Cao Bianjiao thought for a while and said, "Mrs. Yuan, don't be surprised if I say something, Inspector Yuan has now been beheaded by the emperor's personal order and has become a traitorous minister and rebel, which has spread all over the world with gossip."

If you go up the mountain and fall into the grass like this, and gather people to rebel, won't that make Inspector Yuan even more useless to clear his grievances? People in the world will only think that Inspector Yuan is a traitor, and they will think twice. ”

Ruan nodded slightly, and said: "Brother Xiao Cao is very reasonable, but the remnants of the eunuch party in the DPRK are afraid that we will avenge our late husband, and they are trying every means to hunt down and kill our orphans and widows. ”

Mo Li also said: "That's it, Brother Xiaocao, there are too many treacherous rebellions in the court, I don't think this emperor will redress grievances for the superintendent for a while, if we don't save the lady and son on the mountain and let them be killed by the eunuchs, then are we still human?" What will be the face of the overseer in the future? ”

Cao Bianjiao was silent, and sighed lightly after a while: "General Mo, I know that you also have your difficulties, but after all, this world is the world of the Ming Dynasty, and you are traitors in the eyes of the emperor after all. ”

"Not necessarily." Mo Li said, "Brother Xiao Cao, you have also seen that now there are disasters everywhere and civil unrest is everywhere, but has the imperial court thought of any way?" I only know how to blindly send troops to suppress it, but have the princes of the court ever thought about why the victims rebelled? That's because they can't even live! ”

"You...... What do you mean? Are you going to take them to rebellion too? Cao Bianjiao said in surprise.

"No, no, no, I don't mean to rebel, I mean that if the government can be more sympathetic to the victims, arrange for the distribution of relief food, and organize them to survive the famine, instead of seeing death and not saving them, I think there will be fewer and fewer people who rebel in this world, wouldn't it be much better than blindly sending troops to recruit and suppress?"

"The imperial court also has the difficulties of the imperial court......"

"Yes, the imperial court has difficulties, so I didn't count on them." Mo Li said dissatisfiedly: "Others can't save us, if we want to live, we can only rely on ourselves." You see, here, I am organizing the poor people to cultivate their own wasteland, and strive to produce more food as soon as possible, so that more victims can be saved. ”

Speaking of this, Cao Bianjiao also became interested: "By the way, why do you raise so many chickens and ducks here?" Where did you get so much food to feed you? ”

Mo Li smiled: "We don't feed chickens and ducks with food, but insects and ants in nature......"

As he spoke, he roughly explained the maggot breeding method, and pointed to the patches of green corn and other crops on the hillside in the distance, and said: "In addition to raising chickens and ducks, we have also obtained these new grain varieties from foreigners, these crops are high-yield and easy-to-live coarse grains, which are very suitable for mountain planting." ”

"Foreigners?" Cao Bianjiao's eyes widened in surprise again, "Do you still have dealings with foreigners?" ”

"To be precise, it's not that we have dealings with foreigners, but that they have joined us and are now working for us, and many of our weapons you just saw are mainly designed and made by these foreigners." Mo Li laughed.

"Oh my God! You still have foreigners working for you! It's incredible! Cao Bianjiao was surprised.

You must know that the people of this era are still very closed in terms of thinking and vision, they think that the world is like the Ming Kingdom, and they still claim to be a great country in the Celestial Empire, and foreigners have not even heard of it for many ordinary people.

In fact, in the early years, when Zheng He went to the West, the huge fleet he led made a great contribution to the communication between China and the world, and also allowed many people to see the outside world, and at the same time let more foreigners understand China, not only to promote the economy and trade, but also to broaden the horizons of many people.

It's a pity that since Zheng He, the Ming government has always adopted a policy of closing the country to the outside world, no longer sending people to continue Zheng He's foreign trade and communication, and at the same time closing the window to understand the world, let alone learning advanced foreign technology.

Zheng He's voyage to the West was the largest in ancient China, with the largest number of ships (more than 240), the largest number of seafarers, and the longest sea voyage, which was decades earlier than the voyage time of many European countries, and was a direct reflection of the strong national strength at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng He's voyages far surpassed those of Portugal, Spain and other navigators for nearly a century, such as Magellan, Columbus, da Gama and others, and can be called the pioneer of the "Age of Discovery", and he was the only Oriental, who went to Africa 57 years earlier than Dias.

Zhu Di arranged for Zheng He to go to sea for a deep-seated purpose, in addition to looking for Emperor Jianwen, Zheng He also shouldered the mission of subduing the world and having a distant mind, which can be roughly regarded as an old tradition in Chinese history.

For example, the Silk Road that connected the east and west during the Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty, when many students from developing and underdeveloped countries came to China to learn advanced science, culture and technology, all of which were manifestations of this tradition.

China is strong and prosperous, admired by all countries, this is probably the biggest dream of emperors in history, China in history does not have too many territorial claims, this is because we have always been very conceited, the Celestial Empire, all things are abundant, why bother to rob other people's rags?

However, as the saying goes, the edge has its own day, and the glory of China, which is stronger than the East, cannot be concealed, and when its advanced and civilized nature is recognized by the world, the moment of dominance will naturally come.

Zheng He's voyage was undoubtedly a great success, and the reason why the Ming government terminated the voyage after Zheng He was because Zheng He was so successful that "his navy returned with honor and victory, and confirmed that the empire had no threat from the sea", so "Zheng He and his retinue can also be said to have lost the meaning of continuing the voyage".

No longer worried about threats from the sea, the Ming Empire's security strategy shifted to the north to defend against the Mongols.

Another reason should be financial considerations. Within the Ming Empire, there were disagreements about the voyage from the very beginning. According to statistics, during the Yongle period, about 2,000 new and rebuilt sea ships were built, and each treasure ship cost about five or six thousand silver taels, and the various rewards loaded on the ships cost a lot.

In the Ming Dynasty, during the reign of Xianzong, he planned to go to the West, and Emperor Xianzong ordered to ask for the archival materials of Zheng He's trip to the West, but these materials were hidden by Liu Daxia, a chariot driver.

The reason for this official who dared to resist was: "Three guarantees go to the West, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on money and food, and the soldiers and civilians die and thousands of plans, even if they get a strange treasure and return, what good will it do to the country!" This is a special government, and the minister should also advise him. Although the old case exists, it should be destroyed to uproot it, so how can it be investigated! ”

The fact that this official dared to directly accuse the West of going to the West as "political affairs" shows the fierce internal opposition.

Therefore, the Ming government stipulated that except for the royal charter, the common people were not allowed to go to sea, otherwise it would be a crime.

This policy contrasted sharply with Portugal and Spain: in the Ming Dynasty, it was a crime to engage in overseas exploration and maritime activities, and citizens became criminals as soon as they went to sea, while in Portugal and Spain, criminals who went to sea became national heroes because they were discovered.

In the Ming Dynasty, once the royal needs were met, once they heard the news of Haiyan Heqing, they completely blocked the sea from the national level to the common people, so that the absence of the sea in China's modern history at a critical period in world history.

The rulers of the Ming Dynasty considered themselves to be the most powerful countries in the world, and those small states only needed to pay tribute, and they no longer had to go out. As a result, from the official to the non-governmental, they have begun to rest on their laurels and sit in the well and watch the sky. Therefore, in the past hundred years, foreigners have been strange and backward to the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Mo Li nodded and said: "Actually, in terms of science and technology and economy alone, Westerners have begun to make efforts to catch up with and surpass our Huaxia over the years because they have absorbed the civilization and technology of our Huaxia and have continued to innovate!" If we don't rise up and accelerate the development of people's livelihood and science and technology, foreigners will come to enslave us in the future! ”