Chapter 1105: Confucianism Tastes Great! (Please Subscribe)

Nalan Mingzhu and Songgotu were both top students thoroughly versed in both the old and new Confucian learning. Back when they studied together with the Shunzhi Emperor, whether in the humanities or the sciences, they crushed Shunzhi so badly he doubted his very existence! So the contents of the Confucian Classic were, to them, far too shallow. Yet the two of them still read it earnestly from the very beginning, page by page to the end, spending nearly a full double-hour before finishing it.

After finishing, the two no longer found the Confucian Classic shallow — instead they perceived a kind of brilliance in it!

Brilliant! Truly brilliant!

A single Confucian Classic, at most fifty or sixty thousand characters, and in plain language at that, had already made clear all the most practical and most profound things in Confucian learning. Moreover, the prose was quite fluent, with no obscure characters, and no set phrases or classical allusions. One could say it used plain, unadorned words to explain Confucian morality, order, and heavenly principle with perfect clarity. Anyone who had read even a little could understand it and read it through.

What was even more brilliant was that this Confucian Classic skillfully wove together Confucian morality, order, and heavenly principle. From beginning to end it instilled in the reader the view that heavenly principle is supreme and that Heaven and man are one, and it could justify itself so coherently that it was very hard to refute. At least, in the eyes of people of Mingzhu's and Songgotu's caliber, there was no way to refute it. And how many sages wiser than they could there possibly be under Heaven?

But this was still not the most brilliant thing about the Confucian Classic. The most brilliant thing about it was that it could be used to govern a state!

First, the moral values emphasized by the Confucian Classic were "loyalty," "kinship," and "benevolence." By loyalty was meant loyalty to the sovereign; by kinship was meant loving one's kin — the father kind and the son filial; by benevolence was meant chiefly courage joined with love.

Second, on the foundation of these three moral values — loyalty, kinship, and benevolence — the Confucian Classic smoothly and logically derived secular monarchy, and further set forth an ideal (one conforming to heavenly principle) template for monarchy.

This template combined both centralization and feudalism: centralization within, feudalism without. Taking the monarch as the core, it constructed a three-tier system of rule — directly governed provinces, inner dependencies, and outer vassals — which both strengthened royal power and took into account the cost of governance. Establishing provinces directly administered by the central government was of course conducive to centralization, but the administrative cost was too high; it was certainly good for economically developed and densely populated regions. But applied to economically underdeveloped and sparsely populated places, it would run at a loss!

Therefore, to maintain a vast empire or kingdom in ancient times, military governorships and vassal dependencies were absolutely indispensable!

Moreover, establishing the three-tier system of directly governed provinces, inner dependencies, and outer vassals could also accommodate the interests of all parties to the greatest possible extent.

Therefore this whole system was suited not only to an empire with a long history of centralization like the Great Ming, but also to the Dzungar tribe, which was in the midst of transitioning into a feudal state from a nomadic tribe!

"Good! Good! Good! My Dzungars — no, my Mongols — have hope of rising!"

Within the Northern Protectorate headquarters in Chu River City, the Great Ming Northern Protector-General and Khong Tayiji of the Dzungar tribe, Sengge, had read the Confucian Classic brought by Galdan from beginning to end. Upon finishing, he naturally slapped the table and cheered!

"Excellent! This Confucian Classic is excellent — exactly what our Mongols urgently need! Sixth Brother, this time you have truly rendered great service to our Dzungar tribe. Sixth Brother — Sixth Brother, what are you thinking about?"

Sengge's big face leaned over, and he called out several times. Only then did Galdan realize he had been staring fixedly at his sister-in-law, Khatun Anu, for he knew not how long. The wine cup in his hand had tilted, and wine had spilled onto his monk's robe without his noticing. The Mingzhu Lama and Sanbao Lama, who were attending in the great hall, both sat with mouths half open, watching his foolish expression.

But his sister-in-law, Khatun Anu, was considerate and understanding. She sat upright and still, a smile on her face, generously letting Galdan admire her. What a good sister-in-law!

"Ah, Fifth Brother, Fifth Brother — I, I was thinking that we should first establish a state, and then send troops to attack the Khanate of Bukhara."

Of course he could not say he had been thinking about his sister-in-law! Galdan himself did not know what had come over him — he had taken a fancy to Khatun Anu at a single glance.

When he was studying at Laoshan Middle School, he had seen no small number of beautiful women, yet he had never had this kind of feeling. Could it be that he had been reading too much of the Confucian Classic lately and chanting too few Buddhist sutras, and now wanted to carry on the line of the Choros family?

Sengge had absolutely no idea that his brother had just been admiring his wife — Galdan had become a monk as a child; he was an eminent monk who had renounced all worldly attachments!

Moreover, Sengge had more than once received reports from that "study companion," the "Long-Life Lama," that Galdan had no interest whatsoever in women, and was instead quite close with the eldest son of the Great Ming Emperor.

"Master Mingzhu, Master Sanbao, what do you two think?" Sengge then sought the opinions of the two "worthy lamas."

"What the Khutuktu says is most excellent! We should first establish the state!" Mingzhu said.

"Right," the Sanbao Lama, Songgotu, chimed in. "Without establishing a state, there is no order or discipline, and no way to follow the Confucian Classic's method of establishing directly governed provinces, inner dependencies, and outer vassals — and then no way to seize control of the richest regions of the Khanate of Bukhara."

Sengge asked again: "What kind of state should we establish? And specifically, where should we begin?"

The Confucian Classic, after all, was only a few tens of thousands of characters, and could not go into great detail. But Galdan had already thought out a plan for his brother. He said: "Fifth Brother, the state we establish according to the Confucian Classic will necessarily be an outer vassal of the Celestial Dynasty. All these years the Celestial Dynasty has wanted us to establish a vassal state. We might as well go with the flow and establish one."

"But the Celestial Dynasty wants us to cede some land to establish a new Northern Protectorate military garrison!" Sengge frowned.

"Then cede it!" Galdan said. "What we want to establish is the Kingdom of Dzungaria, not the Oirat Khanate. We should drive out the Khoshut tribe and let Ochirtu Khan hold the eastern part of the Ili Valley and the land between the Tianshan and Altai Mountains, and have him serve as Northern Protector-General.

We, for our part, will occupy the western Ili Valley, the Great Jüz, the Middle Jüz, and the grasslands to the north bordering Russia. Only then can we concentrate our strength to expand southwest and swallow the Syr Darya lands and Fergana lands of the Khanate of Bukhara.

After that, we will move the royal court from the Chu River to the upper Syr Darya, and occupy that rich land suited to both herding and farming. Finally, following the Confucian Classic's method, we can establish our own directly governed provinces, inner dependencies, and outer vassals on the lands of the Syr Darya region, the Seven Rivers region, the Great Jüz, and the Middle Jüz.

In this way, the kingdom of our Dzungar tribe can be established!"

"Good! Truly excellent! This Confucian Classic is exactly what my Tokugawa house urgently needs!"

At almost the same moment, more than ten thousand li from Chu River City, beneath the walls of Edo, there was also a man slapping the table and cheering over the Confucian Classic. This man was Tokugawa Mitsukuni, one of the two Great Elders of the Tokugawa shogunate.

After the revival of the Toyotomi house, the Tokugawa shogunate had also begun centralizing power and preparing for war — to wage war, of course, one had to centralize power!

And the foolish shogun now in power was utterly incapable of leading the shogunate, so Great Elders had to be established above the Senior Councilors. There were two Great Elders in all: Hoshina Masayuki, holding the front lines, and Tokugawa Mitsukuni, holding the rear at Edo.

"Great Elder, you say the Confucian Classic is what the shogunate urgently needs?" The aged and frail Senior Councilor Matsudaira Nobutsuna was at this moment also in Mitsukuni's Mito domain residence, deliberating with him. Hearing Mitsukuni's words, his brow tightened. "The fighting at the front is critical right now. What the shogunate needs should be war funds, guns, and cannon. What use is the Confucian Classic?"

"Lord Izu," Mitsukuni said with a smile, "however critical the front may be, the shogunate is alarmed but safe. For what truly decides victory or defeat in war is not war funds, guns, and cannon, but the Celestial Dynasty! The Celestial Dynasty has already organized a new army of ten thousand samurai at Nagasaki, and will soon launch an attack on the rear of the Shimazu army."

"But we must also exert ourselves! We cannot rely solely on the Celestial Dynasty."

Mitsukuni nodded: "Right. Our exertions should begin with reforming the shogunate's administration!"

"How should it be reformed?"

"Of course, reform according to the Confucian Classic!"

"According to the Confucian Classic?"

"Directly governed provinces, inner dependencies, outer vassals!" Mitsukuni said. "The shogunate has no true directly governed provinces, and that is why it finds it difficult to effectively control its inner dependencies."

"Then how should directly governed provinces be established?"

"Of course, by using circulating officials!"

"And where do circulating officials come from?"

Tokugawa Mitsukuni smiled: "From examinations, of course!"

(End of Chapter)