In the last few days of December of the seventh year of Chengshun, the Chu Empire held an imperial meeting, in which all nine ministers involved in the imperial study room participated.
The theme of the meeting is very simple, that is, to discuss the disposal of the Koryo Peninsula, and incidentally, the disposal of the Lee family's monarchs and ministers will also be discussed.
As usual in the imperial meeting, Luo Zhixue sat on the dragon chair. Except for saying a few words at the beginning of the meeting, he closed his eyes and rested his mind... allowing the ministers to discuss on their own.
The very beginning of the meeting was to discuss whether the Korean Peninsula should be directly included in the scope of imperial rule, or whether it should not be directly ruled, and the Korean Peninsula should still be regarded as a vassal state as in the past.
Regarding this point, everyone still has some concerns, mainly considering that the area of the Goryeo Peninsula is not small, and there are millions of people in the peninsula, and the language and customs of these people are very different from the Han people in the Central Plains, and they directly rule kind of hard.
Although the Korean Peninsula has been radiated by Confucian culture for a long time, the upper class people generally learn Chinese characters. Basically, every Korean scholar can write and read Chinese characters, but basically they cannot speak Chinese...or, in fact, it can be said that it is just pronunciation. It's different... The Korean people's pronunciation of Chinese characters is very different from the Chinese pronunciation.
Not to mention the Koreans, even the Chinese spoken in different regions in the Central Plains region are very different, otherwise there would be no special Mandarin.
The Mandarin of the past dynasties is very important. Only with a unified language and writing can Chinese civilization continue for thousands of years. Although the Mandarin has been changing throughout the dynasties, it still has a very clear context.
This change does not mean that Old dialect is directly abolished and Newspeak is quoted directly, but that it continues to evolve on the basis of Old dialect... How should I put it? Today's Mandarin evolved from the dialect spoken in Luoyang, the Central Plains, three or four thousand years ago. of.
For thousands of years in the early days of China, the political and cultural center of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties was always in the Central Plains, specifically in the Luoyang area. During this period, the universal Yayin was formed.
The Mandarin of subsequent dynasties generally evolved from the Luoyang pronunciation of the Central Plains, or the Luoyang pronunciation fused with other dialects.
During the Tang Dynasty, the Luoyang pronunciation was adopted as the Mandarin. During the Jin Dynasty, when it moved southward, the Luoyang pronunciation merged with the Jinling dialect to form the new Jinling Mandarin.
The Song Dynasty adopted Luoyang pronunciation like the Tang Dynasty during the Northern Song Dynasty. Although the Southern Song Dynasty moved south, it generally followed the Luoyang pronunciation.
In the Yuan Dynasty, in addition to Mongolian, the common language was based on Luoyang pronunciation, which was integrated with some dialects of Youzhou area to form the so-called Beiping pronunciation.
The Mandarin during the Ming Dynasty was the so-called Nanjing Mandarin. This Nanjing Mandarin was actually a new Mandarin based on the Luoyang pronunciation of the Central Plains and fused with part of the Jinling dialect.
After Zhu Di moved north, Nanjing Mandarin entered Beiping, and incorporated part of the lingua franca of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, the tones of Beiping accent, and then formed Nanjing Mandarin with changed tones in the Ming Dynasty.
Although they are all called Nanjing Mandarin, in fact there are subtle differences between the Nanjing Mandarin in the early and middle and late Ming Dynasty. This difference is not artificial, but the evolution of long-term language integration.
In the Great Chu Empire, the Ministry of Rites and Education based on the Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty, carefully studied many ancient books, and formulated a new authentic version of the Great Chu, which was called Jinling Mandarin... It's just that, although the Ministry of Rites and Education boasted that it had created the Jinling Mandarin It is a continuation of the elegant pronunciation of the ancient times, but in fact it is still the Nanjing Mandarin of the middle and late Ming Dynasty...
After all, what matters in Mandarin is not strictness or lack of strictness, nor is it whether it is the same as the elegant pronunciation of ancient times, but that it should be popularized... If others can understand what you say, this is Mandarin...
Therefore, the Jinling Mandarin of the Chu Empire was actually the Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty... There was no change between the two.
However, in the huge Chinese region, there are not many people who use Mandarin. Generally speaking, only scholars and businessmen who travel north and south can speak Mandarin. Most ordinary people still speak the local dialect.
Not to mention the ancient times when communication was blocked, even in the 21st century, there are still tens of millions of people who cannot speak Mandarin, especially middle-aged and elderly people.
There are hundreds of millions of people who can speak Mandarin but still communicate in the local dialect on a daily basis.
In the Chu Empire, most of the people spoke in local dialect on a daily basis. Only scholars would learn Mandarin from an early age... After all, you can't be an official if you don't understand Mandarin.
During the interview, if you chattered a lot of bird language, would the emperor have to provide you with an interpreter?
In the Koryo Peninsula area, local scholars can read and write Chinese characters. Even their official text is Chinese characters, but... the pronunciation is different.
To a certain extent, the Chinese pronunciation of these scholars on the Korean Peninsula is also the local Chinese dialect.
The language barrier will be a big trouble. If the rule is directly established, the officials sent by the Central Plains can only speak Mandarin, but not the local Chinese dialect...and the local people can read and write, but cannot Can speak Jinling Mandarin.
The communication between the two can only be through text.
Well, in the past, the communication between the Ming Dynasty and even the Dongji and Li Dynasties was like this, either through translators or direct written conversations...
Most of the time, to save trouble, we discuss it directly in writing!
But it is obvious that one cannot rule such a large peninsula by talking alone.
In response to this issue, Song Zhang, Minister of Ethnic Affairs and Counselor of the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs, said: "The problem of language barrier is not a big problem. Whether in the Central Plains or on the peninsula, there are many interpreters. Find these people and then grant them The middle and low-level official positions can serve as a bridge between the past and the next to solve the initial troubles. In addition, we will conduct an investigation on the original middle- and high-level officials of the Li family, and appropriately recruit those who understand Mandarin as mid-level officials."
“Relying on these people, early communication issues won’t be a big problem!”
"As for the middle and later stages, you must believe in the combat effectiveness of our Ethical and Education Department. We are professional in education work!"
"Our Ministry of Ethical Affairs will send a working group to the peninsula to urge the local people to carry out education work!"
"Relying on education, imperial examinations, trade, work and other aspects to comprehensively promote Mandarin education!"
"By the way, I heard that they had another script before. This dialect script must be banned in all aspects as soon as possible!"
"As long as the military, patrol police and tax police cooperate, Chinese characters will become the only written language on the peninsula within one year at most, and in fifteen years, Jinling Mandarin will become the only local language!"
Song Zhang was obviously ready and strongly supported direct rule on the Koryo Peninsula.
How should I put it, after all the fighting has been done, and everyone has surrendered, it will be over with direct rule, and there is no need to create too many messy things.
Song Zhang supported it, and most of the other ministers also agreed. Although some people also had concerns, they quickly dispelled their concerns.
Soon, the ministers reached a unified opinion and directly annexed the Koryo Peninsula.
The next step is to discuss the administrative structure of the Koryo Peninsula.
In this regard, the military has given certain opinions. From a security perspective, the military believes that the entire Koryo Peninsula cannot be directly established as a province. It is best to divide it and mix it with the Liaodong region to minimize Koryo. The independent color of the peninsula.
Therefore, the Korean Peninsula will be divided into three, and its northwest area will be under the jurisdiction of Liaodong Province, with Dongjiang Prefecture and other three prefectures.
Three prefectures are expected to be established in the northeastern region of the peninsula, which will be merged with the large area north of Liaodong that has not yet been captured (probably the Jilin area) to form Liaobei Province.
In the remaining central and southern areas of the peninsula, Donghai Province was established, with seven prefectures under it.
It is worth noting that the above-mentioned administrative division not only divides the peninsula into three, but also forcibly links it with the rest of Liaodong and Northern Liaoning. At the same time, the regional settings of the subordinate prefectures also directly disrupt the original eight Korean roads. administrative divisions.
These are all aimed at diluting the color of the previous independent peninsula regime in terms of administrative differentiation.
From now on, the Koryo Peninsula will no longer be a single administrative region, but will be divided into three regions, and will continue to be integrated with Liaodong and Liaobei regions in the process.
Maybe in a few decades, the people along the Qingchuan River will consciously regard themselves as Liaodong people instead of Korean people...
The administrative divisions on the peninsula have been completed, and there is another special one is Jeju Island.
This time the army thought of going to Jeju Island to raise horses...
It is said that Jeju Island is isolated overseas. Breeding horses on the island can effectively prevent the blood of horses from being contaminated.
The army wants to use Jeju Island as a huge experimental base for war horse hybrid breeding.
It was nothing more than a small broken island. These elders had no intention of embarrassing the Army and directly agreed to list Jeju Island as a military control area.
After the administrative regions of the Goryeo Peninsula were divided, the treatment of the Li royal family was also simple. Considering that they surrendered unconditionally, and subsequently actively cooperated with the Chu army to persuade officials and troops of the Li dynasty to surrender, the cost of conquest was reduced. Da Chu Naturally, the empire will not burn bridges across the river and chop the opponent directly with a knife.
It was then decided to bring the Li family, including the abdicated king, and all direct bloodlines to Jinling City, where they would be centrally managed and lived in, and the deposed king would be granted the title of 'Gui Shun Bo'.
Well, it's just an ordinary earl title, the kind that can't be inherited!
In other words, after Li's deposed king dies, his title will be removed directly and Li will become a commoner.
Many of the original officials in the Li Dynasty were retained selectively. Those who voluntarily surrendered, were willing to serve the empire, and understood Mandarin were given priority, while the rest were appointed based on the situation.
The most severe crackdowns must be carried out against die-hard elements who refuse to surrender.
And this is just the first step...
In the immediate following period, various enlightenment policies were enforced on the peninsula, including strict regulations on clothing, hair binding, etiquette, etc., and all kinds of books in foreign languages were destroyed, foreign private schools were closed, and replaced with official private schools according to the standards of the Great Chu Empire or in accordance with the standards of the Chu Empire. The Ministry of Rites and Education of the Dachu Empire stipulated that private schools run by the State were prohibited from teaching native languages and must use Chinese characters and Mandarin education.
Regarding these matters, the Ministry of Ethics and Education has a very forceful attitude, requiring mandatory implementation as soon as possible, and requiring full cooperation from the military in the early stage, and full cooperation from the patrol police department and tax police department in the middle and later stages.
The preliminary education work is the top priority. In addition, various new policies, especially land policies, are implemented simultaneously with the education work.
The Chu Empire would implement its own land policy in every newly occupied area, and the peninsula was no exception.
In addition, the implementation of the new land policy in the peninsula will have an additional big benefit, that is, it can greatly eliminate the original middle and upper class forces in the peninsula, and at the same time eliminate the local resistance forces and complete the civilization work...
Because the people who control the land and the right to speak are the same people!
And this kind of people will be wiped out in large numbers in the land reform wave of the Great Chu Empire.
Now in the Central Plains region, why are there so few people who oppose the Great Chu Empire? Why are there so few early instability situations like those experienced during many dynasty changes? Because, those who opposed and took relevant actions are all dead!
The rest were gentry who did not object, or were full of gentry but did not dare to object.
This is true in the Central Plains, and it is no exception on the peninsula. The situation is even more serious. The Chu Empire still has some scruples in the Central Plains, but in the Korean Peninsula...what scruples can it have? It's all over.
Implementing land policies locally can bring many side benefits!
After all, the land annexation on the Korean Peninsula is not much worse than that in the Central Plains region, and the situation is even more serious. Frequent natural and man-made disasters in the Central Plains region, especially in several northern provinces, have resulted in a large number of abnormal deaths of the population. When the Chu Empire unified the above-mentioned When it comes to provinces, these places are actually already in a situation where there are fewer people and more land.
Ten rooms and nine empty rooms, this is not an exaggeration in language, but a real situation.
Relatively speaking, the southern provinces that have not suffered any natural or man-made disasters have more serious land conflicts. These areas are also the areas where the Chu Empire focused on implementing land policies in the early years. For this reason, there are various methods of suppressing bandits. Various chaotic actions such as purging the remnants of the former Ming Dynasty, suppressing armed tax resistance, and rectifying local public security happened every two days. The sickle of the Chu Empire pulled aside all the southern provinces in a net-like manner, cutting off countless gentry. Head!
As for the Korean Peninsula, although its own situation is not very good, strictly speaking, the internal rule of the Lee Dynasty is relatively stable, which means that the internal interest groups have not been damaged.
As for the so-called interest groups in the agricultural era, there were no one except landlords!
This will require the Great Chu Empire to carry out vigorous clean-up. After killing a group of landlords and gentry on the peninsula, the land conflict will naturally be alleviated, and the Great Chu Empire will naturally be able to gain more support from the middle and lower classes.
Over time, the people on the Goryeo Peninsula will forever forget the Li Dynasty, and begin to support and be proud of themselves as subjects of the Chu Empire.
Of course, this takes time!
According to estimates, initial results should be almost achieved within five years. Ten or even fifteen years later, the Korean Peninsula will become an integral part of the empire from the inside out.
When the time comes, if you let them leave the empire family independently, there is a high probability that they will not be happy!
When you are not a subject of the great powers, you will scold them in all kinds of ways, but if one day you become a subject of the great powers, then you will be a staunch supporter of the great powers' attention!
What determines the head is always the butt!
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After Jinling finalized a series of follow-up treatment plans for the Koryo Peninsula, various departments quickly implemented them. In accordance with the decree, the Ministry of Civil Affairs began to select officials from across the country who knew the local dialects of the Koryo Peninsula. Local officials who understood Mandarin were selected from the scholarly community, and hundreds of middle- and high-level officials were initially selected for use on the Koryo Peninsula.
In the future, the selection scope will be further expanded, and a large number of low-level officials will be selected and appointed.
Eventually, these personnel will be enriched into administrative agencies at all levels in the three regions of the peninsula.
The Ministry of Ethnic Affairs has dispatched a working group to the peninsula to prepare for civil education work with the cooperation of the military.
The Ministry of Taxation has begun to deploy elite soldiers from other provinces to the three places on the peninsula. It is expected to deploy 5,000 armed tax police, more than 1,000 ordinary tax police, and more than 200 tax officers at all levels from various places.
After these tax staff enter the three places on the peninsula, they will become the backbone personnel of various tax agencies on the peninsula, and then according to tradition, a large number of ordinary tax staff and non-staff personnel will be recruited locally.
It is expected that within a year, the number of tax-related staff on the peninsula will reach more than 10,000. Of course, it is impossible to maintain so many people for a long time. After more than a year of high-pressure tax work, especially various armed tax resistances have been continuously suppressed. , when there is no large-scale armed tax resistance, tax agencies will be mobilized and downsized.
Some of the elite armed tax police will be transferred to other places to continue the task of suppressing armed tax resistance. Ordinary tax police and tax officials will also be mobilized and internally purged, and ultimately the total number of tax staff in the three places on the peninsula will be reduced. down to a reasonable stage.
This involves an issue of tax costs. These tax staff also need to be paid... If a large number of tax staff are maintained in one place for a long time, the tax costs will become extremely high, and the tax collected may not be enough. Pay wages to these tax collectors.
Therefore, after the situation is initially stabilized, a large number of tax personnel will be transferred.
Similar routines have been performed over and over again by the Chu Empire in other provinces, with great results!
Other departments also carried out various actions based on the resolution of the Imperial Council to coordinate with the Korean Peninsula.
Against a festive background, Jinling City ushered in a new year: the eighth year of Chengshun!
During the Spring Festival of the eighth year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue and a group of important officials held a series of activities that were more symbolic than practical as usual.
For example, Luo Zhixue held a state banquet for important ministers and some outstanding mid-level officials. At the same time, the queen and queen in the harem would also invite the daughters of powerful families to the palace to watch the theater and have a banquet.
Then the royal family would also give blessings to some courtiers, including some small gifts, including the word "福" written by Luo Zhixue himself.
Then there are all kinds of messy ceremonial activities such as offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors.
However, Luo Zhixue was always lazy about these ceremonial activities. He would often simplify the steps as much as possible and just show off.
When these things are almost busy, the year will be over.
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the first imperial affairs meeting in eight years of Chengshun was held smoothly, but no important military and national affairs were discussed at the meeting.
Basically, important matters were finalized at the end of last year and were not postponed until this year. And nothing important happened in the short half month of the New Year.
Therefore, the first staff meeting of the year seemed calm after all.
Among the many matters discussed, the only one that can be regarded as a major event is the renovation plan of the palace. At this imperial council meeting, the ministers proposed and reached a consensus, requesting an allocation of 500,000 taels to speed up the renovation work of the palace. We strive to complete the first phase of construction and move in this fall.
"First Evolution"
It is worth mentioning that although the Great Chu Empire was established some years ago and it has been four years since the capital was moved to Jinling City, Luo Zhixue has always been in the Royal Courtyard, which was the Duke's Palace of Wei in the pre-Ming Dynasty. It is also the only well-preserved palace in Jinling City after the war. Living and working in a large hinterland.
As for the imperial palace, it was renovated based on the ruins of the Nanjing Imperial Palace in the former Ming Dynasty!
It is said to be repairing, but in fact it is no different from starting over, because the Nanjing Imperial Palace in the Ming Dynasty has been abandoned for two hundred years. It has experienced many natural disasters in the process, and several fires caused by thunder and cracks have damaged many halls. All were burned down, and the other houses had long since decayed under the attack of time.
Although the Ming Dynasty occasionally allocated funds to repair the Nanjing Imperial Palace, it was basically of no use.
After the Chu Empire captured Jinling City, the so-called Nanjing Imperial Palace was already in ruins and covered with weeds.
The only thing worth mentioning is that there are still a lot of stones in the ruins, and the thick wood can still be used.
To put it bluntly, the only remaining role of this ruined palace is to provide a few building materials...
The Dachu Empire decided to rebuild the palace here mainly because the area was large enough and the surrounding areas were easy to expropriate and bulldoze for use.
Because the Chu Empire's new palace plan, let's not talk about grandeur or not, but it covers an extremely large area, far exceeding the Nanjing Imperial Palace of the previous Ming Dynasty.
According to Luo Zhixue's requirements, the area within the original Nanjing Imperial Palace was used as the inner palace, while hundreds of meters of area in the surrounding area needed to be vacated as the royal outer garden!
On the one hand, Luo Zhixue does not want his palace to be surrounded by countless buildings... Because the interior of the palace is built according to traditional architectural patterns, the buildings are relatively dense and depressing. If the outside is not opened up, it will be Luo Zhixue wouldn't live in a palace like a garden or something.
On the other hand, the outer gardens are actually peripheral defense facilities. Those drainage ditches are actually trenches, and the small mounds are fortresses... This place is actually a huge permanent defense fortification surrounding the palace.
And this kind of semi-underground fortification is much more reliable than the thinner outer wall of the palace on the outermost edge.
