Chapter 45 Nomadism and Settlement
"In this case, Mr. He thinks that Mongolia cannot be ruled by the imperial court and can only use fetters? Then why would the imperial court spend so much effort on conquest?" Cao Guogong asked a question in a calm tone.
Although Cao Guogong is a direct descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang, he even had good relations with He Xi in many places. But he was still very dissatisfied with He Xi's conclusion.
Because if what He Xi said is followed, it directly negates the significance of the war between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia. Since fighting Mongolia is pointless. Then the merits of the warriors are meaningless. Li Wenzhong was actually in Nanjing in the past few years. Before that, he and Xu Da went north to take charge of the Peking War.
Although, Xu Da is presiding over this battle. But the next war against Mongolia may not be Xu Da. It's probably him.
In addition, Duke Cao Guo was loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang, but it did not mean that Duke Cao's government did not have its own interests. After all, Cao Guogong is a martial artist, and he has a large group of generals under him. He must also safeguard the collective interests of the warriors, which does not conflict much with his loyalty to Zhu Yuanzhang.
He Xi also knew that this issue must be explained clearly.
You know, during the Hongwu period, in terms of the entire Wuxun Group, it was one of the three major groups that Zhu Yuanzhang would have to consider again and again. Although there are many factions among them, there are also Zhu Yuanzhang's attempts to divide and conquer them. However, it is in the interests of their group to fight overseas.
This is not the case in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, when civil servants relied on the emperor to have a little power to check and balance Wu Xun.
If he really denies the war with Can Yuan today, even if Zhu Yuanzhang protects him from now on, He Xi will have a hard time in the court from now on.
Everything must go according to the trend.
When to do something. And even Zhu Yuanzhang may not be willing to stop foreign wars. After all, these Wuxun groups will not be peaceful if they do not fight foreign wars. Furthermore, He Xi is not against external expansion.
He Xi said: "Dong Cao Guo, when the Yuan soldiers passed through a white land, they poisoned all living beings. Wherever they passed, it was terrible. Clothes and crowns filled the ravines, and the people's bones filled the rivers. This revenge cannot be avenged. If the residual Yuan is not destroyed, then the Ming Dynasty will be great. The trouble. Only by destroying this imperial food can we stop the troops from thousands of miles away on the border."
"It's just that for some things, we must understand the problem before we can prescribe the right medicine. Otherwise, not only will we not be able to achieve long-term peace and stability, but the Ming soldiers will have to give up what they gained from bloody battles."
"Now the problem is very clear. If the same piece of land can be cultivated, it can support court officials and garrison troops, and then a piece of land can be the land of the court. But on the grassland, due to nomadic reasons, it is erratic, even if The occupied pasture can only be owned by the chief and cannot be ruled by the court. Therefore, if the court is strong, it will surrender for a while, but if something happens, it will be like a weed reborn."
"Only by solving this problem can the court truly manage the grassland."
"Since Genghis Khan, the Mongolian nomadic trend has actually been declining day by day. I coined a word here, productivity. It refers to people's material production capacity, that is, the ability to produce food, clothing, carriages, and iron tools. Before Mongolia, most of the people on the grasslands were nomadic, but after Genghis Khan unified Mongolia, the scope of nomadic tribes in the grasslands was significantly reduced. This is because before that, the nomadic people were not productive enough and relied solely on nomadic herding. At the time of Genghis Khan, A large number of serfs were captured into the grasslands. With additional productivity, they relied less on nomadic herding, thus reducing the scope of nomadic herding."
"So, what we have to do is in the following directions. First, the nomadic system is not simply implemented on the grassland. Although I also know that growing food on the grassland will get twice the result with half the effort, but the historical materials of the Yuan Dynasty also indicate that during the Yuan Dynasty, In Mobei Province, there are some places where food can be grown to supplement nomadic herding. For example, mining. As far as I know, there are many salt lakes on the grasslands, as well as some gold, silver, copper and iron mines. All of them can provide a livelihood for the people. Second, animal husbandry does not necessarily require nomadic herding. Nomadic herding can be transformed into fixed herding. Is there such a possibility? I think it is. Third, that is to recruit soldiers from the grassland. Although the grassland is vast, it is not as important as China. A county, at its peak, only had five million people. It only needs to recruit soldiers from Mongolia every year to fight in all directions. Let these soldiers settle on the border in the future and guard the border for China. Why should the grassland be a trouble to China? "
"What Ding Xian said just now actually has many merits."
"Okay." Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books. Today, the strategy of the Ming Dynasty grassland has been decided. What Ding Xian said is just a technique, but what He Qing said is the fundamental way. I only know today, what He is an unparalleled national scholar."
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang had already heard He Xi's intention. He actually used the grassland as a case and revealed his later analysis methods bit by bit. For example, if the concept of productivity is divorced from practical factors and stated directly, many people will not understand it. But now that he is telling it in a eloquent way, he can be convinced.
In fact, He Xi also knew that what he said was a bit biased, and points would be deducted in future exams, but this is not important. Many concepts have different interpretations at different times. They are all formed and supplemented to make them fuller.
He first put up the sign and then talked about it.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked He Xi to come to the Imperial College for this purpose. Now that He Xi has come to power, how can Zhu Yuanzhang not support him?
When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, others could only agree.
However, they also felt that although Zhu Yuanzhang was a little overrated, it was not too much. At least after today, Ming Dynasty's general policy on the grassland has been very clear. Although there are many difficulties, the simplest thing is the post roads connecting the grasslands. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a rich system of post roads on the grasslands, but they are no longer there today. It takes a lot of supplies to rebuild and maintain. And keep investing. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty regarded the outside of the Great Wall as the foundation, invested in the northern part of the Great Wall, and spared no effort, so that the poor in the south of the Yangtze River and the rich in the northern part of the Great Wall. But things are different now. Ming Dynasty still needs to maintain such a large financial investment in Mongolia. Is it necessary? Even if you need it, do you have that much money?
It's just a matter of execution. It cannot be said that there is something wrong with General He Xi.
At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang's visit to Yilun Hall came to an end.
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In Zhu Yuanzhang's carriage, He Xi sat cautiously beside him.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "Is this how your future generations will make decisions?"
Zhu Yuanzhang first felt the atmosphere of this kind of decision-making.
Long-term peace and stability on the grassland is also a problem that Zhu Yuanzhang has been thinking about. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang already has a solution in his hands. That is to establish Daning Dusi, Kaiping Guard, Dongsheng Guard, and more than 20 guard posts. This was also the arrangement originally made by Zhu Yuanzhang in history. Later, the Monan Guards Station was abandoned by all the unscrupulous descendants.
Precisely because such things happened in history, Zhu Yuanzhang had always been hesitant in his heart.
And in history, Zhu Yuanzhang never noticed that the Monan grassland was different from other places in the Ming Dynasty. Yes, the Monan area, as a grassland, was a place rich in water and grass. But in terms of reclamation, it is possible to plant it in the Fengzhoutan area, that is, in the Dongshengwei and Hetao areas, but not in other places.
Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang made a hasty decision. Now Zhu Yuanzhang knew more, but he was uneasy.
However, after such a meeting, Zhu Yuanzhang had already made up his mind. It would be reckless to make a hasty decision without knowing the difficulties you are facing, but you cannot give up just because you know what difficulties you are facing. That's called cowardice.
At least with the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty, it would not be a problem to maintain the grassland for more than ten years, or even decades. He did not believe that the grassland could not be transformed after such a long time.
Such a big problem was solved in this way. Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked.
Zhu Yuanzhang would think over and over again about similar big decisions before making a decision. After making the decision, I also doubted that I was right. All in all, it was very nerve-wracking, but now, after a meeting, it became clear. Make Zhu Yuanzhang feel more relaxed.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang got rid of the problem itself and instead focused on this method of solving affairs.
