Chapter 62: The Resource Input Method That Bypasses the Middleman (Bonus Chapter for Patron "Crows Return")

"Actually, what we have been discussing represents relatively ideal scenarios. In reality, many situations make such approaches impossible." Guo Kang added with a helpless sigh, "And to be honest, distinguishing between 'our own people' and 'outsiders' is also a terribly troublesome problem."

"Is that so?" Joan asked.

"I used to think that merely drawing the line between the civilized and the barbarians would suffice. But later, when I observed the situation over at Fourth Grandfather's side, I found it far more complicated than that," Zhu Wenkui shook his head. "Some people are utterly reliable in times of adversity; others are only willing to help when money is involved; and still others require not only money, but also the strict constraint of force and law before they will do any work."

"Moreover, these varying degrees of reliability cannot be neatly categorized by ethnicity—back in the day, some Mongols who had experienced the rule of the Yuan Dynasty were far more enthusiastic than the Han Chinese when fighting the Northern Yuan alongside Fourth Grandfather. Yet their descendants are not necessarily cut from the same cloth as their fathers. The reality is vastly more complex."

"In short, it is a deeply troublesome issue that requires not only a sound institutional framework but also an exceptional leader. Having seen so much of this, I've come to feel that screwing things up is actually the norm."

"Indeed," Guo Kang nodded. "The ideal scenario is one where the Han Chinese in the heartland wholeheartedly serve the country, drill daily, and provide surplus output to subsidize the borderlands; while the Han Chinese in the border regions remain loyal to the imperial court, diligently guard the frontiers, and take the initiative to strike against the northern nomads, with both sides uniting completely to confront external foes."

"In reality, however, the heartland Han often look down upon the borderland Han as poor and uncouth, deeming them barbarized; while the borderland Han despise the heartland Han as decadent and corrupted, deeming them uncultured. It's a miracle if these two factions don't end up fighting each other, let alone expecting them to help one another out of a sense of shared brotherhood."

"When this mindset develops to a certain extreme, you get the situation of the Song Dynasty. Throughout the court and the common populace, many believed that the Tang Dynasty originated from northern nomads, was tainted by Xianbei bloodlines, and followed the ceremonial dress of Northern Qi, making it a barbarian-influenced, impure regime. By contrast, the Great Song performed vastly better in these aspects."

"To be honest, I find this rather surprising," Toghon remarked. "Perhaps I haven't read enough books to understand their way of thinking."

"Because their perspective was different," Guo Kang explained. "The people of the Song believed that the prosperous eras of the Tang, such as Zhenguan and Kaiyuan, lasted only two or three decades before coming to an end. Yet the Great Song had enjoyed prosperity for over a century since its founding; on this metric alone, it was far superior to the Tang."

"The people of the Song focused on economic development rather than military achievements, so such a mindset naturally arose, which is actually not surprising at all. From their standpoint, the Great Song was indeed the most economically prosperous and wealthiest nation since antiquity. The monarchs and ministers of the Song took profound pride in this."

"Actually, you don't need to read too many books; just take a look at the writings of Master Zhu that the teacher gave you, and you will understand," he said to Toghon. "Zhu Xi recorded that during the Xuanzheng era, the slogan promoted by the court was 'Abundance and Grandeur,' advocating that the present was an era of peace, prosperity, and wealth, and that there was no need to adhere to the traditional virtue of frugality. Instead, people should spend lavishly to display the nation's might, which would actually benefit the state."

"Why is that?" Toghon asked in confusion.

"That is far too complex to explain simply. In any case, the ruling officials like Cai Jing did indeed possess a coherent set of their own theories," Guo Kang said. "Whenever people in the court brought up the frugality policies of previous dynasties, they were fully capable of refuting them. If you are interested, you can look up the records in the History of Song yourself."

"That truly sounds too professional," Theodora rare in agreeing with her younger brother. "My understanding of Song history is also quite limited; I can't even recall that Xuanzheng era name."

"That isn't an era name strictly speaking; it's more of a customary abbreviation," Guo Kang explained. "Xuanzheng is short for Xuanhe and Zhenghe, which, according to the Heavenly Brother calendar, corresponds to the years 1111 to 1125. During this period, the Song Dynasty had just recaptured the Hehuang region, winning immense prestige for the court. Its wealth had accumulated to its absolute peak, and cultural and artistic achievements reached similar heights. Broadly speaking, it was the zenith of their golden age."

"How strange. The Zhenguan and Kaiyuan eras, which they looked down upon, are things I've heard all about over here, yet no one ever told me about this great golden age beforehand," Theodora said, puzzled. "Could it be because the teachers all specialize in the history of the Tang and aren't familiar with the Song?"

"Not really. It's mainly because this particular timeframe tends to have its thunder stolen," Guo Kang replied. "Starting in 1126, the era name became Jingkang. That is far more famous than Xuanzheng, and I'm sure the teachers must have told you about it."

"Er..." Theodora was taken aback. "They did mention that one, indeed..."

"Well, that escalated rather abruptly," Toghon was equally surprised.

"The reasons behind that could keep the teachers lecturing you for days. However, one point is directly relevant to our current topic," Guo Kang said, pointing to the central region of the Central Plains on the map.

"The wealth of the Song Dynasty was actually somewhat inflated. Of course, this is not to say its economy was failing, but rather that the extreme prosperity of Bianjing, the Eastern Capital, as described by contemporaries, relied heavily on extracting wealth from other regions, to the extent that it triggered widespread peasant uprisings. From this perspective, rather than calling it the Great Song, it would be far more fitting to call it the Great Bian."

"This indifference toward other regions persisted throughout the entire duration of the Song Dynasty, becoming even more severe in the Southern Song," Guo Kang pointed to the regions north of the Huai River—Hebei, Shandong, and Henan—on the map. "The Southern Song referred to the people in these areas as 'Returned Loyalists.' If people from these regions defected to the Southern Song, they were treated as outsiders, and discriminatory policies were applied when granting them official posts. The Southern Song maintained this differential treatment right up to the very end, making it a classic case."

"In the early years of the Southern Song, when Yue Feng and others launched their northern expeditions, large numbers of loyalist armies emerged in the Hebei and Shanxi regions, fighting fiercely against the main forces of the Jin Dynasty for over a year. Even after being abandoned by the Song court for a decade, armies numbering over a hundred thousand could still spontaneously materialize to fight the regular Jin forces. Even scattered soldiers around Bianjing were able to engage the main Jin army multiple times and repel their assaults. In short, whenever the local people were out of reach of the imperial court, they suddenly became fiercely combative, bearing no resemblance to their previous demeanor."

"However, the Southern Song's attitude remained steadfastly unaccommodating, so the resistance in these areas gradually died down. Even when figures like Xin Qiji defected to the south, the Southern Song refused to trust them."

"Right up until the end of the Southern Song, when the Jin Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, people in the Shandong region still continuously attempted to defect to the Southern Song, yet not a single one was ever allowed to display their true potential. The root of the problem presumably lies right here."

"Of course, everything mentioned thus far has been evaluated from a negative standpoint. Viewed from a positive perspective, one could also argue that the Great Song merely adopted a novel approach," Guo Kang mused, drawing a circle around the northern territories on the map.

"Ordinary dynasties poured resources into strategically vital military strongholds to counter invasions by northern nomads; the Great Song simply bypassed the middleman and poured resources directly into the northern nomads instead. This... well, perhaps that too counts as a strategy of sorts?"