Chapter 159: King Yan’s Ambition
Consciously sacrificing economic interests for political interests is the instinct of many ancient Chinese politicians. Money is not the most important thing, nor is efficiency. The overall situation and stability are the most important.
From a certain perspective, this is true.
After all, for a country the size of China, it is extremely foolish to bet on the fate of the country.
In fact, China is not without the foundation of the Industrial Revolution. Many people have commented that there were at least three times in ancient China that had all the conditions for the Industrial Revolution, namely the heyday of the Western Han Dynasty, the Song Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty.
But China has just missed industrialization.
Among them, it is because of China's path dependence and major national diseases that an ideological and economic system focusing on agriculture has been formed. It deepens the difficulty of industrialization.
It's like today, King Yan doesn't know at all that it is difficult to establish an industrial system and it is also difficult to maintain it. It can even be said that if there are not enough markets and orders, and there is not enough profit-driven, He Xi's establishment of this business now will be like Zheng He's voyages to the West. Later generations can only lament the greatness of the ancients from the piles of old papers.
And there is nothing static in the world. No matter what it is, it will always retreat if it does not advance. What kind of technological reforms are being promoted now? Once there is no demand and no economic benefit drive for self-evolution, it will shrink away in just a few years.
Wait until He Xi's generation dies. I guess we can only look for traces in some Yongle Dadian and Sikuquanshu.
Is this refundable?
Based on King Yan’s words today, He Xi is destined to be no longer a fellow traveler of King Yan.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "Fourth brother, tell me the truth. If I pass this world on to you, what are you going to do?"
King Yan's heart was pounding and his face turned red, as if he was drunk. Shaoyou lost control of his emotions. He was silent for a moment and said: "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty attacked the Huns in the north, conquered Korea in the east, conquered Baiyue in the south, and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty conquered all directions. All the people in the world are the concubines of the Tang Dynasty. I, the Ming Dynasty, have expelled the Tartars and brought great glory to the world. They cannot be under the Han and Tang Dynasties. If my son is lucky enough to be the queen of his father, he should conquer the Xiongnu in the north, the Western Regions, Annan in the south, Nanyang, and Uzang in the west. Let all the ministers and concubines of the world be enlightened, and even go deep into the ocean, and go out to the Americas in the east, so that the world will be enlightened.”
King Yan said with piercing eyes, this was exactly what he said in his mind.
He didn't want to give up the war in Mobei because there was a war to fight. To realize King Yan's ambition, it would be even better if he could become emperor. You can achieve more ambitions.
King Yan himself was fond of martial arts, but the reason why he had such thoughts was actually due to He Xi's influence.
Under He Xi's management, Ming Dynasty's finances were in good shape. If you save a lot of expensive projects. It is estimated that the income in the next year will be as much as 40 to 50 million taels. Although it is not as good as the Song Dynasty in its heyday, it is already quite good, even better than when the Ming Dynasty's finances were at their best, and the upward trend of the Ming Dynasty's finances is still obvious.
Even in the future, it will not be a problem to earn 50 to 60 million taels a year, surpassing the peak period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Money is the courage of heroes.
Since he has money, King Yan will naturally want to make a big one.
Of course, He Xi also educated King Yan, letting him know that the outside world is so big. King Yan naturally wanted to make some contributions to the territory of China.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard what King Yan said, he shook his head and said: "It is easy to change a country but hard to change its nature."
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the current King of Yan was not much different from the Yongle Emperor in history. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation of King Yan is not much different, that is, one general is more than enough, but a king of ten thousand chariots is not enough.
Because King Yan has never understood one thing. For China, the biggest problem is at home, not outside.
China is the natural overlord of East Asia. In ancient times when transportation was underdeveloped, China was the natural overlord of the known world. It is no exaggeration at all.
Just like in later generations, the US election has always attracted the attention of the whole world. Why? Because the United States is the world's hegemon, its domestic affairs have always affected the world. And this principle is the same in Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang actually did not object to King Yan's expansion. He even agreed. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang knew better than King Yan that the Age of Discovery was coming. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, the Age of Discovery was a new enclosure movement.
Daming will naturally participate.
However, this should not be about expansion for the sake of expansion. Expansion for the sake of expansion will inevitably lead to militarism.
And the land that was conquered will most likely be spit out in the future if the national power cannot support it. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, King Yan's idea was not as important as the idea of dividing the vassal overseas that He Xi had proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Because of the national policy of vassaling overseas, the land that Ming Dynasty expanded overseas would not be easily lost.
After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, King Yan felt anxious and said, "Father, is there anything wrong with my son?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Go and see your father-in-law when you have time, and you will know. A true general never loves war, but is afraid of war."
Being afraid of war does not mean that you are afraid of going to the battlefield, but that you are afraid of war itself. War is actually the most distorted existence of human nature. No matter how noble the name is, it is always extremely cruel on the battlefield.
Otherwise, you can't survive.
A general who truly understands war will be afraid of war, of extreme and uncontrollable war. Anything can happen in football, not to mention war. It is the fairest game in the world with the highest competitive level.
Even a victorious general cannot guarantee that he will win the next battle. m.
Xu Da followed Zhu Yuanzhang and rose from the bottom. He could understand defeat, and he also knew what kind of price would be paid after a big defeat. But King Yan was not the same. As King Yan, he did not start as a pawn at all. Senior officers, even though the King of Yan shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers in many cases, there is actually a big difference between the war that the King of Yan understands and the war that the soldiers understand.
Zhu Yuanzhang listened to King Yan's thoughts and heard many emotions. Only worry and fear are not heard? It seems that King Yan never thought about defeat.
Yes, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that with the current national and military power of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the generals were not too useless, they would not be defeated, and at most they would suffer a small setback. However, a general cannot have such thoughts.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang's approach made King Yan a little confused.
I don’t know what Zhu Yuanzhang means.
Yes, he was promised a reserve position? still none?
How can I say that he was promised a reserve position? It doesn't seem to be said. But if not, let him contact Xu Da. Although Xu Da was the father-in-law of King Yan, in fact, Xu Da always kept a distance from his son-in-law. The friendship between the two families is nothing more than sending people to give gifts during the holidays. Very little more.
It wasn't that King Yan didn't want to get close to the Xu family, but that Xu Da refused people thousands of miles away.
After all, Xu Da is in a place of suspicion and getting too close to King Yan is not good for anyone. Now King Yan has the opportunity to meet Xu Da according to the order. If Xu Da is brought into his camp, half of the battle for the throne will be won.
Zhu Yuanzhang actually had no decision in his heart.
King Yan is actually pretty good, not bad compared to the prince.
The prince was proficient in internal affairs, had a better understanding of the internal problems of the Ming Dynasty, and had a higher prestige. But he is not strong enough as a person, at least not as strong as King Yan. If the prince were in the position of King Yan in history, he would definitely not be able to successfully appeasement.
But it doesn't mean that the prince is weaker than King Yan.
If Zhu Yuanzhang unifies the prince's political views, that is, if he slowly plans it and advances the reforms bit by bit, the prince is determined to do better than King Yan. But when there is a real crisis, at the critical moment of life or death, the prince is not as good as the king of Yan.
However, what Zhu Yuanzhang wanted was a prince who supported the reform from the bottom of his heart. The current King of Yan did not have this string in his heart. His perspective on the reform was no different from that of Zhu Yuanzhang's various reforms since the founding of the country, and he did not Can't understand the importance of reform.
King Yan can be a good emperor, above average. But he may not be an emperor who can implement reforms.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's case, it was just an alternative.
In this way, King Yan didn't get an answer from Zhu Yuanzhang, so he could only leave in confusion. King Yan went directly to the Duke of Wei's mansion, hoping that Duke Wei could give him an answer.
Some people died, but not completely...
