Gao pragmatic laughed and nodded: "No matter what we say or think, there must be a leader in a system. This leader must have the most powerful strength, and then determine the rules for the entire system and provide the necessary support to maintain this system." Various basic elements for the smooth operation of the system.
There used to be some systems, such as the European Union, which established a system at a certain level, that is, some major issues require the consent of all member states before they can formulate a resolution and implement it. What will be the result? As a result, in many cases, the vast majority of countries know that this is a good thing, but one or two small countries disagree. As a result, the resolution can only be shelved, and the best opportunity is missed.
In fact, Europeans doing such stupid things are not unique to the era we traveled through. Now - I mean now in the 20th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, there is a big country in Europe called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In terms of territory and population , it is now the largest country in Europe.
In our history, this federal kingdom was once very powerful and was known as the Spear of God. However, for some reasons, it later adopted a very strange system called electoral monarchy. This federation had a parliament, called the Sejm, which was a combination of the Senate and an elected king.
In fact, the electoral monarchy can be regarded as an extreme aristocratic democracy. I will only mention a few of the most bizarre provisions of this system: the Sejm Parliament meets every two years, and the nobles have the right to vote freely, that is, any noble can participate on a voluntary basis. Sejm Parliament; the nobles in the country can legally launch rebellion against the king who violates their freedom, or it can be said that this is a legal uprising; the nobles can freely form alliances with each other, including military alliances, which of course means that they legally support troops... …
Don't stare so wide, this is not even the most powerful thing. The most powerful thing is called the free veto. It stipulates that all bills in the parliament must be approved by all members before they can be passed. Any member has the right to veto any bill in the parliament - please note that members are nobles, and as long as one The nobles objected and the bill was invalidated.
In other words, any decision in this country requires the support or at least no objection of every noble in the country in order to be approved and implemented. There is no doubt that the free veto power became a policy implemented by the great aristocrats who controlled the government in order to pursue personal interests regardless of national interests, and ultimately paralyzed the state institutions. At the same time, it also facilitated the interference of foreign aggressive forces in Polish affairs and accelerated the decline of this aristocratic republic.
There was Politburo before and there was the European Union later. Europeans always fantasize about a system that does not need leaders, but will that really exist? Maybe human beings will eventually have such a selfless day, that is, the world will be unified, but at least I think we will not see that day coming in our lifetime.
In fact, the freely vetoed Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was eventually carved up by Tsarist Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and the will of Germany and France still dominated the EU. Because if we don't do this, the EU will become a wet market, full of noise and energy, but nothing will be done.
So to get back to the point, in East Asia at this moment, who is the leader who can build a system and serve as the stable cornerstone of this system? Only the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, if expressed in the most popular terms, Ming Dynasty is the only reasonable hegemon in the East Asian system. "
Liu Xin nodded clearly: "So, what specific 'public goods' will it provide to stabilize the system?"
"No, no, no, you are too anxious. I just said that Ming Dynasty is the only reasonable overlord in East Asia, but I did not say that it is already the overlord of East Asia."
Gao Pragmatic waved his hands repeatedly: "Obviously, although it has the largest size and the strongest strength, at least at this moment, the East Asian countries have not fully joined this system, so it is only a quasi-hegemon at the moment. Quasi-hegemon There is still a difference in behavior between a hegemon and a hegemon. The biggest difference is that a quasi-hegemon must first find a way to become a veritable hegemon, because only in this way will the system be a stable one and will not encounter challenges at the geopolitical level. Encountering an internal crisis.”
"So what's the key now?" Liu Xin asked.
"Stabilize other members who have already joined the system, use the power of the system to suffocate the 'others' in the region who have not yet joined the system, and finally force them to join. In fact, in essence, this 'forcing' does not necessarily require the use of force. However, the current actual situation is here. Ming Dynasty must destroy the 'Dayuan' to show its complete victory, so the use of force is inevitable."
Liu Xin thought about it seriously, and then said: "Your theory sounds very reasonable, but I am confused about one thing: If Ming Dynasty can subdue other forces in East Asia as you call 'geopolitics' by relying on its own strength, then what will happen?" Why do we have to win over allies? Wouldn’t it be more powerful to demonstrate the power of hegemony if the Ming Dynasty conquered it on its own than if it took allies to conquer it together?”
Gao pragmatic smiled, and then asked seriously: "When we traveled through time, do you think it was becoming clearer that I was heading towards surpassing the Midi Empire?"
"Of course, there is no doubt about it." Liu Xin nodded.
"But do you know? When our country was in the early 21st century, mainstream scholars only dared to predict that it would surpass Japan around 2050. As for Japan, almost no one dared to think about it - at least no one dared to say it. So, let me ask, What is causing this great acceleration of catch-up?”
"Uh..." Liu Xin was startled for a moment, and then said thoughtfully: "On the one hand, our development is unexpectedly fast, but on the other hand, Mi Di himself... has declined?"
"Yes. There is no need to say more about our development, but have you ever thought about what caused the relative decline of Midi?" Gao Pragmatic asked seductively.
"I didn't have time to think about these big things back then, why don't you tell me?"
Gao pragmatically said: "There were a few things that 'happened' to change the vigilance of the American Empire towards us, but that was not the most fundamental thing. The most fundamental thing is that after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the American Empire was invincible, and it served as the head of state for several consecutive times. It made the same big mistake in strategic thinking, that is, it mistakenly believed that it had unlimited resources at its disposal, so that it used the resources it actually had without restraint, and finally squandered its strategic advantages bit by bit like quicksand in its hands. Lost.
When it turned back to look at our dynasty, it suddenly discovered that this heretical civilization that used to be big but not strong, strong but not rich could no longer be contained. Because of this, it will have strategic anxiety and attack indiscriminately, regardless of how far-fetched the reasons are.
It even did not hesitate to put aside its true responsibility as a hegemon and slash at the system it had established. It turned from a defender of the system into a destroyer - why? Because it found that even according to the rules it had set in the past, it could no longer obtain the maximum benefits in this system.
Why did some scholars at that time emphasize that our country was not the Soviet Union? Of course not, because I joined its system early on, while the Soviet Union was the leader of another parallel system outside its system.
In other words, its hegemonic position has been strongly challenged from within the system, but it has found that it cannot use the power of the entire system to resist this time - just like your brain cannot order your heart to explode on its own.
Even... this is just like if other parts of your body have thoughts, they cannot agree to the explosion of the heart, because the brain is important, but if the heart explodes, everyone will be dead! Therefore, for other 'organs', they can only wait for the two most critical organs in this system to decide the outcome and determine who will dominate in the future..."
"Oh, no wonder the concept of G2 was very popular before. It turned out that it was because some scholars and think tanks found that either of these two organs would be destroyed, so they made such an appeal?"
"Perhaps, that's why we proposed a new type of major-country relationship at that time. Unfortunately, our brains were too conceited and refused to agree. The result... was just like that." Gao Pragmatic waved his hand: "I'm going too far, let's talk about the issue of 'infinite resources'. I What I want to say is that no matter how powerful any hegemon is, the resources it can truly control are definitely not unlimited, so rulers must have a special ability, that is, the restraint to use their own resources carefully."
"Ah, although your reasoning has gone full circle, I find that this sentence is actually easy to understand. It is nothing more than 'no matter how big a country is, if it is warlike, it will perish'!"
"Hahahaha, yes, it is 'no matter how big the country is, if it is warlike, it will perish'. But don't you think that after I explain it this way, your understanding of the word "warrior will perish" will be much deeper?"
"That's true, I admit it." Liu Xin also laughed and said: "But if you put it like this, it seems that it is not unreasonable for Zhu Yuanzhang to decide those countries that will not be conquered?"
"The truth is correct, or Zhu Yuanzhang's starting point in this matter is correct. It's just like many other things he did, he directly restricted things, which is very bad. Just like statutory law, it always needs to be based on Just like the development of the times, it is constantly revised. Zhu Yuanzhang created a statutory law that cannot be revised. As a result, the times have developed and the situation has changed. Can his original statutory law still adapt to it? If it does not adapt, it will be a bad thing."
"Okay, let's get down to business. Do you think the most basic issue now is to stabilize the East Asian system of the Ming Dynasty without excessive squandering of power, so it is necessary to...compensate the allies who have suffered losses?" Liu Xin tilted slightly Beginning: "But aren't these compensations still a waste of power?"
Gao Pragmatic laughed: "Maybe it seems like a waste to you, but this actually involves a cost accounting issue. Let me put it in the simplest way: it is impossible for Ming Dynasty to compensate Tumut, Horqin, and Manchuria Equivalent to their true losses."
"Oh?" Liu Xin rolled her eyes, seeming to still be thinking about his words.
But this time Gao Pragmatic did not intend to wait for her to figure it out. Instead, he continued on his own: "First of all, let me ask you, after the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty died in battle, their pension costs were the same as those of Tumut, Horqin and Manchuria. Are the standards the same across all departments?”
"Isn't this a bonus question? It must be different. Ming Dynasty is richer than them, and the sergeant's pension is much more expensive than them... Oh, what do you mean by the cost?" Liu Xin said and suddenly understood.
Gao Pragmatic hadn't finished speaking yet. He smiled and said, "If I told you that the pension for an ordinary Mongolian soldier after he died in battle is equivalent to less than three sheep, what would you think?"
Liu Xin was stunned and said doubtfully: "So miserable?"
Gao Pragmatic rolled his eyes: "It's good to have a pension. Most of those Mongolian soldiers were originally herdsmen, but these herdsmen are not free people. In fact, they are not much different from serfs. It is great if the lords can provide some pensions." of favor.”
Liu Xin was speechless for a while, then sighed: "Sometimes I think about it, social development is really not easy."
Gao pragmatic ignored her emotion, but continued: "In this case, if Ming Dynasty converts the price of three sheep per person into silver as a gift and pension, what do you think will happen?"
"They will be grateful, so what else can they do?" Liu Xin replied without interest.
"Who are they?" Gao Pragmatic asked seriously.
"Ah?" Liu Xin was stunned for a moment, and found that Gao Pragmatic's expression was very serious. Then she thought about it seriously, opened her eyes wide and said, "Noble... general?"
"Look, they will not agree that Ming Dynasty will directly pay pensions to the families of those who died in the war, and Ming Dynasty will not be able to do it so obviously, so Ming Dynasty must directly give the money to their leaders. However, the leaders will definitely not grow old like this If you send them all down honestly, there is no doubt that the geese will pluck their hair..."
"So you actually want to control their upper class through this method?" Liu Xin asked with some suspicion.
But Gao Pragmatic did not answer directly. Instead, he said: "The leaders of Tumut, Horqin and Manchu are in control of everything. Once they are satisfied, they will naturally be willing to continue to follow the Ming Dynasty. However, the longer they follow in the future, the more losses they will suffer at the bottom level." The bigger it gets, the more it actually creates a kind of continuous blood loss.
At the same time, Chahar or other opponents who are their enemies will continue to lose blood because of the war. In the future, they will all lose serious blood. Doesn't this make Ming Dynasty relatively stronger? "
"But Daming spent money!" Liu Xin opened her eyes wide: "Isn't money strength?"
"Money is of course strength, but as I said just now, from a cost accounting perspective, spending money is more cost-effective than Ming's own soldiers dying in battle; secondly, what does it mean for Ming to spend money on them? Ming is the one who accounts for the largest share of trade. The party with the advantage! It's like I spent ten taels of silver to go out, but I can earn back seven or eight taels of silver through various methods. Wouldn't it be very cost-effective to spend the remaining two or three taels of silver? What is hegemony? This is hegemony. ! What hegemony calls a win-win situation is that I win twice! Once openly, and again secretly!"
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PS: I really like this chapter today.
