The "entrusted guardianship system" is also called the land grant system. According to historical experience, most of the emergence of a system has some kind of inheritance or some ideological and social foundation. Therefore, this system used by Spanish colonists to exploit Indians did not arise out of thin air. It was originally the Spanish imperial court. It was modified based on the "asylum system" handed down from the ancient Roman era.
During the long land recovery campaign with the Moors, in order to rule the land seized from the Moors, improve the morale of the soldiers, and encourage the nobles to organize troops at their own expense to recover the lost lands, the Spanish court often transferred the newly conquered land and levied additional taxes from the Moors. The right to pay tribute was "entrusted" to Spanish nobles at all levels according to their official positions and merits, allowing the nobles to become lords, taking charge of the newly conquered land on their behalf, ruling the surrendered Moors, guiding the people to convert to Catholicism, and paying annual tributes to the king. A certain tribute.
[Note: Moors generally refer to the people living in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, West Africa and other places. They are the mixed descendants of Berbers, Arabs, blacks and Iberians. ]
This policy can be said to kill four birds with one stone. It not only strengthened the control of newly conquered lands, but also rewarded the meritorious soldiers at a very small cost. It also promoted Catholicism and expanded the targets of taxation. Therefore, the "entrusted guardianship system" has actually been popular in the Iberian Peninsula since the 12th century.
However, there are still great differences between the entrusted guardianship system implemented in Spain and the entrusted guardianship system implemented in its American colonies.
Nominally, land ownership in the American colonies was owned by the King of Spain—or, to be precise, the King of Castile—but in fact the Spanish court reserved land ownership to various conquered Indian communities. The original social structure of the Indians remained unchanged, except that they lived concentratedly near the places where white people gathered.
The Spanish court even gave many Indian nobles and elites a certain status, power and freedom, and selected "Kasiks (chiefs, chiefs, chiefs)" from them to continue to rule the tribe, while the Spanish court only gave Indians a certain degree of status, power and freedom. People exercise indirect rule.
This idea is similar to the current pragmatic "Beijing Advisory Group" that actually controls the courts of various countries in southern Xinjiang, and then the courts of various countries in southern Xinjiang implement state affairs based on the opinions of the "advisory group". It is similar to a certain extent, but it is not exactly the same.
At least one thing is that the countries in southern Xinjiang are currently nominally regarded as so-called "sovereign countries" in later generations, and their territories and people do not belong to Beijing in terms of ownership rights. Although they have a tributary relationship with the Ming Dynasty, it is well known that the tributary relationship is a pseudo-vassal system that does not actually control the political and military affairs of the tributary country. It is difficult to call it a tributary state system in the actual sense.
Kasiks in the Indian community are generally appointed by rulers such as colonial governors, governors or mayors. They are usually selected from the upper echelons of Indian society, but some Kasiks are hereditary or elected. Indian chiefs serve as chiefs, but all Kashyyks must obtain the consent of the colonial authorities, otherwise they are illegal.
This article also has some similarities with Jinghua's rule in southern Xinjiang. The appointment of officials at all levels in various countries in southern Xinjiang also requires the king's seal and the seal of the "Jinghua Advisory Group" to be effective.
Considering that the king's seal itself is a large carrot seal and is actually in the hands of Jinghua, it can also be regarded as the appointment of all officials by Jinghua. However, the appointment of officials above the prefecture and prefecture level (prefecture and prefecture levels in the Ming Dynasty) needs to be submitted to Gao Pangshi for approval first, and Huang Zhiting's approval is required at the county level. In areas where there is a general consul, the approval of the local general is also required, such as the six counties in southern Annan. Town and other places.
Indians who became Kashyyks did not need to perform labor or pay tribute, and the Kashyyks often used their rights to squeeze ordinary Indians to earn wealth and help the Spanish rule the Indians.
In order to win over Kashyyyk, the Spaniards often intermarryed with them and treated them very favorably. Some elite descendants of the original Aztec Empire and Inca Empire later even became governors and had great power.
In southern Xinjiang, this is reflected in the naturalized household registration system. Since the naturalized household registration system allows "natives to become Chinese", it is obviously more advantageous than intermarriage under the entrusted guardianship system.
Because intermarriage in the former only improves the status of local elites, but they and even their descendants do not necessarily regard themselves as Spanish, and will not consolidate the foundation of Spanish rule, while the latter completely "turn enemies into friends" - the vast majority Those who have the power become "Chinese", and the rule of the Chinese is naturally stable.
In order to reward the Spanish conquistadors and nobles who opened up the territory, the Spanish court entrusted the surrendered Indian communities to the guardianship of meritorious ministers or royal family members, court cronies, etc., who became guardians and helped the Spanish king rule the American colonies. , and collect tribute from the Indians on behalf of the court, this is entrusted guardianship.
At the beginning of the implementation of the entrusted guardianship system, the Spanish court ordered the colonial government to entrust the guardianship to each guardian based on the tribal residence represented by each Indian chief. However, this method was later abandoned because it was too cumbersome and was replaced by the Indian chief. Entrusted to the guardian on a village, community or town basis.
The guardian only has guardianship jurisdiction over the Indians within the area of the guardianship granted, without direct ownership, and the rights of the guardian are difficult to inherit. At the same time, the guardian also has to preach to the Indians and guide the Indians under his guardianship to convert. Catholicism and submission to the authority of the Spanish king protected them from abuse, and the guardian also had to find someone to educate the Indian children:
"Each Indian village should have a church and send a priest to preach to them. (You should) gather Indian children twice a week, teach them reading and writing and religious lessons, and force them to pray and chant scriptures."
In addition, the guardian must prepare his own dry food, weapons, horses and military uniforms, obey the orders of the king or the colonial government at any time, and lead his subordinates to various places to suppress rebellions or suppress various uprisings.
The entrusted guardianship system implemented in the American colonies also incorporated the tribute tax system and distribution system used by the Spanish to enslave the Indians in the early days. The Spanish guardians had great rights over the Indians under their guardianship and could collect large amounts of tribute in the guardianship area. Labor service or rent for service.
The conquered Indians were legally defined as "free people" and were no longer slaves. They could own a small piece of land, houses, and livestock as a family unit, but the Indians could not leave their land at will without the permission of the guardian. residence or carrying weapons.
In addition, the Indians also need to pay a certain tribute to the guardian and perform labor service. Because the guardians spread Catholicism to them, the Indians who were originally pagans became Christians and got the opportunity to save their souls and go to heaven. Therefore, Indians need to express "thank you" to their guardians and must assume many obligations, such as cultivating the land, mining, doing odd jobs, paying tribute, etc.
So in fact, the guardianship system did not turn Indians into free people at all, and most Indians or mulattoes did not have citizenship rights. The purpose of the entrusted guardianship system was to allow the Indians to better provide labor force, and also to control them more safely so that they could not resist the rule.
In order to implement the entrusted guardianship system and "protect" the Indians, the Spanish court ordered all guardians not to abuse the Indians, force them to work, or pay them wages.
However, contrary to expectations, after the implementation of the entrusted guardianship system, the Indians' lives were still very miserable and oppressed. The guardians did not treat the Indians well according to the orders. They abused the Indians wantonly and did not regard them as human beings. The Spanish court's management of the guardians was very rough and they could not control the guardians at all, which made the Indians fall into extremely misery. situation:
"Although the law places limits on the amount of tax that can be entrusted to a guardian for himself, the actual amount levied is incalculable. The dictator plunders everything he wants and uses all the methods he can think of, and the result is that an Indian A man sometimes had to pay twenty taxes, and even in such cases he (the Indian) did not dare to complain, for there was little chance of justice being done.”
Some Indians worked for their guardians for many years, but received little or no remuneration at all, and were required to pay heavy tributes to their guardians.
The guardians' standards for collecting tribute from the Indians were also very unreasonable. When the guardians levied taxes, they would levy physical or monetary taxes on the Indian communities based on early census data, but the population data they used were inaccurate. Because many Indians in the community have died or fled, there are not that many Indians in the community, but they need to bear a huge financial burden.
Indians in some Spanish colonies even had to work for their guardians for more than 300 days a year, while the official standard was 5-9 months. This left many Indians with no time to cultivate the land, live with their wives, and have children, causing many Indian communities to wither and die out as quickly as drought-stricken cornfields.
The tragic plight of the Indians even made some Spaniards unable to bear to look directly at it. A Spanish priest named Bartholomew de Las Casas was full of sympathy for the Indians he saw and bravely stood up to fight for them. The Indians defended themselves and used spicy language to expose the sins of their compatriots in enslaving the Indians:
"The 'grace' they (the guardians) extended to these Indians was to send the men to the mines to mine gold, which was an unbearable and heavy labor. To drive the women to the farms to dig the soil and cultivate the soil, this kind of labor Even for men, it is extremely onerous. Regardless of whether they are men or women, they are only given some weeds and other nutritious things to satisfy their hunger. The thugs... starve the Indian babies to death; in the mines, the men die of fatigue and hunger. "On the farms, women were dying from the same cause."
These troubles are actually caused by the word "entrust" in the "entrusted guardianship system" itself. This is an agency system rather than the vertical management that China has been accustomed to in its past dynasties.
Gao Pragmatic's approach in southern Xinjiang is completely different from this. Countries in southern Xinjiang actually have vertical management systems. The actual managers of the kings of various countries are the "Jinghua Advisory Group", and each of these advisory groups is directly under Gao Pragmatic himself, and their ultimate responsibility is to Gao Pragmatic himself.
Officials at all levels in the various countries in southern Xinjiang are appointed by Beijing, and except for a few areas (such as the Cen and Huang families, where the chieftains are hereditary due to merit), this appointment system is based on the official system - that is, it cannot be hereditary. , it all depends on the instructions from above. This makes officials from all over the country have no choice but to "mei Shang" if they want to improve their status, that is, they must listen to Beijing and listen to those who are high-minded and pragmatic. It is completely impossible to obey the Spanish court like the Spanish colonists and colonial governments did.
The Spanish colonists and colonial government were acting in disguise? Yes, and it's a true double act.
The number of Indians continued to decline, and the Spanish court tried several times to improve the living conditions and quality of the Indians, but all failed. Because the guardians believed that all the land in the colony was conquered with their own money and efforts, land ownership and all rights and interests should belong to themselves, not to the royal family.
Therefore, the guardians were not convinced of the entrusted guardianship system and did not strictly abide by it. They often snatched the Indian lands in the guardianship area into their own hands and turned the royal property into their own property.
Then, they drove the Indians to mines, rivers and remote mountains to dig for precious metals, and arbitrarily exploited the Indians. Sometimes they also seized the tribute paid by the Indians to the Spanish court, or used it as a threat to demand from the Spanish court. More rights. For example, they hope to keep the guardianship for life and pass it down to their descendants.
After the Spanish court learned about the phenomenon of the colony, in order to prevent the guardians from unlimited enslavement of the Indians, or even the complete extermination of the Indians, they no longer tolerated their huge rights.
In this case, the royal family formulated a series of decrees and instructions for this purpose, adopting a combination of grace and power in an attempt to reduce the rights of the guardians in order to strengthen the court's rule over the colonies and Indians.
But unfortunately, the bureaucracy of the Spanish colonies was in a state of decay. Colonial officials became corrupt and bribed their guardians with heavy bribes to get whatever they wanted. Some colonial officials were even guardians themselves, and the decrees, laws, systems and regulations they followed served their own interests.
Many laws promulgated by the Spanish court to "protect" the Indians were resisted by the guardians, and in the end they were either ignored, shelved, or greatly reduced.
For example, the guardians increased the annual mining labor period for Indians from 5 months to 9 months. Under such circumstances, the decrees issued by the Spanish court could not be implemented at all. There was even a popular saying among colonial bureaucrats - "I obey, but I do not implement it."
Isn't this a clear sign of obedience? As mentioned just now, Jinghua's vertical management system is the fundamental guarantee to prevent this phenomenon. If it were not for vertical management, the people below would have enough ways to violate it.
However, vertical management is not something that can be implemented just because it needs to be implemented. It also needs a foundation.
The Spanish guardians in the Americas themselves were one of the main forces ensuring the security of the colonies. Whenever their rights and interests were damaged, they would go on "strike" or revolt. In the end, the Spanish court could only compromise with the colonial guardians, and the continuous expansion of the power of the guardians led to the disintegration of the Indian social organization and the decimation of the population.
[Continuing from the previous chapter, this chapter mainly compares the specific differences and different impacts between the Spanish American entrusted guardianship system and the Jinghua Southern Xinjiang management system. Friends who are not interested in the system are advised not to subscribe. 】
The few officials sent from the Spanish mainland to the American colonies could not change this phenomenon in the colonies. They were strongly suppressed by the colonial realists. They were either isolated by the colonists or colluded with the guardians.
Here we can clearly see the difference between Spain's rule in the Americas and Jinghua's rule in southern Xinjiang: What is the basis for Jinghua's rule in southern Xinjiang? They are the major security forces.
I don't need you to open up new territories for me, nor do I need you to suppress rebellions and suppress bandits for me. All force is under my sole control. If you want to oppose me, what can you do to oppose me?
Except for the Cen and Huang families and a few former Guangxi chieftains who moved to the town, all military power in southern Xinjiang was in the hands of Jinghua. Gao pragmatism uses the personnel system and logistics system to control the garrison in both directions. Therefore, in the final analysis, the source of all power has one and only one source, that is, Gao pragmatism himself.
The former chieftains of Guangxi, represented by the Cen and Huang families, are the biggest exception in the political and military system of southern Xinjiang. However, since the power of the Huang family is actually mainly in the hands of Huang Zhiting, and Huang Zhiting is a highly pragmatic wife, this chieftain's power was divided into two even though it was far less powerful than Jinghua.
It can be said that as long as the Cen family does not replace the "patriarch" with a mentally retarded person as the main branch, it is impossible to consider rebellion, or in turn put pressure on the "court" like the Spanish colonial government.
Of course, this is also the reason why Gao Jingshi clearly knew that it would be difficult for Huang Zhiting to deal with the Nanzhang incident, but he did not pretend to be generous and "lenient" to Huang Yinglei.
The reason is very simple. The retained chieftains in southern Xinjiang are originally special products under special conditions. If you don't return to your native land, it is because of the marriage between Gao and Huang. Now that you still want to expand your power, I can still pretend to follow you. Are you polite?
Gao pragmatism is a person of the pragmatic school, and what he pays most attention to is never the false reputation of kindness and kindness.
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