Although I always incite other countries to wage war, and I always send troops to attack other countries, and I use a large number of laborers, I am a good emperor, worthy of heaven and earth – Excerpt from "The Sayings of Emperor Zhu Jinsong of the Great Ming".
As the saying goes, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked, and also, as the King of Chu loved slender waists, many in the palace died of starvation. Zhu Jinsong, the emperor of the Great Ming, was always keen on plundering other countries to death, and naturally, the civil and military officials of the Great Ming, such as Zeng Cheng and Liu Heming, were not good people.
It was the civil officials headed by Zeng Cheng who widely propagated the idea that the culture of the Great Ming was leading the world and that the Great Ming was the guiding light of this small broken ball.
It was the big shots of the Five Military Commissions headed by Liu Heming who were fond of sending troops to "comfort the people and punish the rebels, and awe the disobedient".
As for the sudden emergence of a large number of people in the literary and official circles who sympathized with Hamis, and even believed that the Great Ming had been too brutal in recent years, Zeng Cheng and Liu Heming, along with a group of civil and military officials, held the same attitude as Emperor Zhu.
First, they would thoroughly criticize such nonsensical remarks in the "Great Ming Newspaper" to make them lose their market, and then they would thoroughly investigate the source of these remarks.
Liu Heming, full of murderous intent, proposed his suggestion: "I believe that after finding the source of these remarks, all of them should be stripped of their official titles and exiled three thousand li."
Zeng Cheng, however, opposed: "What is the point of exiling them three thousand li? If you exile them five thousand li, they are still within the territory of the Great Ming. Therefore, let's directly send these scoundrels to India, as they need more manpower to develop there."
As for Zhu Jinsong, the emperor of the Great Ming, he directly had an article published in the "Di Zhi".
"The sins of the present generation are the merits of future generations."
The title was indeed shameless, but in this article, Zhu Jinsong put forward a very interesting point of view – land is resources.
The ancestors Yan and Huang originated in the Yellow River Basin. How large was the Central Plains at that time? After the battle of Zhuolu with Chiyou, how large was the territory of the Central Plains?
After Yan and Huang, how large were the initial territories of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties? After King Zhou of Zhou conquered the Eastern Yi and enfeoffed the feudal lords, how large was the territory of the Central Plains?
By the time of Qin, Han, and Tang, how large was the territory of the Central Plains?
And among these newly added territories, how much was freely gifted to the Central Plains by others?
From Emperor Wu of Han to Emperor Taizong of Tang, these emperors tried their best to manage the Western Regions. Who was it for the two catties of dried grapes from the Western Regions?
To put it bluntly, the emperors of the grand Central Plains did not lack the two catties of dried grapes from the Western Regions. The reason why successive emperors strived to expand their territories was all for resources.
Land itself is a resource, and on the land, mountains, rivers, and trees are resources, rivers and lakes are resources, plants and animals are resources, and even cultivable crops and population are also resources. If the Great Ming does not occupy these resources, these resources will be occupied by other countries.
For example, the Great Ming's continuous use of laborers for mining, road construction, and river dredging can also be seen as saving the Great Ming's own population resources.
What is even more interesting is a historical pattern – the initial efforts of any dynasty to expand often determine its ultimate limit.
For example, the Great Song wanted to expand in its early stages, but Zhao Da was mysteriously killed in the candlelight and axe shadow, and Zhao Er "drifted" on his donkey in the Battle of Gaoliang River. After that, the Great Song never ventured outwards again. The result of insufficient external resource acquisition was that they were first beaten severely by the Liao, then by the Western Xia, then by the Jin, and finally by the Yuan.
In comparison, whether it was Shang, Zhou, or Han, Tang, and Ming, these dynasties constantly ventured outwards at the beginning of their establishment, so these dynasties obtained enough resources and naturally had more confidence than the Great Song.
Through the analysis of the process from establishment to destruction of these dynasties, it is not difficult to conclude that any dynasty is most capable of outward expansion in its early stages, but this capability will gradually decline with the stability and development of the dynasty.
Of course, comparing the Great Song to other dynasties is a bit like bullying the Great Song. After all, even the Great Song, however bad, had the ambition to expand outwards. Zhao Er, no matter how he "drifted" on his donkey, had personally been to the battlefield. Even at the end of the Great Song, they had worn down the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin, and the Great Khan of Mongolia, Mengge, died under Diaoyu City. Compared to contemporary Europe, the Great Song was the most resilient.
In contrast, the Great Qing was truly rotten to the extreme – the so-called "purple energy coming from the east for three hundred years" was essentially taking advantage of Gou Chenzi and Wu Yuanyuan. After entering the pass, from Ma Zige, who shot rabbits in the sun for three hundred days, the barbarian chiefs of the Great Qing were always ready to retreat beyond the pass.
It is precisely because of this that the Great Qing ceded territory from beginning to end, truly embodying the saying, "Those who offend my Great Qing, even if far away, will be ceded, and even if far away, will pay."
For example, the Great Qing ceded the world's deepest natural lake, ceded valuable ice-free ports, and even Nepal could station troops in U-Tsang. In the end, they even ceded Li Bai's hometown – if Li Bai had been born during the Great Qing period, it is uncertain whether he could have written so many popular poems, but he would certainly have been an international friend.
The modern scholar Cheng Shanzhi, in his "Talks on Ceding Land in the Qing Dynasty,"统计 (tǒngjì - statistics) that the land ceded by the Great Qing amounted to "a total of 1.92 million square miles, an area eight times that of present-day Japan, six times that of Germany, and nine times that of Italy. If subordinate states are included, then the Western tributary state of Gukhan, 120,000 square miles. Korea to the east, 80,000 square miles. Vietnam to the south, 380,000 square miles. Burma, 390,000 square miles. In total, 2.89 million square miles. The losses were so great, almost two-fifths of the entire country."
The Great Qing truly, with its own strength, did everything possible to satisfy the desires of the powers, perfectly interpreting what it meant to be rotten from beginning to end.
Of course, whether the Great Qing was rotten or not had nothing to do with Zhu Jinsong, the emperor of the Great Ming.
What Zhu Jinsong cared about was that, in addition to the complete failure of the Great Qing, the Big Data analysis of the impact of the founding period of successive dynasties on the later period proved one theory: take advantage of the ability to fight and quickly secure the benefits that can be obtained. Even if future generations are profligate, they can be profligate for a few more years than others.
There are also negative examples in history.
For example, the Qin and Sui dynasties, these two perished in the second generation. The former could not find an opponent, while the latter underestimated the strength of the aristocratic families. For the Big Data analysis of the impact of the founding period of successive dynasties on their later stages, these two samples also have some reference significance – these two had full initiative in the early stages of their founding, but they neglected the protection and development of their own resources.
Therefore, the Great Ming incites wars between other countries and even personally sends troops to attack other countries. In dangerous projects such as mining, road construction, and river dredging, a large number of laborers are used. The purpose is to save the Great Ming's own population, mineral, forest, and water resources while continuously plundering external resources.
Of course, the "Di Zhi" is not publicly distributed, but is only read by officials at the level of the imperial court and prefectural governors. Therefore, in the "Great Ming Newspaper," statements like "This generation fights the wars that need to be fought, so that the next generation does not have to fight" were used.
In any case, the meaning is still the same, the thought is still the same, only the wording is more refined and subtle, so that it does not appear too direct.
The Great Ming court still had some semblance of dignity.
However, upon thinking of the word "dignity," Zhu Jinsong's expression suddenly became a bit strange: "Speaking of which, the Embroidered Uniform Guard who infiltrated the Ottoman Empire sent back some very interesting intelligence."
Upon receiving Zhu Jinsong's signal, Ke Zhiming, the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, continued: "After the Ottoman Empire applied to join the 'Small Broken Pot' [referring to the European alliance], the Ottoman Empire and a number of European countries also established normal exchanges and set up embassies with each other."
"However, because the Habsburg family, while instigating England and France to fight, also instigated the Ottoman Empire to fight with several neighboring small countries, the Habsburg family did not fulfill their promises – they neither sent troops to help England nor supported the Ottoman Empire."
"After the news spread, a large number of angry Ottoman people ran to the French embassy, burned the Dutch flag, and beat up passing Englishmen."
Zeng Cheng immediately stopped Ke Zhiming and asked in confusion: "What? Are you saying that the Ottoman people did not trouble the Austrian embassy under the Habsburg family, but instead went to trouble the French embassy, burned the Dutch flag, and beat up Englishmen?"
Ke Zhiming nodded, his expression strange: "Yes, it is said that those Ottoman people took the wrong road, misidentified the national flags, and mistakenly took Englishmen for Austrians."
After receiving such an unbelievable answer, even the veterans like Zeng Cheng and Liu Heming were stunned.
Liu Heming could not help but tut-tut and said: "They are quite simple-minded – much like the dogs that His Highness the Prince of Jin sent back a while ago."
Prince Jin, Zhu Sanshun, was enfeoffed in Alaska. The dogs that Zhu Sanshun considered rare treasures and sent back to the Great Ming were naturally the legendary sled dogs, one more foolish than the other.
Ke Zhiming nodded with a sense of shared experience: "After the incident, France, the Netherlands, and England all issued condemnations to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had lost a lot of face this time."
Zeng Cheng frowned and said: "Putting aside whether the Ottoman Empire lost face or not, will the Great Ming be affected?"
Ke Zhiming shook his head and replied: "It will not affect our Great Ming from the Ottoman side, but..."
After a slight hesitation, Ke Zhiming said directly: "However, Europe now needs to import oil from the Ottoman Empire. Although it will not affect our Great Ming's oil share, the price of oil imported by European countries is much higher than that of our Great Ming, so the common people in Europe are very dissatisfied with this."
"If this continues for a long time, the impression of European common people towards our Great Ming will inevitably become unfavorable. When the 'Small Broken Pot' [Europe] fully goes to war, it might affect the speed of the Military Command's advance into Europe?"
After hearing Ke Zhiming's concerns, Liu Heming chuckled and said indifferently: "There is no need to care about the attitude of those barbarians towards the Great Ming – even if you treat them as your sons, they will still bite you when the time comes."
"If nothing else, let's talk about the Jianyi [Jurchens]. The treatment that the Great Ming gave to the Jianyi was so generous that even the Koreans were jealous. There was a saying, 'Among all foreign states, the Jianyi received the most.' However, the Koreans faithfully served as our vassals for more than two hundred years, but the Jianyi..." he scoffed!
At this point, Liu Heming's face was filled with murderous intent: "As His Majesty said, those barbarians should either faithfully serve as laborers for our Great Ming, or they should faithfully go to meet their God. The Five Military Commissions will never go to Europe to do charity!"
Zeng Cheng, as the leader of the Great Ming's civil official group, also nodded: "That's right. It should be like this. Our generation will finish all the killings, and the retribution will fall upon our generation. Those good deeds can be left for our descendants to do."
After thinking for a moment, Zeng Cheng could not help but instruct Liu Heming: "You must pay attention to the mindset of the soldiers later. Don't let them be soft-hearted on the battlefield. You have to let them know that barbarians are not our people, and they don't need their protection."
Upon hearing Zeng Cheng's words, Liu Heming's expression became strange.
Would the soldiers of the Great Ming be soft-hearted?
If he had not seen the battle reports from India and other overseas military bases, Liu Heming would indeed worry if the soldiers of the Great Ming would be soft-hearted. After all, the army of the Great Ming had not fought for many years. Besides training, the most frequent activity was disaster relief.
Based on this premise, the casualties suffered by the army of the Great Ming in these years, apart from those caused by accidents during training, were mostly from being hit by fruits and eggs forcefully given by the common people after disaster relief.
Especially in the southern regions, which produced abundant fruits, there were many unfortunate soldiers who had their scalps broken by durians or suffered concussions from coconuts. As a result, many troops would flee overnight after completing disaster relief, not giving the common people a chance to throw fruits.
Even more infuriating was that the soldiers of the Great Ming were generally afraid of their wives!
Including those who returned from overseas rotations, they were not exactly murderers while stationed overseas, but at least they were fierce characters who dared to fight and kill. However, after being transferred back to the Great Ming mainland, it was common to see them being ridden by children or lectured by their wives and made to kneel on washboards.
It was simply a disgrace to the prestige of the Great Ming army!
Thinking of such a shameful scene, Liu Heming immediately snorted and said: "I will stay at the Military Command tonight and properly discipline those unpromising ones. I won't go home tonight."