Chapter 21 The Discussion of Vassals with Foreign Surnames

On the vassal king's side, He Xi can be regarded as settled after a few days of folding.

But there is a force that He Xi still needs special treatment.

Nothing else. It's the Lu family.

He Xi invited Lu Zhongheng to his home and sat opposite him.

For a while, there was a feeling of being in a different world.

He Xi obviously felt that Lu Zhongheng was old. He's in his sixties at the moment. It is not too old in the afterlife. But in ancient times, people were rare in their sixties, not to mention, the climate of the South Seas was also quite unfriendly to this northerner.

He Xi talked about the Nanyang campaign back then, and he was also embarrassed.

He Xi finally spread out the matter and said, "All these years in Nanyang, have you felt homesick. Falling leaves return to the roots, doesn't Hou Ye have the thought of perch?"

The so-called thinking of the perch is an idiom. But it is said that during the Jin Kingdom, there was a minister who remembered the lettuce and sea bass in his hometown whenever the autumn wind rose. A metaphor for homesickness.

The meaning of He Xi's words is obvious, he wants to move the Lu family back to Daming.

To be honest, He Xi also felt that he had done something inauthentic. But the problem is, He Xi had to do it. Because the South Seas are different from the Western Regions. For a long time in the future, the Western Regions will not be the strategic focus of the Ming Dynasty.

He Xi's arrangement for the Western Regions is that there will be no trouble. No direct intervention. After all, the place where King Yan fell, even if it was not directly ruled by the imperial court, could be regarded as the market of the Ming Dynasty. The industrial products of the Ming Dynasty naturally entered the West through the Western Regions in a steady stream.

In He Xi's opinion, this is enough.

Nanyang is different.

As mentioned above, external expansion is a rigid demand of the Ming Dynasty in the future. At this point, it is difficult for anyone to change.

Without him, imperialism has followed the birth of capitalism. He Xi couldn't help it. He borrowed a lot from the experience of the British Industrial Revolution, but at the same time, he had to live with the consequences. And the direction of Daming's external expansion, He Xi has no choice.

Only the South Seas. There is only Nanyang.

I have to say that the ancestors expanded from the Heluo area to the whole world little by little. China's territory, since the Qin and Han dynasties, has been fixed. It's not that I don't want to fight. It's that the rest of the place is not easy to fight.

Even the gains outweigh the losses.

Now it seems that only the Nanyang direction, and the Yunnan direction, can be expanded. And on the whole, this is not necessarily impossible to merge into one direction, that is, the South Seas direction. After all, Myanmar can also be said to be South Seas.

NSW is located at the heart of the South Seas, and its geographical location is very important. Directly control the Strait of Malacca, control the crossroads of the South Seas.

This made He Xi unable to let it out.

And the Lu family's power in Nanyang is too great. It is estimated that it will not be easy for He Xi not to clean up the Lu family and send the new governor of Nanyang in the past, and the relationship between He Xi and the Lu family is also here.

He Xi's cleaning up of the Lu family will have a great impact on He Xi's prestige and the cohesion of the internal people.

He Xi thought about it, and it was best to have a good talk with Lu Zhongheng.

Lu Zhongheng was also prepared. But after hearing He Xi say this, he was still stunned in his heart, sighed, and said, "Lord He, I listened to your words at the beginning, and I worked hard to accumulate this family business, but now you are saying the same thing, it is really ------."

Lu Zhongheng was full of anger, but it was not easy to let it out.

The situation is stronger than people, and he still can't afford to offend He Xi in front of him. I really don't dare to tear my face.

He Xi could only apologize and said, "Lu Hou, I didn't expect it to come to this point. If Lu Hou has anything, he can talk about it, and I am willing to give some compensation."

He Xi said a word, which was also true.

If there was no Civil War. The Lu family is in Nanyang, and it will not be the current situation.

During the Hongwu period, although it is said that the Lu family had a great influence in Nanyang. But it's more of an economic benefit, and it's not enough to cover the sky with one hand. But after the Civil War, there were no officials and people in the Ming Dynasty in Nanyang

I don't know who to choose. In the end, they could only rely on the Lu family.

And so it goes. The power of the Lu family naturally soared.

The Lu family annexed all the forces in the Nanyang Governor's Palace, which were originally loyal to the imperial court.

That's the kind of situation that happens.

If Lu Zhongheng hadn't done this, He Xi would have chosen to support other forces to balance the Lu family. But now the Lu family has obvious tail and can't fall off. If the Lu family is not taken, the stronghold of Nanyang cannot be returned to the imperial court, and Xinzhou is not the imperial court. The Ming Dynasty's external expansion will encounter problems.

Could it be that before expanding abroad, we still have to fight a counterinsurgency war?

To this day, no one can be blamed, it can only be said that the situation has changed too quickly.

Lu Zhongheng originally expected this incident. But he never imagined that the situation would become so bad. However, Lu Zhongheng also has his own ideas, and he is not without a response to this matter.

He said, "Lord Ho, haven't you thought about yourself?"

He Xi was stunned for a moment and said, "Myself?"

Lu Zhongheng said: "Originally, I thought that you would retire after the expiration of your term, which was probably false, but now it seems that it may be true. In that case, have you ever wondered what will happen when you retire?"

"If you are in Nanjing for a day, no one will be comfortable."

"In the future, disaster will come."

It is normal for Lu Zhongheng to make the judgment that He Xi will retreat. If He Xi wants to go further at this moment. Then He Xi would not put so much effort into it, but find a way to deal with Zhu Xiongying.

It's just that Lu Zhongheng is right.

This is also a piece of He Xi's heart, power is easy to hand over, but after handing over power, there is too much uncertainty about what will happen to it.

If he just handed over the position and did not hand over power, he would have become the so-called senatorial politics, just like in Japan, and it was never the cabinet that really spoke, but the so-called senators during the Meiji Restoration.

This is actually a backup plan for He Xi.

Of course, He Xi hasn't decided whether to use it or not.

Without him, this kind of patriarchal politics can easily form the so-called gate valve force.

It is not good for the imperial court in the long run.

After all, if He Xi can do this, the next Shoufu who will expire can also do so, and it will take a long time. It's not the cabinet that speaks. When the time comes, what the cabinet wants to do, it will not only have to face the emperor, but also the previous senators.

There are hardly any new reforms.

Now, He Xi understands very well that the biggest difference between the new era and the original feudal society is that social change is accelerating.

If it was before, in a hundred years, there seems to be little change in life for many people. However, in the era of industrialization, a hundred years is enough time for a technology to go from germination to maturity and then to obsolescence.

And the imperial court to deal with such a situation, the cabinet must have enough ability and power to deal with it.

Senator politics has drawbacks.

It will even evolve into a game of who lives longer.

It's not fun.

He Xi said, "What does Lu Hou mean?"

Lu Zhongheng said in a low voice, "Lord He, have you ever thought about going out to be a vassal?"

He Xi said, "I thought about it, but it's not a good idea."

He Xi naturally thought about sealing all the nobles out, leaving a clean and clean Ming for him to play. But soon He Xi gave up.

There are many reasons for giving up, first, many nobles don't want to leave Daming. In their opinion, Daming is the best place in the world, and only fools go to other wild places.

Second, how did the Ming Dynasty maintain its overseas territories?

Vassals with foreign surnames are very sensitive.

The clan vassals also used the patriarchal system to maintain the connection between the Ming and them. And how to maintain a vassal with a foreign surname? Don't forget that in the He Xi system, the emperor's power is weak. Even if Zhu Xiongying now has the demeanor of a generation of Ming Jun.

But

Zhu Xiongying is just a person. He will be the emperor at most, but the next emperor will never be able to do something like Zhu Xiongying.

The vassals of the clan could not allow the Ming Dynasty not to have the surname Zhu. This is one of the guarantees of the throne, no matter who is the first assistant, it can only be recognized, otherwise it will be connected by military disaster. And the emperor can also let go of his suspicions of ministers. Of course, the struggle for power between each other is an eternal topic, but everyone at least has a bottom line...

Ability to collaborate.

And if there are a considerable number of vassals with foreign surnames among the outside vassals, then the situation is different. It is quite possible that a certain vassal will be able to unite with these vassals. Change the surname of Da Ming, if this happens, Da Ming will face a protracted civil war.

It is estimated that by then, the whole of Asia will be a battlefield.

After industrialization, large-scale warfare was brutal.

Third, that is, the vassals with foreign surnames are not so easy to pass in the Ming Dynasty. The Zhu clan will also oppose it. For example, King Yan. King Yan was willing to let the foreign surname Xungui have a fief at the conference.

Lu Zhongheng said: "Jiang Taigong has contributed to Zhou and sealed in Qi. And adults have contributed to the world, and if they go out, they will be sealed, and they will be beautiful. And if you are inside, I am afraid that it will be difficult to be safe, but if you are outside, it is as stable as a rock."

"It's not just a good idea for you, it's also a good idea for many people down there."

He Xi's heart moved, and he seemed to see some of Lu Zhongheng's thoughts.

He Xi is a feudal lord outside, and he can do whatever he wants in his fiefdom without being restricted by anyone, which seems to be a good way. Those who are separated from Zhu Xiongying are far away, and the two sides can avoid contradictions, which is probably the so-called truth that the king does not see the king.

But what does Lu Joong-hyung mean when he suddenly mentions other people?

He Xi knew Lu Zhongheng's thoughts, and He Xi went out of the fief. Then this fiefdom can't be only He Xi's alone. Naturally, it is necessary to open an opening, such as an opening for the Lu family.

But Hexi wants to know, does this other person only refer to the Lu family? Is there anyone else involved? If so, who are they?

In fact, He Xi had a vague premonition.