Zhu Yuanzhang Returns from Modern Times

Zhu Yuanzhang did not disappoint Xu Da, and so on.

He immediately revealed his other considerations regarding this matter.

"The religion they believe in is a good thing."

There are ways to support them.

Changing their beliefs is not that easy.

However, based on their own beliefs, choosing those that are more suitable to drain their spirit and enslave them is still quite good.

We should encourage them to practice their religion more there.

In particular, we should encourage adult men from their side to become monks, so that they do not engage in production and become immersed in their sect.

Weaken their will to fight.

Furthermore, the Ming Dynasty also plans to establish religious affairs offices.

They need to govern what they believe there.

Whether it is a Living Buddha or something else.

When will the reincarnation take place, and who will be the reincarnation? These are all matters that must be decided by the imperial court.

They cannot be reincarnated unless the imperial court approves it.

Their principles also need to be changed to some extent according to the court's wishes..."

Zhu Yuanzhang then offered another solution to this matter.

Actually, if he could, he naturally wouldn't want to use this method.

The best approach would be to completely assimilate them.

However, productive forces determine the relations of production.

The situation is far from reaching that point.

Under these circumstances, he could only act according to the current strength of the Ming Dynasty.

Taking too big a step can easily lead to trouble.

Not only will it not bring peace to the northern regions, it will also cause other troubles.

Not worth the candle.

In any case, his primary concern now is how to stabilize the northern grasslands, minimize disturbances, and avoid consuming too much of the Ming Dynasty's energy and national strength.

As for the rest, they are not currently under his consideration.

People can only move forward step by step, based on the current situation.

As for what happens next, we'll talk about that later.

Moreover, the methods he mentioned were not actually his own ideas.

Rather, it refers to what he learned in his later years about how the Qing Dynasty controlled the grasslands and other areas.

Now we can apply what we've learned.

It must be said that, in his heart, he was uncomfortable about the fact that the Ming Dynasty, which he had established, was ultimately overthrown by the Manchus.

Furthermore, they also looked down on the various backward and ignorant ways of ruling the people by the Manchu Qing dynasty.

However, it must be said that its ability to maintain its rule for so many years does have its merits in some aspects.

For example, when it comes to ruling over places like grasslands and plateaus, the Qing Dynasty can be said to have achieved the greatest success.

Throughout history, only his side has completely suppressed and bound these places.

It has been proven to be effective.

Now that he has returned to the Ming Dynasty, he faces the same problems again.

With such successful experience, it is natural to learn from it and apply it flexibly.

Governing a country is nothing to be ashamed of.

As long as we don't adopt his dross, that's fine.

Take the essence and discard the dross.

Developing new things from old things and extracting the beneficial and nutritious parts for our Ming Dynasty is quite good.

However, some things that are being done on the grasslands must be strictly controlled.

We cannot allow it to spread to places like the Ming mainland, affecting the Ming territory and causing Han people to believe in that doctrine as well.

In that case, it would be a case of losing more than you gain.

However, it's generally safe to say that there shouldn't be any major problems.

This kind of impact is unlikely to occur.

Confucianism, which has existed for thousands of years, is still very powerful in this regard.

This is why he only focuses on reforming and suppressing Confucianism.

This is a major reason why it is not completely rejected.

After all, if thoughts don't occupy something, something else will.

The goal is to discard the dross of Confucianism, retain its essence, and allow it to align with and guide the development of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared to various theocratic ideologies, Confucianism still has many merits.

They were far beyond their reach.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang would not truly condemn Confucianism outright.

It will simply require them to adopt some measures to make them less conservative and loosen their many shackles in preparation for the future rise of the Ming Dynasty.

Upon hearing what his superior said, Xu Da couldn't help but want to write it down.

Those who rise to power truly live up to their title.

They even considered these things!
That's right!
While outward strength is admirable, inner strength must also be present.

Otherwise, no matter how strong one's physique or martial prowess, if one is a coward and dares not fight, one will still be enslaved by someone far weaker than oneself.

They even killed him.

Like those formidable passes and strategic strongholds, they are difficult to conquer from the outside.

Most of them were guards who opened the city gates from the inside; it was a similar process.

If we can use these methods to put corresponding shackles on many people on the grasslands, making them believe in this doctrine from the bottom of their hearts, and making them unwilling to fight wars, then they will be guilty if wars break out.

Not everyone will believe this, but at the very least, it will have some impact.

This will only discourage many of them from waging war in the future, and cause many adult men to stop working.

This would also fundamentally weaken their power.

There's a whole set of tricks to getting to the top!

They always manage to surprise us!

Xu Da felt that these measures were sufficient to deal with the grasslands.

That's good enough.

From now on, the people of the grasslands will no longer be a threat to the Ming Dynasty, and the country will be able to remain stable forever.

But Zhu Yuanzhang then showed him with his actions that it was far from over.

He has other options.

"Next, we can recruit soldiers from the grassland tribes."

We will take away the best and strongest men from his territory, build an army, and bring them under the rule of our Great Ming.

Let them fight alongside my Great Ming Dynasty.

In this way, they could both weaken the power of their tribe and use their power for their own purposes.

Give some of them a good path.

It can also make them more obedient.

This method is actually not new.

Because there were Xiongnu cavalry during the Han Dynasty, and there were also the Huangzhong Righteous Cavalry in Liangzhou.

When Zhu Yuanzhang was conquering the country, his own forces consisted of a portion of the army composed of surrendered Mongol Yuan people.

At this point, further expansion based on this foundation doesn't seem out of place...

“In those strategic and dangerous places, troops should be stationed in layers.”

These places will all be placed in the hands of my Great Ming.

At the same time, these troops also prevented any rebellions from occurring in these areas, further maintaining local stability.

We also need to set up outposts along the long border, which will be patrolled regularly by our Ming soldiers or the Mongol Yuan soldiers we have selected and trained, to prevent border crossings, smuggling, and invasions by foreign enemies.

Maintain border security and social order.

In the future, we must also establish a strict tributary system with the tribes on the grasslands. We will have them come to the capital regularly to pay tribute to our Great Ming.

We, the people of the Great Ming Dynasty, will bestow certain rewards upon them.

It doesn't have to be exactly the same; you can give a little more.

This method was used to win over some of the tribal chiefs.

Of course, this is a tactic to win people over.

For those tribes that disobey orders and try to gain illegitimate benefits through malicious tribute, and go too far, we must strike them hard.

Make them understand how things should be done.

Not only that, but economic means can also be used to control it in the future.
Certain changes need to be made to the existing trade with the grassland tribes.

Trade must be conducted in several specific trading ports.

Strict regulations should be imposed on the time, place, and type of border trade.

Strategic materials such as salt, iron, and firearms must be controlled.

Salt, grains, and tea can be appropriately supplied.

However, iron and firearms were not allowed to flow into the grasslands and were not included in the trade.

We must also strictly investigate smuggling. Anyone who dares to smuggle such prohibited items should be caught and severely punished!
Those with serious offenses will be beheaded.

Draw a red line like this.

Trade with that side should be led by the state, with state-owned enterprises as the main body.

When trading, you can buy as much wool and other similar items as possible from that region.

After they were transported back, people from our Great Ming Dynasty made them into wool sweaters and many other items.

Then, some of the clothing made of wool and sheepskin was sold on the grassland.

Let the people of the grasslands raise livestock for my Great Ming Dynasty.

While political and military means are powerful, economic means should not be overlooked either.

In later generations, Zhu Yuanzhang witnessed far too many economic tactics.

They knew how powerful and important this method was.

Naturally, we must not fall behind.

Moreover, they were able to destroy the Northern Yuan royal court so quickly and smoothly this time.

A large part of the reason is that these economic measures have been effective.

At that point, they certainly wouldn't let it go.

He has already given some pointers, and improved textile machines have emerged and are now being expanded in production.

Under these circumstances, the demand for wool and other related raw materials will increase significantly.

If it were possible for the people on the grasslands to profit from wool.

Over time, they will become even more enthusiastic about feeding sheep and shearing their wool.

Instead of being keen on fighting wars.

They provide wool, which the Ming Dynasty processes into industrial products and then sells back to them.

This allows them to further profit from their efforts.

Meanwhile, research on the steam engine was also ongoing.

There was no relaxation whatsoever.

Some progress has been made.

Judging from the current situation, it's likely that a usable steam engine could be developed within three years, even before the initial five years are mentioned.

The steam engine is a core component.

Besides making vehicles, it can also be used to make many other machines.

For example, it can be used for grinding grains, mining, and mountain transportation.

It can also be used on spinning machines and weaving machines, etc.

Once implemented, the weaving and spinning industry in the Ming Dynasty will develop rapidly.

Productivity has also been greatly improved.

In this way, the gap between the grasslands and the Ming Dynasty will widen.

This makes them increasingly dependent on the Ming Dynasty.

"The post station system should also be established on the grassland."

We will develop in that direction based on the existing foundation.

There, a practical and effective system of post stations was established.

By incorporating all localities into the postal system, the imperial decrees could be effectively transmitted.

This is also of paramount importance.

Establishing an effective rule is simply unrealistic without such a relay station system.

This is why Zhu Yuanzhang was so furious when he saw that Emperor Chongzhen had laid off this particular official.

That's absolutely foolish!

The layoffs have hit the lifeblood of the industry.

The relay station system is not only important, but also requires a lot of people.

The key point is that the wages paid to these people are actually not high.

As a result, he cut it off and then created Li Zicheng.

If they really wanted to lay off staff, it wouldn't be impossible to dismiss a number of officials in Nanjing.

Even if we were to support another Wei Zhongxian, it would still work.

As a result, they didn't dare to do any of those things, but instead chose to bully the easiest targets.

In fact, those who seem easiest to bully and have no ability to fight back are the hardest to bully...

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that these measures were not yet stable enough.

When steam locomotives are developed in the future and railways are laid across this grassland, that will bring true stability.

Of course, this would be possible if the technology of the Ming Dynasty could develop further.

In addition to the existing flintlock muskets, the introduction of heavy machine guns would make the grasslands even more stable.

“From now on, we plan to let Biao Biao, the second son, the third son, and the fourth son all take a concubine.”

They will be selected from the most suitable tribes on the grasslands.

Zhu Yuanzhang then revealed yet another consideration he had made.

This is also a way to win over and stabilize the grasslands.

The Manchus were quite adept at using this tactic.

However, when it came to Zhu Yuanzhang, he was prepared to make some changes.

That is, only the Ming Dynasty's imperial family could take certain women from grassland tribes as concubines.

Instead, it would prevent women from the Ming imperial family from marrying off to the other side.

It was also stipulated that the empress must be a Han Chinese.

Those from tribes on the grasslands could only be concubines.

As for what Biao'er and his group were thinking...

What other ideas could there be?
For the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty, it is acceptable for them to make a little sacrifice.

Besides, his second son's wife is from that area.

Xu Da opened his mouth slightly, but didn't say anything more about this matter.

It's excellent that the person in charge has these considerations.

"As for that side, many laws will also need to be formulated in the future."

In some matters, we can respect their customs.

However, there are certain things that must be restricted, according to some of the laws of the Han people, especially in cases of murder.

These issues must be addressed by the local government.

We cannot leave it to the tribal chiefs and others to handle.

"We cannot allow too much judicial power within the tribe..."

While Zhu Yuanzhang was saying these things, Wu Yin and others had already set off from the capital and headed towards Shandong.

We're getting ready to make our move and begin surveying the fields! (End of Chapter)