Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 89: On establishing vassal states overseas, what a sin it is! [Please read on]

Seal the vassal overseas?

Neither Zhu Yuanzhang nor his queens Zhu Biao and Zhu Di expected Liu Kuan to give such an answer.

Zhu Di was the first to frown.

As a prince, he was not completely ignorant of what was happening overseas.

According to his understanding, although there were some barbarian and small countries overseas, many places were barbaric and wild. If these vassal kings were really granted fiefdoms overseas, wouldn't that be tantamount to exile?
Liu Kuan said earlier that after several rounds of reducing the power of the vassal states, the vassal states had become useless and parasites to the country, and later he wanted to exile them overseas.

Is it possible that these vassal states who have no chance of becoming emperors have no way out?

"Father, please don't listen to Liu Kuan's nonsense."

Just as Zhu Di was thinking this, he heard Zhu Yuanzhang ask: "What do you mean?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, do you remember what I said the day I arrived in Ming? East of Ming, across the Atlantic Ocean, lie South and North America, whose land area is several times larger than Ming's. They are rich in resources, yet they are inhabited by natives who practice slash-and-burn agriculture."

"Also, south of Daming, across the many islands of the South Seas, there's also a continent, no smaller than Daming. While its resources aren't as abundant as America's, its mineral deposits are very rich."

"After going down to the South Seas, it turned to the Indian Ocean, which is the Western Ocean at that time. It contains both the subcontinent where India is located and the African continent."

"The subcontinent where Tianzhu is located is very suitable for farming, and the people are very easy to tame. Although there is a country, its strength is not strong."

"As for Africa, it's a land blessed by heaven—the people there don't even need to farm; they can thrive just by gathering and hunting. It's also home to countless precious minerals like gold, silver, and gemstones."

After sitting down, Zhu Di was very surprised to hear these words.

He had thought that all the overseas places were wild islands, but he had not expected that there was a land with rich resources and an area no less than that of Ming Dynasty. Besides, except for the Indian subcontinent, the other three places sounded like unowned land!

For some reason, he was no longer so opposed to the suggestion of establishing a vassal state overseas.

However, those places are far away after all, especially America, which is east of the Atlantic Ocean. Isn’t it out of reach?
How should the Ming Dynasty send the vassal king over?
I heard that the waves at sea are huge and ships can easily capsize. How can we ensure that the princes can arrive at their fiefdoms safely?

We can't just drive the princes to the sea and leave them alone, right?
For a moment, Zhu Di felt itchy in his heart, and he wanted to rush out, put a knife to Liu Kuan's neck, and force him to speak quickly.

Fortunately, Liu Kuan didn't keep him in suspense and continued, "Also, Your Majesty, do you still remember the great voyages of the Western Barbarians that I mentioned? This event is not far away in history."

"A few decades later, a small nation among the Western Barbarians moved south to Africa. It then took nearly a hundred years and several generations to circumnavigate Africa, pass through the Indian subcontinent, reach the Nanyang Islands, and finally reach the Ming Dynasty by sea."

"More than a hundred years later, another group of Westerners set out from their place, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived in America."

"A few decades later, more Westerners arrived in America from the Atlantic Ocean, then continued westward across the southern Atlantic Ocean and arrived at the South Pacific islands."

"Then they followed the earliest maritime routes opened up by the Western Barbarians, passing through India and Africa and returning to Europe, where their country was located. This completed their global exploration and proved that the Earth is indeed a sphere!"

"These Western Barbarian states discovered that the Americas, Africa, and the Australian continent south of the South Pacific Islands were almost all under the rule of indigenous peoples. The indigenous peoples either still lived a slash-and-burn tribal life, or some of them had states but were weak."

"So the Western barbarians began to plunder and colonize these places. They destroyed the indigenous forces that dared to resist, robbed the indigenous people of their wealth accumulated by their ancestors, and then enslaved the indigenous people to mine and plant crops for them."

"It was in this way that the Western Yi countries developed into Western powers over the next few hundred years."

"As far as I know, historically, by the Wanli period, Spain, the most powerful of the Western nations, had already colonized and ruled many islands in the South Seas, establishing governors."

"They also sent numerous spies to the Ming Dynasty, bribed officials, and investigated the Ming Dynasty's true strength. They learned that the Ming Dynasty's court was corrupt, the officials were corrupt, and the military was weak and incompetent. It was almost on the verge of collapse."

"They formulated a plan to attack the Ming Dynasty, attempting to turn it into a colony like Africa, Australia, and America, and to turn the people of the Ming Dynasty into their slaves..."

"How dare you?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but slam the table and stand up angrily.

Although he had heard Liu Kuan mention Western powers many times, he always thought that those Western powers would not invade China until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Now, hearing that the Western barbarians were planning to attack the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty and wanted to turn all the Ming people into slaves, he was naturally furious.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di were also surprised. They did not expect that in the future the Ming Dynasty would have such a vicious enemy coming from the sea.

Zhu Di asked in a low voice: "Brother, how many years ago was the Wanli reign?"

Zhu Biao estimated based on what he knew and said, "About two hundred years." Zhu Di wanted to ask something else, but he heard Liu Kuan talking outside again, so he had to suppress his thoughts and continue listening.

"Your Majesty, by that time, the Western barbarians had colonized the globe for over a hundred years and were invincible. The Ming, however, was on the decline. Therefore, in the eyes of the Western barbarians, the Ming was just a slightly stronger native nation. What was there for them to fear?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about what Liu Kuan had said about the Wanli Dynasty. Even though he was unwilling, he had to admit that the invasion of the Ming Dynasty by the Western barbarians was indeed possible.

Then he couldn't help but ask, "Did the Ming Dynasty repel those Spaniards?"

Liu Kuan smiled. "Although Spain has such ambitions and plans, it has not been able to prevent the rise of its neighbor Britain. Britain's position in Europe is similar to Japan's position in ours, as an island country."

"Although its country started its great voyages of discovery later than Portugal and Spain, it developed faster and became more powerful."

"Just as Spain was organizing its fleet to prepare for an expedition to the Ming Dynasty, a major naval battle broke out in the Atlantic Ocean with the British fleet. In this battle, the Spanish fleet, which was known as the world's most invincible, was severely defeated and many warships were lost."

"After the war, Spain was forced to withdraw its forces to defend itself against Britain, and its plan to invade the Ming Dynasty was abandoned."

"However, after the Spanish, the Dutch also wanted to colonize the Ming Dynasty. However, the Dutch were relatively weak, and they were defeated in several invasions of the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty, so they gave up."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Come to think of it, if the Ming Dynasty had really been conquered by Western powers in history and became a colony, Liu Kuan should have mentioned it long ago, why would it be delayed until now?

But in the final analysis, this was just the good luck of the Ming Dynasty at that time, and it was not something worth praising.

Liu Kuan paused and continued, "Your Majesty, I cite the example of the Western Barbarians embarking on the great voyages of discovery and colonizing the globe to illustrate a point."

"The Ming Dynasty's navigational capabilities are now comparable to those of the Western Barbarians. With the technological information I have brought with me, it will only take a decade or two to build a navy, or naval force, and we will absolutely dominate the world."

"With steamships and ironclad ships as warships, the Ming navy can reach any of the South Pacific islands, Australia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa."

"We can even go to North and South America on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and even Europe where the Westerners live."

"The Western Barbarians can colonize the entire world in a hundred years. Why can't the Ming Dynasty enfeoff its vassal kings overseas and occupy those rich and strategically located places in advance?"

"The princes only need to lead thousands of troops and tens of thousands of civilians as immigrants, open up wasteland for farming, and reproduce. In a hundred years, the population will reach millions."

"By then, whether these fiefs are directly under the Ming Dynasty or serve as a barrier for the vassal states, it will be better for the court than having those good places occupied by the Western Barbarians, right?"

"For a vassal state, the first one or two generations of a vassal state might have to endure some hardships, but it's better than being stuck at home, bound by numerous rules and unable to do anything, right?"

"To put it another way, if the Ming Dynasty really does establish vassal states overseas, it can be more flexible. The vassal kings can choose to go or not, and the court can also only allow vassal kings who meet certain requirements to go."

"In short, in the eyes of future generations, the Ming Dynasty's overseas vassal states were much better than keeping them at home and feeding them like parasites."

At this point, Liu Kuan, fearing he had failed to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang, continued, "Your Majesty, don't you know that in history, most of the princes and royal family members who were confined to one place in the late Ming Dynasty suffered terribly."

"Let's start with the imperial clan. Just over a hundred years later, the imperial court, due to insufficient funds and grain, repeatedly cut and delayed the salaries of the imperial clan."

"Later, some members of the royal family with lower titles, unable to receive their salaries, were even reduced to doing your Majesty's old job."

Do our old business?
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned when he heard this.

It took a moment to realize what Liu Kuan was referring to - begging!
He was both incredulous and furious. He slammed the table and said, "Liu Kuan, you said that on purpose, didn't you? Do you believe me or do you want me to give you a beating?"

Liu Kuan was so careless that he regretted it too late. He simply pretended to be sincere and said, "Your Majesty, I am only speaking the truth."

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent.

It is a fact that Old Zhu had to beg for food in order to survive.

According to Liu Kuan, one or two hundred years later, there will be hundreds of thousands of royal family members, and the lower-level ones will not receive salaries and have nowhere to turn to. Why is it impossible for them to beg for food in order to survive?

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but slap the imperial desk again, and said with mixed emotions: "What a sin!"

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　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)