"It's quite incisive."

Gu Cheng nodded and gave affirmation.

Obviously, the old general has rich life experience, and after looking at Jiang Xinghuo's views from a perspective without any prejudice, he got some inspiration.

"That's a good point." Zhu Di thought for a moment, "If we look at it according to this line of thought, in an overall geographical unit, different sub-units will obviously lead to the emergence of local divisions, which seems to have been verified in history. ”

Zhu Gaochi took over and continued: "Just as many geographical subdivisions of China will lead to five dynasties and ten kingdoms, the Monan and Mobei of the Mongolian Plateau will also be determined by the rise and fall of nomads. ”

The eyes of several people lit up, and they understood what Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi meant.

Dao Yan made it clear: "North Korea can be ruled by dividing the Han River, and Japan can divide the four islands, and at the same time divide the main island into two halves according to the mountain range, and then provoke the forces of each small alluvial plain to become independent." ”

"That's right!" Zhu Di bowed, "For now, this is undoubtedly the best way!" ”

"As long as Jeju Island and Tsushima Island are controlled, it is equivalent to putting a sharp blade on the head of Japan, which is enough to deter the Japanese shogun."

Zhu Gaochi agreed with his father's idea, "As for other directions, you can use the strategy of gentleness to slowly penetrate."

Gu Cheng frowned and said: "Although this method sounds feasible, it is still far away from the core area ruled by the Japanese shogun, and it does not have a strong enough deterrent. ”

"If Your Majesty has to conquer Japan, and the purpose is to seize the two gold and silver mountains that Your Majesty said, the minister has an idea."

"Oh? General Gu said let's listen to it. ”

Zhu Di respected the idea of the chief of the general staff of the Yan Army.

"Replace travel with water, and the archipelago will lock up the country."

Gu Cheng explained: "Japan's sailors are not strong, and according to the information given by Master Daoyan before, Japan happens to be blocked by several surrounding islands. ”

"That is, Jeju Island, Tsushima Island, Oki Island, and Sado Island, which are connected to the north, and Yakushima Island, which is the most important island to the southwest."

"The old man understands what the Marquis of Zhenyuan means." Dao Yan explained, "Just like Go, the sea around Japan is the boundary of the chessboard, and we only need to occupy the few islands it has outward, like falling stars, then Japan will be completely blocked." ”

"There is a prerequisite here, that is, the sailors of the Ming Dynasty will not be able to completely beat the Japanese sailors out of Hong Kong."

After that, Dao Yan used the air in front of him as a chessboard, holding the non-existent chess pieces in his hand, and fell them one by one.

●●●●

● Japan

Gu Cheng nodded and said: "That's what it means, the reason why the old minister was opposed to the conquest of Japan before was because Japan is said to have a population of tens of millions, and it has just experienced the war of reunification, and the soldiers have quite a lot of combat experience. In addition, the Yuan Dynasty failed to conquer Japan twice, so the old minister had some concerns about landing directly in Japan. ”

"Since there is a gold mountain on Sado Island, then it is natural to take it." Gu Cheng continued, "But Your Majesty said that the most important thing for the future of the Ming Dynasty is the Iwami Silver Mountain near the coastal area, so it will be difficult to land and occupy it directly, and even if it lands, it will be difficult to face the Japanese army surrounded from all sides, and it is difficult to gain a foothold from a military point of view alone." ”

"But if it is just a blockade of Japan with absolute power of sailors, and the temptation of the interests of 'exploration and trade' to force the unwitting Japan to cede this land, the old minister feels that not only is there no risk of rash landing, but it is very likely that he will succeed through the coercion of these interests."

"If Japan really concedes this land, or if there is a conflict between the shogun and the daimyo who is the guardian of this land, and acquiesce to the landing of our army, then it will be easy to do. After the successful landing, our army will consolidate for a while, and will not be attacked by the half-crossing, and then it will not be impossible to drive our army into the sea. ”

What Gu Cheng was worried about before was that he would be pushed into the sea if the beachhead was unstable like the Mongols.

After all, his own family knows his own affairs, and the Ming army is not good at cross-sea landing operations, which is the biggest risk.

And if you can first control the island chain and then blockade Japan, and then tempt and coerce the shogun with the huge benefits of exploration and trade, you may be able to surrender without a fight.

And the Ming army only needs to safely pass through the beachhead landing link, and the follow-up soldiers, horses, and baggage will continue to be transported to establish a complete defensive line, so even if there are more Japanese troops, it will not work.

Zhu Gaochi said with some joy: "In this way, you can obtain Japan's gold and silver mountains without spending a single soldier!" ”

Zhu Di's frowning brows stretched slightly.

Jiang Xinghuo talked eloquently under the tree.

"The so-called geographical environment determines the spiritual characteristics of a country, in fact, in our ancient saying, it is very easy to understand, that is, one side of the water and soil to support the other side of the people."

"What is one side of the water and soil to support one side of the people?" Jiang Xinghuo asked a question, and immediately gave the answer himself.

This sentence not only explains the difference between people themselves, for example, the blood on the face of people in cold areas in the north must be used more than people in hot and humid areas in order to supply blood for heating, so the complexion is usually redder; At the same time, in the north, there is no way to farm but to livestock, so the people there are usually stronger because of the habit of eating meat. ”

"What's more, the people raised by this side of the land have a different way of thinking."

Li Jinglong and Zhu Gaoxu were a little puzzled.

"There are two sentences, one is called Cangyu and knows etiquette, and the other is called poor mountains and bad waters out of the people."

"For example, in a single geographical environment, some places are born with fertile land and abundant products, so people have a lot of leisure time to think about problems and study art; In some places, the land is barren and the products are scarce, so they have to rely on the mountains to eat the mountains and the water, and try every means to earn a life. This is why people who are usually close to the river and the sea are more adventurous than those who are inland plains. ”

"So let's zoom in from a region to a country and see how geography determines the spiritual characteristics of a country."

"Let's take Chinese civilization as an example."

Jiang Xinghuo cleared his throat and continued: "If we look at the birthplace of Chinese civilization, that is, the Yellow River Valley, in the era before the Spring and Autumn Period, due to the relatively low ability to grow food, there was still a large part of the uncultivated land in the wild, so the settlement areas formed based on agriculture were relatively scattered and isolated from each other, and the transportation was inconvenient in each small geographical unit, and the economy and culture were self-contained. It is precisely because of this that during the Warring States Period, the princes counted their territory in units of 'city', which is because those inside the city were the countrymen, and those outside the city were savages. ”

Zhu Gaoxu was a little surprised, it turned out that the Chinese and the savages actually came here like this?

"Then how did the difference between a Chinese and a wild man disappear?"

Jiang Xinghuo said: "It's also because of geography, because the Yellow River basin is relatively flat, and there is no enough topography to block the communication between small geographical units, so with the growth of population, exchanges between various regions will soon become more frequent. ”

"But this frequentness has not led to the formation of large-scale commercial trade, nor has it cultivated people's mercantile habits, and guess why?"

Zhu Gaoxu guessed: "The Yellow River is inconvenient? ”

Li Jinglong said: "Maybe people don't like trade? ”

"Yes and no." Jiang Xinghuo corrected, "The reason is actually derived from geographical conditions. ”

"The first reason why mercantile habits have not been cultivated is that there is not enough property, not enough to export on a large scale. The key to this lies in the monsoon climate, although the rain and heat can make crops grow well at the same time, but also because of the monsoon climate, the precipitation is unstable, too much precipitation in some years, and too little precipitation in some years, which will lead to frequent droughts and floods, so that the average annual output of agriculture that depends on the weather to feed is maintained in a state of barely enough food and clothing or a little starvation, to a certain extent, to meet the economic needs of self-sufficient small farmers, but there will be no accumulation of a large number of surplus agricultural products. If there is a shortage of goods, large-scale commercial trade cannot be carried out, so people cannot develop mercantile habits. ”

"See? It is precisely because of the geographical factors of soil, hydrology and climate that the people in the Yellow River Basin, the birthplace of China, have been trapped on the land all the year round to seek stability, and in terms of spiritual characteristics, they cannot have the habit of taking risks and valuing mercantilism. ”

Hearing this, the two nodded, as if what they said was quite reasonable.

They originally thought that the human spirit should be born with it, and that a brave person is brave, and a cowardly person is cowardly.

Now that I think about it, even if a brave man is put in a farming environment, his bravery may also be reflected in the expulsion of wild beasts that eat crops, and as this stable and unadventurous environment accumulates over time, he will become more and more conservative.

Seeing that the two of them had an understanding, Jiang Xinghuo said.

"And this spiritual quality of the Yellow River Basin is actually the epitome of Chinese civilization, which is why there is a second reason."

"The second reason is that the degree of social organization caused by a stable life is too high."

Although they are unfamiliar with some of the terms in Jiang Xinghuo's mouth, it is not difficult for the two of them to understand, but they are just ordinary words.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but ask: "Is it also a bad thing that the degree of social organization is too high?" ”

"Misfortune and blessing are relied upon, and blessing and misfortune are lurking."

Jiang Xinghuo seems to be particularly fond of quoting these short sayings today.

"The monsoon climate and the great river civilization complement each other, and the Chinese civilization born in the Yellow River basin is a typical great river civilization. The combination of the monsoon and the large rivers will inevitably lead to the fact that the large rivers will dry up or overflow due to the changes in the precipitation of the monsoon. ”

"Natural rivers cannot avoid this problem, so we can only rely on artificial construction of water conservancy facilities, otherwise agricultural production will be completely dependent on the sky and extremely unstable."

"The high degree of social organization of Chinese civilization originated from the voluntary or involuntary construction of the Yellow River."

Speaking of this, Jiang Xinghuo glanced at the two of them with a smile.

When the two were playing the game, they were faced with the option of "whether to repair the Yellow River", but they made the opposite choice.

Li Jinglong was thick-skinned, but he didn't have any expression, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't have much smug look.

Jiang Xinghuo only glanced at the two of them, and then continued: "The frequent occurrence of drought and flood disasters in the monsoon climate has stimulated the construction of large-scale water conservancy facilities and the demand for the control of large river floods. ”

"And this requires a large number of labor, in an orderly organization of the division of labor, cooperation, and cooperation. Obviously, in the face of natural disasters such as river flooding, which threatens crop yields and the lives of farmers themselves, a more efficient centralized system can play its role than a more inefficient consultation system. ”

"It is precisely because of this that the centralized system has become the mainstream of Chinese civilization, so the centralized system in turn requires the peasants to relocate to their land and not move at will, so that the centralized system can exert the greatest power, so it is not difficult to understand why Shang is ranked last in the Shinong industry and commerce, because Shang is the most unfavorable to the stability of the centralized system."

Jiang Xinghuo made a small summary.

"All in all, the geographical environment determines the spiritual characteristics of the country, taking China as an example, it is because the great river civilization and the monsoon climate complement each other, and this combination is destined to frequent floods and droughts, and the early civilization needs to organize the mobilization of labor to build water conservancy projects, which promotes the emergence of a centralized system, and the generation of the centralized system in turn allows the labor force to settle on the land, and inhibits the generation of mercantile habits."

Zhu Gaoxu hurriedly asked, "Is there no way to crack it?" Or will mercantilism lead to the collapse of the centralized system? ”

Zhu Gaoxu is still thinking about his plan to gain prestige overseas and make immortal achievements.

This question also made several people in the secret room prick up their ears.

For example, Zhu Di is very concerned about this issue.

Because they all know that things must have good and bad.

The advantage of going to the West is that it can unite the nobles of the feudal domains, so that they have a new place to exert their strength, to compete for merit and wealth, and at the same time, overseas trade can also bring a huge amount of wealth to the country.

With wealth and a very high spirit, Zhu Di has the foundation to realize his own cultural and martial arts and achieve his own Yongle prosperity.

Otherwise, it would really be difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and she could only squeeze oil from the stone of the common people, which would undoubtedly be digging her own grave.

Another point is that by going to the West, Zhu Di was able to cultivate a new interest class born from the traditional forces, and this new interest class, at the beginning, must have been controlled by him and could vigorously support him, which helped Zhu Di get rid of the shackles of the civil and gentry class dominated by the old ministers of Jianwen.

But Zhu Di also knows that there are so many benefits to going to the West, it is impossible to have no harm.

The disadvantage of this is that, as his second son said, going to the West will cultivate the formation of mercantile habits, and commercial trade always needs to be exchanged, which means that the traditional agricultural foundation of relocated land will be shaken, and the centralized system on which the whole country depends will also be shaken?

If that's really the case, it will affect the rule of their old Zhu family.

Previously, Zhu Di had imagined that only the royal family would come forward and go to the West in the name of the royal family, but now that he has adopted Jiang Xinghuo's suggestion and kidnapped the feudal lords and nobles to go to the West together, then this snowball will definitely get bigger and bigger.

Therefore, the problem of shaking the centralized system will arise in the future, even if it will not arise for the time being.

At some points, Zhu Di is exactly the same as his father Zhu Yuanzhang, he has never had the habit of counting on the wisdom of future generations, and he wants to solve the matter by himself, and the rules are given, so that future generations will not be too wasteful to solve it.

In other words, this is also a kind of embodiment of "the stronger the ability, the greater the sense of responsibility".

And under the newly crooked neck tree, Jiang Xinghuo thought for a moment, and then slowly spoke.

"Mercantile habits do not necessarily lead to the collapse of a centralized system, and we are still looking at this from the same academic perspective."

"We learned before that the Chinese civilization originated in the Yellow River Valley, and the centralized system was formed because of this, and it is for this reason that the Great River Civilization naturally regards the sea as a border, well, it is as if Kyushu is a chessboard, the desert in the north, the plateau in the west, the jungle in the south, and the ocean in the east are all the edges of this chessboard, and you can't play chess, right?"

Li Jinglong bowed his head slightly, and echoed: "That's true, if it weren't for the defeat and helplessness, no force would be willing to retreat to the sea." ”

"The remnants of Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen, if they can gain a foothold on land, they will not run to the sea. The sea is so vast that it is hard to find, but it is also difficult to survive. Zhu Gaoxu also added.

Jiang Xinghuo smiled and pointed to the map he had drawn earlier on the ground.

"So, that's the geography, but what if we look at it from a perspective that no one else has imagined?"

"For example?"

Jiang Xinghuo didn't say what his new perspective was, but instead inserted a question.

"First of all, what do you think is the basis of the centralized system?"

Li Jinglong pondered for a few breaths and replied: "System." ”

Zhu Gaoxu gave another answer: "Force." ”

A few people in the secret room next door also fell into thought.

"It's a limited per capita resource."

Jiang Xinghuo said simply: "The so-called centralized system, just like a group of people living on an isolated island with limited resources, at the beginning the resources on the island were quite sufficient, so everyone was more harmonious, even if there was a conflict, it was also polite and courteous, the kind that ended with points, such as Spring and Autumn, this is the Chinese and savage people I mentioned before, isn't it precisely because the land resources were not fully explored and developed at that time, and there are still many vacant land outside the city, will this situation occur?" Land and food are the most important resources. ”

As soon as these words came out, several people in the secret room next door suddenly felt as if they had comprehended something.

No one has ever broken them before this, these high-level decision-makers of the Ming Empire, the centralized system is undoubtedly closely related to their own interests, but no one knows what is going on and what the core of this concept is.

Gu Cheng's gaze also became a little deeper.

In all fairness, he began to really believe that the one next door really had the power of an immortal.

In a word, what is it that is not an immortal?

And Jiang Xinghuo's words continued.

(End of chapter)