Zhu Yijun first repeated this statement to the five pavilion elders. As the first assistant, Wang Jiaping was obviously very interested in this. He was neither an official of the Practical School nor an official of the Xin School, but a typical supporter of traditional Neo-Confucianism, and he was happy to look at the problem from the perspective of traditional "security thinking."
According to Gao Pragmatic's words relayed by the emperor, North Korea is the guarantee for Liaodong, Liaodong is the guarantee for the capital, and the capital is the guarantee for North China... and then there is no doubt that North China is the guarantee for the Central Plains, etc., which can all be deduced in turn. .
To put it simply, the Ming Dynasty directly administered North Korea, which would greatly improve the country's overall security. As a traditional official, the security of the country must be the first consideration for the dynasty. Wang Jiaping was naturally very moved.
Moreover, another characteristic of traditional officials is that once they feel that something is important, they are often willing to invest huge national costs for it.
For example, in the Ming Dynasty, when the flooding of the Yellow River was becoming more and more serious, when it became very realistic that water transportation was inferior to sea transportation, the court was still unable to firm up its will to change water transportation to sea transportation because "the food and clothing of millions of water workers depended on it", and there were a lot of back and forth. Back then, the reform was not over until the two uncles and nephews, Gao Gong and Gao pragmatism.
Although Wang Jiaping was moved, because he had paid very little attention to North Korea before, he could not help but doubt whether this statement was true or false, or how likely it was true, so he raised a question: "Your Majesty, what the Nanning Marquis said Is there more evidence to prove it?”
Not only did he say this, but the other four pavilion elders also looked at Zhu Yijun, obviously concerned about this. This is not surprising. If there is evidence to support it, it will be easier to convince other officials from outside the DPRK, which is very important to the cabinet.
Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "I have here a secret report written by Rixin before going to North Korea. It contains a very thorough description of the various connections between Liaodong and North Korea. You can take a look. Oh, by the way, Japan New here also came up with a new word called geostructure.”
As he spoke, he stood up and rummaged through the bookshelf, found a thin book, and motioned to Liu Ping, who was waiting at his side, to hand it to Wang Jiaping. Wang Jiaping stood up, took it with both hands, and started reading immediately. There were not many words in this thin book. After Wang Jiaping read it, he handed it to Liang Menglong and then circulated it to several cabinet ministers.
In the "Appendix" of Gao Pangshi's secret memoir, he first talks about the geographical structure of the Changbai Mountains, the main mountain range of the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Plains. [Note: Gao pragmatically explains the concept of "Northeast Plains" here. ]
For a mountain range, ancient people often named a specific section from their perspective. Based on the development of technology, future generations will discover that these mountains with complicated names and continuous relationships with each other are actually part of a large group of mountains. The main veins located in it often radiate out some seemingly independent mountains.
What later generations call "mountains" are often just the main veins, and those extended mountains often still have separate names in official documents.
For example, the Zhongtiao Mountains, Wutai Mountains, and Hengshan Mountains are actually extensions of the main veins of the Taihang Mountains in different directions. As far as the Taihang Mountains are concerned, if these branches are not included, it can be called the Taihang Mountains in the "narrow sense"; and if these branches are included, it is the Taihang Mountains in the "broad sense."
Since it was impossible for Gao Pragmatic to show any satellite images during the Ming Dynasty, the concept of mountains could only be dismissed as "according to the exploration discoveries of Jinghua Mining". Fortunately, no one in the entire Ming Dynasty would doubt Jinghua's exploration capabilities, so it can be justified.
This situation also exists in the Changbai Mountains he analyzed in the article. He analyzed in the article that from a broad perspective, the "Changbai Mountains" is the collective name for the mountains that stretch across the entire northeastern region of Northeast China. In fact, the north reaches directly to the Sanjiang Plain (the northernmost mountain is called "Wanda Mountain"), and the south runs through the Liaodong Peninsula and connects with the Bohai Sea (the southernmost mountain is called "Qianshan Mountains").
Since the Changbai Mountains well protect the eastern border of the Northeast Plain, it is often considered the geographical dividing line between the Northeast Plain and the Korean Peninsula. In fact, the problem is not that simple.
This is because when the main vein of the Changbai Mountains extended southward to the middle of the Sino-North Korean border in later generations, it did not simply extend to the southwest of the Liaodong Peninsula, but also extended to the southeast of the Korean Peninsula.
In other words, the mountains in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and the Changbai Mountains can be regarded as a whole. And if the perspective is expanded to the Korean Peninsula, the mountainous area covering the entire northeastern corner of the East Asian continent appears as a "herringbone" shape. The mountains of the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula are actually two branches of it.
In fact, if we judge the main vein of this mountainous area from the height, the mountains in northern Korea with an average altitude of 1,200 meters and the Gaima Plateau as the core are more qualified to be the entire mountainous area than the mountains in the Ming Dynasty (average altitude 800 meters). of crest.
[Note: The word "altitude" was first proposed by Guo Shoujing, a scientist in the Yuan Dynasty of my country; the unit of length "meter" has been popularized among scholars and businessmen in books because of its widespread use in Jinghua. ]
After explaining the branches and heights of mountain ranges, Gao pragmatically went on to write that from the perspective of human survival, low altitude often means more living space. The high altitude of the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula has caused a serious shortage of arable land in the entire northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
It is precisely because the mountains in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula are too high and too dense that even the fishing and hunting people who set out from the Songnen Plain in the past found that when they penetrated the Korean Peninsula, they had to go around the Liaohe Plain and then cross the lower altitude. The Liaodong hills and the route across the Yalu River from the lower reaches are the most feasible routes.
For the Chinese farming people who set out from the North China Plain on the southern line, they would feel that there is no reason to touch the high mountains in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula.
This is because the route along the Lower Liaohe Plain, the coastal corridor on the southern edge of the Liaodong Peninsula, into the western lowlands of the Korean Peninsula, in addition to the gentle terrain, will not cause these ethnic groups from the North China Plain to feel uncomfortable in terms of climate (the North China Plain). The northern part, the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, and the northwest part of the Korean Peninsula are in the same latitude range and have the same altitude).
If the Korean Peninsula has enough strategic depth and uses it to confront the entire Middle Kingdom, perhaps the current geographical dividing line between the two sides will be established on the main line of the Changbai Mountains - the Liaodong Hills (the Qianshan Mountains as the main line). The problem is that in terms of the strategic depth of the Korean Peninsula, they are even unable to confront the fishing and hunting peoples of the Northeast Plains alone.
Therefore, in history, there are basically no cases of penetration into the Northeast Plains starting from the Korean Peninsula - unless they can reach an alliance with the main Chinese nation on the East Asian continent by sea. A typical example of this is Goguryeo. From a geographical perspective, Goguryeo is actually a typical political power upgraded from the fishing and hunting peoples of Northeast China.
Due to the obstruction of the Yanshan Mountains, the Chinese nation's control over the Lower Liaohe Plain has always been unstable. In other words, the control of the Lower Liaohe Plain has always been alternated between the northeastern fishing and hunting peoples and the Chinese farming peoples - the most recent example of this is actually the fierce game between the Jin regime and the central court of the Ming Dynasty in the late Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, Gao Pragmatic cannot To give this example, I have to take the Liao Kingdom's suppression of the Jurchens and the Jin Kingdom's defeat of the Liao Kingdom as an example.
The Goguryeo regime was the first northeastern fishing and hunting nation to successfully enter the Lower Liaohe Plain. Of course, this "earliest" is relative, because before the Chinese people entered the Lower Liaohe Plain, it was originally the territory of the fishing and hunting people.
It's just that in constant contact with the Chinese people in the Lower Liaohe Plain (from the Warring States Period to the Han and Tang Dynasties), the Goguryeo people took the lead in absorbing advanced experience (including organizational forms and production methods) from the Chinese people, and stood out among the fishing and hunting peoples in the Northeast. The state emerged on the geopolitical stage.
In this sense, Gao Jingshi stated in the article that he believed that Goguryeo was actually the representative of the entire Northeast fishing and hunting nation, and was similar to the birth process of the Zhongshan Kingdom.
After the Northeastern fishing and hunting people represented by Goguryeo occupied the Lower Liaohe Plain, the most tempting option was of course to cross the Yanshan Mountains and enter the North China Plain. However, with the geographical potential of the Northeast Plain, it is difficult to directly compete with the core areas of the entire Central Kingdom. Therefore, after achieving this step, what the Northeastern fishing and hunting ethnic regimes often do is to first expand their sphere of influence in the east and west directions.
Based on the comparison of strength, the nomadic peoples on the Mongolian Plateau often adopt alliances. For the long and narrow Korean Peninsula, conquest by force is the most common method.
If the three geopolitical forces of the Mongolian Plateau, the Northeastern Plains, and the Korean Peninsula can be integrated, these northern marginalized ethnic groups will have the ability to confront the Chinese nation on an equal footing.
Based on this calculation method, the most successful one in history was of course the Manchu regime established by Nurhachi. Of course, the person who really completed this idea was Huang Taiji - however, because Meng Guzhezhe had already become a highly pragmatic concubine. , Huang Taiji estimated that there was no chance of being born.
Therefore, Gao Jingshi cited a counterexample in the article that failed to achieve success: He believed that the reason why the Jin State only obtained half of China's territory in the end was that the Jin State could neither capture the entire Korean Peninsula nor actually control the Mongolian grassland (the Jin State's control over Mongolia) The control is basically similar to China’s custodial system), so not only is it lacking in national strength, but it is also easy to be subverted in terms of geographical structure.
Gao Pragmatic believes that after occupying the hub area of "Xia Liaohe Plain", the northeastern fishing and hunting people will not necessarily change the agricultural attributes of this area, such as changing it to fishing and hunting. Because the geographical potential stimulated by agricultural production is visible to everyone.
Therefore, the Lower Liaohe Plain will not only become a bridgehead for the southward march, but will also provide a major source of food for the fishing and hunting regimes, and enable the fishing and hunting regimes to have the strength to stabilize according to the organizational form of the Chinese nation.
This is similar to the fact that if the Chinese nation wants to gain an advantage in the war on the Mongolian Plateau, they must first occupy several geographical units (such as Hetao) that can become good pastures.
Of course, the war horses used by Gao Pragmatic to pacify Mongolia came from Mongolia (Tumut). This was caused by the special conditions caused by Mongolia's own division and the fact that one of the parties was controlled by the Ming Dynasty through paying tribute to the economy.
Of course, whether they are fishermen, hunters or nomads, they know very well that even if they occupy the Lower Liao River Plain, they still cannot compete with the core area of the entire Central Kingdom. The advantage they have lies in their own production methods, which can provide military forces with higher quality and proportion than those of farming peoples.
Therefore, in terms of organizational structure, these horse ethnic groups are more willing to use their own advantages to control a sufficient number of agricultural populations so that they can manage these cultivated lands. For example, Gao Pragmatic said that when Anda Khan plundered the population from the Ming Dynasty, it was to a large extent that to this end.
Of course, what Gao Pangshi actually wanted to say in his heart was that Huang Taiji wantonly plundered people from the Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, it maintains its advantages through paramilitary operations such as hunting; on the other hand, it uses administrative means to prohibit bannermen from engaging in agricultural production. As the pinnacle of the "feudal" system, the Qing Dynasty had a long enough history as a reference whether it was controlling the administrative methods of the central state, or exploiting its strengths and avoiding weaknesses, and stabilizing the dominance of the Manchu regime.
From Goguryeo's perspective, they did not pose a substantial threat to the Central Kingdom. Because in his 700-year history, he has been working hard to integrate the Korean Peninsula and failed to achieve a true alliance with the nomads on the Mongolian plateau.
The reason why Goguryeo has such a great reputation in history is not only that the ethnic groups on the Korean Peninsula in later generations wanted to cling to this ethnic group that was obviously different from its geographical attributes, but also because it was the first regime to unify the geopolitical power of the entire Northeast Plain. , and based on this, they occupied the hub area of the Lower Liaohe Plain.
Gao Zhishi wrote here that the reason why Emperors Wen and Yang of the Sui Dynasty and Emperor Tai and Gao Zong of the Tang Dynasty would never give up until Goguryeo was destroyed was because they realized that if Goguryeo develops again, it will have a huge impact on the Central Plains in the future. Threat, so I had to do it.
In fact, before this, the Chinese nation had relied on its strong geographical power to penetrate into the Lower Liaohe Plain, and even the Liaodong Peninsula and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula (from the late Warring States Period to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty). After that, in addition to dealing with geopolitical pressure from the Mongolian Plateau, the Chinese nation also had to pay attention to the pressure from the Northeast Plains.
After the Yan people became the first Chinese people to enter the Lower Liaohe Plain, the hilly areas of the Liaodong Peninsula naturally became the controlled area of the Yan people. However, the Liaodong Peninsula is dominated by hilly terrain, and the coastal areas are troubled by sea inundation. Therefore, after crossing the Liaodong Peninsula, the Yan people hoped to penetrate into the Korean Peninsula.
Although the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula is a densely mountainous area, the terrain becomes gentle as it extends southward to the western part of the Korean Peninsula, which is the coast of the Yellow Sea. With the joint efforts of the rivers originating from the mountains in the northeast, stretches of alluvial plains have been filled in between the low hills. Among them, the Datong River plays the greatest role.
If we were to find a mother river for future generations of Korea, it would definitely be the Taedong River. The necessary condition for becoming a mother river is that its downstream area can provide a sufficient area of alluvial plain, and this plain occupies a core position in the geographical unit in which it is located. From this point of view, the Taedong River is most capable of becoming the mother river in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Gao Pangshi attached here a map of Korea drawn by Kyunghua and explained it with reference to this map: Observing the outline of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, you will find that there is a triangular bulge on its west side near the Yellow Sea. The skeleton of this triangle is formed by the hills extending from the northeastern mountains, and the plains filled in between are mainly the result of the Datong River system.
This triangular plain-hilly area has become the area with the most geopolitical potential in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, and has certainly become the geopolitical core of the northern part of the peninsula. Therefore, if the Yan people want to make a difference on the Korean Peninsula, their strategic goal is to occupy this geographical core area.
As for the mountainous areas in the northeast, they do not arouse the interest of the farming people. After all, in that era, occupying the core plains of a region could be considered to control the surrounding mountains.
Although these plains regimes are not even interested in sending officials there symbolically (unless there are major transportation routes), marginal ethnic groups living in the mountains can often accept it as long as their lives are not greatly affected. After all, this kind of nominal leadership needs to be exchanged with the residents of the plains for many necessities of life.
The plain area located in the lower reaches of the Datong River has been the geographical core of the northern peninsula for more than 3,000 years. During this period, the ethnic groups who arrived here chose to establish their own political centers in the northern part of the triangle.
This choice was made because, on the one hand, the main stream of the Datong River is in the north of this triangle (the south is formed by the alluvial tributaries of the Datong River, mainly the Zaining River); on the other hand, because the geopolitical pressure on the Korean Peninsula mainly comes from the north. , that is, the direction of the Liaodong Peninsula.
Therefore, it is necessary to concentrate the main resources on the northern front to maintain its war potential. Otherwise, both the Huaxia people and the Northeastern fishing and hunting people may quickly break through the Datong River defense line. In other words, given the strategic depth of the lower reaches of the Datong River, it is impossible to engage in level-by-level resistance, and a decisive battle must be adopted as soon as possible.
The political center on the side of the Datong River is naturally Pyongyang. Therefore, this geographical unit, which is alternated with hills and is even inferior to the "Xia Liaohe Plain" in area and flatness, is also called the "Pyongyang Plain" by Gao Pangzhi in the article. However, Gao Pragmatic explained that in fact, the name "Pyongyang" has a long history and was not created by North Korea itself.
When the Yan people entered the Korean Peninsula, its name was "Wangxian City". And since it is called a "city", it certainly means that there is already a mature political power, which has taken hold here before the Yan people.
This regime and the ethnic group to which it belonged were no strangers to the Ming Emperor and the five elders. It was the "Jizi North Korea" established by the survivors of the Shang ethnic group who were unwilling to submit to the Zhou Dynasty.
Gao pragmatically explained here the reason why the Zhou people feudalized the Yan Kingdom in the northern part of the North China Plain. In fact, the feudal strategic purpose of the Yan State was, to a large extent, to prevent merchants from entering the North China Plain again. In order to achieve this goal, the Yan people needed to take the entire area south of Yanshan as their own and use the Yanshan Mountains as a natural defense line. If this was achieved, it would be enough to ensure the geographical security of the Zhou Dynasty.
Because of this, after the Yan people integrated the south of Yanshan, they had no idea of moving northward for a long time. It was not until the late Warring States Period that they were forced by the geopolitical pressure from the southern front and hoped to find new strategic depth north of Yanshan. Infiltrate to the north.
Then Gao Pragmatic continued to analyze why Jizi did not choose the lower Liaohe Plain as a stronghold, but instead bypassed the Liaodong Peninsula and entered the Korean Peninsula. He believes that this is of course related to the sensitive location of the Lower Liaohe River Plain. Choosing to establish a foothold in such a hub area, even if the geopolitical pressure of the North China Plain is not temporarily felt, the nomadic people moving eastward along the west Liaohe River and the hinterland of the Northeast Plain The fishing and hunting people will not let them feel safe.
Therefore, the Pyongyang Plain in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula has become a paradise for businessmen to live. Jizi and his descendants did live and work in peace and contentment for hundreds of years, until one day, the Yan people appeared at their doorstep.
After analyzing these, Gao Pragmatic had enough reasons to put forward his own point of view to the emperor: Although Korea is now a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, Jurchen is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, half of Mongolia is under the direct jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty and the other half has also become a vassal state, but considering that they They all have their own languages, and they are not completely integrated with the Ming Dynasty. If something happens in the Central Plains in the future, and a strongman appears in these three places and takes the opportunity to unify them, the Ming Dynasty will face huge national defense pressure and fall into strategic passivity.
Therefore, as the master of the ZTE, the emperor must also have the spirit of "not worrying about future generations" to completely bring North Korea into his rule. In the future, he will gradually Chineseize these three places and expand the strategic buffer zone for the core farming areas of the Ming Dynasty.
Only in this way can we "set the foundation for eternity" and become an eternal emperor on par with the First Emperor!
As the five pavilion elders read Gao Pragmatic's submission one by one, there was silence in the entire Xinuan Pavilion, and even the sound of breathing could be heard clearly.
It is self-evident how attractive this title "Eternal Emperor" is to Emperor Wanli, who is now at the peak of his martial arts. Moreover, it is not only such an attraction for Zhu Yijun, but don’t the elders here feel excited? Of course not, they were very excited too!
Auxiliary ministers of eternal emperors, aren’t they worthy of being recorded in the annals of history and famous throughout the ages?
When they thought that such a grand blueprint was only missing North Korea, and all that was left was the subtle Chineseization of the local people, the five cabinet ministers couldn't help but look forward to it: It turns out that as long as I express my approval of North Korea's inclusion now, it will be possible in the future. Will be regarded as one of the famous ministers throughout the ages...
There are such good things in the world!
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Lao Xi of Altay", "Cao Mianzi", "First Login", and "soviet2003" for their monthly support, thank you!
Thanks to book friend "iron" for your support with 6 monthly tickets, thank you!
PS: At this point, I can still finish coding at night...after all, most people haven't gotten up yet, right?
