Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 526: Vassal System

Shenyang was conquered by Zhao Yongping, which also meant that Meng Jun's biggest strategic goal of personally ordering the Northern Expedition had been achieved.

Zhao Yongping urgently sent fast horses through the Liaoxi Corridor and across Shanhaiguan to bring the news of the great victory in Liaodong to the capital.

When Meng Jun received the news, he was happy but not surprised. The war had reached this point, and even if there were failures in the middle, it would not change the final outcome.

Meng Jun met with Jirgalang's envoy, but he did not accept Jirgalang's suggestion. Meng Jun directly told the envoy that he could accept Fulin's surrender, but the Jianzhou Jurchens could no longer stay in Hetuala and their tribes must be separated.

This condition was obviously not something that the envoy could decide. What Jirgalang desired was to change the relationship between Jianzhou and Qian Dynasty into the same as the relationship between Jianzhou and the Ming Dynasty before Nurhaci started his rebellion. Jianzhou could be a vassal, but the Central Plains dynasty could not interfere in Jianzhou's internal affairs.

The negotiations ended in failure, but Meng Jun gave Fulin a choice. If he was willing to split up the Jianzhou Jurchens and relocate them, then Meng Jun would not send troops to Hetuala to hide in the mountains. If he was unwilling, Meng Jun was ready to fight Fulin for a long time in the border areas.

After Zhao Yongping brought the good news, he immediately gave Meng Jun another difficult problem, which was how to deal with Korea and the tribes south of the desert. Zhao Yongping asked whether the Korean King Li Hao and the 16 Mongolian coalition forces should be allowed to return.

Meng Jun stood alone in the pavilion in the garden, with his hands behind his back. He had been thinking for a long time about how to establish a vassal system for the new dynasty.

After conquering Shenyang, Liaodong was basically pacified and the major wars were over. Meng Jun had also completed the mission of traditional founding emperors, which was to unify the forces within the Central Plains dynasty.

As the saying goes, when you get Long, you will want Shu. After Meng Jun unified the country, his attention naturally turned to the outside world. As for external affairs, all dynasties gave Meng Jun a solution, that is, the vassal state system.

If you want to use the county system and direct central control, the farther away from the capital, the more disproportionate the benefits and costs will be. Before the advent of steam engines and railways, the areas controlled by successive dynasties were basically the limit of what a dynasty could control.

As for Korea, Meng Jun had not yet made up his mind whether to directly annex it and have it directly governed by the Qian Dynasty. As for Mongolia, Meng Jun decided to go to Liaodong in person in a few days to meet with the tribes south of the desert.

At this moment, Gu Yanwu came hurriedly. Seeing Meng Jun lost in thought, he could not help but raise his voice and said, "Your Majesty!"

Meng Jun immediately collected his thoughts and said with a smile: "Mr. Gu is here, come and sit down!"

Gu Yanwu asked: "Your Majesty, what were you thinking about just now?"

Meng Jun said: "There are indeed some problems. Today, the world is unified, but the external vassal states have not been determined. I am thinking about whether the vassal system of past dynasties is applicable to the Qian Dynasty?"

Gu Yanwu also laughed and said, "Then your Majesty, do you have any ideas? Perhaps I can help you share your worries!"

Meng Jun paused for a moment, organized his words, and said, "Throughout the dynasties, some used force to force vassal states to submit, some used virtue to make vassal states pay tribute, and some even used gold and silver to tempt them just to add a little vanity to themselves.

Therefore, I am thinking that if our dynasty uses force to force the vassal states to submit, they may not be willing to submit sincerely. However, if we use virtue, it will take time and may not be possible to achieve success in ten years. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty once exhausted the national treasury to save Korea, but in the end Korea also betrayed the Ming court. Therefore, I hope there is a way to make the vassal states fully identify with our dynasty in terms of legal system, ideology, and culture! "

If we talk about the previous tribute system, some dynasties spent a lot of money just to exchange for tribute from other countries. This method was a burden for the Central Plains dynasty, and Meng Jun didn't want to spend money at all.

After listening to Meng Jun's words, Gu Yanwu pondered for a moment, and then said to Meng Jun: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, this method has been used by our predecessors."

Meng Jun was stunned. He had read all the history books recently, so how come he didn't notice it?

"Mr. Gu, please speak!"

Gu Yanwu said slowly: "All land under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are his subjects!"

Meng Jun frowned. This kind of words were useful at some point, but what he wanted now was a way to control his vassal states in all aspects, rather than just nominal control.

Seeing Meng Jun frowning, Gu Yanwu continued, "Your Majesty, the only vassal state of our dynasty is Korea. Even Burma, Annan, and Ryukyu have not yet submitted to our dynasty. It is a bit premature to worry about it now. However, in my opinion, if the vassal states do not receive the title of the emperor and take the initiative to become the master, our dynasty will have to send troops to attack them. If this continues for a long time, the vassal states will definitely not dare to disobey our dynasty!"

Meng Jun touched his chin and said, "Isn't this still Dong Zhongshu's theory of divine right of kings?"

Gu Yanwu nodded and said, "Your Majesty asked me, I think this method may be feasible for remote vassal states."

Meng Jun thought about it and felt that Gu Yanwu’s words could still be considered for now. However, as the times continued to develop, the divine right of kings would probably not last long.

However, any system and idea has its birthplace. The old methods may not be unsuitable now. They need time to develop and change.

So, Meng Jun nodded and smiled, "Well, I'll think about it slowly, there's no rush."

After receiving the good news from Liaodong, Meng Jun stayed in the capital for three days. After arranging the affairs of the court, Meng Jun took Gao Yi and some officials to Liaodong under the escort of more than 10,000 imperial guards.

When Meng Jun set out for Liaodong, Lu Ping, who was far away in Ningbo, finally received a reply from Meng Jun. There were only three words in the letter: investigate, arrest, and kill!

Since Meng Jun took office, he has always paid attention to controlling the expansion of the powerful and the gentry. Therefore, he resorted to the salt and iron monopoly. This was only the easier one of Meng Jun's reforms. The later reforms of allocating land tax to each acre and requiring officials and gentry to pay taxes together were the real hard nut to crack.

Many of those maritime merchants, salt merchants, and big landowners were similar to the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty. Now that Meng Jun had just begun to implement reforms, those people couldn't wait to jump out and test Meng Jun to see if he was the same person as Emperor Hongwu.

However, for the gentry, many people are not in a hurry. Even if Meng Jun is like Emperor Hongwu, he will only suffer for a few decades. After Meng Jun dies and the new emperor ascends the throne, sooner or later one of the emperors will abolish Meng Jun's policies that are unfavorable to the gentry.

When Lu Ping received the reply, he felt relieved. He issued an order and mobilized the Qingluan Guards throughout Jiangnan to capture the suspect.

(Some book friends said that the book has been watered down recently, but I feel that it is not watered down. However, if it is, I will correct it, and if it is not, I will encourage myself. Then I will speed up the progress＠_＠)