Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 843 The Wheel of History: A Mantis Trying to Stop a Chariot
The results of the major case in Haizhou reached Liu Huai as quickly as possible.

By the time Shi Ju returned to Jinan Prefecture at top speed, the military order to strictly regulate the garrisons and outposts in various regions had already been issued by the Jiedushi's office.

This matter involves far too many areas; all the garrisons in Shandong East Road are likely deeply involved, and Shandong West Road cannot be completely extricated from the situation.

If all the garrison officials were captured in one fell swoop, there would be no need to fight any more battles.

Therefore, apart from the most egregious examples, the rest will inevitably be treated with leniency.

They even planned to increase the salaries and rewards of these garrison officials, and to normalize the garrison allowances that Zheng Yun had created.

Shi Ju could imagine how furious he would be if his son, the Prince of Han, encountered such a disgusting thing right after his wedding.

This major case was not just about systemic corruption; Liu Huai's secret document system was also cracked by garrison officials just two years after its invention.

None of the dozens of guard posts in the two Shandong routes reported anything, effectively deceiving Liu Huai into believing he was blind to the truth. No monarch could tolerate that.

However, to Shi Ju's surprise, Liu Huai, though exhausted, remained remarkably calm. As the two questioned each other, Shi Ju felt a sense of disorientation. Could it be that the Prince of Han had gone mad due to the immense shock he had received?
Seeing Shi Ju's cautious demeanor, Liu Huai couldn't help but smile and ask, "Master Shi, how did you feel this time?"

Shi Ju quickly cupped his hands in greeting: "Naturally, I felt as if I had fallen into an ice cave, as if I had thorns in my back."

Liu Huai's smile widened, but it was tinged with a hint of bitterness: "How is it, Master Shi? It must feel terrible to be crushed by the wheels of history, right?"

Although Shi Ju had not heard Liu Huai’s strange words before, he could roughly understand their meaning and immediately replied with a smile: “In the grand scheme of things, the power of an individual is still too small, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Your theory of the wheel of history is truly ingenious.”

Liu Huai shook his head: "Master Shi, that's not what I meant. What I meant was that if you want to accept feudal society, you will inevitably have to accept everything about feudal society."

Everyone desires a feudal system, even the commanders and captains of the garrisons. It's perfectly normal for them to want feudalization; we can't stop people's will.

Seeing that Shi Ju was already bewildered by his words, Liu Huai smiled and waved his hand to indicate that there was no need to worry. He then continued to spout his outrageous theories: "Unless I give up being the emperor and risk the entire country being reduced to dust to establish a parliament, then perhaps people will no longer want feudalism."

Shi Ju finally understood, but in his shock, he immediately advised, "Young Master, be careful with your words. You must not spread these words, or the whole world will be shaken."

Now that things have come to this, only the eldest son can be emperor, and only the eldest son is qualified to be emperor! As for any other council, it's unheard of. Anyone who gave the eldest son such an idea should be executed!

Liu Huai waved his hand again and then changed the subject: "Let's not talk about this anymore, Master Shi. You were the one who experienced this whole thing. Whether Zheng Yun, Sun Huaidu and the others did the right thing or the wrong thing, let's not discuss it."

My question now is, do you think feudalizing the military garrisons was a good thing or a bad thing?

This time, Shi Ju remained silent for a longer period. After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, he finally bowed and said with difficulty, "I believe that feudalization has more advantages than disadvantages."

Liu Huai became interested: "Oh?"

Shi Ju: "I am merely speaking presumptuously, and you may listen to me for now, but it is not valid."

Liu Huai: "I understand, tell me quickly."

Shi Ju hesitated for a moment again: "Young Master, anyone who can accomplish great things must have their own trusted confidants."

Many people in history have failed and died because they did not offer enough benefits to their confidants, leading to their abandonment.

Either it brings too much benefit to a small number of trusted confidants, harming the interests of the vast majority.

What the eldest son wanted to do was to treat all the Han soldiers, civilians, and the general public as his confidants. This was not impossible, but the world's resources were limited, and the eldest son could not possibly feed all of his many confidants.

It would be better to retain the commanders, captains, and colonels of the garrison, ensuring their continued wealth and power, thus guaranteeing their loyalty to the young master for generations.

Liu Huai was not surprised by Shi Ju's statement; in fact, he was quite pleased with Shi Ju's insightful observations.

Because of Shi Ju's improvements, the garrison system, as exemplified by Zhu Yuanzhang, was almost complete.

Just how powerful was this garrison system?
Even when the Ming Dynasty had been established for more than two hundred years and its national fortune was like a candle flickering in the wind, it was still able to pull out more than 100,000 garrison soldiers to fight a decisive battle on the battlefield.

Those households that had effectively become military aristocrats continued to contribute talented individuals, both civil and military, such as Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang, to the Ming Dynasty.

As for the decline of the garrison troops, in fact, after more than two hundred years since the founding of the dynasty, no dynasty has ever been without decline. The performance of the Ming dynasty's garrison troops was already very good.

However, and that's why I have to say "but".

Liu Huai, a modern person who transmigrated here, even if he couldn't create a world where everyone was equal and everyone was like a dragon, he didn't want to deepen the relationship of personal dependence.

This is exactly the kind of thing where you could just make a hole in the top and then dig up the Yellow River dike from below.

If Liu Huai were to relent and officially allow it, even if it's only a preliminary form of personal dependence now, within twenty years at the latest, the border garrisons would be able to create such a mess that forces military households into slavery. And it would be impossible to stop this from spreading from the military to the civilian population.

This was definitely something Liu Huai couldn't tolerate; otherwise, why would he have implemented a servant employment system? Why would he have abolished slavery? Why would he have suppressed powerful clans?
Even the State of Song knew to abolish slavery, forcing wealthy families to illegally convert slaves into adopted sons and daughters. Is Liu Dalang even worse than the State of Song? Does he really want to turn back the clock of history?

If we were to implement a complete garrison system now, the advantage would be that we could learn from the history of the Ming Dynasty and lay the foundation for a two-hundred-year reign. The disadvantage, of course, would be that the common people would suffer and the feudal society would bear the blame.

But then again, this is a feudal society, and the level of productivity and ideological liberation has reached this point. Liu Huai doesn't want to become feudal, but there are plenty of people who do.

Didn't Shi Ju also seem indifferent to this matter, feeling that it was neither here nor there?
Feudal society is a cannibalistic society, and both the cannibal and the cannibal take it for granted.

To put it bluntly, those military households secretly saved by Liu Huai might not be grateful at all; instead, they might secretly resent Liu Huai for depriving them of the opportunity to be superior people.

Just as Liu Huai said to Shi Ju, this is simply the mighty march of history.

The Han people's reclaiming of power was a historical process, and the Han people's desire to complete feudalization was also a historical process.

From this perspective, Liu Huai, like Wanyan Yong and Wanyan Liang, was a pitiful creature who could not stop the wheels of history.

Of course, from another perspective, the deceased Zheng Yun and Sun Huaidu, and even He Zizhen, who was already a criminal at this time, were truly loyal ministers and filial sons of Liu Huai.

They knew that completing feudalization was the will of the people and an inevitable trend, and they also knew that Liu Huai would never agree to the garrison doing so. Therefore, they acted as intermediaries, trying to gloss over the situation.

Now these paperhangers have been crushed by the wheels of history, and it is Liu Huai's turn to face the mighty tide of history.

Shi Ju was not a cowardly person, but he became fearful and helpless in front of Zheng Yun's corpse. The root cause was that his personal strength was too small in the face of the general trend of history.

"What you say makes sense, Master Shi." After a long while, Liu Huai finally smiled and said, "You've worked hard these past few days. Please go and rest for now, Master Shi. I will make my own decision."

Shi Ju wanted to continue persuading him, but could only bow and leave.

After Shi Ju left, Liu Huai looked at the document in his hand and fell into deep thought.

Of course, his heart was far from as calm as it appeared; in fact, it was in turmoil.

Although Liu Huai rose to the position of political leader after transmigrating, his political literacy was still based on the history and politics courses he took in high school in his previous life.

It must be said that China's compulsory education in later generations was simply on a planet-like scale, unique on the entire planet. It imparted all sorts of skills and combat experience, allowing Liu Huai to easily see the essence of things and grasp the main contradictions in various political struggles, thus navigating them with ease and skill.
Thinking of this, Liu Huai's thoughts were in turmoil, so much so that he didn't even realize Xin Qiji had entered.

Xin Qiji also knew what Liu Huai was thinking, so he poured Liu Huai a cup of tea and sat down silently.

After a long while, Liu Huai finally came to his senses and looked at Xin Qiji, saying, "Fifth Master is here. Did you see the internal announcement from the higher-ups?"

Xin Qiji nodded: "Of course I saw it, and that's why I came here."

Liu Huai's eyes lit up: "Does Wu Lang have a solution? Or is he also trying to go with the flow?"

Xin Qiji shook his head and chuckled: "Given the precedent of Geng Jiedu, how could I possibly agree to such a thing?"

Liu Huai also smiled.

There are also differences between feudalization. If the feudalization of the Ming Dynasty was to maintain the rule over the entire wolf pack, the meat was distributed among many alpha wolves.
So Geng Jing's feudalization means that none of the wolves in the pack are well-fed, and all the food is given to the hyenas outside.

Because a large number of powerful clans and gentry were involved, during the feudalization of Gengjing, many ordinary soldiers and self-cultivating farmers became tenants and servants.

This was also the source of Xin Qiji, Li Tieqiang and others' disappointment with Geng Jing, and the reason why the Taiping Army's combat strength declined at that time, to the point that they couldn't even capture Daming Prefecture, where the two Jin armies had fought a fierce battle.

Given this precedent, it would be a miracle if Xin Qiji had any positive feelings towards the spontaneous feudalization of the garrison soldiers.

Liu Huai continued, "Fifth Brother, do you have any ideas?"

Xin Qiji rose solemnly, straightened his robes, and bowed deeply in respect.

Liu Huai, unsure of Xin Qiji's intentions, immediately stood up and helped him up: "Fifth Brother, what are you doing?"

Xin Qiji maintained his bowed posture: "I have no other choice, but I know that among all the people I have met, none is more intelligent than you, Dalang. I hope you can come up with a brilliant solution to make a proper decision."

Upon hearing this, Liu Huai felt a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

(End of this chapter)