Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

"Take all the enemy soldiers captured this time to Mantai Port and build a castle there."

"I will petition His Majesty to grant you the land spanning dozens of miles around the castle."

Chapter 3655 A Regional Warlord

"By then, you'll all be landlords."

"Moreover, the islanders are skilled in farming, so you can easily recruit tenants."

Xia Yuqing licked his lips but didn't say anything.

Zhu Xiaozhong then said, "I will petition Your Majesty again to exile a few convicted officials here so they can teach your children to read."

"Descendants who are willing to take the imperial examinations and are talented may register their household in Guangdong to participate in the examinations."

Xia Yuqing finally smiled.

Zhu Xiaozhong continued, "When your descendants increase in number, you might be able to expand your army and conquer the nearby cities."

"Your descendants may become local rulers on the island!"

"The imperial court allows it?" Xia Yuqing exclaimed in surprise.

Zhu Xiaozhong lowered his voice: "Before setting sail, His Majesty wrote me a secret letter."

"We can do whatever we want to the west of the Strait of Srivijaya (Strait of Malacca)."

"If the troops left behind have the capability, they could even establish countries overseas."

"But there are two prerequisites..."

"What's the premise?" Xia Yuqing asked.

Zhu Xiaozhong said: "First, the country must be governed by Confucianism, at most mixed with Buddhism and Taoism."

"Secondly, the official language must be Chinese. We must not allow princes, nobles, officials, and generals to all speak foreign languages!"

"Understood," Xia Yuqing said.

Zhu Xiaozhong asked, "Do you really understand?"

Xia Yuqing said, "This was the intention of the Duke of Zhou in enfeoffing people. Jiang Taigong was enfeoffed in Qi, where all the people were Dongyi. In the end, he transformed the Yi into Xia."

"Your Majesty's move is an attempt to transform the barbarians into the Xia."

"I will definitely promote education and culture on this island and transform all the islanders into people of Chinese descent!"

Zhu Xiaozhong was quite surprised: "You seem to know a lot."

Xia Yuqing laughed and said, "Before being exiled to Shamen Island, I also read the classics."

Zhu Xiaozhong said, "Your numbers are still too small. Occupying Mantai Port and the surrounding dozens of miles is already the limit."

"Forcibly taking over other cities is possible, but what's the point?"

"We still need to appoint locals as officials to collect taxes, and we also need to recruit locals as soldiers to defend the city."

"His Majesty does not approve of this situation."

Do you know what you should do?

Xia Yuqing thought carefully and said, "First, we must firmly defend this port and ensure the smooth flow of goods from the Ming Dynasty."

"Secondly, to deter the king and nobles on the island, so that they would not dare to raise an army to cause trouble, or at least not dare to attack here."

"Third, encourage more of your soldiers to marry and have children, thus increasing the number of Chinese bloodlines."

"Since we've all become landlords, we can afford to support as many children as we have. If we can't support them, we'll just go and seize more land."

"Five hundred soldiers, each marrying several wives and concubines, with each fathering five children, will have 2500 children after fifteen years."

"Besides, we already have children, some of whom are already seven or eight years old."

"If you put in more effort, and each person has ten children, there will be five thousand people when they grow up!"

"I heard they're going to bring in the navy too, since they can have children."

"Even if the navy rotates its troops every few years, we are willing to adopt the children they leave behind."

"These children all need to study, learn to write Chinese characters, and speak Chinese."

"When they grow up, they will intermarry, and the men will join the army to fight, expand their territory, and continue to have children!"

Zhu Xiaozhong was stunned, and finally exclaimed, "You know how to have children."

Xia Yuqing added, "The island's nobles were scattered and disorganized after being granted fiefdoms."

“Our Han descendants do not fight among themselves; when there are many of them, they fight each other.”

"Moreover, with generations of intermarriage, everyone is related, and one day we'll take over the whole island!"

If that day ever comes, who knows what kind of political system will form? It will probably turn into a system of powerful clans on the island.

Of course, it is also possible that a hero will emerge, unify the entire island, and establish a centralized monarchy.

Ceylon has a great climate and a good agricultural base.

These soldiers had no worries about food and clothing, and everyone took many concubines, resulting in a rapid increase in their offspring.

The main reason is that Zhao Yuan had a very open-minded attitude, allowing the territory west of the Strait of Malacca to develop freely without any restrictions.

No matter how well-governed an overseas territory is, it will eventually develop a sense of autonomy, and even if it is entirely inhabited by Han Chinese, it will still seek independence.

The stricter the management of their motherland and the heavier the exploitation of them, the stronger the sense of independence will be among overseas citizens.

Ceylon is too far away, and Zhao Yuan doesn't plan to interfere. He'll be lucky if he can control it for fifty years.

Extending the control period further is also an option, but it would significantly increase management costs.

It's even more convenient east of the Strait of Malacca, where the islands are very close, and Zhao Yuan plans to develop them long-term.

Carrying treasures acquired from Ceylon, the Ming Dynasty fleet, accompanied by envoys from various countries, continued its eastward journey.

More than a hundred warhorses were left behind, all of them sick and not yet recovered.

Several horse grooms were left behind; if the warhorses recovered, they would be used to train cavalry for Xia Yuqing.

Watching the fleet sail away, Xia Yuqing gathered his soldiers and said, "Don't complain, we're all going to prosper from now on."

"All the land within dozens of miles around belongs to us, and everyone can be a landlord."

“Any native who refuses to hand over his land will be captured and forced to build a castle!”

"Furthermore, select beautiful women from the local area, and have each of them become my concubines, so they can bear many children!"

Chapter 3656 The Landlord

"His Majesty said that if we have the ability, we can even establish a country on this island."

"If we can't build a nation, our descendants can."

"Perhaps some of them are the king's grandfather, and some are the prime minister's ancestor."

"Do you want to be big landowners?"

The soldiers shouted in unison, "Yes!"

“Alright, from today onwards you are landlords,” Xia Yuqing said. “Once the castle here is built, the imperial court will send our wives and children here.”

"Once everyone's land is divided up and tenant farmers are recruited, that's considered a stable situation."

"The commercial taxes from this port will not be handed over to the imperial court in the first year; they will all be distributed to the soldiers present!"

"In this first year, in addition to settling down, I also need to familiarize myself with the surrounding geography."

"Wait until the following year, find a suitable neighboring city, and use any excuse to take it over."

"By then, our territory will double, and we'll redistribute the land. Everyone will be a wealthy landowner with many wives and concubines!"

These guys were all exiled criminals who had eaten people, and they were so excited by the empty promises that they had long forgotten their resentment at being stranded overseas.

They ordered the prisoners of war to build a castle and also demanded that the king and local lords send grain.

For the time being, no one dared to resist, after all, the Ming fleet had just left, and no one knew when it would return.

While the castle is being built, select those who are very obedient and appoint them as officials to help with the work.

Once the castle was completed, they would ride their now-recovered sick horse to inspect and explore the surrounding lands under their control.

Then, it was announced that all the farmland within a radius of dozens of miles would be confiscated, and all the original landowners would become tenants!

The landlords were naturally unwilling, and any slight resistance was met with death. Those who were lucky were captured and forced to build roads or ports.

These five hundred ruthless individuals are not so easily persuaded.

Next came the selection of concubines. The family of the chosen daughter would be given two acres of private land, and as long as she paid taxes honestly, she would be protected.

The Sinhalese are of mixed black and white descent, with brown skin, and are descendants of the Caucasian and Negroid races.

Their skin is darker than that of East Asians, but lighter than that of South Indians.

In very rare cases, their skin color can even rival that of East Asians.

When the five hundred ruthless men were choosing women, they mainly looked at skin color; the whiter the skin, the more they preferred.

Before the arrival of the Ming Dynasty governor, they could do whatever they wanted within this area of ​​several dozen miles, and they could divide up whatever amount of commercial and agricultural taxes they could collect.

Xia Yuqing took five concubines in one go, one of whom had very fair skin and was said to be a descendant of an Arab merchant.

He would lead his troops to patrol the territory every day, firstly to train the cavalry, and secondly to intimidate the natives.

This guy has been assassinated three times, and now he wears armor wherever he goes.

At each assassination site, a long pole was erected, with pickled human heads hanging from it.

The human head swaying in the wind signifies a certain authority.

.....

When the Ming Dynasty fleet set sail from Ceylon, the second imperial examination after Zhao Yuan ascended the throne had just ended.

The dismantling of the examination papers left the southern officials speechless.

Of the top ten, seven came from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, Luoyang Prefecture, and Kaifeng Prefecture.

The remaining three are two from Zhejiang and one from Fujian.

This is completely different from the early Southern Song Dynasty, when most of the top scorers in the palace examination came from Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi.

Forget about Henan and Shaanxi, even Huainan was in chaos. What chance did northerners have in the imperial examinations?

Now, Sichuan is the first to stabilize, followed by Shaanxi and Henan, and it was the first to promote subjects such as mathematics.

In addition, the prosperity of the printing industry also played a very important role.

The Northern Song Dynasty had three major printing centers: Meishan, Hangzhou, and Jianyang.

The Ming Dynasty added two more: Hanzhong and Luoyang.

All five places have developed paper-making industries, so paper can be obtained nearby for printing books.

Furthermore, the literary atmosphere was extremely strong, village schools and community schools were very common, and even the children of self-cultivating farmers could read.

Hu Anguo carefully analyzed the statistics and said, "In Jiangxi, first land was measured, then clans were dismantled, and this lasted for nearly two years. Scholars may have lost interest in their studies."

"None of the top twenty Jinshi from Jiangxi this year were from Jiangxi, and the total number of Jinshi was twelve fewer than the previous year."

After reviewing the hometowns of the newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), Zhao Yuan said to Hu Anguo, "In the next imperial examination, we will set up a separate list with three Jinshi slots for the former Liao and Jin territories and northern Goryeo."

"Otherwise, the scholars there will never pass the exam. We'll have to wait twenty or thirty years before merging these places back into the Northern List."

"Yes!" Hu Anguo bowed and replied.

The imperial examination system always prioritized politics; don't bring up whether it was fair or not.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has been suppressing the three provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi because there are too many officials in these places.

If left to develop freely, the imperial court will be filled with southerners!

However, now that Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Henan have joined forces, the restrictions in the south can be relaxed to some extent.

Zhao Yuan continued, "The number of candidates for the imperial examinations in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces can be increased by two each year."

"Yes!" Hu Anguo accepted the order.