The First Family of the Red Mansion

Chapter 40 Emperor Anping's Concerns

"After the red-haired barbarians transported slaves to the New World, they sold the slaves to their colonists in the New World."

"Finally, the silver, grain, tobacco, and sugar obtained in exchange for slaves were transported back to Europe."

"By completing a single triangular trade, those foreign merchants could reap dozens of times the profit."

"Some of the red-haired tribesmen, after completing their trade in the New World, would bypass this sea route to the south."

Liu Hu pointed to the Strait of Magellan and continued.

"Then they crossed the East China Sea and arrived in Southeast Asia. They traded the gold and silver they brought from the New World with us, turning it into silk and porcelain, and then headed west back to Europe!"

"Through this maritime trade, the three red-haired tribes have amassed enormous wealth over the past century, which has enabled them to have ships all over the world."

After Liu Hu finished speaking, he quietly stepped aside, his face completely calm.

After a moment of turmoil, Emperor Anping looked at Liu Hu, who was looking down, with surprise, and his lips moved slightly.

How did you find out about this?

"Even I have never been told these things by anyone."

"If this triangular trade were truly so profitable, how could the barbarians have allowed this information to reach the Great Zhou? Aren't they afraid that the Great Zhou would also get involved?"

"With our strength, once we get involved, those three tiny countries will be swallowed up by us in no time."

"Your Majesty, what I am about to say is not a secret in the Great Zhou at all. There are some books about Europe translated by foreigners in bookstores, but it seems that not many people pay attention to these books."

The Great Zhou was not like the Manchu Qing, which practiced isolationism, indoctrination, and even literary inquisition.

Since the reign of Emperor Taizong, books introducing the West have entered the Great Zhou Dynasty through three maritime trading cities in the south, but unfortunately, not many people were willing to read them.

After all, in the minds of the people of the Great Zhou, the land of China was vast and rich in resources, a great and superior nation. Why bother knowing about those barren lands thousands of miles away in foreign lands?

Even if someone reads these books to broaden their horizons, they only treat them as travelogues or even random musings and strange theories.

After all, only those Western missionaries are willing to spend a lot of effort translating their books in order to facilitate their missionary work in the Great Zhou, so that the nobles and common people of the Great Zhou can understand and know them.

As a result, the book inevitably contained some of their supernatural and fantastical elements, which explains why the scholars of the Great Zhou Dynasty treated the book's contents as a fantasy novel.

In the books of Western missionaries, sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes were described as gifts from their God to the people of the Great Zhou.

After all, the three trading ports of the Great Zhou Dynasty were all in the south, and the Western missionaries were all concentrated in those three port cities, so they naturally knew about the three kinds of crops that had already appeared in the south.

Given this, how could those missionaries possibly let go of such an opportunity to expand their influence? Naturally, they had to describe it extensively in their books.

As for the concern that letting them know about the wealth overseas might lead to the Great Zhou seizing their territory, that is a concern.

Hehe, after decades of trade with the Great Zhou, the red-haired barbarians have figured out the Great Zhou's ways.

Even if their emperors and generals coveted the wealth overseas, they should not forget the monster that had ruled the Central Plains for thousands of years: Confucianism.

As long as Confucianism remains in power, the Great Zhou Dynasty will never be able to leave the Central Plains.

Because Confucianism wouldn't allow them to go out!

If Liu Hu hadn't been a time traveler, he would never have noticed those books, let alone gleaned so much information from those books full of myths and legends.

"Such a book exists?" Emperor Anping was even more puzzled after hearing Liu Hu's explanation.

If such books were available on the market, he couldn't possibly be unaware of them.

But he seemed to have never heard of any books that covered these topics.

"Your Majesty, most of the books within the Great Zhou territory were translated by missionaries from the Western Regions, and they inevitably contain many of their myths and legends, so not many people pay much attention to them."

"Then how did you come to notice these books?" Emperor Anping looked at Liu Hu, his face full of smiles, but his eyes were filled with inquiry and confusion.

For decades since the reign of Emperor Taizong, not a single scholar in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty has noticed these things. Yet Liu Hu, this country boy, has discovered something in Western books that the scholars of the Great Zhou Dynasty have not noticed for decades in less than a year.

"hey-hey……"

Liu Hu smiled sheepishly: "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I only studied in a private school for two years, and I can't understand those Confucian classics. Moreover, compared to other books, these books are cheaper and more novel."

"I have just arrived in the capital and have a large family to support, so..."

Liu Hu knew that his words would arouse Emperor Anping's suspicion, but everything Liu Hu said was true.

Western books are sold in some bookstores in Shenjing, though not many, but definitely available, because Liu Hu himself has bought a few.

That was really cheap; a book translated by a Western missionary was much cheaper than a Confucian primer.

Emperor Anping looked at Liu Hu, who was putting on an act of being honest and simple, and felt a mix of emotions.

But it wasn't that they suspected Liu Hu of deceiving the emperor or lying; rather, they were amazed by his intelligence and quick wit.

Not to mention his military prowess, he trained with the Jia family's personal guards for half a year, during which time he studied a basic military book, "The Essentials of Military Strategy," on his own. On his first western expedition, he achieved feats comparable to those of Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty.

Then, through self-study, relying on a few miscellaneous books that others would consider ghost stories, he was able to see so many things that others couldn't.

"Fortunately! I personally discovered him, and he also had a weakness that I knew about; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable..."

"Alright, I understand. These words you spoke today have entered my ears, and you must not tell anyone else about them in the near future."

"I obey your decree!"

Whether Emperor Anping believed Liu Hu's story or not, no one but himself knows.

But he understood the meaning behind Liu Hu's words.

Since the Great Zhou is currently short of funds, it is impossible for it to wage war against the Jianzhou Jurchens in the short term.

If that's the case, why don't we learn from those foreign barbarians and sell the Jianzhou Jurchens as slaves?

At this time, the Great Zhou Dynasty had not yet abolished the status of lowly people, and the princes and nobles kept a large number of servants in their mansions.

As the Great Zhou Dynasty developed, servants became extremely scarce.

Unless absolutely necessary, who would willingly become a slave?

Once you become a slave, your life and death are in the hands of your master.

Moreover, those nobles and dignitaries were unwilling to use the locals as their slaves.

During the decades of the Great Zhou Dynasty, slave rebellions would still occur from time to time in the Jiangnan region.

Although the servants were eventually executed, the deaths of their masters and the resulting financial losses made nobles and dignitaries more cautious in selecting their servants.

If we had a large number of Jianzhou, not only could some of the people of the Great Zhou be restored to their good status, but we would also not have to worry about the Jianzhou slaves, who were used to being servants, rebelling against their masters.

However, Emperor Anping did not dare to make a decision lightly before this.

Because capturing foreigners as slaves would be something that Confucian scholars would absolutely oppose.

Because this does not conform to the way of the sage!

Thinking of this, Emperor Anping almost couldn't resist taking a knife and chopping down those Confucian scholars.

They exploit and oppress the people of the Great Zhou in every way, but they talk about benevolence, wisdom, and propriety to those from other ethnic groups. I really don't know which government they are in charge of.

Moreover, Emperor Anping knew in his heart that if he agreed to capture the Jianzhou Jurchens as slaves, those civil officials would oppose it on the surface, but they would definitely be more ruthless than anyone else in secret.

At the same time, such slave buyers could only be limited to the territory of the Great Zhou. If they were sold to Southeast Asia or other places, who would know whether the ships were carrying Jianzhou Jurchens or citizens of the Great Zhou?

"The method is good, but I wonder how much trouble it will cause?" Emperor Anping stood quietly alone in the imperial study, his heart still uneasy.

Just think of the vast and fertile lands of the New World and the abundant gold, silver and copper mines. If all of these belonged to the Great Zhou, would he still have to worry about food and military pay?

"Let's do it!"

To become a great emperor throughout history, one must expand outwards.

But before venturing out, he had to clean up his home first, as the Jurchen Tatars in the north had clearly become an obstacle to his becoming a great emperor for all time.

Confucianism also needs to be changed.

After thousands of years of development and change, Confucianism has long lost its ambition.

Modern Confucian governance adheres to the principle that stillness is worse than action.

The goal is to confine the people within a certain scope and let them develop according to the wishes of Confucianism.

This approach has a significant effect on restoring order after disruption.

However, when things developed to a certain point, even the Confucian school didn't know what to do.

The population can only be allowed to grow until the land can no longer support the people, at which point a new dynasty will change.

As emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty who came from merchant backgrounds, they also saw this problem and wanted to find a new way out for the Great Zhou.

However, the only method they could think of was the one from the Song Dynasty, which was to encourage merchants to hire more people.

Then, the practice of freeing slaves was implemented, giving those who could not survive more ways to live.

But after listening to Liu Hu's words, Emperor Anping saw a better option: as long as the Great Zhou went out and had more land, would it still be overthrown by the refugees who lost their land and could not survive?

"Dai Quan, go and fetch all the books translated by foreign missionaries in the capital!"

Thinking of this, Emperor Anping could no longer sit still and immediately ordered Dai Quan to find the book.

He wanted to see if what Liu Hu said was really true.

……

"What are all these?"

Emperor Anping flipped through the books that Dai Quan had retrieved, and as he read, he could no longer resist.

The book doesn't record many important events, but the vast majority of its content praises their so-called Lord.

It seems that everything in the world is a gift from the so-called Lord.

They discovered a new continent, a continent that was the reward God bestowed upon their people.

If they find gold and silver, they believe they have received guidance from the Lord, and they should even thank the Lord when they eat and sleep.

"If you've taken care of everything, what's the point of having me and the people of the world?"

Emperor Anping couldn't finish reading the book; his mind was filled with thoughts of gods and deities!

"No wonder I didn't know about these books before. Even those pedantic scholars who hide in their books probably couldn't stand reading them."

Looking at the box full of books, Emperor Anping shook his head and smiled wryly a few times: "It's quite remarkable that Liu Hu could glean so much from these books."

Although he had only read a little, Emperor Anping was already certain that Liu Hu was not lying. Although most of the book praised the so-called "master" of the "red-haired barbarians," the things Liu Hu said were indeed in the book.

If Liu Hu hadn't reminded him, he would have truly regarded the things in the book as absurd nonsense.

"Dai Quan, send men to the coastal trading cities to find some foreign merchants and bring them back to me. Remember not to cause too much of a commotion."

Emperor Anping discovered that the entire Great Zhou Dynasty knew too little about the "Red-haired Barbarians," and even those who knew more probably wouldn't allow such information to enter the palace.

Those people were afraid that these things would arouse the emperor's curiosity, and once a person becomes curious, he will not be able to sit still in the palace.

"It seems we need to hurry up with the trip to Jiangnan. I want to see for myself what those Jiangnan gentry have turned Jiangnan into."

Emperor Anping was incited to rebel by the deception of the gentry in Jiangnan. He thought, "You won't let me go, but I'll go and visit your territory anyway."

If Liu Hu hadn't told him these things, who knows how long they would have kept it a secret?

"In your eyes, I am ultimately not the wise and virtuous ruler you believe me to be!"

Emperor Anping had by this time roughly understood that those people in Jiangnan truly intended to offer the valuable items they possessed to the "sage ruler" they recognized.

In this way, they only need to offer these things, and they can help their "holy ruler" create a peaceful and prosperous world without doing almost anything.

"Hehe..." Emperor Anping couldn't help but chuckle a few times: "Regardless of your plans, now that I know these things, they belong to me."

For the next period of time, Liu Hu spent almost all his time with Emperor Anping, even when eating and resting, he would stay in a side hall near Emperor Anping.

The Great Zhou Dynasty was in turmoil during this period. A fire in the snowy night in the capital poured cold water on the civil and military officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty as the New Year approached.

A large number of agents from the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guards went south, and news would frequently come from the south about which family had been raided, or which Donglin Party leader or major merchant had been arrested.

The original ending of Dream of the Red Chamber describes the Jia family's tragic fate, but compared to the people whose homes were raided during this period, it's nothing.

As Emperor Anping's personal bodyguard, Liu Hu had become accustomed to words like "suicide," "execution for resistance," and "death in prison from illness" during this period.

You can tell from between the lines what kind of bloody storm Jiangnan had gone through during this period.

During this period, all the civil and military officials in the court were trembling with fear.

In the decades since the Great Zhou Dynasty was established, it had never conducted such a large-scale purge internally.

The number of people implicated has already reached thousands, and dozens are still being thrown into jail every day.

In the minds of the civil and military officials, shouldn't the emperor of the Great Zhou be ruthless to foreign powers and benevolent to his own people?

It seems that the current emperor is trending towards becoming like Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor).

Please don't!

During this period, even when Liu Hu was not at home, people still came to visit him in an endless stream.

They were terrified. The Great Zhou Emperor had never raised his butcher's knife before, and this time, the whole world was filled with fear!