Since the Lantern Festival, the emperor has also summoned his ministers. Zhengde is known to his ministers for his diligence, and it is rare that he does not see his ministers for two or three days in a row. However, there are not many scenes like this, with more than ten or twenty people almost crowded into the Qianqing Palace. Most of them are just looking for whoever is involved.
Today is different.
In fact, Yang Tinghe was right. The emperor's original intention was to fundamentally reshape the Ming Dynasty's border strategy.
If in the past we just stayed together to get on with our lives, then this time the political discussion is to make this issue clear, and to make the emperor's attitude and the court's attitude clear.
This actually has great benefits.
The country has a clear external tone. As long as it sticks to it for three to five years, the officials will have an idea. If it sticks to it for ten years, the people will know what kind of country they are in. If it sticks to it for twenty years, it will be a martial and powerful country. The concept of nation will be engraved in the blood of many people.
If you think about it, you will know that a person who has spent twenty years should admit that since he was sensible, what he has seen and felt about the Ming Dynasty is powerful. Then it will be difficult for this entire generation to accept and go back to being weak.
On the other hand, if it is not clear, it is not only unclear to the court, but also to the officials in charge of the specific affairs. They do not have a basic principle for handling foreign-related incidents. Everything waits for the emperor in Beijing to make a decision. Sometimes some people even Concealing some things and not reporting them, others don't know the emperor's attitude, and even if they find out, they don't know whether they should file a complaint. Everything is in a mess. This is really a low level of governance, and it doesn't show the so-called prosperous times.
As for Yan Song, he knew that he had a place in the emperor's heart. He had been studying for many years. It was considered a pride in his life to have such an opportunity to be promoted. Moreover, he had done this and left a name in history, so he had been paying special attention to it.
The emperor sat upright, the ministers stood at attention, and all eyes were focused on him.
His thin face and dark skin turned into the capital of his many years of experience at this moment.
At some point, a voice sounded.
"The chieftain is a tyrant. Ji is a horse's head; 绻 is an oxen (sound zhen, four sounds, meaning a rope for pulling an animal). It is intended that all barbarians are restrained like oxen and horses. This is the original meaning of jitie. It has been passed down to this day during the Qin and Han Dynasties. The southwestern barbarians of the Qin Dynasty and the Dian kings of the Han Dynasty all came from this. The system of chieftains in our dynasty can also be traced far back to the Qin and Han Dynasties. The chieftains' offices include Xuan comfort, Xuan Fu, appeasement, recruitment, etc., which are used Everyone is the head of the chieftain. However, in the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was only a slight control over the local chieftains, mainly to win over them so that they would not have disloyal intentions. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was gradually strengthened, and it was not until the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty that there was stricter management. and rule.
The establishment of chieftains in our Ming Dynasty first started in Huguang. In the first year of Wu, the ghost father of the Tian family in Sizhou and Taizu, the former Yuanyuan official, conferred it on him. Later, the subordinates of the Xuanwei, appeasement, and in charge of the chieftains appointed by various places in the Yuan Dynasty successively came to surrender. Over the past hundred years, the Ming Dynasty has installed chieftains all over the seven provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Huguang and Shaanxi. There are more than a thousand chieftains, large and small, including the original Nuer Gandusi in the northeast, the original Guanxi Qiwei in the northwest, and several It is similar to the toast system. "
When he said this, the basic concept was established.
Zhu Houzhao interrupted at the right time, "Look, Ming Dynasty just asked these chieftains to surround them."
Yan Song bowed his hand to him, and then continued, "The establishment of chieftains has historical reasons. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were few people and the land was not as vast as it is now. People from remote places came back with people, so they naturally gave them names. At that time, it was a rule to accept but not rebel. If you rebel, you will abandon it and not pursue it. However, since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the southwest has gradually prospered. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a saying of "Yang Yi" and "Yang Yi". If there is chaos in the Central Plains, the local area must stand on its own. For example, Tubo and Nanzhao in the Tang Dynasty, Dali and Xixia in the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, I am sure of this. Only by continuing to strengthen local control while working hard can we avoid border separatism and damage to the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty. "
"Your Majesty!" Wang Hua, the Minister of Rites, stood up and said with concern: "Yan Weizhong's words may be reasonable, but as he said, the chieftain system has existed for thousands of years. For the sake of the people, if the imperial court suddenly changes its structure, it will inevitably lead to fierce resistance from the chieftains, big and small, which will lead to disaster and it will be too late to regret it."
Zhu Houzhao was unmoved, "Wang Shangshu, aren't we here to solve the problem of 'violent resistance' that you mentioned today? I issued an order and didn't think about how to supervise its implementation. Instead, the resistance was particularly fierce. In a place like this, It can also become the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Can such a minister also be called my loyal minister?"
"That's right! I have been in Guizhou for several years and saw with my own eyes the Xuanwei Si'an family of Guizhou, the Yang family of Bozhou Xuanwei family, the Xuanwei Sitian family of Sinan, as well as the Mingzheng Xuanwei Sijia family of Sichuan and the Luoluo Xuanwei Si An family of Jianchang. The chieftains, for example, may have hundreds or hundreds of miles of territory under their jurisdiction, and may have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops. Therefore, they are often arrogant and domineering.
Don't you hear that during the orthodox period, Luchuan and Burma were promoted to comfort the Sisi family, and they occupied hundreds of miles of the border, expanded their territory, and killed and plundered the people. It took the court eight years to pacify it. The Mu family, the local magistrate of Lijiang, had an area of hundreds of miles, and the palaces were as beautiful as those of a king!
There are also many chieftains who abuse the native people and use everything. They went on a hunting trip and drank heavily, shooting people for fun. But when someone sees that his wife is beautiful, he kills his subordinates to take away his wife. With such debauchery and corruption and many evil deeds, do we, the Ming Dynasty, want to appoint such beasts as officials? "
Yan Song's words were more or less convincing.
Only he has been to those main places here.
If he says that's the case, who else dares to say it's wrong? You haven't seen it, others have.
In fact, Zhu Houzhao himself had some understanding. The so-called chieftain rule was actually somewhat similar to serfdom. The local natives and livestock were not much better than each other. Not to mention the darkness of the feudal system in the Central Plains, compared with those people, at least they could walk upright. Some people, in some areas, treat people as livestock, and bending down to carry people is normal.
In Zhu Houzhao's heart, or in his original education, those places are our territory, and those people are our compatriots. They have suffered so much, should they indulge in the prosperity of the age and the saint king? in the words, and completely ignore it?
To take a step back, even if he no longer cares about opening up new territories and being famous for eternity, if he just does this well, it will be a great merit, right?
Thinking of those cruel facts, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but breathe a little quickly, and his eyes began to change, "I have always said that the policy that benefits the people is not to retreat from danger, but to persevere. This is righteousness. It’s such a big thing, and there’s nothing terrible about having thousands of toasts. If I do a little bit this year and a little bit next year, is it possible that it won’t work?! Ha, I don’t believe in this evil!”
(End of chapter)
