Among the overseas Chinese delegation that welcomed Prime Minister Huang Ming, Yuan Haibin, whose ancestral home was Nan'an, Fujian Province, stood in the front row. Although he had a smile on his face, he was restless, full of worries and uneasiness. Yuan Haibin's grandfather went to sea in the Wanli year, leaving his underage son in China. When Yuan Haibin's father came of age, got married, and had children, he came to Luzon. Then it was his turn to grow up and go to sea. After three generations of business, Yuan Haibin had become a wealthy businessman, so during the great changes in the late Ming Dynasty, he was able to take all Nan'an's family members out and flee to Manila.
Twenty years have passed in a flash. No matter how he felt about the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Haibin always wanted to go back to his hometown. Because of Deng Ming, Fujian's maritime ban actually existed in name only. Three years ago, Yuan Haibin returned to his hometown and brought back a sum of money, hoping to build a road, a bridge, or something for his hometown. Sponsoring a private school - Overseas Chinese businessmen with some savings have always served their hometown this way for hundreds of years, and perhaps it will continue to be the case for hundreds of years to come.
Because Yuan Haibin returned with money, Nan'an officials appointed by Geng Fan also came out to greet him with smiles on their faces. They thanked Yuan Haibin for his donation on behalf of all the villagers, and also expressed their intention to put a plaque on his former residence. Yuan Haibin was shocked when he heard this and hurriedly stopped him: "Absolutely not. If all the villagers know that the little old man has donated money to his hometown, it may spread overseas in the future. If Hongyi knows that the little old man is so rich, , then the whole family will suffer."
Based on hundreds of years of experience, overseas Chinese businessmen in Fujian know that donating to their hometown must be low-key and low-key, because the natives, Dutch and Spaniards are full of jealousy and hatred towards the Chinese. They are jealous of the wealth of the Chinese because they cannot do without the Chinese. And hate. The Chinese have made Manila and Batavia more prosperous, and periodically plundering the Chinese is also a consistent policy of Manila and Batavia, because this can keep the Chinese struggling on the poverty line and force the Chinese to work harder and prosper the local economy. , accumulating wealth and waiting for the next harvest.
¡°If Manila or Batavia knew that Yuan Haibin actually had money to donate to his hometown, he would definitely be in bad luck, and Yuan Haibin also knew very well that the government in his hometown would not be able to help him. Since ancient times, the government has never helped the expatriates. If the expatriates cannot escape on their own, the government will be justified. The expatriates were once suspected of being Fang Guozhen's remnants, and were considered traitorous sons who betrayed their kind father. It is estimated that now the government will also look on with cold eyes. Yu described the overseas Chinese as sympathizers of the Ming Dynasty, or abandoned people who failed to fulfill their obligations to the Qing emperor and father, and they deserved to be killed by the red barbarians and natives.
"I know you won't take care of me, and I don't expect you to take care of me. I will take care of myself." When Yuan Haibin refused the plaque from the Fuqing government, he thought to himself: "Emperor Wanli only paid lip service in the end. It was just talk, but those who believed in the emperor were brutally slaughtered - it seems that there is only one person named Guo, and he is the only one who really does what he says. He sent troops to fight with the red barbarians because the red barbarians killed the Fujian people in Taiwan. The war started and the red barbarians in Taiwan were driven away, but Mr. Guo Xing has passed away, and Mr. Guo Xing is no longer here."
Today, while standing in front of the team waiting for Prime Minister Huang Ming¡¯s lecture, Yuan Haibin once again secretly rejoiced that he wisely did not accept Geng Fan¡¯s plaque, otherwise this might be another crime and the Ming army would regard him as an enemy. When he thought of this, Yuan Haibin still felt a little guilty. When he saw Deng Ming walking toward them surrounded by guards, Yuan Haibin felt his spine begin to shiver, fearing that the other party would expose him as soon as he opened his mouth. He recalled the past of building a bridge and paving the way for his hometown, and then ordered everyone to take him down for questioning.
"The government of the Huangming Dynasty has always been a very irresponsible government." Deng Ming began his speech: "Whether it is to the overseas residents or the people at home; the government tries its best to plunder the people's wealth internally, and blames the foreigners externally for the The imperial court was not loyal enough, and whether the people needed government relief or the expatriates needed government protection, the government would become very stingy - if Huang Ming's officials were not so cold-blooded and cruel, China would not have this great chaos. Huang Ming Even if he died, there would be no regrets. It¡¯s just a pity that countless people suffered great disasters because of the government.¡±
The audience of overseas Chinese present were all silent. Yuan Haibin recalled that, yes, standing in front of him was the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, and he was also the most famous commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty in more than ten years.
"In the past, the government of Huang Ming was despicable and cowardly. When the people had no way to survive due to excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, they had no choice but to flee from famine in the interior and leave their homes along the coast. However, the government did not reflect on their actions, but instead tried their best to prevent the people from fleeing famine or going to sea. When the refugees began After the resistance, the government will even accuse them, saying that even if the officials did something slightly wrong, the refugees should stay at home and starve to death instead of fleeing - in order to survive, they have to eat or even rob other people's food. Food, this is really abominable, so the government does not need to provide relief or tax exemption, but if the refugees dare not stay at home by themselves but choose to flee the famine, they will all be killed, and they will be killed with confidence. If the people along the coast are livingIf you go to sea and run to the sea, even if you are killed by the natives, the government will applaud you. Who told you not to be honest and collect the emperor's food and serve as corvee in the country? Death is also retribution. "
The whole place was silent, and Deng Ming took a deep breath: "The past practices of Huang Ming were wrong, and the Empire is determined to correct them. Chen Jijiu of the Empire's Sichuan Academy stated that treating people who cannot afford to eat is the greatest immorality. Because we We are human beings, and our hearts are made of flesh, not iron stone, so hunger will make us suffer. Seeing our children starving to death will make us miserable. In order to let our children survive, we will kill people and set fires. We would rather deprive others of their lives. We must also find ways to keep our children alive. This will also be the philosophy of the empire's future governance. We will never let the people bear taxes that will cause them to starve and let their children die. The imperial government will also try its best to ensure basic welfare. .¡±
In his previous life, Deng Ming read a book called "Aesthetics". The author of the book had similar ideas to Chen Zuocai. He also believed that when people are oppressed to the point of death, all the behaviors they adopt to survive are moral. However, what is interesting is that this right-wing philosophy that emphasizes individual power actually derives the left-wing conclusion that in order to avoid the unrest where people make a living for themselves, the government must pay attention to welfare. Otherwise, it is not the people but the government who are immoral; and the emphasis is on The leftist philosophy of collectivism, when the extreme thinking that personal interests are subordinate to collective interests at all times appears, the country has sufficient reasons to ignore welfare and accuse everyone who refuses to starve to death at home as being backward-minded and unwilling. Know how to safeguard collective and national interests - far-right national policies are derived from leftist philosophy.
"The empire intends to incorporate Luzon into its territory, but instead of appointing officials, it will use a model similar to a trading company contract to trade with the local Chinese." Deng Ming patiently explained to the representatives present.
Like the original expatriates, the armed peasants of the Reclamation Corps were mostly poor people in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang who were in need of food and clothing. Under the call of the leaders of the Reclamation Corps trained in Sichuan to land dozens of acres of land, they boarded sea ships to explore this foreign land overseas. Although Sichuan has tried its best to encourage immigration over the years, there are only tens of thousands of armed peasants, which is far from being compared with the expatriates. If these dozens or millions of originally scattered expatriates are stopped like the armed peasants, then the imperial government will Only then could Song's rule be stable, laying the foundation for its permanent inclusion in the future.
All grassroots officials are elected by expatriates like the president of the Chamber of Commerce. Local taxes and national taxes are also determined by the Luzon Parliament. The amount of national taxes paid to the empire determines the Luzon region¡¯s seats in the imperial parliament. The appointment power of the Governor of Luzon is temporarily retained in the hands of Deng Ming or the subsequent prime minister. This period will be as long as 20 years. After 20 years, taxpayers in Luzon will vote to continue the appointment power of the Governor. Give it to the Prime Minister of the Empire for five years or let them elect themselves.
"The Luzon government pays taxes, and the imperial government provides protection - any business will not last long if Luzon does not pay taxes. If Luzon does not pay taxes, it will be unprofitable for the imperial government. Naturally, it will gradually be reluctant to spend money and shed blood to protect the Luzon government. ; And if the Luzon government only pays taxes and cannot decide the national policy of the imperial government, then I guess sooner or later it will think about independence."
Although Deng Ming tried his best to explain, he guessed that the people present might not be able to wrap their heads around it for a while. Why did the government not just collect protection fees nakedly but engage in fair transactions?
"If the Luzon government is willing to become a province of the empire, then the Luzon government needs to stand on the side of the empire during wartime and is not allowed to start wars or make peace without authorization In addition, there is also the issue of royal law, which is that it must not violate the constitution of the empire. In principle, laws that unlimitedly oppress individuals cannot be enacted, because the empire believes that what people on the verge of starving to death can do is unpredictable and cannot be restrained by morality, so oppressing anyone into this situation is a threat to the empire¡ª ¡ªAn injury to one of us is an injury to all of us." Deng Ming has prepared a lot of paperwork. After the meeting, these expatriate representatives will get a detailed contract text, explaining in detail the contract proposed by the empire. Every item and every item.
"Because we are afraid of wolves on the road, people who travel far away must travel together; because lonely people have a hard time, we need friends. In the same way, we also need the country and the government, but in order to permanently eliminate the tragedy and tragedy of twenty years ago In chaos, the empire is determined to try a path completely different from that of the Ming Dynasty. It hopes that every citizen can be rewarded for the taxes he has paid and the taxes his ancestors have paid, and will not die of cold and hunger in the country of his parents. ; As long as every overseas national declares "I am Chinese", he will be respected by foreigners, and his safety will be guaranteed the most reliable, knowing that if he dares to give him unfair treatment, his motherland will raise an army. Asking guilt - this is the direction the empire is working towards, are you willing to join?"
Deng Ming did not ask the overseas Chinese representatives to answer immediately. After the meeting, Deng Ming asked Zhou Kaihuang again: "If all the Chinese in NanyangIf you join the empire willingly, what do you think will be the consequences? "
"Meaning that more girls can survive?" Zhou Kaihuang said cheerfully: "The admiral likes to ask me questions like this, because he knows that I will definitely not be able to answer them, right?"
"It means we won't have chaos in the world anymore." Li Xinghan said with longing: "If I were them, I would choose to join."
"No, I dare not say that this will definitely prevent chaos in the world." Deng Ming said with a smile: "I am just worried that there will not be a large number of people from Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang rushing back to their hometowns to build bridges and pave the way for their hometowns, because in the future The Chinese in Luzon will regard this place as their motherland and hometown."