Chapter 1381: A Piece of Land, a Dream

"Rebellion?" Zhu Cilang burst out laughing. "It won't get off the ground... The magnates of the autonomous city-states will keep the common people under their thumbs, and the Great Ming Empire will protect the sovereign above them. Besides, royal power on the Southern Continent is extremely limited — not worth cutting yourself off from the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty for that sliver of power.

So the King of Australia's realm can actually enjoy a long national line — even if the Ming homeland changes its sky, the King of Australia can keep passing the crown down!"

What Zhu Cilang had arranged for Zhu He'ao was, in fact, a constitutional figurehead monarch with limited power and not much in the way of spoils.

A figurehead monarch under a constitution looks fine on the surface, as if it were the general trend of the times, but it isn't something just anyone can pull off. It depends on the national conditions, on the origins of the state, and on what the foundational assets of a country's power actually are.

The sovereign of the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty, for instance, cannot be a figurehead!

Because above the Ming Emperor there is no one to shelter him, and below him there is little tradition of autonomy or self-rule, nor is it possible to delegate power downward to any excessive degree.

Limited delegation of power is of course acceptable, but it must not go too far... at least not in any era Zhu Cilang could imagine!

Because the Ming has many people and many affairs, the country is vast, stretching to the ends of the earth, and conditions differ far too much from place to place, with no shortage of powerful enemies on the borders. Only a real sovereign holding great power in his hands can bind everyone together.

Otherwise, why should the wealthy lands of the southeast contribute so much silver? And why should the bitter cold lands of the Nine Frontier Garrisons in the north pay so heavy a tax in blood?

If the Ming sovereign were truly made a figurehead, it would surely all fall apart!

As for preserving a strong centralized authority while making the sovereign a figurehead — that is also impossible at present. Because a figurehead sovereign today cannot be built on the ballots of the grassroots masses; it can only be built on the support of the central and local magnates.

So it would easily lead to a situation where everyone only sweeps the snow from their own doorstep — which is very detrimental to maintaining the long-term peace and stability of an empire as considerate as the Ming.

Historically, England could participate actively in European wars while having a figurehead monarch under a constitution, mainly because England's economic center and political center were both located in the southern coastal regions close to the European continent. A unified continent was simply too dangerous for those who controlled England's political and economic lifelines!

Moreover, London's capitalists also needed the continental market.

So the troubles on the continent — France, Germany, and the like — were the snow on the doorsteps of London's capitalists and aristocrats, just like the Japanese pirates who ravaged the Ming's southeast!

And the situation on the Southern Continent makes a figurehead monarch even easier to achieve. After all, the Ming court has no money for development or colonization, and it cannot manage affairs ten thousand li away.

It can only let all manner of demons and monsters go do it themselves, with the court granting a nominal autonomy, and at most holding onto one or two core cities — so that the foundation of state power is local self-rule from the very start, and no strong centralized authority exists at all. It cannot be established, and it is not needed.

The reason it is not needed is that above the Southern Continent there is still a "father state" protecting it, the place is remote, and there is not much in the way of spoils, so there is no need to worry about invasion by powerful enemies.

Furthermore, the Southern Continent covers seven to eight million square kilometers. No matter how arid and barren it is, for a population of several hundred thousand to several million people, the resources needed for survival are sufficiently abundant. The contradiction between people and land simply does not exist, so fierce contention is unlikely to arise.

Thus the Southern Continent is actually quite easy to establish a figurehead-monarch constitutional system on, and quite easy to maintain it, forming a tradition.

And this path is also the only way to develop the Southern Continent under current technological and resource conditions!

"Your Majesty," Zheng Chagu still did not quite believe the Zhu Emperor, "this slave does not believe you will let the city-states on the Southern Continent live freely as they please... sooner or later someone will have their power taken away!"

Zhu Cilang did not take offense at her. Right now he needed to send word to the Zheng father and son through Zheng Chagu, so of course he had to make things clear. He waved a hand and smiled: "We will sign contracts with them and establish covenants and laws... This matter cannot be faked! Because a deception cannot last long!"

The development and construction of the Southern Continent is a long-term project. Without fifty or sixty years, results will be hard to see. Who could deceive for that many years?

The Ming Emperor paused, then added: "Either it cannot get off the ground at all, or the rules must be properly set. Chagu, you should still tell the Zheng family to join in! Joining in can leave a retreat, a safeguard against the unexpected!"

These words sounded a bit disheartening... but the Ming dynasty's national line must end someday! If the Zheng family does not wish to perish with the state, they must prepare several more nests, and when the signs turn bad, flee far away.

"Then what about the rights of the Dutch and the English? Can you truly rest easy about them?" Zheng Chagu's doubts were endless.

"Heh heh..." Zhu Cilang merely smiled. "We are a man of Our word. Contracts signed in black and white will certainly be honored, but the clauses in the contracts can still be negotiated now! Not only can the Dutch and the English negotiate with Us, but your esteemed father and your brother can also come negotiate with Us."

The exploration and development of the Southern Continent had once again been turned by Zhu Cilang into a business deal. Since it was a business deal, Party A and Party B had to sit down and talk. And before Party A and Party B sat down to talk, Zhu Cilang had to discuss it with the senior ministers of the two offices of the Ming court.

On the third day after Zhu Cilang's "bedside talk" with Zheng Chagu, the topic of exploring and developing the Southern Continent had already been brought before the imperial conference of the two offices.

"The survey report on the Southern Continent submitted by the Australia-New Zealand Company — I presume you have all read it. The Southern Continent truly exists, and it is very large. However, the northern part of the continent, near the equator, is arid and rainless, extremely desolate." Zhu Cilang spoke slowly. "Moreover, the sea north of the Southern Continent is calm and windless all year round, and the currents flow westward, making it very inconvenient and costly to sail there from Java and Timor. Therefore, a larger-scale exploration must be organized. Again, we will not use naval expedition fleets; it will still be entrusted to Chinese and foreign maritime merchants. Because this time we want to do it on a bigger scale, We also wish to bring in vassal states willing to invest in the exploration of the Southern Continent. Everyone explores together, develops together, and of course shares the benefits."

The Ming navy is now of considerable size, but the number of expedition fleets it can dispatch is not large — expedition fleets require experienced captains and sailors, and the Ming navy has only truly been sailing the open ocean for a little over ten years, so it has not accumulated many expedition fleets. The limited naval expedition fleets must of course be used on the Pacific coast of the New Continent, where risks are small, returns are high, and others could easily get there first.

Zhu Cilang continued: "Although We permit everyone to develop jointly and share the benefits, one point must be made clear first... The state established on the Southern Continent must be a vassal state of the Ming, and its ruler must be one of Our sons! The parties participating in the development may only serve as city lords under the ruler. As for how each city lord governs his own territory, that can be properly negotiated. Whether these city lords can participate in the affairs of the vassal kingdom's royal court is also open to proper negotiation. And today, We shall first discuss with all of you and set down the broad framework. In the Westerners' terms, we are now establishing a constitution. If anyone has thoughts, speak freely!"

"Your Majesty," Minister of Revenue Zheng Sen was the first to speak, "this subject feels that this 'constitution' you speak of sounds rather like doing business and negotiating a deal?"

"Isn't it just about the same?" Zhu Cilang laughed. "Whenever a deal can be negotiated, it is surely because both sides want something from each other, and there is no way to force a sale, nor even any way to establish a monopoly — otherwise there would be nothing to talk about. The constitution of the Southern Continent is the same! We merely have a piece of land, and We do not even know how large it is, whether it is rich or poor, nor do We have the ability to keep it all to Ourselves... And there is plenty of land comparable to the Southern Continent, or even richer, so everyone has plenty of places to go; there is no need to insist on the Southern Continent. Although We are the Son of Heaven, We cannot force people to pour silver into opening up territory ten thousand li away! After all, the risks of developing the Southern Continent are considerable, the returns uncertain, and it would be very difficult to govern. Otherwise We would have paid for it out of Our own pocket long ago — why bring it out for everyone to invest in together? So Our idea is to set only a broad framework; everything else can be handled through negotiation."