Gao Jingshi didn't know what Liu Xin was thinking, or even if he knew, he wouldn't care. In his opinion, Chinese people are very moral sometimes and not moral at other times. Whether to speak or not depends on the positions and relationships of both parties.
You and I have been friends for many years, so I naturally have to talk about this moral principle, and I won't hesitate to go to any lengths. You and I are strangers, so I can talk about this moral principle as much as I can, depending on my personal moral level; you You have a deep hatred and sworn hatred with me, and have even turned weapons against me, so why should I talk to you morally? Of course I won’t talk about it.
At this time, the Chinese only talk about "repaying evil with kindness, how to repay kindness", only talking about "Qi Xianggong restored the revenge of nine generations, the spring and Autumn period will be great", only talking about "it is important to respond to opportunities, and soldiers are not tired of deceit"...
Of course, in his previous life, he could have said "China and Japan are neighbors separated by a strip of water", as if he was a friendly person. But he is also a scholar after all, and he knows that there is a passage in "The History of the Southern Dynasties: The Records of Empress Chen" that says:
"Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty called his servant She Gao Ying and said: 'I am the parents of the people, how can I not save them even with a piece of water?'"
Then he sent troops to cross the Yangtze River and captured Empress Chen.
You see, he is the founder of the country after all, and his reasons for sending troops are so lofty: We are living in poverty, and I can't see your people living in such misery without saving them. Although mobilizing troops is very expensive, I am still very proactive in helping liberate them!
Therefore, it’s a good word to be “short of water” and must be understood deeply.
Gao Pragmatic's understanding was very deep, so when he saw that what he just said had calmed the scene, he immediately put on a compassionate look of compassion for heaven and man, and sighed: "Moreover, I heard that the Japanese Deku, let alone ordinary people, even the many big names - the local princes - their lives are extremely miserable."
Huang Zhiting obviously didn't turn around for a while, and said with some confusion: "How can the princes suffer? It's like my family was just a toast at the beginning. Although I didn't have much money, my food and clothing since I was a child have never been poor."
Gao Pragmatic admitted this. It was not like he had never seen Huang Zhiting's scene on his own territory.
That time when she and her group returned to Siming Mansion and entered Haiyuan City, all the local people along the way knelt obediently by the road. They kowtowed their heads on the ground and did not dare to move even when they were still far away from her. Until she and her bodyguard wolf soldiers were almost out of sight, the natives still didn't dare to move. They waited for a while before they dared to raise their heads.
That kind of power is really more exaggerated than that of the emperor, so although her family does not have a lot of money, the living conditions of her family are certainly not much different in such a big Siming Mansion.
However, her family's situation is completely different from that in Japan. Gao pragmatic explained: "The situation of your family at that time was completely different from that of Japan. Let me put it this way, your family is located in Guangxi. Although the living conditions of the local people in your family are average, it is difficult to get rich in Guangxi, but it is not easy to starve to death. It's not easy - look at the time we traveled together, we didn't starve to death just eating wild fruits in the mountains, right? But it's different in Japan."
Gao Pragmatic paused for a moment, then faced Huang Zhiting's doubtful eyes and continued: "No matter China or Japan, how many powerful powers have been overthrown because they cannot fill their hungry mouths. Power must first be established on the mouth, and then it can be established on the mouth. Regarding the head, only by controlling the mouth can one better control the head.
Japan, which was originally not very rich in products, has now reached a new low in food production. In addition, the Buddhism they believe in is different from that of the Ming Dynasty and southern Xinjiang. As a result, almost all of their people abstain from meat and can only eat fish. So There are even fewer food sources.
Zhiting, let me ask you: a small bowl of rice, a small fish two fingers wide, a small plate of pickled radish, a cup of boiled wild vegetables, and a small bowl of miso soup - what do you think of this recipe? "
Huang Zhiting frowned and said: "It's like a light recipe prepared for people who have just recovered from a serious illness because they can't overeat." After a pause, he added: "Maybe it's how poor people eat, right? But I remember The people in the capital, even those in Nancheng, will not be so poor."
Of course, Gao Pragmatic knew this in his previous life, let alone today? When he first saw the Qing Dynasty's "Popular Romance of the History of Woodcutter", it specifically boasted about the prosperity of the people during the Wanli period:
"When it was passed down to Wanli, don't talk about other benefits, just talk about food such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, chicken, goose, fish and so on. Which one is not cheap? If a family of several people can eat a lot of fish and meat every day, it only costs two or three money. This is It was extremely rich. There was also the small family with a shoulder-to-shoulder burden. They could earn twenty or thirty cents a day, and they could live a day. They had to eat some wine at night, tell jokes drunkenly, and sing Wu Singing, listening and reading, enjoying the heat in winter and enjoying the cool in summer, and playing in all kinds of ways.
At that time, our small household was very unhappy, and this was true for all the thirteen provinces in the north and south. The emperor did not sit in court often, and officials of all sizes came to provoke him, but they did not get angry. People say that Emperor Shenzong was really like Yao and Shun... Even now when my elders talk about that time, they always feel longing for him. "
Here we specifically talk about the food and clothing expenses of the people during the Wanli Dynasty. To put it simply, materials were abundant and prices were low. Even if they did not earn much, their lives were still enjoyable, leisurely and comfortable because of the small expenses.
This was not only said by the Han people under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Even Fulin, the "ancestor of the Qing Dynasty", said: "At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the people were under the rule of law and recuperated. During the Wanli period, the country was prosperous and the family had enough people."
Not only domestic people say this, but foreigners who have been to Wanli Dynasty and Ming Dynasty also say this. When describing the society and people's livelihood of the Ming Dynasty in the "History of the Great Chinese Empire" by the Spanish Mendoza, he wrote truthfully: "In this big country, people have abundant food, are well-dressed, and have gorgeous furnishings at home. In particular, they work hard and work hard. , are great merchants and merchants, and all these, together with the fertility of the said country, make it rightly called the richest country in the world.”
Perhaps it was precisely because of being "the richest in the world" that Huang Zhiting came to that conclusion as soon as she heard this recipe.
However, Gao Pragmatic chuckled and said: "As a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, you may indeed feel that this recipe is too shabby, but let me tell you, this is the recipe for breakfast and lunch of many Japanese princes - and They don’t eat dinner.”
Huang Zhiting was almost stunned and said in astonishment: "You are eating like this, why don't you have dinner?" Then seeing Gao pragmatically nodding his head expressionlessly, she thought for a while and asked: "What do ordinary people eat?"
Gao pragmatic shrugged and replied: "We only eat breakfast and dinner. The recipe is usually a small bowl of millet and two pieces of boiled radish."
Huang Zhiting looked in disbelief and wondered: "Compared to ordinary people, the noble princes are just one more fish in one meal?"
Gao pragmatically corrected him seriously: "The rice is different. The princes eat rice, and ordinary people can only eat millet."
Huang Zhiting couldn't help but rolled her eyes: "Is this a big difference?"
"These two recipes are indeed equally shabby in our eyes, but the Japanese at this time did survive by eating such things every day. And those farmers who ate millet dreamed of daimyo and samurai. Eat rice like that."
Gao Pragmatic's words are really not a lie. In Japan during the Warring States Period, all life revolved around war. You eat to live, you live to fight, and you fight to eat better.
Japan was originally a rice-producing country, and rice is grown on almost all farmland across the country. However, it is ridiculous and pitiful that rice is a luxury product for ordinary people who grow rice.
There is a plot in Akira Kurosawa's movie "Seven Samurai": bandits on the mountain covet the little rice in the village below, so they go down the mountain to grab rice during the autumn harvest. In order to protect their rice, the farmers took the little rice they had in the village and went to the towns to recruit poor warriors to defend the village. The only recruitment condition they could offer was that they had enough rice every day.
Although Gao Pragmatic has never understood why those hopeless bandits didn't move to a richer place to rob, but they just stared at this poor village that was so poor that they had nothing but some rice. However, this also proves from the side that in Japan of this era, rice is really a rare thing.
Later, the farmers in the village really relied on the "favorable conditions" of "eating rice for every meal" to recruit seven warriors of varying abilities. Although these seven samurai said that they did not care about compensation because they wanted to keep one party safe, being able to eat rice actually had a certain appeal to them.
After all, in this era, men are always hungry, and being full is a rare and beautiful thing. Later, the warriors discovered that the villagers had given them all the rice, but they themselves were eating millet and wild vegetables, so they gave all their portions of rice to the old, young, women and children in the village.
The movie may have wanted to praise the samurai spirit, but Gao Pragmatic learned from this the difference in Japan's production capacity at the time. Because the yield of rice is very low, this white rice has become a major strategic material specially designated by daimyo and lords everywhere.
Farmers work hard in the fields for a year, and growing rice is basically completing a task. All the rice harvested is often sent to the lord's castle as annual tribute, and they can only eat millet, gnaw radishes, and wild vegetables. Some farmers have never tasted the taste of their own rice.
Later, Japan invaded China and occupied the three northeastern provinces. Ordinary Northeastern people were not allowed to eat rice. The regulations stated that if they ate it, they would be an economic crime. Considering that most of the Kwantung Army members were from Japanese farmers at that time, it is estimated that the memory of the lords confiscating rice and not allowing their ancestors to eat it was still in their bones. Now that they had finally managed to get into the status of being able to eat rice, they did the opposite. When the villain succeeds, he especially hates farmers eating rice.
Just as the introduction of corn and potatoes increased China's population in the early Qing Dynasty, the only thing that allowed the Japanese to barely have enough to eat was radishes. When radishes were first introduced to Japan, they could only grow as thick as a finger. Later, through the hard work of Japanese farmers, Japanese radishes finally became as thick as an arm.
Radish itself is a good thing, rich in nutrients and easy to grow, so it soon became the main food of Japanese farmers. Even the nobles were very fond of radish, and it was on the tables of the nobles, and it was almost impossible to have a feast without radish. .
Even though the rich eat rice and the poor only eat millet and radishes, there is still not enough food for mountainous Japan. So a long time ago, the Japanese formed the habit of eating only two meals a day, breakfast and lunch.
You have to work from morning to afternoon, so you must eat to maintain your strength. Night is your rest time, and people don't have much entertainment at that time. As long as you go to bed early, you won't be hungry, so you can save food for the next meal.
What's even more amazing is that this habit is not only followed by farmers, but also by everyone from the emperor to the samurai. It has become an unwritten rule, and the habit of not eating dinner is implemented throughout the country. However, the nobles have a rich night life, so if they are really hungry, they can still find some snacks to eat.
Gao pragmatic continued to explain to Huang Zhiting: "The more particular Japanese daimyo princes insist on sharing meals when eating. Each person has a small table in front of him with three dishes, one soup and a bowl of rice. Even if there is a banquet, everyone will eat like this. Everybody. The biggest difference between these people’s diets and those of the poor is that they can eat a little bit of meat dishes.
However, because Japan cannot eat meat, rich people can only make a fuss about fish and shellfish. This is already the most luxurious food they can eat.
But there is one thing I don’t understand. As an island nation, Japan, no matter the nobles or samurai, will not let go of eating seafood as much as they want. Their main meat dishes usually only include a small fish that is only enough for a few bites, or a few Slices of pickled shellfish. Moreover, fish and shellfish almost never appear at the same time, and only one type of meat dish can appear in a meal. "
This is not a highly pragmatic fabrication. During the Warring States Period in Japan, even the wealthy people always maintained the dietary standard of one meat, two vegetables and a bowl of soup. Even the Tokugawa shogunate who later unified Japan, the general who conquered the barbarians, only had one meal. I only eat one meat dish, and the bowl that contains this meat dish is usually quite small.
At this point, Gao Pingshi deceived a little and said to Liu Xin: "There is a person Zhiting may not know, but you, Miss Liu, know it - Tokugawa Ieyasu." Then he turned back to introduce Huang Zhiting: "This person is Japan's No. 1 The territory of the two powerful factions is about three or four times larger than your Haidong territory in Annan."
This comparison is very intuitive. Huang Zhiting nodded when she heard this to express her understanding.
Gao pragmatically said: "This person is very frugal, even stingy. He rarely even eats fish. He only eats some pickled radish and rice every day, and he does this all year round, with very few exceptions.
I heard a piece of information about him, saying that one time he was walking at home and saw some maids complaining, so he went over to see what was going on. The maids said: "The food now is really outrageous. The only side dish is pickled radish." '
Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was known for his gentleness towards others, walked over and said to them with a smile: "Well, since you don't like to eat, then don't eat." From then on, the pickled radish served as a side dish by the maids was withdrawn, and she could only eat white rice. "
What Gao Pragmatic calls "intelligence" is actually the records seen by later generations. Of course, the source is not important. What is important is that Huang Zhiting was surprised and wary at the same time. She hesitated and said: "Is this person... always ambitious?"
There is definitely ambition, but in fact this story was advanced by Gao Pragmatism. In fact, when this happened, it was already after Ieyasu unified Japan and established the Tokugawa Shogunate. Therefore, he was not so frugal because he was "always ambitious", but he had always been like this and it became a habit.
So Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "Maybe, maybe it's just a habit that has been formed over time."
"Oh." Huang Zhiting responded, thought for a moment, and asked: "Then how does your husband plan to 'save' them?"
"Good question." Gao Pingshi smiled: "You should know from my introduction just now that Japanese farmers are still very hardworking and honest... I feel that the population in the Mekong Delta is not enough now, and the local natives are a bit lazy. , if we can get one million Japanese farmers to come over in the future, it should be the best of both worlds."
Huang Zhiting curled her lips: "One million? Is the emperor or king of Japan a fool? So many people are willing to let you transport them away."
"First of all, the 'Emperor' of Japan does not have any real power. Except that the local princes will ask him to buy an official hat to wear after gaining real power in a certain place, there is no other use. Secondly, some of the 'Japanese emperors' who have been canonized by our Ming Dynasty are useless. Kings', such as Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, are actually Japanese shoguns, called 'Shoguns of the Conquering Barbarians'.
However, this 'general' is not really in charge of 'conquering the barbarians'. In fact, his power and position is equivalent to that of some of our previous dynasties' chief ministers, that is, the chief regent of the country.
However, in the past few years, the Muromachi shogunate in Japan has been destroyed. Now in the actual sense, the "General Baikui" has changed both the person and the name. It is now called "Guan Bai" - it is the "Everything is All Things" in the Han Dynasty Huo Guang Zhuan. First turn off the white light, and then play the emperor's "turn off the white light". "
Huang Zhiting said: "It doesn't matter who I am, or what my name is. Anyway, you can't let my husband take away so many people." After a pause, he raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "As for my husband's layout, I Do you think... should Japan be regarded as southern Xinjiang?"
"That's a bit difficult." Gao Pragmatic shook his head: "Japan's situation is a bit special. Their so-called emperor is a descendant of God in the eyes of the Japanese, a 'human god', so he cannot be abolished rashly. And in southern Xinjiang, If I really want to depose any king, then I will just depose him. The difference is huge."
"So, where is the 'King of Japan'? No matter whether it is called General Zhengyi or Guan Bai." Huang Zhiting asked.
"I'm afraid it's not easy for me to round and flatten this Guan Bai now, but he is not young and has a difficult life. After he dies, Japan will definitely be the master of the country, and something big will happen. At that time, I will think Fazi controls his heir and 'holds Guan Bai to command the name' for a period of time, and then...it depends on the situation."
When Huang Zhiting heard about this plan for the first time, she didn't think much of it. Liu Xin on the side was a little surprised and asked: "Didn't we not make a decision before? Now we have decided who to help?"
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Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "Altay's Laoxi" for their monthly support, thank you!
