Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 518 The Most Effective Oath? Old Zhu Exposes the Truth!

Old Zhu laughed and said, "This is also a reward for your agreement to allow the Ming army to pass through and establish a Ming military base within our territory."

"The military base is only leased for twenty years, and you will be paid rent."

"The same applies to military transport routes within the Turan Empire."

"Although it is managed by the Ming Dynasty, it will still facilitate your own trade, and the Ming Dynasty will also provide rent."

"The Ming Dynasty has always been very generous to its friends."

"But when it comes to enemies, we never show any mercy."

"Whether you choose to be friends with the Ming Dynasty or enemies with it is up to you!"

After listening to what Old Zhu said, the old man frowned and fell into deep thought.

After a long silence, he spoke again, questioning, "Why?"

Why would the Ming Dynasty be so generous in helping us?

"Especially since you've agreed to supply large quantities of strategic materials like ironware that can arm soldiers, what's the real reason behind that?"

He looked directly into Old Zhu's eyes and said, "Don't say it's just to repay a friend. That would only fool a three-year-old."

“Your faith is completely different from ours. We believe in the supreme Lord, while you only worship your saints and your emperor.”

"I desperately want to know what your true intentions are in doing this?"

The old man's face held a shrewdness that seemed to see right through people: "Otherwise, to paraphrase an old saying from your Central Plains operas, 'Those who offer unsolicited kindness are either treacherous or thieves.'"

"Similarly, you have given us such great benefits for no reason, and I absolutely do not believe that you would not have any ulterior motives."

“If you don’t explain the real reasons clearly, I will only suspect your ulterior motives and will not cooperate with you.”

Old Zhu thought to himself: Actually, getting you to widely accept and use the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes is the greatest benefit for us.

As for bows and arrows, broadswords... for the Ming Dynasty, which had mastered industrialized production capabilities, the low production costs and fast production speed were unimaginable to these barbarians.

The prices that barbarians pay for bows and arrows and broadswords indicate that these are definitely high-profit items.

More importantly, the Ming army, which was now widely using firearms and cannons, did not believe that exporting bows and arrows and swords to the barbarians would pose any threat to their own safety.

Then why not export to make money?
Providing them with ample bows and arrows, spears and swords, would also alleviate their desire for firearms!
This, in turn, further strengthened the Ming Dynasty's military advantage over them.

However, these words must not be uttered at this moment.

Otherwise, the act of lending Ming Dynasty banknotes could not be regarded as an important "condition," let alone packaged as a "favor" given to the other party.

After a moment's thought, Old Zhu recalled the words Zhu Yunwen had once said to him.

He reorganized his thoughts and then said, "Businessmen believe in win-win cooperation. Only when both of us can benefit can the cooperation be the most stable and long-lasting model."

“If we make money while you lose money, then we can’t be true business partners.”

"You might even harbor resentment, turn against each other, and eventually turn against each other with weapons. In that case, our business will be completely ruined."

He paused for a moment, then quickly elaborated: "If the Ming Dynasty is to continue to develop and if every commoner is to live a more prosperous and peaceful life, it must open up trade routes with neighboring countries and exchange goods."

Old Zhu's voice became more infectious: "We hope that you can become rich. Only when you have more wealth in your hands can you buy all kinds of goods that our Great Ming Dynasty produces continuously."

"Only when your livestock numbers increase and your mineral deposits become richer can our Great Ming Dynasty exchange a wide variety of goods for your livestock and precious mineral resources."

"In this way, your wealth will in turn promote the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty."

"On the contrary, if you continue to be poor, it will breed hatred towards the wealthy Ming Dynasty, and thus constantly provoke disputes and wars, which is extremely detrimental to our Ming Dynasty and a loss that outweighs the gains."

Old Zhu concluded, "This is the unique mindset of merchants in our Ming Dynasty. Do you understand now after my explanation?"

The old man smiled slightly and slowly stroked his long beard.

Immediately, his sharp gaze fixed on Old Zhu, his tone carrying a hint of insightful confidence: "What you just said is indeed quite reasonable, but if I may be frank, there is a deeper reason that you have not yet mentioned."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu was taken aback. Just as he was wondering, he heard the old man continue, "You people from the Central Plains have always considered yourselves to be enlightened by the teachings of the sages, and you believe that all the surrounding countries that have not been taught by the sages are uncivilized barbarians."

The old man's tone became sharp, getting straight to the point: "Even your emperor, in his publicly proclaimed imperial edicts, clearly stated that the Ming Dynasty bears the heavy responsibility of educating the barbarians in all directions."

"Before this, many scholars from the Ming Dynasty had already traveled long distances to our Turan Empire to tirelessly spread the teachings of your sages."

He bluntly stated: "Your expansion abroad is probably just to spread the so-called teachings of the sages, isn't it?"

"Shall we all bow down and worship your saints, just like you?"

"Are you helping us in order to win us over with these insignificant little favors, hoping to change our devout faith in the Lord and make us follow the teachings of your saints?"

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu was stunned.

He never expected the other party to think that way.

He immediately recalled that the intelligence personnel had previously reported that these Western countries regarded their faith in "the Lord" as extremely sacred and important, and had even waged bloody "religious wars" for it.

Moreover, even if they believe in the same "Lord", due to subtle differences in their internal doctrines, they will accuse each other of being "rebellious" and disloyal to the "Lord", and even believe that they must be completely eliminated and purified.

Zhu Yunwen's imperial edict encouraging the people of the Ming Dynasty to go to sea did indeed mention the need to spread the teachings of the sage overseas.

Therefore, it is not surprising that they would come to this understanding.

They assumed that the Ming Dynasty, like them, was trying to spread "religious doctrines."

This is a classic example of "judging others by one's own standards".

However, they probably don't realize that even in the Central Plains, there are different schools and sects regarding the Way of the Sage, and they are fiercely vying for the right to speak.

Whoever is qualified to "interpret" the classics of the sages will possess enormous power invisibly.

However, there is an extremely important core idea in the way of the sage, which is "harmony without uniformity".

This is precisely what they have never understood. Therefore, even if people have different opinions, their own unique understanding of the way of the sage, or even if they do not believe in the way of the sage at all, the Han people who have been influenced and educated by the way of the sage will not think that this is a big deal, much less think that this person has committed some heinous crime!
After all, this is the essence of the sage's way of "harmony without uniformity".

However, these "barbarians" from foreign lands clearly could not understand the sage's principle of inclusiveness.

Before Old Zhu could explain, the old man spoke first: "I have studied the contents of your sage's way."

He spoke with a hint of understanding: "I also know that you in the Central Plains have Buddhism and Taoism."

The old man put forward his conditions: "Our Turan Empire can allow scholars from your Great Ming Dynasty to come to our empire to teach the ways of the sages."

"But one thing must be strictly adhered to: we must not say anything like 'Confucius did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits,' and we must not induce our children to abandon their faith in 'the Lord.'"

“You must respect our beliefs, just as you treat Buddhism and Taoism.”

The old man couldn't help but laugh heartily, his tone relaxed and confident: "You can rest assured about this. The sage advocated 'harmony without uniformity.' You just need to devoutly believe in your 'master,' and our Great Ming will never interfere."

"I myself was once a monk and still believe in Buddha, but that does not prevent me from becoming the ruler of the Ming Dynasty, which is recognized by all Confucian scholars in the world!"

The old man stared at Old Zhu with unusual seriousness and an almost stubborn determination: "Your faith is not devout enough."

“In our Turan Empire, unfaithful faith is utter betrayal and should be punished by being tied up and stoned to death.”

He did not dwell on this sensitive matter that could damage the "friendship" between the two sides, but quickly changed the subject and said, "However, this is also good, in this way, we can seek opportunities for cooperation between the two sides."

The old man's voice became steady and clear: "Our people's faith in the 'Lord' will never be easily changed because of a few words of sainthood from you."

"Furthermore, we will not change the existing laws."

“Apart from your Ming army and merchants, as well as other Ming people who are temporarily passing through or coming to our empire on official business, the people of the Turan Empire themselves, no matter how much of your sage’s words they have heard, must always maintain a devout faith in the ‘Lord’.”

"Otherwise, it would be an unforgivable and heinous crime, punishable by death."

"This is an internal affair of our Turan Empire, and there is absolutely no room for negotiation."

“If you can accept this, then we think there won’t be any major problems with the alliance between the two sides.”

Old Zhu laughed, slowly stood up, and said firmly, "Alright. The Ming Dynasty has no intention of interfering in your internal affairs."

“As long as you do not force the Ming people who go to the Turan Empire to change their religion, then we can represent the Ming Dynasty and agree to this request.”

Although spreading the teachings of the sages was a national policy of the Ming Dynasty, it was ultimately a grand undertaking that required a gradual approach.

At least at this stage, the Ming Dynasty has no need to force the Turan Empire to believe in or not believe in anything.

To put it bluntly, this does not directly conflict with the core interests of the Ming Dynasty at present.

As for the future, with increasingly frequent exchanges between the two countries, the advanced ideas and culture of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably influence them subtly.

By then, perhaps the Ming Dynasty will not need to take any forceful measures; they will change on their own.

From today's forced belief to free belief that respects individual will.

At the same time, Lao Zhu also keenly noticed that these people showed an almost fanatical obsession with their so-called faith.

The Ming Dynasty needs to be vigilant and prevent such extreme ideologies from spreading within its own territory.

Especially now that Beshbaliq has been incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Many nobles and common people in Beshbali also believed in this doctrine.

The Ming Dynasty must take preventative measures in advance, especially strictly prohibiting them from spreading these ideas to minors.

Of course, this is also the internal affair of the Ming Dynasty and does not need to be mentioned in the current negotiations.

The old man chuckled, a hint of slyness in his voice: "I've heard that you Central Plains people, once you swear an oath to the Luo River, you will always keep your promise."

"Can you swear an oath to the Luo River in front of me regarding the things you just promised me, the conditions you agreed to?"

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu almost burst out laughing.

He gave the old man a strange look. The Oath of the Luo River?
Don't you know that the so-called oath of the Luo River has long been rendered completely unreliable by a certain man surnamed Sima?

The old man was very serious.

Clearly, the other party is genuinely unaware of this history, or perhaps they have believed some misinformation.

"Absolutely no problem!" Old Zhu readily agreed.

“We can sign a formal document and swear an oath to each other, and we also ask your ‘Lord’ to witness this covenant!”

A meaningful smile played on his lips: "Timur Khan, if there are no other issues, shall we formally conclude the alliance?"

Upon hearing this, the old man was instantly dumbfounded, his face filled with disbelief and shock.

His finger trembled as he pointed at Old Zhu, his voice stammering with extreme surprise: "You...you...how do you know my identity?"

"That's easy to guess." Old Zhu said calmly, glancing at the person in front of him.

From the moment the old man stepped into the tent, Zhu had a question in his mind: why would the great Timurid Empire send an envoy with such an unpleasant appearance?
Could it be that this vast empire has no one left to rely on?
Later, when he negotiated with the old man, he keenly sensed that the man was exceptionally courageous and did not exhibit the usual timidity of an envoy.

More importantly, when Lao Zhu put forward his conditions, the other party agreed without hesitation and made the decision with a simple "no problem".

Although the envoys who come to pay homage may be given great power to make decisions on the spot, it is still too presumptuous to make a conclusion without consulting the emperor.

Unless, of course, this person is someone who can make absolute decisions and whose word carries immense weight.

So, in the Turan Empire, who can truly make decisions on a whim and have the final say?

The answer undoubtedly points to Timur himself.

Old Zhu was an extremely intelligent man; how could he not have guessed it?

……

(End of this chapter)