"The strategy to pacify Bozhou can be roughly divided into two parts, one is military and the other is political." Gao Pragmatic had already made plans for this matter, so he was not afraid at all when he said it, but after a pause, he He added: “Of course, it all boils down to finances.”
"How could it be finance?" Zhu Yijun was stunned for a moment. He obviously still couldn't escape his current thinking. He felt that a war was a war. It was reluctant to say that it was related to politics, but how could it be that "in the final analysis it was all finance"?
Gao Jingshi smiled faintly and raised his glass in a rare toast. Zhu Yijun was greatly surprised and quickly raised his glass as well. They each took a sip, and then heard Gao Jingshi ask: "Why does toast exist?"
Zhu Yijun was startled again and said in astonishment: "Toast has always existed."
Gao pragmatic laughed so loudly that Zhu Yijun couldn't stand it anymore and wondered: "Am I wrong? Bozhou is located at the junction of Sichuan and Guizhou. It was first established in the Tang Dynasty. Yang Duan, the ancestor of the Yang family, was originally from Taiyuan, because of Nanzhao. When the country captured Bozhou, Yang Duan led his troops to recover it, and he governed Bozhou well and was quite popular among the people. Therefore, the Yang family took root in Bozhou.
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the Yang family of Bozhou surrendered to the central government and established the Zunyi Army here. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Yang family was granted the title of Duke of Boguo. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period, the Yang family was once again attached to the Central Government and was granted the title of Xuanwei envoy of Bozhou.
In the fifth year of the late Emperor Longqing's reign, Yang Yinglong inherited his father's position. By the time of my Wanli Dynasty, the Yang family had been inherited in Bozhou for twenty-nine generations, for more than 700 years - speaking of it, it was even older than the 600-year-old family of Madam Huang. "
Gao pragmatic pondered for a moment and asked slowly: "Speaking of Zhuojing, does the emperor know how the minister persuaded her to persuade the Huang family to give up their ancestral land in Guinan?"
"About this matter... Haha, to be honest and pragmatic, if you don't tell me, I really don't know how to ask you." This time it was Zhu Yijun's turn to laugh and said: "Actually, I just don't want to be too open-minded. That’s all, actually I’ve always been quite curious about this matter.”
There is a saying that "Think of planting Yang in Tian, and Guangdong and Guangxi in Cenhuang". As one of the top chieftain families in Guangxi, the Huang family was the real Tusi emperor in southern Guangxi, even if it was not the most glorious period of his family in the Ming Dynasty. When Gao pragmatic went to Guangxi, except for Nanning Prefecture, other areas in southern Guangxi were controlled indirectly, if not directly, by the Huang family. It could be said that they were the only one in southern Guangxi.
Under this situation, Gao Pragmatic was actually able to persuade the Huang family to give up their ancestral property in Guinan and agree to move to Annan. This matter was originally very mysterious, and there were many rumors in the capital at that time.
Some people say that this is because the territory that Gao Jingjing set aside for the Huang family in Annan is larger than that in Guangxi, and he can scrape the land more ruthlessly. Some people say that moving Annan to Annan will allow the Huang family to rule hundreds of thousands more Annan people, which is a concession. The strength of the Huang family has greatly increased; some people say that Gao Jingshi has ulterior motives in order to let his wife's family control the core area of Annan on his behalf; some even say that Gao Jingshi is purely a beauty trick, so he let Huang Sichen's My house was sold and I helped count the money.
There were at least a dozen kinds of these various theories circulating in the capital at that time. The above ones were somewhat shadowy, at least barely able to justify themselves. Others are even more outrageous. For example, one of them said that Gao Pragmatic had taken over Huang Zhiting, so Huang Zhiting could only be at the mercy of Gao Pragmatic.
Although this statement is outrageous, it is still widely circulated in the market. It can be seen that ordinary people always have a desire for voyeurism and like to save others. They think that Han women are forced by etiquette and generally agree that losing one's virginity is a small matter and breaking one's integrity is a big one. Therefore, once they are "forcibly taken", they can only have their teeth knocked out and their blood eaten, and the same is true for women of other ethnic groups.
In fact, this is obviously not the case. Although the Tongren Tusi has a very high degree of Chineseization, and the Huang Tusi is probably Han Chinese by blood. However, the etiquette of child chieftains is actually far less strict than that of Han people - if they were strict, how could female chieftains become a common phenomenon?
You know, in the thousand-year imperial inheritance of the Han people, there was only one Wuxian! What's more, for Wu Fu to be able to claim the title of emperor at that time, there were several special conditions that were rare in thousands of years as a prerequisite.
So to say the least, even if Gao Pragmatic really "commands" Huang Zhiting, what he will get is not the Huang family's submission, but the exact opposite - the Huang family will only rebel in anger. If that were the case, Gao Qingshi could only hope to save his head because Zhu Yijun was so nostalgic that he would not kill his own boy even if he pulled out such a big trick.
In short, the Huang family took the lead in accepting the move to Annan, which aroused heated discussions in the court and among the people at that time.
The situation was so abnormal and the impact was so huge. Of course Zhu Yijun was also very curious, but as he said at the moment, it was not easy for him to directly ask Gao Pragmatic why.
why? Because he felt that based on his relationship with Gao Pragmatic, if the inside story of this matter could be told, then Gao Pragmatic would take the initiative to tell him. Gao Jingshi didn't say anything, which means that there may be some "inappropriate" inside information about this matter. Therefore, if he takes the initiative to ask, it will appear that he does not trust Gao Jingshi, and secondly, he will be afraid of embarrassing Gao Jingshi. , then everyone will be embarrassed together.
But at this time, Gao Pragmatic's expression was extremely calm, even calm and a little cold. He said expressionlessly: "I and the Huang family said that after I laid the foundation for several industries in Guangxi, the financial resources controlled by the governor of Guangxi will be great in the future." Greatly enhanced, in at most ten years, the governor of Guangxi will have strength far beyond that of that time.
How strong is this? It was so strong that he could not ask the imperial court for every soldier or rice for every millet. The army under Guangxi Liuguan's rule alone could suppress the Huang family. In the end, the entire southern Guangxi region would definitely be in trouble in the next few years or so. Within ten years at most, they will be completely transformed and the Huang family chieftain will completely cease to exist. "
Zhu Yijun had never thought about the "prospect" mentioned by Gao pragmatically, and Gao pragmatically had obviously not discussed it with him, so he immediately raised his eyebrows and asked, "Are you trying to intimidate them?"
Gao pragmatic nodded: "Yes."
"But judging from the fact that you and your wife got married later, you two should have already known each other at that time, right?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.
"The emperor means that I already had a good impression of Zhuo Jing at that time, so I shouldn't do such a thing, right?" Gao pragmatically smiled and asked.
Zhu Yijun stretched out his hand and made a stopping gesture, saying: "Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean anything."
Gao Pragmatic chuckled and said: "These two things are not in conflict. Letting the Huang family give up Guinan and allowing the court to return to the local land is not only good for the court, but also good for the Huang family to move to Annan. , which is what I often call a win-win situation.
On the other hand, if the Huang family insists on staying in southern Guangxi, it will inevitably affect their ability to return to their native land, and I will definitely not accept it. I also think that they are trying to do something like a mantis, which will only lead to their own destruction. Therefore, I tried my best to persuade him to have the best of both worlds. "
"I see." Zhu Yijun nodded and asked again: "But you just asked 'Why do chieftains exist?' How does this question relate to how you persuade your wife and family?"
"In fact, this related minister has just said: When is it appropriate for Guangxi to return to southern Guangxi? The answer is: when the local officers and soldiers in Guangxi are able to suppress the chieftains." Gao pragmatically said seriously: "And to do this One point, the premise minister also said: I have laid several industrial foundations for Guangxi."
Zhu Yijun finally understood and suddenly said: "Because those industries are enough to make money?"
"Yes, what the emperor has seen is very true." Gao Pragmatic said: "The taxes paid by Guangxi every year in the past were less than the court's allocation for it. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the highest tax payment amount in one year was only less than 180,000 taels. , which means that the imperial court's rule in Guangxi is like a loss-making business.
Your Majesty, the fault is that the land is not as important as the industry, and the ancestral foundation cannot be abandoned at will. Otherwise, Guangxi is almost a part that should be discarded from the perspective of the cost of governance. However, this embarrassing situation has become more and more complicated for me - well, I am not boasting..."
"Hahahaha, I know what you mean. You have never asked for credit in all these years, so there is no need to explain this." Zhu Yijun couldn't help laughing.
"Ahem, Na Chen continued." Gao Pragmatic scratched his head and said: "With these advantageous industries, the situation in Guangxi has been directly changed. For the first time, the imperial forces represented by Liuguan did not rely on the support of the imperial court. Under such circumstances, it formed an overwhelming advantage over Tusi.
In addition, it can also ensure that even if the chieftain is defeated, he can effectively rule the local chieftain's original territory without losing money - this is the key to everything. "
Zhu Yijun suddenly realized, "Oh, no wonder you said that the root of everything lies in finance!"
Now that Zhu Yijun has understood the key to this issue in principle, Gao Pragmatic can further sort out some of the principles and explain it to him bit by bit.
To sum up, it was difficult for the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties in history to "rule at a loss" in the areas where ethnic minorities gathered in the southwest and northwest, so they had no choice but to retain their original ruling culture.
Because the ethnic structure in the southwest and northwest is complex, the roads are difficult and dangerous, the socio-economic benefits are low, and the cultural customs are very different, it is difficult for the central government to carry out direct and effective management. Even if it imposes direct management, it will often fall into the dilemma of increasing losses with more management. They had no choice but to compromise and grant certain autonomy to the ethnic minorities in these places. The local chief officials elected by them were granted official positions by the central government and had hereditary power to rule over the areas under their jurisdiction.
There was even a direct case of "the more you control, the more you lose" in the Ming Dynasty, and it was very close to Guangxi, namely Annan. Why did Annan eventually lose in the original history? The fundamental reason is, in the final analysis, "the more you control, the more you lose."
The imperial court had little money to collect in Annan, and had to spend hundreds of thousands of taels every year. If this only lasts for a year or two, forget it. If it has been like this for many years, it has completely become a bottomless pit. Then who can afford to pay for it? Whoever comes in has to stop the loss and leave, right?
However, now Gao Pragmatic obviously has a solution, which is to first solve the problem of local governance losing money. This problem-solving idea has been verified in Guangxi and Annan, and the facts have proved that it is indeed feasible, so he now dares to say: The Bozhou problem is ultimately a financial problem. As long as the problem of "ruling means losing money" is solved, the Bozhou Rebellion can be easily put down.
Gao Pingshi's explanation made Zhu Yijun feel like he had found a treasure. He had studied the so-called "sacred science" for more than 20 years, and he kept talking about the way of benevolence and righteousness, the way of a gentleman, and the way of kingship. There was never any "way" for him. Clearly explain what "dominance" is.
Now, Gao Pragmatic has laid out the fundamentals of his rule and made it clear to him. To put it bluntly, this way of ruling is not unusual at all. It is to find ways to keep the rule within a profitable range, just like making money before a business can last.
Of course, if this principle continues to deepen, we will also face local unrest caused by scraping the land too hard, but in fact the principle has not changed: leading to unrest still shows that the cost of governance has not been effectively balanced, indicating that local output is insufficient and the court asks for too much .
All in all, Zhu Yijun's understanding is that the most pragmatic solution lies in improving local economic strength, which is the prerequisite for all rule.
"I understand the truth, but for Banzhou...we can't make these changes now, right?" Zhu Yijun had some doubts after realizing it.
Gao Jingshi smiled and said: "Now that Bozhou is in the hands of Yang Yinglong, we naturally have no way to change it, but we can use the opposite strategy: Let the people of Bozhou feel that it is not cost-effective to follow Yang Yinglong and go against the imperial court."
Hey, this approach is really "very pragmatic" and has a lot of internal flavor.
Zhu Yijun immediately asked: "What's the plan?"
"The first step is to block the main road and completely cut off all communication between Banzhou and the outside world. No matter whether it is a grain of rice or half a millet, or an inch of silk, no one is allowed to enter Banzhou from now on!" Gao Pragmatic said with a stern face.
This method is not only pragmatic and familiar, but is also familiar to Zhu Yijun. He has seen too many economic methods by Gao Pragmatic, and now this one is completely within the scope of his understanding, so he nodded repeatedly, and then asked: "It's a good plan, but... Since Banzhou is originally very closed, they can count it now Is it really impossible to live under lockdown?"
"It won't be completely unbearable, but... it will hurt." Gao Pragmatic said confidently: "Your Majesty knows that since I took office as Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, I have established a new Audit Office and sent many audit officials to all parts of the country, so I dare to say this without any shame: No one in history has a better understanding of the economic operations of various parts of the country than I do.
Although Bozhou is closed, it has been subject to the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years and has always had many transactions with surrounding areas. These transactions were either conducted with places directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, or with other chieftains. The volume of each transaction was indeed small, but if aggregated together, it was not a small amount.
As long as the imperial court cuts off its communication with the outside world, the products that Bozhou is rich in cannot leave the country, and the things needed cannot enter the country, the local people's livelihood and military supplies will inevitably be chaotic... and once chaos occurs, it will be an opportunity for Liu Wei to use his troops! "
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Thanks to book friends "I don't believe it anyway", "Riding Alone to Shine the Blue Heart", and "Little Summer is Not Summer" for their monthly support, thank you!
