"No need to wait, I'm not asleep!" After hearing their conversation, Chongzhen walked out from behind.
"Your Majesty!" All ministers saluted.
"No need to be polite," Chongzhen waved his hand at them, "Just tell me the countermeasures!"
Fan Jingwen stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty, the best way to create a community of interests with the Mongolian leaders is through marriage!"
"Forget about marriage alliances. The Ming Dynasty doesn't do that!" Chongzhen shook his head.
"Yes," Fan Jingwen nodded, "Since Your Majesty is so determined, then I will tell you the second method."
"To make a long story short!" Chongzhen was a little impatient.
"Without marriage, it is difficult to form a community of interests with the Mongolian high-level officials, because the Mongolians have too few needs!"
"Demand?" Chongzhen was a little confused. "What demand?"
"The need to spend money!" Fan Jingwen explained, "When people in the Central Plains have money, they will buy houses, land, make furniture, buy antiques and calligraphy and paintings, eat delicacies from land and sea, and wear silk and satin! Let's put it this way, as long as you want to spend money, there are countless places waiting for you to spend it!"
"The Mongolians are different. They just want to raise more cattle and sheep. Apart from that, they have almost no desire to spend money! Secondly, the northern part of the Great Wall is barren. Even if they have money, they have nowhere to spend it!"
After listening to Fan Jingwen's analysis, Chongzhen nodded.
Nomadic tribes do not have high aspirations for life and tend to just go with the flow.
A tent and a herd of cattle and sheep are all their belongings.
In fact, it’s not that they don’t pursue a rich material life, but that they have no concept of a rich material life.
"So," Fan Jingwen paused, and waited for Chongzhen to look at him again before continuing, "Our countermeasure is to ask them to send a hostage to Beijing!"
Proton?
Chongzhen was even more confused. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and asked, "Are you talking about the same thing? You talked about how to form a community of interests with the Mongolian high-ranking officials, and then asked them to send their children to the capital as hostages. Is this reasonable?"
"It's the same thing, and it makes perfect sense!" Fan Jingwen explained, "The purpose of having them send their children to Beijing is not to use them as hostages, but to take advantage of the opportunity to change their minds."
"These hostages are young, and they will definitely be attracted by the prosperity of the capital when they arrive! In addition to sending people to teach them how to read and ride horses and shoot arrows, the court will also lead them to spend money lavishly!"
"As the saying goes, it's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it's hard to go from luxury to frugality! When they get used to the prosperous life in the capital, they will feel uncomfortable when they return to the grassland!"
"When these people inherit the position of tribal leader, they will definitely miss this time and want to resume this kind of life again!"
“So, they have the desire to spend money!”
"Da Ming can make money with them and become a community of interests!"
"This..." Chongzhen frowned, "This is too far-fetched! Even if the Mongols wanted to spend money, how much could they spend? They have nowhere to spend it!"
"They have a lot of places where they need to spend money!" Fan Jingwen raised his voice slightly, "Isn't the court going to build a temple on the grassland?"
“After the temple is built, let the lamas in the temple persuade the leaders of various tribes to start large-scale construction and build a city around the temple!”
"After we build the city, we'll trick them into building the palace!"
"The first generation of the royal palace was built with ordinary wood. When they have enough money, they will trick them into using precious wood to expand and renovate it!"
"And furniture, accessories, and calligraphy and paintings all cost money!"
"Once everything is built, find someone to set it on fire... and start all over again!"
"I'm not afraid that they have no place to spend money, I'm afraid that they don't have enough money to spend!"
Hearing this, Chongzhen stood up from the dragon throne.
He stared at Fan Jingwen and the others and said slowly, "If anyone is to blame, it's you guys!"
These sugar-coated bullets seemed to be for the good of the Mongols, but in fact they were harming them and weakening them.
Fortunately, he was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and not the leader of the Mongols, otherwise he would have been killed by this group of literati.
Of course, the prerequisite for making the Mongols swallow the sugar-coated bullets is that the military strength is strong enough, otherwise everything is empty talk.
"Your Majesty, we are not bad people. We are only doing this for the sake of the country!" Fan Jingwen began to explain.
"I know, is there anything else?" Chongzhen asked.
"Yes," Fan Jingwen moistened his throat with saliva, "Whether it's building a temple, a city, or a palace, a large number of craftsmen are needed!"
"The Mongols are in need of craftsmen, so they will hire a large number of Han craftsmen to work on the grasslands!"
"If the imperial court introduces a policy to encourage craftsmen to stay and live in the local area, there will definitely be Han craftsmen staying there. Over time, as the number of Han people increases, the Mongols will slowly be assimilated by them!"
"Great, it's really great!" Chongzhen clapped his hands non-stop, "It has both short-term methods and mid- to long-term strategies, it's really a great idea!"
"It's not over yet!" Fan Jingwen's emotions were aroused by Chongzhen. He said with some excitement: "The hostages cannot only target the leaders of the Mongolian tribes, but also some important generals, so that they can be caught in one fell swoop!"
"When the hostage returns to inherit the position, those who obey the imperial court will be entrusted with important tasks! Those who do not obey the imperial court will be replaced immediately!"
"And while the hostage is in Beijing, your Majesty's princes and grandchildren can interact with them and make friends with them!"
“Sometimes, friendship can help!”
"The above methods are like planting trees for future generations to enjoy the shade. You may not see the results in the short term, but they will have miraculous effects in the long run!"
After saying these words, Fan Jingwen bowed deeply to Chongzhen and retreated.
There was total silence in the Qianqing Palace.
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