My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 259: An existence lower than slaves

Zhu Yuanzhang first took a look at the thick stack of materials and saw the words "Railway System Engineering Process" written in large letters on it.

He understood the system and the engineering, but the word "railway" made Zhu Yuanzhang a little confused.

What kind of road is a railway? Is there a road made of steel in this world? How could such a thing exist? No one would be stupid enough to pave a road with steel, right?

Zhu Yuanzhang touched his nose. This Old Li was really something. Every time he gave him something he couldn't understand. However, since he gave it to him, he must have his reasons.

He decided to just read the letter, so he opened it and started reading.

"Old Zhu, congratulations, after taking over the desert, you have now successfully taken over Annan.

Since the Qin Dynasty conquered the Baiyue, the Han Dynasty established Jiaozhi County, and the Tang Dynasty established the Annan Protectorate, Annan has been a Chinese territory since ancient times. However, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, various separatist forces in the Central Plains took turns to appear on the scene, and wars continued across China, with the land in a state of chaos and smog.

The local forces in Annan took advantage of the Central Plains' weakness to rebel and took the opportunity to break away from the Central Plains' jurisdiction. This has been going on for more than 600 years. Although there were times when they paid tribute to the Central Plains, overall, they were drifting further and further away from China.

However, after the battle in Laos, Annan was once again brought under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty and returned to the embrace of the Chinese family. Old Zhu, you should be credited with the greatest achievement! "

"Hahahaha!" Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and laughed triumphantly. His hearty laughter spread outside the Buddhist hall and was heard by the guards and palace maids, who looked at each other in surprise.

Your Majesty, what's wrong? Why are you smiling so happily?

It is not easy to get praise from Lao Li in person. Zhu Yuanzhang knows better than anyone how poisonous Lao Li's mouth is.

It's really like drinking ice cola under the hot sun in the dog days of summer, cooling you from head to toe and making you feel extremely comfortable and refreshed.

In fact, if we talk about the greatest contribution, it must go to you, Old Li. Without your advice behind the scenes and your contribution of so many peerless artifacts to the Ming Dynasty, it would not have been so easy to conquer Annan.

But why he didn't feel so happy and satisfied when his ministers flattered him? It was really puzzling.

Then he continued reading and almost vomited blood.

"Don't be complacent after hearing these compliments. Conquering Annan is only the first step in conquering Indochina. There is still a long way to go, so you must maintain a positive attitude and guard against arrogance and impatience."

Oh, this Old Li, he treats me like a three-year-old kid. He thinks I’m one of those naive kids like Zhu Di and Li Jinglong?
However, does the Indochina Peninsula refer to countries such as Annan, Champa, and even Siam and Chenla?

"The so-called Indochina Peninsula refers to all the vassal states along the line from Annan Champa in the east to India in the west. Of course, the conquest I mentioned does not mean conquering by force, but by trade. The most important of these is Champa."

Champa?

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. If the King of Champa had not taken the initiative to send envoys to escort Li Jilian to the Ming Dynasty, he would not have had any interest in this place at all.

But why does Lao Li value Champa so much and say it is the top priority to conquer Indochina?
Could it be that there are mines in Champa?
However, he had studied the mineral map that Lao Li sent him countless times and had already memorized it by heart. In terms of mineral resources, although Champa also has mineral resources, they are obviously not comparable to Annan.

Moreover, the mineral resources in places like Laos, Cambodia and Siam are obviously more abundant than those in Champa.

Moreover, Champa is located under Annan, and its geographical location is not advantageous. It is better to control Siam than to control Champa, so that the Ming Dynasty can better radiate power to the Indochina Peninsula mentioned by Lao Li. "The reason for controlling Champa is actually very simple, that is, Champa has the best seaport in the entire Indochina Peninsula!"

So that's how it is. Zhu Yuanzhang clapped his hands and felt a little ashamed. Lao Li had clearly told him a long time ago that sea power and land power were equally important, but he still habitually considered things from the perspective of land power.

There’s a long way to go!
“Of course, in addition to Champa, Siam is also a focus. To the south of Siam is Johor, and the southernmost tip of Johor is Temasek and the Strait of Malacca!

As for why I suggest to control these vassal states through trade rather than directly occupy them by force, the most important reason is - cost! "

That’s right, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded involuntarily and agreed with Li Han’s point of view. The reason was very simple. The gains brought by trade far outweighed the benefits brought by looting.

If armed robbery is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, then trade is draining the pond to catch the fish.

He really likes the phrase "sustainable exhaustion of resources".

"Unlike Annan, the other countries in Indochina were less influenced by Chinese civilization, and their social classes did not identify with China very much. Therefore, they could not be ruled smoothly after being conquered by force like Annan. The conflicts between their social classes and the Ming Dynasty would erupt from time to time, bringing extremely high costs to the Ming Dynasty's rule.

What is the purpose of the Ming Dynasty? It is to gain benefits, not to invest too much energy in the bottomless pit of suppressing rebellion!

Therefore, what we in the Ming Dynasty need to do is to use the economy as a platform and culture as a show! "

The economy provides the stage and culture performs the show?
Old Li's witty remark was really made up casually. It was humorous, interesting, and easy to understand. The more Zhu Yuanzhang looked at it, the more his smile grew. I have also learned this sentence.

"The economic platform is to quickly cultivate comprador agents in various foreign countries through trade, while the cultural platform is to use the excellent culture of the Ming Dynasty to change the thinking of the people of various countries in a subtle way and achieve cultural identity.

Take Champa as an example. Champa is also known as Champapula. As the name of the country shows, this place is deeply influenced by Indian Brahmanism.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew a little about Brahmanism. This religion seemed to divide people into four classes according to caste, but that was all he knew.

"Brahmanism divides people into four castes: the highest caste, the Brahmins, are the monk aristocracy who are in charge of the power of sacrifice; the second caste, the Kshatriyas, are the military and political aristocracy who control the secular power of the country; the third caste, the Vaishyas, are ordinary craftsmen and merchants; and the lowest caste, the Shudras, are the serfs or slaves.

The countries that believe in Brahmanism use these four strict hierarchical classes to maintain the stability of the national structure. However, in addition to these four classes, there is actually another class. However, these four classes have never regarded them as human beings, so they have not been included in the Brahman class system. "

Slaves were already the lowest level of society that Zhu Yuanzhang could understand. How could Brahmanism create a class even lower than slaves?
If you are lower than a slave, then you are worse than an animal!
This really broadens our horizons!

“This class is called untouchables by the other four classes of people. They are the untouchables among the untouchables, living a life worse than pigs and dogs.

Let me give you an example to illustrate this: the untouchables are prohibited from receiving education, forced to stay away from the living areas of other castes, and even their shadows cannot fall on other people, otherwise they will be punished.

Their existence is regarded as a stain, and is avoided by the upper castes like a plague!"

Living like this, why not rebel?
Zhu Yuanzhang was very confused. He thought that under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, he had fallen to the point of being a beggar. Later, he simply gritted his teeth and joined the rebel army to rebel against the Yuan Dynasty.

If the people of the Ming Dynasty lived like this, I'm afraid there would be many heroes and wars by now.

(End of this chapter)