Together with his father and Wei Yuan, Wu Xiongying ran non-stop around the fiefdom for ten days, visiting all the main residential areas.
Basically, the existing main assets and population of Philo County were confirmed and handed over.
The company registration at the Capital Commander's Office has also been officially completed, and the Philo County Development and Construction Company has been officially established within the Ming Dynasty.
The disadvantage of martial law is that things may be handled irregularly, but the advantage is that it can be very efficient when necessary.
On November 15, the fifth year of the Era, Wu Xiongying signed the handover document with Qianhu and the governor of the temporary Qianhu Office.
The governor and Qianhu returned to the capital to command the envoys, and Wu Xiongying officially took over his fief.
The main work from now on is renovation and construction.
Wu Xiongying returned to his manor with Wei Yuan, which was also the location of the temporary county government office.
He looked at the Taixi people busy working on the construction site around them, and at the Ming soldiers, Jin Yiwei, and Yamen officials who occasionally encountered patrols and supervision.
Of course, the images of the two sides are completely different, and most of the clothes of the two sides are also different.
The management of the Taixi people has the opportunity to change into Ming-style clothing, but they are not yet able to obtain truly orthodox clothing.
Most of the lower-class Thais don't have the opportunity to change into Ming-style clothes for the time being, but they still tie up their hair.
Wu Xiongying observed the situation on the street for a while, and then asked Wei Yuan beside him with a probing attitude:
"Uncle Wei, in your opinion, is it necessary for us to change the clothes of the Taixi people?
"Formulate and distribute uniform and normal style Ming Dynasty clothing to all those who work for the yamen and those who work for the development and construction companies.
"Is it necessary to require all ordinary people in the territory to change to Ming-style clothes in the future?
"At the same time, should we also try to reverse the weird concept of chastity of Thai and Western women as much as possible?
"Should we begin to strictly crack down on and punish adultery immediately?"
Wei Yuan did not answer directly, but talked about something else:
“I was actually thinking about this issue, and I also thought about some things in history.
"In the last years of Chongzhen, the Jurchens entered the country to seize the country. After occupying the capital, they issued an order to shave their heads.
"The people of the Central Plains are required to follow the pseudo-Qing custom and shave off most of their hair, leaving only a circle as big as a copper coin, braided into a small braid, called the Money Rat Tail."
Wu Xiongying remembers what he said in history class:
"According to His Majesty Emperor Shizu Guangwu, this behavior of the Jurchens was a 'test of obedience'.
“It was also to allow officials and people to completely break with the Ming Dynasty.
“So, most of the officials who took the initiative to join the Jurchens also took the initiative to shave their heads.
“After Emperor Shizu succeeded in his Northern Expedition, the money rat tails on the back of the heads of these shaved men became a natural symbol of their identity as traitors.
"Even if you are born with bald tendon, no one would make their hair look like that."
Wei Yuan nodded slightly, and then further reminded:
"However, His Majesty Emperor Shizu also said that the Jurchens themselves do not necessarily have such a clear understanding.
“They are just trying to summarize the experience of past non-central courts.
“Their main reference is the Jin Kingdom established by the Jurchens in the Song Dynasty.
“They believe that changing to the clothes of the Central Plains is a sign that the ancestors were greedy for pleasure and gave up their martial arts.
"They obviously think that the clothes of the Central Plains Dynasty are more exquisite, and wearing such clothes can even be regarded as extravagant and lewd.
"Therefore, they refuse to use clothes from the Central Plains in order to prevent the spread of arrogance and licentiousness within the ethnic group, thereby weakening their combat effectiveness."
Wu Xiongying had never understood this level of history, so he asked out of curiosity:
"So Uncle Wei, do you think their judgment is correct?"
Wei Yuan organized his thoughts and then tried to explain his point of view:
“I can’t say whether it’s right or not, I can only say that this judgment is superficial.
“According to the analysis of His Majesty Emperor Shizu Guangwu, most dynasties before the Renwu Dynasty had natural flaws in their systems.
“Nothing in the world remains static.
“But kings and court officials of all dynasties have been pursuing rules and systems that will never change.
“When their achievements reach the peak, no matter how they go, they will always go down.
“As the saying goes, what goes up must come down.
“The most direct manifestation of this decline in the rise and fall of dynasties is the weakening of control capabilities.
“The king’s ability to control the officials in the court has weakened, and the court’s ability to control the scholars and people among the people has weakened.
"During the Chongzhen Dynasty, didn't the Ming Dynasty have any warworthy soldiers on its territory?
"Yes, the servants of Guan Ning's army, the white-armed soldiers of the Sichuan chieftain, and the navy of Zheng Zhilong.
"It's just that they are all private soldiers of a certain nature, not completely under the control of the imperial court, or even completely obeying the orders of His Majesty Chongzhen.
"Didn't the Ming Dynasty of Chongzhen Dynasty have money, food and wealth?
"Yes, Jiangnan was still the richest place in the world at that time, and the smuggling merchants were also extremely wealthy.
“But the imperial court cannot collect taxes.
“In other words, these money are not controlled by the court.
“The place has money and people who can fight, but it is not controlled by the imperial court, so the imperial court has no power to resist foreign enemies.
“If Emperor Shizu hadn’t reintegrated these forces, the world might have fallen into Hu Chenli again.
“At that time, the owners of these money will not be able to maintain the comfortable life they had before.
"Those soldiers and people may become slaves of the barbarians...
“The monarchs of the past dynasties have many wise warriors who can see the essence of this.
“They then worked hard to maintain and enhance the imperial court’s ability to control, but the enhanced effects of their efforts were basically temporary.
“A certain degree of control has been temporarily restored, but it has not reversed the overall downward trend.
“There is no standardized and effective system.
“Once the main promoters and themselves become tired or die, they may counterattack.
“The power of the imperial court to control local areas has been continuously passing away since the establishment of stability in the new dynasty.
“When the imperial court’s control ability is reduced to a certain level, it will no longer have the power to relieve local floods and droughts.
“It also has no ability to quell local rebellions, let alone resist barbarian invasions at the border.
"This kind of dynasty has come to an end.
“It has nothing directly to do with what the rulers of the dynasty wear.
“The imperial court’s control continues to lose over time, but there is no relatively stable and mature recovery plan. This is essentially a manifestation of the imbalance of yin and yang in the government.
“Emperor Shizu Guangwu worked hard for nearly a hundred years to create a new system that could continuously restore the court’s control.
“Let the operation of the imperial court truly enter a state of yin and yang, a cycle of endless growth.
“However, His Majesty Shizu also said that everything has two sides, Yin and Yang.
“Although they only saw the surface, their actions may not be useless.
"The widespread implementation of the order of shaving one's hair and making people obedient can indeed complete an 'obedience test' for the conquered areas.
"According to our tradition in the Central Plains, filial piety begins with the body, hair, and skin received from the parents and not daring to damage them.
"Emperor Shizu said that shaving our hair forces us to destroy the symbol of the most important things in our hearts.
“For example, when a bandit leader faces a good man who wants to join his gang, he will ask him to commit murder, arson, and other evil deeds in order to pay them a certificate of surrender.
"The process of shaving one's hair and changing clothes was to make common people and scholars publicly swear that they would completely betray the Ming Dynasty and betray their former loyalty and filial piety.
“Keep your hair shaved and your clothes on, let the common people and scholars keep their money and tails, and let them always remember that they are the descendants of traitors.
“It’s also like the initiation ceremony of many abnormal religious organizations.
“Cutting off a part of the body’s natural tissue serves as a symbolic ritual to cut off from one’s past self and gain an irrevocable new identity.
“This not only undermines the integrity of the Central Plains scholars, makes them feel guilty when discussing loyalty, and makes them more likely to betray.
“But it also created a new sense of belonging for them, because everyone betrayed them!
"Those who shave their heads are the real Han people, and those who keep their hair in buns are rebels."
Wu Xiongying was a little confused:
"Historically... the Jurchens were quickly wiped out by Emperor Shizu. What you said, Uncle Wei, can only be regarded as inferences, right?"
Wei Yuan nodded lightly, sighed and said:
“It is indeed the inference made by Emperor Shizu, and many people even think it is an exaggerated inference in a threatening manner.
“However, Emperor Shizu’s inference is not entirely an inference, and there is even a lot of actual historical evidence.
“The Jurchens’ Kingdom of Jin issued and implemented the policy of shaving their hair and changing clothes in the Central Plains.
“In the first year of Jingkang, the Jin State attacked the Song Dynasty and occupied Hebei and Hedong north of the Yellow River.
"In the name of "having returned to this dynasty, it is appropriate to conform to the customs", the Privy Council of Jin ordered the newly-affiliated people in Hebei and Hedong to 'cut off their hair and wear short scarves with left lapels'.
"If you don't obey, you will be punished by the canon even if you still miss the country."
“Three years later, the Jin Kingdom occupied most of the northern region, and the order to shave hair and change clothes began to be fully implemented.
"It should be recorded in the Jin Guo Zhi compiled by the people of the Yuan Dynasty, 'In June of that year, people were banned. People who wore Han clothes and had their hair cut off were not as good as the old people died.'
"The corresponding actual situation is recorded in the "Annual Records of the Years Since Jianyan" written by Li Xin of the Southern Song Dynasty.
"In September of the third year of Jianyan, 'Marshal Jin's Mansion prohibited people from wearing Han attire, and ordered Kunfa to be killed if he was not good enough.'
"The man who protected Yi Lang, Li Zhou, was imprisoned and his head was held. Zhou was so angry that he died overnight.
"At that time, Liu Tao, who knew Daizhou, was leading an army in the city. He found that his hair on the top of his head was a little too long and the size was not as good as the style. He immediately beheaded him.
"Later I learned about Han Chang in Zhaozhou and Geng Shouzhong in Jiezhou. If he saw the common people wearing robes and noses, they would be ordered to kill them in Han attire...
"In the sixth year of Qiandao in the Southern Song Dynasty, Fan Cheng was ambassador to Jin. He saw that the clothes and hairstyles of the residents in the old capital of Kaifeng had no longer regained their Chinese style.
"Tokyo was changed to Nanjing by the captives, and the people have been accustomed to Hu customs for a long time, and their attitudes and hobbies have changed with it.
"On the top of a man's condyle, there are three or four condyles with moon marks. Otherwise, it is also necessary to nourish the remaining hair, make a vertebrae bun on the top of the head, and wrap it with a scarf.
"The worst thing is that the clothing and the like are all made in a bad way. This has been the case since the Huaihe River and the north, but it is especially true in the capital.
"In fact, even the ancient statues of ancient sages have been replaced with the image of Jurchens with "hair and left folds".
"During the Chunxi period, Chen Yidao, the envoy of the Song Dynasty, passed by the Guangwu Temple on the bank of the Hutuo River and 'saw the left lapel of the statue'.
"In the second year of Kaixi, Yue Ke followed the Song army in the Northern Expedition to Lianshui. He saw the statues in the Military Academy Xuande Hall, all with left lapels, looking at each other and sighing."
"The statues of Confucius in the Jin Dynasty all had their heads shaved and the left lapels were shaved, which marked a great change in the world.
“The Jin Kingdom’s rules on hair shaving and changing clothes were very strict in the early days, but were relaxed when King Hailing Wan Yanliang.
“But after Wan Yanliang was killed, Wan Yanyong, the successor of Jin Shizong, braked again and did not relax again until the late stage.
"So in the ninth year of Chongzhen's reign, the new Jurchen chieftain Huang Taiji specially summoned Jurchen officials to a meeting and warned:
"The laws of Taizu Jin Taizu and Taizong are detailed and can be remembered for a long time.
"In the reign of Xizong Hara and Wan Yanliang, they were completely abandoned. They indulged in drinking and sex, indulged in excessive entertainment, and imitated the bad habits of the Han people.
"When Shizong ascended the throne, he worked hard for his ancestors and diligently sought governance, fearing that his descendants would still follow Han customs and forbid the treaty.
"I have always followed the instructions of never forgetting my ancestors, and followed the old system in clothing and language. I always practice riding and shooting to prepare for martial arts.
"Although I was taught this, the kings of later generations gradually became inactive and forgot about riding and shooting.
"As for Aizong, the country was in danger and the country was destroyed.
"So he believes that the monarchs behind the Jin Kingdom finally perished because they gave up their Jurchen-based policies and failed to curb Sinicization.
"Once they gain power, they will definitely implement the order of shaving their hair and changing their clothes more thoroughly based on the Jin Kingdom."
Wu Xiongying was obviously a little stunned after hearing these records:
"People from the Jin Kingdom are really barbarians. If their clothes and hair don't fully meet the standards, why should they be beheaded?
"This Huang Taiji still said it so seriously. Could it be that he really believed that the Kingdom of Jin was destroyed because he did not completely shave his hair and change his clothes?"
“I remember that according to Emperor Shizu, when different countries and ethnic groups compete for the right to exist, failure is a fault.
"The Kingdom of Jin obviously couldn't defeat the Mongols, so they were destroyed. It has nothing to do with whether they were Chinese or not.
"Otherwise, the Song Dynasty, which was completely Chinese, would have lasted longer than the Jin Dynasty?"
Wei Yuan laughed dryly, and then sighed:
“Actually, it’s not a question of Chineseization or not, but a question of whether to take Chineseization as a thing.
“Liao people did not care about whether they were Chinese or not.
“Khitan people in the North Class can wear Khitan clothes, and Hanchen in the South Class can also wear Hanfu directly.
“But the Khitans also studied Chinese and took the Jinshi examination.
"The final state of the Liao Kingdom was two hundred and nine years.
"If you add Yelu Dashi's Xiliao, the final state of Zuo will reach 302 years.
"Yelü Dashi also happens to be a Jinshi from the Liao royal family.
“The Kingdom of Jin first required Han officials to shave their hair and change their clothes, and then passively or actively chose to become Han-style.
"In the end, Guo Zuo only had 119 years.
“That’s why Emperor Shizu said that if the Sinicization is not thorough, it is better not to Sinicize it, and it will not please both ends, and it will not work well for both ends.
“When those in power face the experiences of other races, they all want to take the best of them and discard the dross.
“But what is the essence and what is the dross is often chosen from the perspective of the executor.
“If another group of people looked at it, the status of dross and essence might be reversed.
“For a law, a system, and a tradition to be continuously implemented and operated, there must be an environment suitable for it.
"The universal religion of the West requires that any believer can only be one man to one wife, and the king and nobles must also abide by it.
"For their own practical needs, the nobles first did not list adultery as an important crime, nor did they specifically emphasize women's loyalty and chastity.
“Let society form a very loose relationship between men and women so that they can obtain more women without taking on any actual responsibilities.
"This also directly makes it difficult to confirm the identity of their illegitimate children, so of course they have no actual inheritance rights.
“People in the Ming Dynasty regarded female chastity as more important, and of course imposed severe penalties on adultery, so the bastards of the Ming Dynasty could also inherit the family business.
"The Taixi nobles wanted to obtain more heirs, so they gave inheritance rights to illegitimate children based on the Ming Dynasty's bastard status, but did not turn their lovers into legal concubines.
“In the eyes of some of them, it must be the essence of Ming culture that a concubine of the Ming Dynasty can inherit the family business.
“But I didn’t realize clearly that the essence also needs to have guarantees and prerequisites.
"They gave inheritance rights to illegitimate children born to mistresses who had no concept of chastity, which obviously made it easy for their family property to be usurped by the descendants of outsiders."
Wu Xiongying suddenly laughed when he heard this:
"Actually, I suddenly remembered that when I was chatting with my comrades in the past, I found that some of them had been hooked up with Thai and Western women.
“In fact, some of them already think that the Thai people’s concepts of marriage and chastity are quite good.
"They can easily sleep with many women. Although they are not sure whether the woman's children are theirs, they can also be completely irresponsible.
“So, if we don’t reform these women’s concept of chastity, and at the same time continue to retain our system of monogamy and polyconcubine...
"Oh, this is what you said, Uncle Wei. I took the essence from my own point of view..."
Wei Yuan also laughed directly:
"Yes, for us enlightened rulers, it is beneficial to us to retain the system of monogamy and multiple concubines. Of course, it is the essence of orthodoxy that must be preserved.
"The concept of chastity among Thai and Western women is weak. Our soldiers can easily find partners to solve their needs without spending money in brothels.
"From our perspective and that of the soldiers, this seems to be the best part of Thai and Western culture that is desirable...
“However, our own concubines and families will also be affected by them at the same time.
"We cannot guarantee the health of those Thai and Western women.
"For all women, they lose many opportunities to become legitimate members of wealthy families.
“The most important thing is that this system is contrary to the most fundamental traditional morality of the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible to implement this kind of moral transformation throughout the Ming Dynasty.
"His Majesty will never allow us to do that.
“So we must fully implement the Ming Dynasty’s system here.
“Including laws, morals, and social customs, they must be fully and thoroughly clarified.
"I plan to build a group of informal training schools to teach Thai and Westerners some simple Ming characters and at the same time instill the moral laws of the Ming Dynasty.
"Let our yamen officials, soldiers and Jin Yiwei be teachers, after all, they all have at least a primary school diploma.
“Teaching people how to read should be enough.”
Wu Xiongying nodded at first, then said a little tangledly:
“I also have this idea, but after just discussing it with Uncle Wei, I can’t help but think more about it now.
"We are implementing a complete Minghua transformation here. Historically, the Jurchens shaved their heads and changed their clothes in the Central Plains.
"Looking at it from a certain perspective...could this be considered the same thing?"
Wei Yuan nodded, then shook his head:
“There may seem to be similarities in behavior, but the actual nature is completely different.
“The Jurchens used barbarism to suppress civilization, and our Ming Dynasty used civilization to educate barbarism.
“Things that the Jurchens think are luxuries are normal daily behaviors for us.
"The Jurchens need to use violence to enforce the order to shave their hair, and we don't need to use violence to enforce the order to tie their hair. The Taixi people will take the initiative to learn on their own.
“The Jurchens are destroying civilization, and we are expanding the scope of civilization.
"I would say that the thing most similar to what we have now is the Mongolian rule in the Lucia region."
This time Wu Xiongying was stunned again:
"Mongols? We know they once ruled the Lucians, but are they any different from the Jurchens?"
Wei Yuan couldn't help but laugh again:
“For the Song Dynasty, the original Mongols and Jurchens were northern barbarians.
“But to the Lucians six hundred years ago, the Mongols could certainly be considered civilized people.
“The Han Dynasty in the early and middle period, the Tang Dynasty in the early and middle period, the Mongols six hundred years ago, and the Ming Dynasty now all have similarities.
“According to Emperor Shizu’s words, this is the mentality of a strong man who looks down on all directions.
“Needless to say the Han and Tang Dynasties, even the Liao Kingdom can barely be counted.
"When the Liao Kingdom was established, the Central Plains was in the chaotic era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Shi Jingtang once recognized Yelu Abaoji as his father and emperor.
“In their own time, the Mongols conquered the largest territory that had ever been reached.
"The Liao Kingdom allowed Han people to wear Hanfu, and the Mongols didn't care about clothing at all, and their local rule was very rough.
“Because they trust their own force and can easily eliminate any resistance.
"It is this strong but laissez-faire attitude that has led many Han people to take the initiative to learn their habits.
"Zheng Sixiao, a poet in the late Song Dynasty, lamented in his article that in the early Yuan Dynasty, people in the south of the Yangtze River were pursuing Mongolian customs.
“Nowadays, the clothes, food, temperament, behavior, atmosphere, speech, and rhythm of the southern people have all changed from it, lest they are even remotely similar to it.
"I'm afraid that I won't learn anything like the Mongolians, just like how we Taixi people learn from our Ming Dynasty people.
"Another scholar, Wang Yi, once recalled the customs of scholar-bureaucrats in Jiangnan during the Yuan Dynasty:
"Since the Yuan Dynasty was in the south of the Yangtze River, it was extravagant and rough, and changed the etiquette and customs. Within a few decades, it was stained with smoke, and the customs of the Song Dynasty were completely eliminated.
“A scholar has his hair braided and short clothes, and he emulates his words and appearance, so as to attach himself to it, hoping to get an official position quickly. Otherwise, he will be ridiculed and thought to be cowardly. Those who are not confident will rarely change.
“People in Jiangnan no longer pursue literary etiquette, but instead pursue boldness and rudeness. They are attached to the local Mongolians and hope to be promoted as officials.
“At that time, people from Jiangnan would be looked down upon and timid by others if they did not wear short clothes, ride horses, or speak and act like the Mongols.
"There was a man from Wuxi, Qian Shiliang, who tried his best to imitate Mongolian customs. "He said and looked very Mongolian, so Taishi Tiemu Zhener fell in love with him and took his daughter as his wife."
"Qian Shiliang eventually became deputy marshal of the Xuanwei Department of Guangdong, which shows that active Mongolianization does have benefits.
“In this way, imitating the powerful Mongols gradually became the custom of Jiangnan people.
"In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Fang Xiaoru wrote an epitaph to one of his friends, which mentioned some of the circumstances at that time:
"'The secular world has been reduced to the barbarians, and everyone in the world has their hair braided in buns, accustomed to their language and writing, and galloping horses and carrying swords as a matter of course.'
"Only the owner of the tomb wears long clothes and wears a dangerous hat, talks slowly and elegantly, and behaves like a Confucian scholar." Everyone thought he was an outlier. '
“This friend of his, the owner of the tomb, was imitating Mongolians’ braiding and customs when everyone in the world was imitating them.
"He also continued to wear traditional Hanfu and used traditional Confucian interests, and was called an alien by people at the time.
"It can be seen that the Meng Yuan Dynasty really didn't care how the Southern Dynasties wore clothes, but they let the Southern Dynasties take the initiative to learn from the Mongols.
"Liu Xia, a Confucian scholar from Jiangxi during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, once commented:
"At the beginning of the changes in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, my father and brother were old and suspicious, and they thought they were aliens.
"As the years pass, and gradually reach a hundred years, the younger generations will be influenced by their ears and eyes, and their minds and hearts will be adapted to it.
"Therefore, in recent years, people all over the world have been corrupting Yilun, despising etiquette, begging for convenience, and being cunning and shameless.
"So all the scholar-bureaucrats have Di habits...
“At the beginning, people in Jiangnan thought the Mongolian habits were strange.
"But a hundred years later, the common people's scholars have taken the habits of the barbarians as a matter of course.
"Even... Emperor Taizu Gao gave his royal title of King Wu before he ascended the throne to his youngest son, who later became King Zhou Ding.
"This is probably influenced by the Mongolian custom of 'young sons guarding the stove'...
"Emperor Taizu Gao once wanted to move the capital to Fengyang Prefecture, and later he thought of moving the capital to Xi'an Prefecture, and sent Prince Yiwen to Xi'an for inspection.
"If Prince Yiwen had not died early and the Ming Dynasty had moved its capital to Xi'an, then His Highness King Wu could have stayed in Yingtian Mansion and inherited Taizu's earliest foundation in Jiangnan.
"This is a typical "younger son guarding the stove" arrangement in Mongolian customs.
“But the fact is that after Emperor Taizu Gao re-established China, he began to work hard to restore the laws, regulations, and clothing of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
"Continuously eliminate the influence of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty in the court and among the people, and abandon the old customs left by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.
“It’s just that this process is obviously quite long.
“After the Hongwu, Yongle, and Xuande dynasties, until the Zhengtong dynasty, people could often find statues of Confucius with his hair in a left knot, and asked for modifications and remodeling.
"In the 13th year of Zhengtong's reign, the imperial court issued a direct order: 'Confucian statues of Confucius in all prefectures and counties, which were sculpted in the Yuan Dynasty and had left-hand garments, should be replaced with right-hand garments.'"
When Wei Yuan said this, the car the two of them were traveling in had already returned to Wu Xiongying's temporary baron's residence.
When Wu Xiongying stopped, he asked a question in confusion:
"The Mongols could not be more educated than the Jiangnan people at that time, nor could they be more civilized than the Southern Song Dynasty.
“But the scholars who came from the Southern Song Dynasty took the initiative to learn the Mongolian system and living habits.
"So, what is civilization? Is it strong or cultured?
"Is it because the Taixi people take the initiative to learn from the Ming Dynasty because the Ming Dynasty is literate, or because the Ming Dynasty is more powerful?"
Wei Yuan already had an idea in his mind, so he said it directly:
“The Mongols were powerful but not civilized, the people of the Southern Song Dynasty were civilized but not powerful, and our Ming Dynasty was powerful but civilized.
“Because we are powerful, foreigners will take the initiative to learn from our civilization.
“Because of our civilization, they will also become civilized.
"This is our current enlightenment in Ming Dynasty."
