Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Jiang Xinghuo asked an extremely simple question.

"Do you think that if the three of us are in a hostile and competitive relationship, fighting for a bun on the ground, and there are no rules to restrain us, then where does our power come from?"

The answer given by Zhu Gaoxu is also very simple.

Zhu Gaoxu shook his sandbag-sized fist.

"Then we can only use this method to decide who is more powerful and who has more power!"

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and said: "This principle is the same as between countries. To put it bluntly, a country's power comes from its war capabilities. The idea is correct, so are there other sources of power?"

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a long time and finally choked out four words.

"I don't know."

Jiang Xinghuo smiled and shook his head, then asked the red-faced man Zheng He, "What do you think?"

Zheng He pondered for a few breaths and was about to shake his head, but suddenly an idea flashed through him and he answered: "What kind of martial arts can be developed in the future?"

"Yes."

Jiang Xinghuo continued to ask in depth: "For example, we had a fight and the steamed bun was snatched away by him who was the strongest. Then we returned to the cell and wanted to train our future martial arts. What do you think we need to train ourselves? "

Zheng He thought for a while and replied.

"Need to be fed and armed."

Jiang Xinghuo continued to follow the temptation: "It's natural for an individual, but what else do you need to be full?"

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu was also a little stunned.

"Need money to bribe the jailer to buy food!"

Jiang Xinghuo continued to ask: "Then if the prison cannot buy weapons and you want better weapons to fight against the enemy, what do you need?"

"Make more sophisticated weapons yourself." Zheng He seemed to understand.

"What do you rely on? Your fellow inmates are all your enemies."

Zheng He simply said: "Rely on your own ability to make weapons."

"How about converting it into countries?"

Jiang Xinghuo was coaxing them to tell the final answer.

Zhu Gaoxu and Zheng He said almost in unison: "Money from the treasury and technology for making weapons."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded with satisfaction and concluded.

"That is to say, the state has two powers, the first power is military power, and the second power is potential power."

"The first military power refers to the control and influence of a country's military capabilities on other countries. It refers to the power of one country to force another country to do something."

Hearing this, Zheng He nodded slightly.

Military power is always the capital of dealings with other countries.

Why do Annan, Champa, Java, Korea, Siam, Chenla, Ryukyu and other countries within the tributary system respect the Ming Dynasty like a god?

Isn't the reason because Ming Dynasty has the military power to destroy their country at any time?

Why did Japan dare to confront Zhu Yuanzhang and even wrote a very tough reply citing scriptures?

"I heard that the Celestial Empire has a plan to start a war, and that small countries also have plans to defend themselves against the enemy. I also heard that Your Majesty has chosen generals and elite troops to invade my territory. Lands with swamps and islands with mountains and seas have their own preparations. How can you be willing to kneel down and serve him on the way?

If you go with it, you may not live, and if you go against it, you may not die. We meet in front of Helan Mountain and chat about games. Why should I be afraid? If you win and your ministers lose, it will satisfy the wishes of the country. Suppose the ministers are victorious and the king is defeated, but it will be a disservice to the small states.

Since ancient times, peace has been the priority, war has been the priority, and war has been the priority, so as to avoid the devastation of living beings and save the common people from hardship. Special envoys are sent to pay tribute to Your Majesty, but only for the sake of the country. "

Where is Japan's confidence? Isn't it just because it defeated the invincible Mongols twice, so Japan maintains its own military strength and is not afraid of the Ming Dynasty who came from the cross-sea expedition.

In later generations, Ai Gong said, "Truth is only within the range of the cannon, and dignity is only above the edge of the sword." This is the truth, and the exchanges between countries are so true.

"The second potential power is the money from the treasury and the technology to build weapons."

"Where does the money come from? From taxes. The issue of how to collect taxes has been discussed before."

Hearing this, Zhu Gaojiu's eyes were a little fiery. His father planned to give him the task of establishing and training the tax guards. The third child, Zhu Gaosui, had already told him about this.

In other words, his father asked Zhu Gaosui to reveal it to him.

As for Mr. Jiang's literacy class, it seems that it has made rapid progress in the past few days.

According to the "Chinese Pinyin Dictionary" compiled by Jiang Xinghuo, the prisoners who came to be illiterate have already learned the basic initial consonants, and it is only a matter of time before they can spell out the pronunciation.

Once all the initials and finals are learned, even if you don't know the words, you can spell them out with the "Chinese Pinyin Dictionary". At that time, what is lacking is just the process of teaching and practicing common words.

Mathematics exercises are also carried out at the same time.

Thanks to Jiang Xinghuo's in-depth and simple teaching, these prisoners have learned basic addition and subtraction.

In this way, a batch of basic literacy courses can be completed in three months.

There is no obstacle to the establishment of the Tax Guard!

When the time comes, the tax guard will definitely become a powerful weapon for him to fight for reserves!

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu's face couldn't help but reveal an uncontrollable smile.

"Hey!"

When Jiang Xinghuo waved his hand in front of his eyes, Zhu Gaoxu came back to his senses.

Zhu Gaoxu asked sarcastically: "I was distracted. Where were you talking about?"

"I just mentioned that the potential power of the country includes the level of military technology. Since you participated in the Battle of Jingnan, what do you think the level of weaponry and equipment technology of the Ming Dynasty is compared with that of the Yuan Dynasty?" Jiang Xinghuo repeated.

This question really touched on Zhu Gaoxu's area of ​​expertise.

Of course, Zheng He is also good at it, but since his character is a Huaidian bandit, it is inconvenient to discuss this issue.

Zhu Gaoxu scratched his beard and said after thinking for a moment.

"In all aspects, the knives should be about the same. The Mongolian knives are more curved, which is better for horse fighting. The Ming dynasty's knives are longer and suitable for horse riding. There is not much difference between the war horses and they are basically the same. Bows, arrows, spears, and shields are also all the same. Almost; in terms of armor, in terms of defensive capabilities alone, it is definitely not as good as the heavy armor inherited by the Mongols from the Song, Jin, and Xia periods, but the Ming Dynasty's armor is lighter; as for artillery carts (trebuchets), there are basically no artillery carts in the Ming Dynasty now, and sieges must be Far inferior to the Mongolian return artillery; in terms of firearms, the Ming Dynasty is more advanced than the Mongols, and Ping An is very good at using firearms. The heavy armored cavalry attacked by a swarm of swarms do not dare to attack hard, and basically can only go around to the flank or behind to attack .”

Jiang Xinghuo concluded: "In other words, the level of basic weapons such as swords, guns, shields and bows in the Ming Dynasty is the same as that in the Yuan Dynasty. The armor has its own characteristics. The artillery and carriages are not as good as the Yuan Dynasty, and the firearms are worse than the Yuan Dynasty."

"The reason why artillery carriages are inferior to those of the Yuan Dynasty is not because the Ming Dynasty couldn't build them."

Zhu Gaoxu explained: "It's that artillery carriages are mainly used for siege. But now in the north, except for major cities such as Beiping, Dezhou, and Zhending, the rest of the city walls have long been demolished by the Mongols. When Mu Huali led the Mongolian troops to invade Lianghe for the first time, they were all demolished in order to prevent the Jin people from holding on."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded, agreed with this point of view, and asked again.

"Then do you think that if Ming Dynasty wanted to develop its military technology, what weapons could it achieve a breakthrough in?"

Zhu Gaoxu and Zheng He gave completely opposite answers.

"Armor!"

"firearm!"

Zhu Gaoxu first said: "I think we should develop cotton armor for fighting in the north. This thing is very useful. It can keep out the cold and block arrows and blunderbuss."

"I think there is still a lot of room for development of firearms," ​​Zheng He said.

Jiang Xinghuo glanced at this strange red-faced bearded man thoughtfully, but didn't say anything.

Only further doubts and speculations arose about his identity.

As for things like technology points, Jiang Xinghuo didn’t plan to reveal any more. [Iron Horse] and [Thousand Miles of Documents] were just to test the emperor’s attitude, and they were prerequisites for the proposal to be established. If not, he wouldn’t even have these two. Don't want to reveal it.

Therefore, this topic was ignored.

"In the first part of "Great Power Game Theory", we talked about 'offensive realism'; in the second part, we talked about 'state power'. In the next third part, I will use a classic case from previous game theory , to explain the 'security dilemma' of the great power game."

"This case is called the Prisoner Game of Japanese Pirates."

Zhu Gaoxu frowned. Is there a sequel to this thing?

In Jiang Xinghuo's hand, the silver coin shining in the sun appeared again.

"The book continues from the last chapter. The last time the Japanese pirates participated in dividing 100 Phasa silver coins on Tsushima Island, two people survived the 'Japanese pirates divide the silver' game. They were C, who took away 99 silver coins. The Japanese pirates, and the Wu Japanese pirates who took away one silver coin, as for A, B, and D, have long been killed by samurai swords."

"These two are quite lucky."

Looking at Zhu Gaoxu who was sighing, Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and kept up with current events.

"Unfortunately, because the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates, during the subsequent joint robbery, unfortunately encountered the Daming navy who was mopping up the Japanese pirates, so they were defeated and captured."

Zheng He's eyelids twitched as well. Why did Jiang Xinghuo talk about cracking down on Japanese pirates?

Could it be that Jiang Xinghuo figured out my identity?

It shouldn't be, I'm all wearing makeup like this.

Not allowing Zheng He to continue to think deeply, Jiang Xinghuo then elaborated on the background story.

"Immediately afterwards, the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates were locked in different cells."

"The Bing Japanese pirates and the Japanese Japanese pirates spent several days in great fear. The other members of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea, and Ryukyu in their newly joined pirate gangs have been interrogated one after another. In the end, only the two Japanese were left. .”

"There are rumors that the generals of the Ming Dynasty are playing a game with these people who are being interrogated. A game that requires two people to participate."

"Finally one day, the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates were also brought to trial. Instead, they breathed a sigh of relief."

"Come on, even if you kill them, it is much better than suffering in fear like this."

"Inside the house, they saw the Ming Dynasty's general, a majestic man with a big beard."

"Well, just like you two." Jiang Xinghuo pointed at the two people beside him.

Zhu Gaoxu and Zheng He were amused by him and became suspicious again. They always felt that Jiang Xinghuo was hinting at something.

"When the general of the Ming Dynasty told the Japanese pirates Bing and Wu that he wanted to play a game with them, the two Japanese pirates were very nervous."

"What game?" Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but ask.

"A game of betrayal."

Jiang Xinghuo slowly introduced the rules of the game: "The generals of the Ming Dynasty told the Japanese pirates Bing and Wu that they would be interrogated separately, and the content of the interrogation was information about the Japanese pirates' lair on Tsushima Island."

"Only the two Japanese pirates who came from Tsushima Island know this information. The other pirates are all Koreans, Ming people, and Ryukyu people, and they don't know this information."

"The generals of the Ming Dynasty told the Bing Japanese pirates and Wu Japanese pirates that if both of them refused to speak up about the information about the Japanese pirates' lair on Tsushima Island, then both of them would only be sentenced to one year in prison; if one of them refused to speak, the other would If both confess, the person who confesses will be released immediately, while the person who refuses to confess will have to serve 20 years in prison. If both people confess, their sentences will be reduced by one-tenth because of their confession, and both will serve 18 years. "

"Guess what the final decision will be between the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates?"

After listening to the rules of the game, Zhu Gaoxu made progress on the ground with his thick fingers, while Zheng He started to deduce in his mind.

Jiang Xinghuo watched the two of them thinking and quietly closed his mouth.

——————

Discussions also started in the secret room at this time.

Zhu Di maintained the majesty of the emperor, remained silent, and stared at his ministers with a straight face.

Zhu Gaochi was counting with his fleshy fingers.

Dao Yan's bald head leaned against the back of the chair. If it weren't for the red sandalwood rosary beads in his hand that were still spinning, Zhu Di would have almost thought that Dao Yan was asleep.

Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs, has been in a trance, and so has Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites.

It's just that Zhu Di didn't know whether Li Zhigang was really thinking or pretending.

As for the two petty officials, Guo Jing and Chai Che, they were also conducting paper deductions at this time because they had paper and pen on hand.

The atmosphere in the secret room was terrifyingly dull.

Zhu Gaochi calculated over and over again and asked first.

"Is it possible that both the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates refused to speak, and both were sentenced to one year in prison?"

Xia Yuanji responded: "It's possible, but it's unlikely."

"Why?" Zhu Di also interjected and asked.

Xia Yuanji replied matter-of-factly: "The Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates have enmity! The last time they distributed 100 Phasa silver coins on Tsushima Island, the Bing Japanese pirates took away 99, while the Wu Japanese pirates only took away 1 piece, the Wu Japanese pirates must have a grudge."

Zhu Di was startled and said: "There is hatred, and no one would be happy if it were him."

Zhu Gaochi also murmured: "But something seems wrong."

Xia Yuanji understood what Zhu Gaochi meant. He explained: "This time I did not say that the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates were [absolutely rational]. Since there is no such premise, they cannot be treated as [absolutely rational] people."

"Furthermore, Master Jiang clearly told that the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates were the two people who survived the 'Japanese Japanese pirates' silver game' last time. He also described their psychology, such as fear, relief, trepidation, etc. These are all It shows that the Bing Japanese pirates and the Wu Japanese pirates are no longer [absolutely rational] people, so they will not make [absolutely rational] judgments when facing a new round of games."