and nobles...
That is, ordinary people are gradually beginning to have a sense of ownership, and they feel that they are also the masters of the country.
They will no longer feel that the land and country belong to the monarch anyway, and it has nothing to do with them no matter how the monarch engages in enjoyment.
The monarch and the nobles are no longer the masters of the country. They and the monarch are both the masters of the country, and the monarch is just the higher-status leader within the master group.
How this leader manages the country and what decisions he makes are closely related to him, and they are all matters that affect the future of his ethnic group.
Therefore, you must always keep an eye on what the monarch is doing and whether the monarch is doing well. If the reduction is not good, you must give your opinion and ask the other party to correct it.
Of course, they may have good intentions, but the monarch cannot ignore them.
Otherwise the consequences could be very serious.
To put it bluntly, rulers can no longer fool the people casually.
Zhu Jingyuan didn't know if his father realized this.
It should be that they are not aware of or do not perceive the existence of this difference.
Because as part of the entire Ming Dynasty group, he himself was also unified in his thinking under this situation.
His current thoughts are from the perspective of all Ming people.
He...as a prince trained by the Crown Prince, he has never had the knowledge or habit of having wanton entertainment since he was a child.
Probably... in his perception, the emperor should have been such a person.
Now that the emperor has the consciousness of being the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, it is only a matter of time before the royal family becomes a symbol of the Ming Dynasty.
The royal family, which has a relatively long heritage and has a certain prestige, is also a good tool to enhance ethnic cohesion.
But what should I do now and in the future?
My butt and brain are still drifting, and I haven't found a place to land.
I don't have the kind of consciousness that a Ming Dynasty person formed spontaneously.
What I have is Chinese cognition, and I also have a weirder human cognition.
Will I fall into the melting pot of the Ming Dynasty, or will I continue to maintain my independent mentality?
(End of chapter)
