Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 275 Taking one or two steps southward, following the clues to the conquest grounds
After arriving in this world, Xuan Chong always felt a sense of alienation from the ruling machine of the modern Han Dynasty. After all, that's where his predecessor had experienced his fate!
Being the son of a prince offers no protection; and precisely because of his status, the interpersonal relationships he encounters and the troubles he may provoke are all anything but simple.

As for a prince of a vassal state provoking ordinary people? That's like sticking your backside out to poke an anthill. The ants might get unlucky, but sticking your backside out means you're just waiting to be kicked. Being labeled "against the will of Heaven" would mean being imprisoned for life.

Looking back at Liu Haoxing's experiences, he was gradually led to villainous roles in Yandu.

That year, due to severe flooding in Yandu, dozens of car dealerships suffered damage and their vehicles were submerged. Lin Yang and others openly confronted Liu Haoxing, demanding that Dongtu donate to the project. (Donating was for the sake of gaining a reputation for good deeds, but being forced to donate meant that the reputation belonged to the person who made the grand gesture of coercion.)

Faced with these condescending demands, Liu Haoxing naturally resisted, which led to him being labeled as "unconcerned about the people's plight." Subsequently, Lin Yang and his group openly gathered locals in Yandu to bully him.

This was only because he was a teenager and received preferential treatment; because he was young and ignorant, the bullying stopped with him. If he were an adult and someone caught him doing something wrong, it might even implicate the entire Dongtu Kingdom behind him.

The vassal kings, seemingly the most prestigious class under the system of etiquette and law, were actually scapegoats for backward regions and agents for dumping industrial products in the current Han industrial hegemony system.

During their conversation, Xuan Chong learned that the vassal kings, though seemingly backward, actually matched the productivity of certain regions.

The present-day Han Dynasty has a vast territory, and the development of different regions is highly uneven. From the perspective of the scholar-officials who "treat the people like straw dogs," it would be a waste to ensure that all regions have the highest level of "governance." There are not enough scholars and those who have passed the provincial examinations.

Non-industrialized regions do not need to develop complex modern social structures.

Take Dongtu, for example. Its only competitive industry is whaling. Does this industry really need a large number of departments and bureaucrats dedicated to planning? If hundreds of departments are created to manage a region with little industry, then these departments will have nothing to do, and it will ultimately become bureaucratic.

Xuan Chong thought about it and realized that even if he broke his own industry monopoly and allowed individual businesses in the region to participate, many of them would go bankrupt after ten years, and eventually a few would merge into a whaling company, which would not be able to invest and compete in other industries.

If this large company, which is ultimately involved, is not bound by etiquette and morality after two generations and does not regularly return funds to its people, it will turn into a feudal system where family members fight over shares.

…Our perspective shifts to Southeast Asia…

The current Han dynasty's policy of "no kings except those of the Liu family" may seem to be supporting privileged families in the surrounding areas, but in reality, it is providing a protective shield for neighboring countries.

Two hundred years ago, the Liu family in Luzon, Southeast Asia, was stripped of their kingdom due to popular resentment; local wealthy families then established the Shang Kingdom, modeled after the latest corporate system in Europe.

As a result, decades later, the Shang Kingdom descended into chaos, a situation that continues to this day. —Because the Liu family was no longer in power, etiquette was no longer applied to the common people, and various factions in this free land stirred up trouble entirely with money!

Because Luzon does not have a unique core advantage in development compared to its neighbors; the output of a large industrial cluster in Guangzhou is equivalent to the output of palm oil cultivation throughout the entire country of Luzon.

Therefore, Luzon, encouraged by external merchants to establish its own state, was ultimately exploited and abandoned. As a result, Luzon had to rely on selling slaves to survive even in years of good harvest.

Those who sold themselves into servitude were the poor, while those who drove out the King of Luzon were all local tycoons, so the rich could act arrogantly and domineeringly.

No, Luzon's main product is palm oil. A simple price fluctuation by maritime traders can bankrupt many Luzon merchants and farmers, forcing them to sell off their land and return to a small-scale farming economy focused on grain production.

Luzon slaves have long been a major group in the service industry for some middle-class families in Eastern Shu and present-day Han China. In the mines of Southeast Asia, Luzon slaves have consistently accounted for over 20% of the workforce.

When Xuan Chong learned about this, he suddenly took a look at his own whale oil business!
The price of our own whale oil has remained highly stable internationally. This isn't because businessmen have become merciful, but because we adhere to the established rules and regulations, preventing them from engaging in speculation.

In this rapidly changing era, the whale oil industry still exists solely for certain luxury markets that specifically require whale oil as a raw material, such as for eternal lamps used in ancestral worship. In other words, if Dongtu becomes arrogant one day, it will be in serious trouble.

…the sores of Luzon…

In the last fifty years, the intellectuals of Luzon have come to their senses; two hundred years ago, those fools on the island believed in the barbarian monks' ideas of commercial freedom and directly overturned the table, abandoning royal rule—a classic case of lambs to the slaughter. Now, these intellectuals are trying to welcome back the expelled Liu family to restore the kingdom.

However, even though the Liu family member from back then has been found, they are still trying to deny that their ancestors "lost virtue and wronged the people, and therefore could not return home."

Young elites from many prominent families in Luzon are now recalling: their king wasn't actually that immoral; it was they who made the mistake.

They've gone to such lengths with formalities; even the wealthy families of Luzon have offered to pay 500,000 silver dollars annually as royal funds. They'd even say, "If you don't want to come back, you can at least bring back the late king's memorial tablet. No need for Your Majesty to spend any money; we've already repaired the temple ourselves."

So, even at this point, no one from the Luzon royal family has returned home? Why is that?

The core issue is that the current Han court has not tacitly approved it.

Although the current Han government has not openly opposed the return of the descendants of the King of Luzon to their homeland, it has also not made any explicit statement urging them to return.

Clearly, the imperial court was setting a bad example to warn the vassal states to behave themselves and to remind the Liu family members in these states not to cause trouble in their localities, lest they be left without recourse.

Furthermore, Luzon is a strategically important location surrounded by other vassal states. While the island is rich in resources, it lacks strategic ones. Moreover, the natives are not particularly skilled in warfare and therefore have no value in uniting the people.

The situation in Dongtu is different. As the northeasternmost coastal section of the present-day Han Dynasty, it is necessary to establish a vassal state here to ensure that the border does not retreat when there is no permanent military presence.

It is said that the first emperor of the Han Dynasty wanted to establish a vassal state further north in the icy sea several hundred years ago.

But that place was simply not suitable for human habitation, so we had to give up.

Therefore, even if a popular uprising occurs in Xuan Chong's hometown, the current Han government will most likely still have to send troops to cover it up and then support a new vassal king.

In Luzon, if the imperial court does not issue a formal decree, the Liu family of Luzon would likely face unexpected dangers at sea if they rashly return.

Because only the local intellectuals of Luzon hoped for Liu's return to China, while a large number of maritime merchants did not.

Merchants invested heavily in Luzon, reaping huge profits from its various mines and plantations; with a population of over 30 million, Luzon exported 40,000 to 50,000 maids annually. Such substantial profits were enough to allow these merchants to pull off some unexpected exploits!

Rumors circulate that the current Han court has actually made certain promises to the descendants of the King of Luzon, namely that it will support them in restoring their kingdom if necessary.

As for when it would be necessary? Qin Tianyi shrugged, indicating that she had no definite information, but her big, blinking eyes suggested that Xuan Chong could make some connections.

Xuan Chong replied half-heartedly, "When the current Han Dynasty feels it necessary to nationalize most of Luzon's resources?"

Qin Tianyi blinked again, then asked, "So when will it become state-owned?"

Following the line of thought she provided, Xuan Chong made a strategic judgment: when the border control line in Southeast Asia is pushed further south, and the imperial court needs to consider implementing a stable and long-term management strategy locally, a vassal king could emerge in that area.

Qin Tianyi praised Xuan Chong and revealed a truth to him: the descendants of the King of Luzon knew they could not return because being made a king required paying a blood tax!
Liu Dayang (Xu Xi) is currently carrying out a mission: if things go well, the ultimate reward will be the throne of Luzon.

Xuan Chong: "Oh, is Liu Dayang from the Luzon branch?"

Qin Tianyi: "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny? Among all the lineages of China, who is without noble birth?"

…Our ancestors fought their way through thorns and brambles, and every piece of land was stained with blood and scheming… Qin Tianyi’s family background is also not simple. Her identity and bloodline are related to the Qin family of Dongshu in Nanyang. Her family was a branch that surrendered to the Han Dynasty because of internal strife in Dongshu.

Nanyang was originally the territory of Dongshu; only in the last hundred years has the influence of the modern Han gradually shifted from the Nanyang archipelago region to Dongshu. Qin Tianyi's family played a crucial role in facilitating this process, enabling the modern Han to gradually take over the economic and social development of the Nanyang islands that Dongshu had pioneered.

Qin Tianyi is qualified to explain.

Qin Tianyi: The Southeast Asian region adopted a dual kingdom system that combined enfeoffment and autonomy. This originated from the Eastern Shu Kingdom. In the official textbooks of the Eastern Shu Kingdom, they built magnificent cities along the coast and invited local chieftains to the cities to discuss political affairs.

They won over the local chieftains by offering them official titles and promises. The chieftains, who originally lived on the island, were overjoyed to receive the seals of office from Eastern Shu.

After the modern Han dynasty reached this point and accepted this narrative perspective, it further promoted its Sinicization strategy, even implementing more appeasement policies. However, the native populations, fearing its power, did not reciprocate its kindness. A prime example is the expulsion of the Liu family by the native families of Luzon seventy years ago. After obtaining official seals from the court, they adopted a federal system based on the eccentric ideas of European monks. This angered the modern Han dynasty, leading to sanctions that continue to this day.

Hundreds of years ago, during the expansion of Dongshu into Southeast Asia, the successful construction of ports on islands in the Southern Ocean made the indigenous chieftains envious. These tribal leaders, who had been granted official positions and promises, moved to the city and enjoyed a life of collecting rent within the port.

However, just as these chieftains were entering the city to embrace Han culture, Han customs were also spreading to the countryside. Eastern Shu, through a strategy of immigration and the allocation of officials, led tens of thousands of people to cultivate the islands.

Xuan Chong's understanding of this is that the reason why the Han people have continued uninterrupted is based on the high efficiency of "eating from the land".

While other ethnic groups' religions still relied on the power of war to create war gods for worship, all the major customs and habits of the Han people were related to farming. As a result, even if a region had only a few dozen households after a famine, it could still eventually flourish and fill the area.

When the indigenous nobles collectively abandoned the natives and relinquished control over the island's interior, Eastern Shu dispatched tens of thousands of Han Chinese households to develop agriculture within the island and sent officials knowledgeable in astronomy and calendar systems to establish customs.

During this process, a large number of indigenous people, whether actively or passively assimilated into Han culture, watched helplessly as their agricultural niche was taken away by Han farming organizations from the north while they were receiving advanced agricultural knowledge.

Qin Tianyi: To be honest, we are really tough when it comes to farming.

Xuan Chong nodded in agreement, saying, "The indigenous people at the bottom have just emerged from slash-and-burn agriculture. How can they compete with the clans that have been swept out of the north to farm?"

For the Han Chinese, the water and heat conditions in Southeast Asia were ideal; by building irrigation canals and using oxen to pull plows, they could create excellent paddy fields. One year, two years, three years later, the harvests increased, and then in years of famine, they would exchange land for more. As a result, generation after generation, the Han Chinese owned more and more land.

The natives did resist, but the original ruling class of the tribes had all moved into the city.

Meanwhile, the forces of the present Han and Eastern Shu are powerful enough that Western powers wouldn't interfere as they did in the main timeline. The resistance of the indigenous people is far weaker than the high-intensity "Heaven is Dead" movements in the history of the present Han.

After the Liu family of Luzon lost their kingdom, the current Han dynasty completely and "domineeringly" subjugated the region.

The current ruler of the Han Chinese kingdom of Sarawak once asked a renowned Han Chinese Confucian scholar: "Is the indigenous uprising considered a violation of the will of Heaven?"

The renowned scholar surnamed Zhou, who studied domineering tactics in Southeast Asia, offered a profound statement: "Those who cut down trees to make weapons and shout in unison are humans; those who howl in the forest, are they humans or beasts? If they howl like humans, they are merely rabid scavengers suffering from madness." (Translation: You dare to say that humanity and nature are at odds? You don't even want to cultivate the land; your illness is nothing more than eating rotten flesh. How can you say it's a problem with our governance?)
The Han Chinese communities in the Sand Moon Kingdom have been doing this for generations, helping the indigenous people cure their mental illness. It is truly a great act of kindness.

The indigenous people of the islands went to the coast and embraced civilization, entering the sailing industry and the lower and middle-class service industries in the cities. Their ethnicity spread to the Indian Ocean region, but the Thousand Islands region has formed a unique Chinese-speaking cultural area.

The current Han Chinese adherence to the politically correct principle of "harmony between Heaven and Man" has led to a steady increase in the proportion of Han Chinese in Southeast Asia. Confucianism will not act with the same shamelessness as the "Big Four" international grain traders.

Aside from the lost kingdom of Luzon, maritime merchants in Luzon acted with impunity, artificially creating crises in the food and fertilizer markets. All of this was because Luzon was outside the "royal domain."

Guan Zhong employed economic warfare, but that was for the purpose of vying for hegemony. As a result, the state of Qi became rife with speculation, and after Guan Zhong's death, Qi descended into chaos.

For the "domineering" faction, it would be shortsighted to use such a major move to gain a paltry profit from this small vassal state. This tactic is intended for use against Eastern Shu.

…Qin Tianyi helped turn the page…

Xuan Chong's gaze fell upon the sea off Hangfu, where large cargo ships were docking. For decades now, the Han dynasty has been buying milk, iron ore, and coal from Dongshu!

Eastern Shu was also building battleships and had finished steel products; however, the Han Dynasty not only didn't use Eastern Shu's steel products, but also blocked all areas within its controlled territory from using them. Any vassal state that dared to import Eastern Shu's steel products would face sanctions. Eastern Shu, a nation built on industry and commerce, now faced a contradiction: its own iron smelting was unprofitable, while selling high-quality iron ore was profitable.

As for the dairy and livestock industries, they are high-profit industries with low labor costs per unit, but in terms of "unit of land", their output value is the lowest.

The vast grasslands produce forage for livestock farming. This forage is then used to produce meat and milk for cattle, a crop with the lowest feed conversion ratio. Furthermore, Eastern Sichuan does not export beef; it only opens its dairy market to foreign markets. (Dairy products are a substitute product.)
The vast arable land in Eastern Shu could not be adjusted to the optimal state for both farming and warfare. And this situation had persisted for many years.

Qin Tianyi tacitly agreed to this. She also stated that this was a joint effort by various forces in Southeast Asia (this collaboration was a topic in the imperial examinations).

Xuan Chong remained silent: He used to not care about private land ownership, believing that land consolidation was harmless in the industrial age!
However, after witnessing that less than one-thousandth of the population now controls 90% of the land in Eastern Shu, he realized that the hegemonic faction in the current Han dynasty harbored far too much malice.

The Han dynasty has consistently encouraged the development of large-scale agriculture in eastern Sichuan.

Xuan Chong approached Qin Tianyi again and asked, "There are no rules of etiquette in Eastern Shu, are there?"

After learning that Xuan Chong wanted to know about the "private land ownership system" in Dongshu, Qin Tianyi slowly said: "Dongshu once had factions that adhered to etiquette and law; and two hundred years ago, when these natural clans of Dongshu encountered market fluctuations, the whole clan held on to their belts, and even abandoned some clan members, rather than give up their land. But in the end, they could not hold on, and the land was eventually controlled by the merchants' association."

Qin Tianyi said, enunciating each word clearly, "Eastern Shu is a nation founded on commerce."

Note: In modern Han Chinese history, fluctuations in the supply of fertilizers and seeds during agricultural production are considered a violation of natural order. Even before the Industrial Revolution, Han officials could confiscate grain supplies under the pretext of "hoarding" during years of famine. Modern Han rule has reached a level of power comparable to the modern era, with major grain and fertilizer dealers facing the threat of impending ruin from powerful officials.

This cycle of order and chaos has repeated five times in history, and the scholars and officials of the Han Dynasty have devoted themselves to maintaining it for over four hundred years.

In the Confucian discourse system, to produce something that "contradicts the will of Heaven" is already a sign of incompetence; to deliberately create something that "contradicts the will of Heaven" is equivalent to being a sorcerer. Once labeled with this, one is never allowed to work and will have a stain on one's reputation for generations.

"The will of Heaven is contrary to the will of Heaven," Xuan Chong silently recited this concept, word by word. This was one of the major topics that would be tested in the imperial examinations, and there would definitely be a question about it.

As someone from another historical time and space, Xuan Chong had always watched the current Han court officials arguing over whether their intentions were contrary to or aligned with the will of Heaven, with a detached, spectator's attitude; but now Xuan Chong has begun to take it seriously.

…jumping back to the thinking of my own era…

With Qin Tianyi's help, Xuan Chong began to supplement his theory: after the Industrial Revolution, land centralization could concentrate production efficiency.

However, if land as a means of production is completely separated from the population and falls into the hands of a very small minority, then the strategy regarding land production becomes irrelevant to the interests of over 90% of the nation's population. Consequently, it becomes susceptible to external influences.

(Qin Tianyi, as a person from a later era, has a critical reflection on the American large-scale farm system, because this system allowed the East to fully observe and witness why the lifespan of Mediterranean civilizations was so short.)

The agricultural strategy of Eastern Shu is now being secretly manipulated by the modern Han dynasty; this country is doomed!
Xuan Chong: "The desolate Eastern Shu certainly has reasons to be destroyed!"

(End of this chapter)