The strategy of restraint was the most commonly used policy for ancient Chinese dynasties to deal with remote ethnic minority living areas far away from the central court. In the pre-Qin period, this policy had begun to take shape.

The so-called restraint, "restriction" means controlling with military and political pressure, and "restriction" means comforting with economic and material interests.

To be implemented in detail... in fact, it is similar to the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty. It is equivalent to the feudal system of a remote barbarian country. It generally maintains its original political system and ensures that its monarch retains a considerable degree of power and status, and only requires it to pay tribute, but its status is only an administrative unit.

One of the most prominent features of the policy of restraint is that it is a policy of tenderness, at least at the beginning.

Qin and Bashu were set up in Bashu, and Shuhou was set up in Shu. It seemed that the handling method was similar, but in fact it was completely different.

The biggest difference is that Shu Hou’s surname is Ying!

Therefore, Bazhong is a ban, while Shuzhong... is a ban.

Gu Xun had an understanding of Qin's policies in Ba and Shu, so he emphasized that it was best to follow the policy of Qin and Bazhong, rather than Shuzhong.

Ying Zheng frowned slightly and confirmed, "The meaning of the national teacher is like the former Ba Jun, and he ordered that Tianze be the chief of the Minyue generation to continue the existing regime?"

Gu Xun thought for a moment, nodded, and replied more clearly, "Basically, this is the case. Of course, today's empire is different from the past after all. It doesn't have to be as gentle as it was back then, but it's better not to be like Shu."

"Well... it's not just Minyue, I think the whole Baiyue is best dealt with like this."

Since the establishment of the Shu marquis Kingdom in Qin, there has never been any rebellion in that place. On the one hand, it is because the special geographical location of Shu is prone to breed ambitions, and on the other hand, it is because the Qin State's tough policies towards Shu.

The Minyue Kingdom...or the entire Baiyue region actually conforms to the characteristics of Shu in terms of geographical location and environment.

However, Gu Xun did not recommend that Ying Zheng use the method of dealing with the land of Shu to deal with Baiyue.

Judging from the current control ability of the empire in remote border areas, whether it is adopting a gentle and restraining policy, or completely integrating Baiyue into the imperial rule, adopting military control, or establishing the Nanhai Weishang to control military and political power, the final outcome is only one.

That is, Lingnan escapes from the control of the empire. The only difference is that he finally becomes the king and who is the ambitious man who controls Lingnan.

The former means the indigenous vassal founded, and the latter means the appointed military and political ministers.

As for finding a loyal minister to manage... people's hearts are easy to change, this is purely metaphysical operation and unrealistic.

After all, Lingnan is different from Bashu. Shu is just below Guanzhong and is not that far from Xianyang.

Perhaps the empire could not maintain a stable rule in Shu, but at least we could have a timely understanding of the situation in Shu. As long as the rule of Ba is still stable, the road to entering Shu will not be cut off. Even if there is a rebellion, the empire's dispatch of troops to conquer is not too troublesome.

But once there is a change in Lingnan, the news may take a month to spread to Xianyang.

After the court makes the handling plan, mobilizes troops and supplies, and then sends troops to conquer, it may have been half a year.

It’s okay to have rebelled one or two times. If it continues to rebel like Shu, the central court will not have to worry about other things and focus on dealing with the troubles of Lingnan.

As the saying goes, two evils are the least, but in comparison, it is better to be a ruling strategy.

As big as Lingnan, many native monarchs are expected to be enfeoffed. Once there are too many people, their hearts will easily become uneven and internal strife will easily occur, which will facilitate the empire to attack and provoke discord.

Even if the indigenous chiefs have a different intention, they may not necessarily directly rebel and rebellion. After all, as long as they pay tribute every year and nominally recognize the rule of the empire, everyone can continue to be peaceful.

Is it better than fighting?

All Gu Xun's suggestions were based on what he knew, and he made the most appropriate and maximized benefits.

But he thinks it's appropriate, but it doesn't mean others are the same.

Gu Xun is not such a smart person, but after all, he has a vision that surpasses this era for more than two thousand years. Even if what he saw in the past was not even able to reach the level of this period of time, he eventually surpassed this era.

Without Ying Zheng's objection, Li Si once again questioned, "The national teacher should understand that there were many reasons why King Huiwen of the past used the strategy of restraint to deal with Badi."

"First of all, to use Ba to control Shu, it is essential to comfort you with softness. Secondly, Ba is close to Guanzhong, and the court has time to deal with the changes that have occurred in Ba at any time."

"In comparison, the land of Lingnan...even if it is only for the Fujian and Yue generation, it is not suitable."

"I think that even if a native vassal monarch is retained, he can only be granted empty titles and cannot give real power." Li Si looked at Gu Xun and explained his point of view in a slight manner, "What do the national teacher think?"

As soon as Li Si said this, many ministers agreed.

This time, Li Si was not entirely trying to cater to the emperor, but also his own opinion.

You are engaged in monarchy autonomy three thousand miles away from the core of the empire's political system, which is even more outrageous than the Zhou Dynasty's feudalization!

Gu Xun spread his hands and put his shoulders on his shoulders, "There is nothing to say about the trick."

"Tianze just has some cooperation with me, and it's not my puppet. If he doesn't give him real power, he will never be willing to surrender."

Li Si knew that although Tianze surrendered to the empire would lose his status and power, it was not completely unhealthy.

Not only has it, but it is also very important.

"If Tianze is willing to serve and has no excessive demands, at least the empire can guarantee his life without any fear." Li Si said in a calm tone that the empire can give Tianze the greatest benefit - his life!

"According to what the national master said, Tianze is not a foolish fool. You should understand that for the empire, it only takes a moment to capture the entire Minyue."

"He is willing to surrender, but he loses only status and power. If he doesn't surrender, he loses much more than this."

Gu Xun did not refute it. This is indeed the case. However, if this can make people willingly hand over power, then there will be no need to fight in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period for hundreds of years. Everyone will sit together to compete for their strength, and then the weak surrender will be over.

It is about power. If you don’t really fight, who will give up easily?

"If Tingwei said that, then you can do this yourself." Gu Xun shrugged indifferently and gave up decisively. "There is no need to ask me to do this extravagantly. Anyway, it depends on whether Tianze can sort out the situation."

Li Si was not unhappy with Gu Xun's attitude, and still had a smile on his face, and responded seriously, "The national teacher is so serious."

"No matter what, the national teacher and Tianze are intimate, so the other party will definitely be more convinced of what they say. It is most effective to explain the benefits and interests of them to him."

Since Li Si said so, Gu Xun no longer refused and nodded, "No problem, I'll send someone to contact him when I look back."

The matter of Tianze is temporarily settled here.

Of course, persuading surrender is like a negotiation. You can make the beginning of a plan in just a few words, but the actual process is often a matter of hard work and requires a lot of time to agree on the conditions of both parties.

Even though Ying Zheng set a basic bottom line that could not be left to Tianze's military and political autonomy, there is still a lot of room for negotiation and needs to be taken slowly.

Fortunately, it takes a while to prepare for the conquest of Baiyue, and there is some negotiation time.

Gu Xun looked at Li Si and asked with a smile, "So, does Lord Tingwei need any help from me?"

When Li Si heard Gu Xun's question deliberately teasing him, he didn't care. He immediately replied happily, "It's true."

"The national teacher also said before that the environment in Lingnan is terrible and the road is blocked. It is difficult for the imperial army to invade Baiyue."

Gu Xun looked at Li Si squintly and said bluntly, "Sir Li, don't go around in circles, tell me the key points!"

"Haha, I have heard that the caravan of the National Army specially formed a maritime fleet in order to facilitate the exchanges between Lingnan in the Central Plains."

"Ah, you're targeting this." Gu Xun suddenly realized.

He does have one in the fleet.

When the relationship with the Mo family broke down, the Baiyue road could not be repaired. Gu Xun tried to ask the Gongshu family for help, but unfortunately he failed.

Gongshu Qiu himself is very willing to sell ancient times to find favors, but he has no skills in his clones. Gongshu's family is seriously short of staff and can only refuse.

At that time, the Qin State was still continuing to fight foreign wars, and the public losers needed to build a large number of mechanical beasts and manipulate them on the battlefield, occupying the vast majority of their hands.

The rest of the people were also busy creating the mirage's major project in the century. Because of the Donghuang Taiyi's theory of fairy mountain, Ying Zheng ordered Gongshu Qiu to design the mirage's giant ship.

When it comes to road construction, the public losers can only provide suitable mechanisms and beasts, but they cannot draw humans to operate them.

Gu Xun had no choice but to take the last plan he had - shipping.

In this era when river transportation almost never existed, sea transportation was not even considered a word.

Although the Linhai countries such as Wu, Qi, Yan, and Lu had made sea ships, and even King Fuchai of Wu used sea ships to transport troops to attack Qi, they had never been used for commercial transportation.

Because the cost is too high and the benefits are too small.

Where did ordinary merchants form a fleet of maritime ships?

People who can be formed will not be obsessed with having to transport by sea. Isn’t it good to go to land?

After all, the coastlines of the Central Plains countries are not very long, and they are only half a pound of pounds and magnitudes of the Baiyue land, so it is not troublesome to transport on foot.

What's more, there are additional risks at sea.

The shipbuilding technology in this era was just like that. Even if it had mature and stable navigation routes, the risk of sailing on the sea was still relatively high.

Gu Xun had no choice but to adopt the plan that would be done once and for all.

After finding a public loser to build several ships suitable for sailing and transporting goods for himself, Gu Xun found some people who had experience in sailing at sea and formed a fleet of sea freight.

To be honest, the initial losses were relatively large, because there was no safe route to Lingnan at that time, although this kind of navigation along the coastline was not particularly necessary.

In short, after several trials and errors, after losing more than a dozen ships, I finally got my head out and found my experience.

The Gongshu family's technology is not a decoration after all. The ships they built are indeed easy to use, otherwise Gu Xun would have suffered even greater losses.

However, although the losses are not small, the benefits are also very gratifying.

Maritime transportation is more convenient than land transportation itself, but the prerequisite requirements are relatively high and the investment is relatively large.

With the benefits of shipping, the efficiency of making money from Lingnan has almost increased several times. The most important thing is that the shipping process itself is simple, which facilitates the confidentiality of shipping.

There are some things that Gu Xun still doesn't want Ying Zheng to notice.

Gu Xun asked Li Si with a smile, "Do you want to transport soldiers directly into the hinterland of Lingnan through sea boats?"

"Well... Maybe it's not just about transporting troops, food, grass and other logistics supplies, but it should also be transported in this way."

"It's just an immature initial idea." Li Si said with a smile, adhering to the humility of Confucian disciples, "The national teacher must know better in this regard, and I hope he will give me some advice."

"Well... let's discuss this again, it's quite complicated." Gu Xun did not give his own advice immediately, "After all, we are up, so it's not appropriate for both of us to talk about it, right?"
To be continued...