'Sichuan scholar' Zhu Chun said: "I, as an uncle, have to refute you. The world has been settled. Although there are occasional rebellions in the four seas, they are all diseases caused by moss. The next thing that needs to be done is to cultivate virtue internally."
, and at the same time, it is just to prevent Bei Yuan from coming back to life. Opening up new territories and expanding the territory is very exciting, but it can easily become a waste of national power like Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty."
At this time, Yunxi was no longer nervous and replied: "Uncle Eleven makes sense, but my nephew has a few questions for Uncle Eleven to ask."
"What's the problem?" Zhu Chun said.
"The grain output of one acre of land is about two dan for the upper fields in the north, about four dan for the upper fields in the south, and of course less for the middle and lower fields. Although there is not enough land for intensive farming due to years of war and a small population, there is no room for an increase in the yield per mu.
Damn it, am I right?"
"Indeed."
"My nephew doesn't know how many acres of cultivated land there are in the country now, but if the territory does not expand, the total number of cultivated lands will not increase much. Am I right?"
"good."
"The yield per mu will not increase much, and the cultivated land will not increase much. So, if the territory does not expand, the country's total grain output will remain the same. Is my nephew right?"
"Yes." At this time, someone seemed to have thought of something and became a little restless.
"As long as the country is stable and there is no major war, the total population of the world will continue to increase. Then, one day, the total population will exceed the number of people that can be fed by the country's food. Is my nephew right?"
"...As you said, I didn't find the problem."
"When the population exceeds the maximum population that the total grain production can support, some people will not have enough to eat. What will these people who have no food to eat do? They will not wait to starve to death at home."
At this time, the whole audience gasped. This theory is no longer particularly correct in later generations due to the rapid advancement of science and technology, which has led to a rapid increase in food production (not to mention taste and nutrition), and the popularity of various synthetic foods.
But in this era, this theory is a universal truth, a truth that is truer than the universal values of later generations.
At the same time, the princes and grandsons here are not as stupid as the 2b civil servant who loudly asked the captured rebel soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty why they did not starve to death at home. You can know it from the family history of your father or grandfather, Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang.
, no one will willingly starve to death, and when everyone does not have enough to eat, a flood or drought disaster will lead to a large-scale uprising, or from the perspective of the ruler, it is called a rebellion.
Even Lao Zhu was shocked. He had never thought about this issue, but after Yunxi raised it, he could not refute it. Of course, there were flaws in Yunxi's words. Not everyone who was about to starve to death would revolt, and would still
There were practices such as exchanging children for food; not every uprising necessarily required large-scale suppression. Maybe a few dozen well-fed government officials could kill thousands of hungry people. He had seen many similar things when he was young.
But as Zhu Yuanzhang who wanted to leave an eternal legacy to future generations, he wanted to leave solutions to problems that might endanger the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years later during his lifetime. Lao Zhu looked at Yunxi seriously this time
, see if he will come up with a solution next.
In fact, the ancients also had similar ideas. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a decree to move people from narrow areas to wide areas. However, no one in ancient times systematically summarized these sociological laws, which is why Yunxi has the opportunity to show off today. Since then, no one has systematically summarized these sociological laws.
Judging from on-site reactions, the effect is very good.
However, Yunxi didn't feel relaxed at all, because Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who can be regarded as the world's best boss, looked at him very seriously, which made Yunxi very nervous, and the clothes on his chest and back were already wet.
, it feels like I went to Wanda to apply for a clerkship, but Wanda’s big boss Wang ** came to the interview in person.
But no matter how nervous I am, I have to continue to finish! Yunxi took two more deep breaths and continued: "So Sun'er believes that in the future, just maintaining the status quo is not enough. Of course, internal cultivation of virtue and governance is necessary, but we should continue to expand our territory.
, it is also necessary to obtain more fertile land to feed the growing population. If we do not cultivate moral governance or overuse people's power, we may die like the Sui Dynasty."
"But if you stick to the legacy of your ancestors and don't think about making progress, sooner or later there will be an uprising to try to overthrow our Ming Dynasty. Since the Qin Dynasty created a unified dynasty, there have been two Han Dynasties, Li Tang, and Zhao Song, which lasted for a longer time. Except for Zhao Song, who died
Except for the Mongols, the demise of the other three dynasties was all caused by civil rebellion."
"When Emperor Ai of the Western Han Dynasty, the people rebelled and set fire to Emperor Wu's mausoleum, which shook the rule of the Western Han Dynasty. Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty actually helped the Liu family get rid of the trap, making the world think that the people's lack of food was all because of Wang Mang's restructuring.
This was how the Eastern Han Dynasty was established. Emperor Guangwu established the Eastern Han Dynasty and lasted for 160 years. However, there was already a shortage of food and the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out. The local governors were enfeoffed and the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty was shaken. Only then did Wei and Wu take over the Han Dynasty."
Hearing this, several people noticed that Yunxi used the words "Wang Mang usurped the Han" and "Wei Wu replaced the Han" with completely different meanings. 'Yunxi seems to have a good impression of Cao Cao.' Zhu Yuanzhang thought.
"More than two hundred years after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the first major rebellion occurred, Wang Xianzhi and Huangchao's rebellion. But before the Tang Dynasty, there was the Anshi Rebellion. The Uighur Hu soldiers and the soldiers from the three towns tortured the people, robbed the farmers, and the population dropped sharply until
It took decades to recover.”
"So in order for the Ming Dynasty to continue to continue, we must either have more cultivated land to feed the increasing population, or let the increasing number of people go to foreign countries to find food on their own." Yunxi explained these dynasties in a very novel way from another aspect.
The reason for the demise of several generations, and it still makes sense.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke: "Do you think there is anything wrong in what Yunxi said?" He said facing his children and grandchildren. When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, he was very serious, as if he was having an argument with the ministers.
In the early dynasty, Zhu Quan, Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Gaochi, who had never seen Zhu Yuanzhang like this, and Zhu Yunxi, the protagonist of this book, all instantly felt that their sphincter muscles could no longer control the flow of liquid in their bladders (that is, they could not control the need to urinate), but they just
The remaining reason is still causing the cranial nerves to convey the 'hold on' command to the sphincter.
Jin Wang Zhu Fan said: "What Yunxi said makes sense, but if we continue to expand the land, how can we ensure that these distant lands are always in the hands of the Ming Dynasty? The Tang Dynasty expanded westward and once crossed the Aral Sea. Shixian
Li Bai was born in the west of the Western Regions, but later the Central Plains was in chaos, and all the land in the Western Regions was lost, and the expansion of the Western Regions also greatly consumed the national power of the Tang Dynasty. How to avoid losing the newly acquired land and not consuming the national power of the Ming Dynasty?
"
The King of Jin is also a person who hopes to become the crown prince, so he naturally has to show off a lot. Moreover, the King of Jin is indeed very smart. He raised the question while others were still thinking about Yunxi's point of view.
Everyone also felt that King Jin's concerns were reasonable. While thinking about how to do it, they also looked to see if Yunxi had any solution, including Lao Zhu.
If there were railways and telegraphs, it would be easy to control distant places. Yunxi thought. However, there are neither railways nor telegraphs now. Yunxi is not sure when he can develop steam engines and practical engines if he starts to intensify research now.
Generator (Note 1), so this cannot be said; the white people in the Far West ensured that the colonies would not completely escape control until the second technological revolution by allowing colonial officials to become warlords. So the only thing before Zhu Yunxi and Ming Dynasty was
a method.
"Returning to the second uncle, my nephew thought about it a lot, and the only feasible way is to enfeoff, and it is to break the earth and seal it like King Wu of Zhou did." As soon as these words came out, everyone at the scene, well, it was just the Zhu family.
, excluding the eunuchs, all of them suddenly changed their expressions. This answer was beyond their imagination. Under the unified thought that lasted for more than a thousand years after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, no one would consider it when considering the problem.
At this point, this is an answer that is completely outside the scope of their thinking.
"This, this, we, China, should unify ourselves, how can we, how can we?" Zhu Chun, the king of Shu who has been educated by Confucianism for many years and sincerely loves Confucianism, subconsciously said this, but he immediately paused. Now the Ming Dynasty has implemented enfeoffment.
Isn't it controlled? Isn't Zhu Chun himself a vassal town? Although it is not a true land-breaking feudal state, it is almost the same now. There is an independent army, and the local government can order at will, and no one dares to disobey it. It is similar to an independent kingdom. Other princes
Perhaps the princes have also realized that it would be good for them if they were really sealed.
The one who was struggling was Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang. As an emperor who could not even tolerate the decentralization of power among the prime ministers and would rather work more than twelve hours a day, the reason for enfeoffing the princes was just because the one he trusted the most was his own son, not because he wanted to
Let the sons establish their own country as they did in the early Han Dynasty. In the end, it will end up like Chao Cuo of the Han Dynasty when he cut off the vassal, uncles and nephews to kill each other.
Yunxi didn't know what Lao Zhu was thinking, but he just said to Zhu Chun, the king of Shu: "Uncle Eleven, during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, China could not occupy only one part of the Central Plains. Instead, we enfeoffed the princes in Shandong, Beiping (Note 2), Shanse,
Sanqin, Huguang, Zhili, and northern Zhejiang, by the time the First Emperor unified the world, all the feudal lords' fiefdoms had become the land of our country, and the people had changed from a mixed population of Chinese and barbarians to all people of our country."
"If we enfeoff the feudal lords, we should do it in remote areas that are not familiar to us in China. This can greatly expand the territory of China. Even if China (referring to the traditional political power of the Han Dynasty) declines, don't each feudal state need the people of China? Moreover, during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty,
The emperor declined, the princes fought, and finally the Qin State unified the world; if the Qin State also has vassal states with the surname Ji and comes after King Wen or King Wu, wouldn't it be equivalent to rebuilding the Zhou Dynasty, just like Emperor Guangwu built the Later Han Dynasty? "
Having said this, Yunxi felt very thirsty and stopped to drink a large cup of tea. This tea is really delicious. I have drunk a lot of tea in modern times, but I have never tasted anything like this. It seems that this is top-quality tea.
Okay. Having said almost everything that needs to be said, Yun He felt relaxed and thought.
