Wang Shangwen obviously did not understand the meaning of Gao Jingshi's words. He thought that Gao Jingshi was like many civil servants who were stupid in reading. Because the other party acted very submissive, he was satisfied and started to be kind and tolerant.
As a military general, Wang Shangwen despised this literati mentality, but he just didn't dare to show it. Because during his years of military career, he came to the conclusion that there is no need to talk to these native people about benevolence, and they do not understand what benevolence is. What they know and recognize is only strength. .
But Gao Pragmatic is also clear about this.
In traditional Chinese culture, kindness is a virtue. But Gao Pragmatic also knows that kindness is not everything. When you can show your kindness depends on the person and the time.
If people in the world are either gentlemen or ladies, being kinder is naturally a kind of education and goodwill, because the other person can understand.
What do you know? Understand that it’s not that you are not good at it, you just don’t want to act too good, because if you act too good, there will be no room for maneuver, and it will make others too embarrassed, or even force them to have no way out, and they can only fight in a corner and resist.
However, there is indeed a kind of person in this world who is fearful of power but unethical.
What is fear? Wei means power and strength, and fear of power means the fear that you will use force against him. The more you bully him, the more afraid he will be of you.
What is Wilder? If you are good to him, he will be grateful and understand that what you do is a virtue, so he will be willing to repay you with loyalty and sincerity.
When you meet someone who is fearful of power but not ethical, it is useless to treat him well. Only by making him afraid of you will he become honest.
This is like the Japanese in later generations who are most afraid of Americans. Whenever an American father glares at them, Japan will be intimidated and whatever the father says will be accepted. Why? It is simply because they have been hit by American atomic bombs and are afraid of being hit, so even if Americans fart, they will say it smells good.
Gao Pragmatic was born in such a snobbish era, so his consistent attitude is that kindness must depend on the situation.
For example, first use force, and then use virtue. Might and virtue must complement each other, and there cannot be just one, otherwise you may be lame.
Speaking of which, the Ming Dynasty was actually different from the previous Central Plains dynasties. The Ming Dynasty treated the "barbarians" with kindness, but it was only done in a few cases. Most of the time, the mainstream of the Ming Dynasty was to use force. Just like Liu Xianping Duzhangman, Duzhangman was directly exterminated...
Is it considered a once and for all solution? Yes, but not cost-effective.
This method of governance is considered "uneconomical" by Gao pragmatism. Duzhangman, a country with a small population, sent out armies twelve times before and after the Ming Dynasty, and went through hundreds of battles, starting from Taizu, Chengzu, Yingzong, Daizong, Shizong, and Mu Zong all the way to the Wanli Dynasty. It was only in the past few years that they finally conquered Its genocide.
Is this a good deal? Economical? If the "barbarians" all over the world were to rule like this, why would it be surprising that the Ming Dynasty would grind itself to death?
What Gao pragmatic admires most about Ming's "conquest and rule" is actually the "Yunnan model", while the worst "conquest and rule" is the "Annan model".
From the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, in the past seven hundred years, the Yunnan region experienced Nanzhao and Dali, and there seemed to be a trend of being divided into two countries with the Central Plains. But in the Yuan Dynasty, Dali was defeated, but the actual control area was far less vast than that of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty attacked and destroyed the Yuan Dynasty. Most of them were defeated, but the Yunnan King of the Yuan Dynasty refused. So the Ming army invaded Yunnan, and King Yuan set himself on fire. At that time, the "South of Caiyun" was probably less than one-fifth of Yunnan in later generations.
The Ming Dynasty was the dynasty that truly established the central government's effective control over the entire territory of Yunnan in later generations.
The Ming Dynasty's gradual strengthening of control over Yunnan was not achieved in one step, but unfolded step by step. The Ming Dynasty first established 36 chieftains in Yunnan. Because there are many ethnic minorities in Yunnan and they are not subordinate to each other, the chieftains of Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty are like small kingdoms, even more so than in Guangxi.
Among them, the two big chieftains of Laos and Myanmar later became the country's big chieftains. At that time, they were only one of the 36 chieftains. Among these chieftains, the Longchuan chieftain was the strongest and often invaded Myanmar and other chieftains.
In the 21st year of Hongwu's reign, the Longchuan chieftains rebelled, and Xiping Hou Muying led an army to attack them. At that time, there were 300,000 rebels, driving hundreds of war elephants to fight. Mu Ying discussed with the generals and believed that the morale of the rebels lies in the war elephants that have never been seen in the Central Plains. What the war elephants have never seen are the fire guns and firearms in the Central Plains.
So Mu Ying ordered that when the war started, the fire cannons and rockets of the Shenji Camp must be like a sky full of stars, and they must be scattered towards the elephants in an endless stream. He also ordered the army to fight tomorrow. If there is any advance, there will be no retreat. Anyone who retreats will be executed by the whole team.
The next day, the Longchuan army came from the wilderness. The elephants were violently attacked by the Mingshen machine battalion, and they collapsed. However, the chieftain's army remained orderly and undisturbed. From a high place, Mu Ying saw a certain chieftain general fighting desperately, and the chieftain army was angry with him. Mu Ying then ordered the elite soldiers to rush in and bring the man's head to see him.
The chieftain general was attacked and killed, and the rebels were routed. Mu Ying then surrounded his capital and destroyed it, and all the barbarians were shocked and subdued. Because the Yunnan area was too complicated, the Ming Dynasty granted the Mu family town to Yunnan, and finally established effective rule over the entire Yunnan area. The Qing Dynasty continued to govern it, and Yunnan finally became an indivisible core territory of China.
Since he had the idea for Annan, Gao Pragmatic has thought carefully about a question more than once: The situation in Yunnan and Annan seems to be not much different. Why did Yunnan finally become "China", while Annan finally gained and lost it? What's up?
It stands to reason that Annan has been a Chinese county since the Han Dynasty, and the country was not established until the Five Dynasties after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. It was not as early as the founding of the country in Nanzhao, Yunnan. By the Song Dynasty, the Dali Kingdom in Yunnan was far stronger than Annan. During the Yuan Dynasty, Dali and Annan were both conquered. Annan restored the country a little early, and his slogan for restoring the country was similar to "Drive out the Tartars and restore China."
In the early years of Hongwu, Chen's Annan paid tribute. When Chengzu arrived, the Chen family was in chaos. Chengzu sent Chen Hou to Annan to become king. Annan trapped and killed the Ming envoys and the king surnamed Chen. So the Ming Dynasty sent 500,000 troops to invade Annan. Thousands of elders from Annan greeted the military gate: Annan was originally a part of China, so why bother to establish King Chen again? It would be better to turn it into a Chinese prefecture or county. There is no need to say whether there were any private arrangements. Anyway, Chengzu happily followed it.
However, when Ming Dynasty dealt with Annan, it did not send people to guard the area like it did with Yunnan. After Zhang Fu conquered Annan, he was quickly recalled, and Annan became rebellious. At that time, Annan's military eunuch, Ma Lin, was also a corrupt official. He accepted bribes, killed and humiliated innocent people, and almost did all kinds of bad things, which finally led to the outbreak of rebellion in Annan.
When Zhang Fu arrived, the rebellion was suppressed. When Zhang Fu was recalled, the rebellion resumed. In the end, Chengzu died, and the Annan rebellion could no longer be settled.
Gao Jingshi felt that the first reason why the Ming Dynasty lost Annan was that Zhang Fu was not allowed to follow the example of Mu Ying and control Annan for a long time. This is also the reason why Chengzu is inferior to Taizu. It is not that he is inferior in other ways, but because he is inferior in caring for his relatives - Mu Ying is The adopted son of Taizu.
The second is that the officials who chose to guard Annan were extremely corrupt and violent. This point does not need to be discussed in detail. In short, it is a mistake in employment.
The third reason is that Xuande officials had no foresight at all and made random historical analogies without seeing the great benefits of preserving Annan. In fact, within two generations of the Annan family of the Li family, civil strife continued. There were many hills inside Annan. The Mo family killed the Li family, and the Zheng family used the name of the Li family to fight with the Mo family, creating an Annan version of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
However, Emperor Xuande finally gave up on Annan, which he felt was uneconomical to rule, and recognized Annan's independence.
From then on, Annan became Vietnam, forever separated from China.
But why does Gao Pragmatic think that whether he sent a general to "Shizhen" in the local area has something to do with "power" and "virtue"? Sending a general to conquer the world shouldn't mean "power". What does this have to do with virtue?
Of course there is a relationship, and it's a big relationship.
Because Shizhen means that this land is already your "ancestral property" to a certain extent!
Since it is ancestral property, can it not be managed well? Since we want to run a good business, can we still kill local people at every turn? Obviously not. After everyone is killed, who will pay your taxes and support you?
Which landowner would kill all his tenants! For the sake of their own dominance, they can only fight and pull, and fight and pull at the same time.
And this is also the biggest advantage of hereditary officials over floating officials: a floating official is not responsible for the long-term stability of the local area, and he is likely to only care about the present; a secular official must take a long-term view of the local area, otherwise he will lose his ancestral heritage. Not only did he have nothing, but his descendants also had nothing.
Using Shizhen to centralize border areas was the basis for Ming Dynasty to stabilize Yunnan. But what Gao pragmatically wants now is to use another less obvious "Shizhen" to deal with Annan.
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