Daming 1805

Chapter 7 Standing Against All Groups

The debate on the superiority of the vassal state and the direct province is a lingering issue after the rebirth of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also a problem that has not been completely resolved.

In the first few decades after the re-emergence of the Ming Dynasty, the attitude of the imperial court towards vassal states was negative, and almost all ministers believed that vassal states should not be set up, and provinces should be used as much as possible.

This is the continuation of the ancient dynasties' ideas of "cutting the vassal" and "strengthening the branches and weakening the branches".

The vassal kings at that time hoped to keep the vassal state. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to be a local emperor than to be an empty prince in the capital?

This is also the typical mentality of ancient vassal kings. As for the people at that time, where did the small farmers care about this?

For a variety of practical reasons, mainly the high cost of ruling in distant places, the vassal states were eventually retained.

But in recent decades, things have changed dramatically.

The Ming Empire gradually completed basic industrialization, transforming from a traditional feudal dynasty to a semi-industrial country.

The efficiency of communication and transportation has increased significantly, the barriers between the various parts of the entire empire have been broken, and the ties between them have become closer and closer.

The education level of the people has also risen, and there are more and more people in the whole society who can think and pursue a better life.

The most important thing is that the modern capital interest group has really formed and has begun to interfere and influence politics.

At the same time, the Ming Empire is the most powerful, richest and most civilized country in the world today, and it has a very high attraction to the whole world, and the vassal states are the first to bear the brunt.

The dignitaries, emerging capital elites, and even ordinary people in the vassal states of Daming hope to be able to withdraw from the vassal and establish a province, so that they can truly become a member of the Ming Dynasty.

Why do the vassal states want to be independent again?

Because the imperial court has always refused to withdraw the vassal and set up a province, and almost all ministers are opposed to the withdrawal of the vassal and the establishment of a province, the vassal state has never seen hope.

Why did the Ming Dynasty not allow vassal states to become provinces?

In the final analysis, it is a problem of division of interests, and the root cause is the new system of benevolence and martial arts of Emperor Shizu.

According to the new system of benevolence and martial arts, the residents of the Daming Empire were divided into eight grades from top to bottom.

Imperial Citizens, Imperial Citizens, Feudal State Citizens, Feudal State Citizens, Imperial Residency, Feudal Residency, Imperial Servants, Feudal Servants.

Only the highest-ranking imperial citizens have full political power throughout the empire.

You can invest, do business, participate in politics, join the army, and you can work in any legal industry, similar to citizens of modern countries.

The rights of the next-level imperial nationals are obviously limited.

They are not allowed to participate in politics or military in the empire, nor are they allowed to invest and operate across regions, or to participate in financial investments, or to buy and sell tradable stocks.

Citizens of vassal states have complete political rights only within their own vassal states.

Citizens of the vassal state come to the territory of the empire, and their rights are equal to those of the citizens of the empire, and the citizens of the empire have priority in everything, and so on.

At the same time, when the residents of the empire are within the territory of the vassal state, the power level has to be upgraded by one level by default.

When the citizens of the empire arrive in the territory of the vassal state, they directly have the rights of citizens, not to mention the citizens of the empire, everything has a higher priority.

This resulted in the unimpeded access of imperial citizens within the feudal territory.

Can run and engage in any industry, can directly obtain any title, can hold any military and political positions.

However, citizens of vassal states were restricted everywhere in the empire itself.

Not only can you not join the army, but you can't even be the smallest official. The key is that even the scope and amount of investment are limited.

The result is that imperial citizens unilaterally occupy military and political positions in vassal states, and imperial capital unilaterally squeezes the living space of vassal state capital.

This is a typical colonial political and economic dual oppression.

When the elite group of the vassal state was small and the capital of the vassal state was weak, the impact of these oppressions was not obvious.

However, when the size of the elite group of the vassal state continues to grow, and the capital of the vassal state becomes the main force in the political arena of the vassal state, it will inevitably breed separatism.

When the empire fell into a passive state on the battlefield, the Western barbarians exerted slight pressure and temptation on them, and most of the vassal states had the so-called self-reliance tendency.

Their idea is very simple. Since they cannot profit from the empire itself, it is better to be independent.

After independence, expel the imperial people from the vassal state and take back the interests occupied by the imperial people, so that they can at least share more.

The most critical change included in the policy of withdrawing vassal states and setting up provinces is to upgrade the citizens of the vassal states to the citizens of the empire.

As a result, the world's largest market in the empire's homeland was completely open to the capital of the vassal state.

The large number of military and political positions in the mainland of the empire were also opened to the elite groups of the vassal states.

The vast number of jobs in the mainland of the empire are also open to ordinary people in the vassal state.

Coupled with the cultural centripetal force that exists in the empire itself, the establishment of a province has become a common ideal of all classes and groups above and below the vassal state.

Once the policy is implemented, most of the vassal states should quickly change their positions and stand on the side of the empire again.

However, withdrawing the vassal and setting up the province will damage the interests of the imperial capital, the imperial elite, and the imperial people.

The capital of the feudal state will come to compete for the market, the elite of the feudal state will come to compete for military and political positions, and the people of the feudal state will come to compete for jobs.

Therefore, this policy was also unanimously opposed by the empire itself.

This is also the main reason why the province has been brewing for decades, but there has been no substantial progress.

All strata of the empire did not accept the withdrawal of vassals and provinces. In the final analysis, they did not want to let the capital and people of the vassal countries come in to compete with them at the same time as the withdrawal of vassals and provinces.

This even includes the clan group that controls the royal consortium.

Therefore, if they simply consider personal interests, everyone on the scene, including the emperor, will not support Zhu Jingyuan's proposal to withdraw the vassal and establish a province.

Zhu Jingyuan actually understood this, but he still said it directly, and then fell into a natural siege.

The inexperienced Zhu Jingyuan couldn't resist the inexperienced attack of the princes and ministers. In fact, he didn't need to parry.

It was the practice of the Imperial Council of the Ming Empire. If someone proposed a proposal that was unanimously opposed by the ministers, then there was no need to discuss it, and it would be directly rejected.

Unless the emperor himself wants to force it, there is room for further discussion, but that means the royal family has to sell benefits.

Therefore, after the scene was noisy for a while, the princes and ministers stopped arguing one after another, and looked up at the emperor above with a tacit understanding.

The old emperor Zhu Zhongliang looked at the situation at the scene, coughed softly, raised his finger and pointed at the ministers sitting on both sides, and said to Zhu Jingyuan earnestly:
"Have you seen it boy, you're on the opposite side of everyone now.

"Even if I directly agree to this suggestion of yours, there is no way to implement it smoothly.

"Do you understand why this is?"

Zhu Jingyuan replied calmly and solemnly:
"I understand, so I hope the second support from the imperial court and the consortium is the economic adjustment in line with the withdrawal of feudal vassals and the establishment of provinces.

"I hope that the imperial court and the consortium will open the ban on alcohol, sugar, tea, steel, large ships, and large locomotives to the people!"

Before Zhu Jingyuan's words were finished, the old emperor Zhu Zhongliang's expression froze.

The meeting site fell into a dead silence, and then there was a burst of exclamations, and the Wenhua Hall became lively again.

　Thanks: Born to raise a reward of 5000 starting coins, and Li Mo Limor to give a reward of 500 starting coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)