The ministers were naturally very opposed to the emperor's practice of abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones, and abolishing the direct descendants and establishing concubines.
First of all, Confucianism emphasizes the importance of concubines being superior to others and ordering the elders and younger ones. Therefore, abolishing the direct descendants and establishing concubines and abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones are contrary to Confucian moral principles.
Although Xiang Nan had already begun to popularize mathematics, inquiry, history, geography and other subjects more than ten years ago, he no longer only respected Confucianism, but only promoted talents through the "Four Books and Five Classics".
However, Confucianism has been popular in the Central Plains for thousands of years. Its culture and ideas have already penetrated into every aspect of life, and they are not easy to change.
Most of the ministers in the court were defenders of Confucianism, so Xiang Nan's approach was very inappropriate in their view.
Secondly, since ancient times, abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones, and abolishing the direct descendants and establishing concubines have been the ways of death for the dynasty.
For example, during the Qin Dynasty, the first emperor of Qin deposed his eldest son Fusu and made his second son Hu Hai the emperor. As a result, the third generation of Qin died. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed the prince Liu Ju, which led to the witchcraft disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people were implicated. This was the Han Dynasty. The beginning of the transition from prosperity to decline;
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao abolished the eldest son and established a young one, causing his two sons Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang to fight among themselves, which Cao Cao took advantage of. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty abolished the eldest son and established a young one. He deposed the crown prince Yang Yong and made his second son Yang Guangwei the crown prince. As a result, The second generation of the Sui Dynasty was destroyed...
It is precisely because of these lessons learned that the heirs in the past dynasties mostly adopted the system of establishing direct descendants and eldest sons. This was also the case for ordinary people. After the death of the father, the legitimate son or eldest son took charge of the family.
Therefore, Xiang Nan’s current practice of abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones, and abolishing the direct descendants and establishing concubines, naturally aroused opposition from the ministers.
…
Seeing the overwhelming public opinion, Xiang Nan was reluctant to force Zhu Jianji to be the crown prince.
After all, public anger is hard to offend, and even if he is the emperor, he cannot do too much as he pleases. Besides, there are many ways to solve the problem, and it is not easy to go against the officials.
At that time, all the ministers will be offended, and it will also be detrimental to his son's succession.
Hence Xiang Nan no longer insisted on his own opinion and forced his son to be the crown prince. However, he did not make Zhu Jianze the prince, but left the prince's position vacant.
At any rate, he and Qiu Moyan still have at least twenty years to live, so there is no need to rush.
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In the thirty-second year of Tianshun's reign, the Asia-Europe Railway finally merged in Ili. As a result, the Asia-Europe Railway was fully connected, and the imperial court's control over the Western Regions, Central Asia, and Europe would also reach a new height.
With the opening of the railway, the goods trade along the Silk Road will also reach a new peak.
Although Europe has now been conquered, and most of the wealth accumulated over thousands of years has been taken away by Xiang Nan, as long as there are people, land, cattle, sheep, and minerals, wealth can continue to be produced, and with wealth, there can be trade. .
Just like in the late Qing Dynasty, when China was so poor, many merchants still came to China to do business, and they even did not hesitate to use guns and cannons to open trade routes.
Moreover, Europe is now full of opportunities. In the eyes of many businessmen, this is a good opportunity for investment. For a time, countless merchants were pursuing profits and heading to Europe with their goods.
Countless immigrants also traveled to Europe by train to receive fields, houses, livestock, etc.
Xiang Nan is also happy to see this.
The Ming Dynasty was unlucky that it was right in the middle, so it suffered the most severe and cruel climate disasters.
According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty·Five Elements Chronicles", the normal situation in Jinling is that there is little wind and snow in winter, but in the Ming Dynasty, "the winter was extremely cold, and the river was frozen for several days." "Yueshibian" records that in the Huizhou area, "there was heavy snow for several days, and the flat ground accumulated three feet." "Yuedong Tongzhi" recorded that in the first year of Zhengde, snow fell thousands of miles across Guangdong and Qiongzhou, and the snow was several feet thick within the territory. When it is the coldest, the snow line even covers the northern part of Hainan Island. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as thousands of miles of ice.
Hence, during the Ming Dynasty, which was in the Little Ice Age, agricultural production was greatly damaged. Drought, cold, snow, hail... have resulted in serious crop yield losses, and a large number of people and livestock have been frozen to death. It can be said to be unspeakable misery.
It is precisely for this reason that after Xiang Nan opened up the territory, he could send the poor people who had no land to farm to Central Asia, Europe and other places to immigrate and cultivate land. Moreover, food and livestock from various places can also be transported to China to alleviate food shortages.
All in all, they are all good things.
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In the same year, Xiang Nan ordered the Donghai Division to send troops to attack Japan.
At this time, Japan was in the Muromachi period.
In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty, AD 1336, Ashikaga Takauji established the samurai regime in Muromachi, Kyoto. Japan entered the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, with two emperors reigning at the same time.
In the 25th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, in 1392 AD, the emperor of the Southern Dynasty performed a ceding ceremony to the emperor of the Northern Dynasty and granted artifacts, thus realizing the unification of the two dynasties. In this way, the Muromachi Shogunate became a unified political power that dominated the country.
In 1467 AD, the tenth year of the Tianshun reign of the Ming Dynasty, serious civil strife broke out among the lords under the shogunate surrounding the issue of the successor of the general, known in history as the "Onnin Rebellion".
The Yingren Rebellion ushered in the Warring States Period in Japan. After the war, the power of the shogun, the guardian daimyo, and the manor lords and nobles became even weaker, and Japanese history entered the Warring States period in which the emerging warring states daimyo fought with each other.
The Muromachi shogunate was subsequently overthrown by Oda Nobunaga, and Japan then entered the Azuchi-Momoyama era. Oda Nobunaga was subsequently assassinated by his subordinate Mitsuhide Akechi, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded him.
After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu unified the world and established the shogunate in Edo, which was the Tokugawa shogunate. Japan also entered the Edo period.
This period should be familiar to readers who have played "The Legend of Taige Lizhi".
Due to the Yingren Rebellion, Japan is now in the Warring States Period. The heroes are divided, conquering each other, and in chaos.
It is precisely for this reason that when the Ming army invaded Japan, all the princes could not cooperate with the outside world, and therefore they were like a piece of scattered sand.
What's more, today's Japan basically only has cold weapons, such as swords and spears, and very few firearms. At this time, the Ming army's weapons and equipment were more powerful than before.
Machine guns, mortars, howitzers, automatic rifles, grenades, mines and other advanced weapons can be said to be quite complete.
The equipment is as strong as the U.S. army in the early stages of World War II, except that it does not have tanks or aircraft.
Hence, when encountering the Japanese army armed with cold weapons, they were simply overwhelming and invincible. In less than a year, the army had fought from south to north, wiped out all the princes, and captured the emperor and generals of Japan.
Xiang Nan later established the Zhendong Protectorate in Japan and sent officials to rule Japan. After Japan was wiped out, the Japanese pirates along the southeast coast became rootsless trees and water without a source.
It was precisely because of the war between the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Yingren Rebellion that the Japanese rogues, warriors, farmers, etc. left their homeland and came to the southeastern coast of China to work as pirates.
Now that Japan has been destroyed, they have lost their personnel complement, and the Nanhai Navy, Donghai Navy and merchant groups are constantly attacking them.
Therefore, in the thirty-third year of Tianshun's reign, the Japanese pirates had disappeared along the southeastern coast.