Chapter 215: Governing Things with People, Governing People with Things

The old Emperor cast a glance at Grand Eunuch Zhou.

"Read it!"

Grand Eunuch Zhou picked up the military report and cleared his throat.

The crowd listened with pricked ears, puzzled; could this Governor Liu be up to some new trick again?

"Your subject, Liu Dahao, pays his respects from Cheshi in the Western Regions!"

"Since Your Majesty took the reins of the court over thirty years ago, you have labored with heart and soul, striving for good governance, opening your ears to wise counsel, distinguishing the loyal from the treacherous, bringing peace to the four seas, winning the hearts of the people, and gathering the wise and talented. With horses put to pasture and the nine provinces governed by virtue, you have created a prosperous age of peace. The Longyan Dynasty rises from Liaodong in the east, reaches Yongliang in the west, encompasses Dianzhou in the south, and extends to Youji in the north. The bright universe is entirely under the court's rule. All vassal states under heaven pay homage. This is the result of the mandate of heaven, comparable to the sun and moon, and the great grace of the Son of Heaven."

"In the Longyan state, with its four hundred million people, Your Majesty has united the hearts of the world, causing the Four Barbarians to tremble. They have repeatedly invaded Zhongyuan, acting against the natural order."

"A great nation is like the low-lying ground, the female of the world, the intersection of the world. The female always overcomes the male with stillness, using stillness to remain below. Therefore, if a great nation humbles itself before a small nation, it wins the small nation; if a small nation humbles itself before a great nation, it wins the great nation. Thus, some humble themselves to win, and some are won by humbling themselves. A great nation only wishes to unite and nurture people, and a small nation only wishes to enter and serve others. Since both achieve what they desire, the greater one should be the one to remain below."

"Therefore, the sage says: to bear the nation's disgrace is to be the master of the state; to bear the nation's misfortune is to be the king of the world. Your Majesty's dragon heart is broad and open. You did not wish to use soldiers, hoping to civilize the Four Barbarians but failing. Mindful of the grievances of the people, you sent troops to the Western Regions this year to awe the petty villains. The imperial will was carried out, and the spirits fled in defeat. Your subject is in the savage Western Regions, shaking the Four Barbarians."

"Now that Cheshi has returned to the court, the various barbarian tribes of the Western Regions, mindful of the former imperial grace, will surely collapse and defect from within."

"Your subject is fortunate to serve as the Western Regions Commissioner, commanding the fierce army of Longyan, borrowing the might of the Son of Heaven to clear the shores of the world, and I dare not harbor any delusions of claiming merit!"

"However, those who assist a ruler with the Dao do not use weapons to strengthen the world, for such actions tend to rebound. Where armies are stationed, thorns and brambles grow. After a great army, there must be lean years. Your subject is anxious, working day and night, wishing to manifest the great magnanimity of Longyan and govern well."

"The people go hungry because their superiors consume too much in taxes, hence they are hungry. The people are difficult to govern because their superiors are too meddlesome, hence they are difficult to govern. The people take death lightly because they seek life too greedily, hence they take death lightly."

"If the people do not fear death, how can one threaten them with death?"

"Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish. Bright Longyan, your grace and might reach the four seas. The ancients said: virtue cannot govern the present, law cannot govern for a thousand autumns, and stratagem cannot govern for long."

"However, to govern people, one can use things; to govern things, one can use people!"

"Those who are not of our race will surely have different hearts. To civilize the barbarians, one must first conquer, destroy their national prestige, empty their cities, and destroy their altars and ancestral temples to rebuild them. Afterward, unify the script, unify the wheel tracks, unify the language, and honor the same sage. Eat the same food, sleep at the same time. Lighten their corvée labor, and work their bodies to reclaim wasteland; this is the way to govern the barbarians."

"Therefore, your subject offers this admonishment."

"Expanding territory is Your Majesty's peerless merit. You should grant a general amnesty to the world, order the soldiers to lay down their armor and return to the fields, take control of the Western Regions, summon the criminals of the nine provinces, lead them to the Western Regions to serve their sentences and govern, reclaim fields and guard the borders, treating the family as home, the village as home, the state as home, and the world as the world! In this way, Longyan will apply both grace and might; the criminals will feel your grace, and the barbarians will remember your kindness! This is using feng shui to nurture the people, and the people's hearts can also nurture feng shui!"

"When a country has much wealth, those from afar will come; when land is opened and cultivated, the people will stay."

"Vast Longyan, your spirit swallows the universe, and your capacity makes you great. Your subject kneels and hopes Your Majesty will manifest the style of the Son of Heaven and teach the Four Barbarians to return to Huaxia!"

"The thirty-sixth year of Pingyu, your subject Liu Dahao, pays respects from Cheshi."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

This state of silence lasted for a very long time.

Then, with a sudden roar, everyone's expression changed, and they began to discuss it heatedly.

This long text contained too much information!

The meaning of the entire piece was actually not hard to understand. First, regarding this campaign, it sang the praises of the Emperor: we won the war because of the mandate of heaven and the Emperor's will. For so many years, the Emperor has ruled Longyan, ushering in a prosperous age of peace. When the Four Barbarians invaded, the Emperor was magnanimous and did not hold it against them, because he did not want to launch a war against small countries and harm the people—he couldn't bear to see the people on either side suffer.

Therefore, for all these years, he would rather bear the bad reputation of being inactive than fail to develop the domestic economy, and so on.

But!

Note this point; this turn is very important, and it also shows the extremely high level of Liu Dahao's flattery.

But, it is not that our Longyan cannot fight or expand territory, but that we do not wish to. This year, the Emperor could no longer hold back and sent my Yinzhou army to awe the petty villains. Who would have thought it would go so smoothly? It shows that under the Emperor's prosperous age, Longyan's military strength remains formidable and invincible in the world...

However.

Here is another turn.

How should this reclaimed territory be governed? Kill them? The people cannot be killed off, and the hearts of the people cannot be killed.

Therefore, one should boil the frog in warm water.

The righteous army of Longyan should focus on civilization.

Thus, your subject Liu Dahao suggests: why not grant a general amnesty to the world, have those with military service lay down their armor and return to the fields, and distribute land to them? Those prisoners in jails should all be escorted to the Western Regions, and let them work with the local submissive people to build the Western Regions together. In this way, these barbarians will be civilized by the culture of Zhongyuan. With these three groups of people integrated and governed by the soldiers who have returned to the fields, and with rewards based on merit, it will not only promote local development but also guard the borders and govern the territory. We don't have to spend a single cent; they will be self-sufficient, struggling on their own, and the land will still be ours. Why not do it?

When these places in the Western Regions are built up, will we have to worry about them not remembering the kindness of the Longyan court?

When these places develop, these criminals will naturally become subjects, or even Nobles. Why shouldn't we do this?

The Longyan Dynasty, which prides itself on being the Celestial Empire, should have such magnanimity.

"This, this, this, this..."

Zhu Zhen's face changed drastically, and he knelt down: "Your Majesty, this must not be! Those prisoners are all heinous, desperate criminals. This, this, this, if they go to the Western Regions..."

The Prince of Qin, who had just been deeply shocked by this long text, frowned upon hearing this: "Lord Zhu, this is incorrect. Our Longyan Dynasty has had the custom of exiling criminals to guard the borders since ancient times. If they are controlled by Longyan soldiers, what is wrong with that?"

"But, but..."

Zhu Zhen was anxious.

Can that be the same?

Exile!

Exile in ancient times had a series of strict systems. There were usually five places of exile in ancient times.

One of the places of exile, Fangling, now belongs to the region under the jurisdiction of Shiyan City, Hubei. In ancient times, this was a place for exiling emperors, generals, ministers, and high-ranking officials. Two emperors, ten princes, one Imperial Son-in-law, and one Prime Minister were successively exiled here. Among them, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Li Xian, was exiled here and later returned to become Emperor. When these emperors were exiled and moved their entire families, the number reached as many as fourteen thousand people.

The second place of exile, the "End of the World" in Hainan, is the southernmost point of our country's land. In ancient times, it was a desolate and savage land isolated overseas. This was mostly a place of exile for court officials and ordinary officials. From the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, fifteen famous prime ministers, virtuous officials, and Scholars were demoted here, such as the Tang Dynasty Prime Minister Li De, the Song Dynasty Prime Minister Ding Wei, the Yuan Dynasty Prime Minister Wang Shixi, the Southern Song exiled official Hu Quan, and the Song Dynasty Literature figure and great poet Su Dongpo.

The third place of exile: Chaozhou, now a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province. There is a Miasma River within the city, which was renamed Han River after a famous person; this famous person was Han Yu. Since ancient times, this has been the land of the Hakka, and most of those exiled here were ordinary officials, the most famous being Han Yu. When Han Yu was demoted here, he did not become dispirited or dejected like other demoted people, but led the local people to break superstitions and engage in water conservancy, benefiting the region.

The fourth place of exile, Ningguta. Ningguta is not a pagoda, but a place name, now belonging to Hailin City, Heilongjiang. People of all classes were exiled here. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a large number of punished officials were exiled here, including Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War of the late Ming Dynasty. During the period from the Shunzhi to the Qianlong reigns of the Qing Dynasty, tens of thousands of people were sent here.

The fifth place of exile, Qianzhou Fu, once governed Chongqing's southeastern region, Tongren in Guizhou, western Hubei, Xinhuang in Hunan, and Yulin in Guangxi. This was also a place for exiling royal relatives and important court ministers. Those demoted here included Tang Taizong's brother-in-law Zhangsun Wuji, Tang Gaozong's crown prince, the Prince of Liang Li Zhong, and the Tang Crown Prince Li Chengqian.

However.

Do you think you can be free once you reach the place of exile?

No!

Once you get there, you are a person doing endless hard labor, and your freedom is still restricted. In other words, you are still a prisoner and a slave.

Although, in the history of Huaxia, these places of exile also became vibrant and gained some development because of these people.

However, these exiled people always served the local garrison. Moreover, Longyan even had the practice of tattooing! That is to say, whether you were a prince, a minister, or an ordinary citizen, as long as you were exiled, you would be tattooed, and this tattoo could never be removed for the rest of your life.

Therefore.

Regardless of how one puts it.

Exile means they are still prisoners.

Yet in this long memorial of Liu Dahao, he actually deliberately suggests using them to civilize the barbarians and jointly manage the Western Regions!

Especially that line, "Take home as home, take village as village, take country as country, take the world as the world," which shocked the civil and military officials even more.

What does this mean?

The punishment of exile in ancient times was originally because the Han people have a deep-rooted culture of filial piety and hometown attachment; exiling them to remote frontiers, never to return to their homeland, was the greatest mental torture for them.

Good heavens.

With this line, "take home as home," are you not saying that you want to grant them the right to freely build a home?

Throughout all dynasties and generations, this has never been done!

Is this still a punishment?

Are these still prisoners?

Zhu Zhen shouted loudly: "Emperor, this must not be done, it absolutely must not be done! This Liu Dahao, his heart is punishable! How can the Dragon Flame Nation covet that barren land? How can the Dragon Flame Nation civilize the barbarian tribes? The Dragon Flame Nation has many vassal states; if they hear of this evil reputation, everyone will feel endangered. Where is the responsibility of our great nation!"

"Where is the might of our great nation?"

A group of Scholar-officials also expressed their opinions one after another.

Regarding vassal states, submission is enough.

Why go to such lengths?

The Prince of Qin, however, said: "Emperor, I, your subject, believe that this matter is not impossible. Expanding territory is a fortunate event for the Dragon Flame Nation, and granting general amnesty is what the people desire. Rather than pardoning these prisoners, it is better to send them to the Western Regions to try. Moreover, if we only establish a Protectorate without emptying their cities, that would be disregarding the safety of our soldiers. If our Longyan Culture can spread throughout the world, that would also be an unprecedented achievement for the Emperor! Although the barbarian lands are not even one ten-thousandth of our Dragon Flame Nation, being able to spread our national might and awe the Four Barbarians is the way of a hegemon; why not do it?"

The Nobles and others echoed this one after another.

Both sides fell into an uproar again.

Xie Tianyao listened quietly.

Afterwards, the noise in the Imperial Palace gradually subsided.

Only then did he give a cold laugh: "A good 'virtue does not govern the present, law does not govern the ages, and technique does not govern the long-term! Governing people can use things, and governing things can use people!' A good Prefect Liu, I still underestimated you..."

Everyone was silent as cicadas in winter.

Xie Tianyao looked over coldly and asked only one question.

"You tell me, can this move by Prefect Liu govern the Western Regions forever?"

The entire palace.

Was deathly silent.

Zhu Zhen's face turned pale.

Because even he had to admit that Prefect Liu's Admonishment was truly an unparalleled treasure for expanding territory! It was even a chain-link strategy to destroy a nation and strike at the heart! Furthermore, it was even more impossible to refuse than when Qinshihuang unified the six states and implemented the policy of uniform writing and standardized axle lengths under his tyranny!

Boiling a frog in warm water.

Without needing the Dragon Flame Nation to make any investment, one could obtain very high returns.

Since ancient times, the Western Regions Protectorate has always just sent some garrison troops and a few officials over.

Managing symbolically.

With the Dragon Flame imperial court backing you, who would dare to make things difficult for you?

Therefore.

Once the Zhongyuan imperial court lacked the strength and was unable to reach far enough, these vassal states would take advantage of the chaos to rebel. Of course, the reason for leaving them alone was actually because the "Celestial Empire" considered the Western Regions to be a barren land and looked down upon it entirely.

The cost of governance exceeded the gains.

Therefore, the former Western Regions Protectorate was, in reality, mostly just a conquest of dignity. As long as you, the king, bowed down and submitted to me, not only would I not tax you or take your things, I would even bestow rewards upon you. Facts have proven that during the prosperous Tang dynasty, this was the case; for every amount the vassal states offered as tribute, the Tang dynasty would reward them with double. It was for no other reason than that I was happy, and because you kowtowed loudly and called me 'father' very sweetly, I was very pleased.

Therefore.

Most of the time, the imperial court was losing money.

But this move by Prefect Liu...

This is to completely annex and completely destroy the nation!

Empty their cities, destroy their altars of soil and grain, and rebuild them!

Is this ruthless or not?

This is true colonization, the bloodiest kind of colonization!

Striking at the heart is nothing more than this!

The whole text is full of morality and righteousness.

But in reality, the heart is as venomous as a snake or scorpion!

The imperial court...

This is sending out a hungry wolf!

Suddenly.

Zhu Zhen felt a shudder of fear in his heart.

If this Western Regions Construction Corps really succeeds, wouldn't that mean the entire Dragon Flame Nation is transporting troops to Prefect Liu?

He was just about to continue saying that it must not be done.

However, he saw the brilliant light flickering in the Emperor's eyes, and he shut his mouth again.

He could not help but cry out in his heart.

This Prefect Liu is too clever.

His suggestion is exactly what His Majesty desires!