Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 418: Your Majesty, do you want to rebel again? (Please subscribe, please vote)

In the spring of the eighth year of the Republic of Ming Dynasty, Nanjing, Ming Dynasty.

Since the Three Kingdoms Peace Agreement in the fourth year of the Republic of China and the suspension of competition, the streets of Nanjing have become more prosperous year by year.Now is the time just after the New Year. Nanjing’s intellectuals, compatriots and civilians are all wearing new clothes made just for the New Year, and are swarming in the streets.Many national warriors and people also wear swords, which are the symbol of their status. They walk with swagger and look full of martial virtue.

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the middle schools and elementary schools in Nanjing have started school.In the past two years, more and more middle schools and primary schools have opened in Nanjing like bamboo shoots after a rain.Every afternoon when school is over, schoolchildren wearing loose Confucian uniforms and carrying schoolbags can be seen everywhere on the streets, jumping around, chasing each other, and laughing cheerfully, forming a vibrant landscape.

The Changganli area south of the Qinhuai River outside the outer city of Nanjing has been a prosperous place since ancient times. It also declined sharply during the decades of Qing Dynasty rule. When Yue Le launched the siege of Nanjing, it was directly destroyed by the barbarians. The ground has become a white ground!
This piece of land that was once bulldozed during the war has now become prosperous again and has become a new center of handicraft industry, such as weaving mills, dyeing mills, gold and silver mills, fan-making mills, breweries, leather goods mills, and woodworking mills. Workshops, horse-drawn carriage workshops, etc. all moved out of the crowded and cramped inner city of Nanjing and opened and expanded in the open areas of Changganli along the Qinhuai River.

As soon as there are more industries, the population begins to gather. When there are more people, of course they have to live in houses.The south of Qianchangli was originally farmland, but now many of them have been paved with stone roads, and houses have been built on both sides of the road. Every evening, the narrow streets and alleys in that area are all very lively.Along the streets and alleys, there were crowds of various small vendors, the sounds of hawking could be heard constantly, and the aroma of various cooked foods floated in the air.

In the north of Nanjing's outer city, between Waijinchuan Gate and Shangyuan Gate, it was originally an unpopular place, but now it has become lively.The Jinling Shipyard, jointly funded by the Military Industrial Supervision of the General's Office of the Ming Dynasty, Guangdong Company, and Nanyang Company, is under construction in full swing.

This shipyard was designed and planned by the all-rounder Leibniz. It occupies a large area, covering several thousand acres. It is planned to build eight dry docks capable of building 8-ton battleships and two dry docks capable of building 1500-ton battleships. -class battleship dry dock and 2 outfitting docks.If all are completed and put into use, under ideal conditions, the construction of 2000 first-level or second-level battleships and 10 third-level or fourth-level battleships can be completed every year!
And this shipyard is just one of the four major shipyards in Daming that are under construction (expansion). Baoshan Shipyard, Xiamen Shipyard, and Guangzhou Shipyard are also working overtime.

Although these shipyards have not yet been completed, in the few dry docks that have been completed, young shipbuilding craftsmen have begun to lay the keels and prepare to build fourth-class battleships - this class of battleships were first purchased from the Xiamen Shipyard under the Nanyang Company at a high price I asked English craftsmen to help me make it.After the Xiamen Shipyard was established, it sent master craftsmen and master craftsmen to help the three major factories of Baoshan, Guangzhou and Jinling build fourth-class ships with the drawings copied from the English craftsmen.

It’s a bit like a national game of chess!

What?Don't want to help?Are you afraid that your disciples will starve to death?
That would be going against General Li!Because the plan to open the four major shipyards was drawn up by General Li's military industry director Yamen. General Li is very familiar with planning.

He not only drew up the construction plan for the four major shipyards, but also formulated the supporting timber mining and import plan, as well as the production plan for ship iron parts and artillery.

Among them, in addition to Foshan Iron Industry, there are three iron industry bases under construction: Liuhe Yeshan Iron Industry, Taiping Fu Nanshan Iron Industry and Pukou Iron Industry.

Of course, the construction plans for these three iron industry bases located near Nanjing City also came from Li Zhongshan.

According to the plan, iron mines and iron smelting plants will be built in Yeshan and Nanshan, while Pukou will be a forging and casting center for processing various iron and bronze wares.

Among them, the Yeshan Iron Mine is an old mine, and someone started mining there during the Western Zhou Dynasty.But at that time, copper mines were opened, and later iron ores were discovered, and mining continued one after another.Li Zhongshan invested some money from the budget of the Military Industry Director's Yamen to the mine owners who were mining in Yeshan, and also gave them the exploration rights of the entire Yeshan to expand production.Then Li Zhongshan gave them a reward of 1 taels of silver to the first mine owner to discover a large-scale iron ore in Nanshan, Taiping Prefecture.

Nanshan in Taiping Prefecture will be the largest mine in the hands of Maanshan Iron and Steel Company in the future. Li Zhongshan only knew a rough idea and didn't know where to dig, so he put a reward of 1 taels, not just for Yeshan. The mine owners, the mine owners of Hubei Daye Mine, Jiangxi Fenghuangshan Mine, and Xuzhou Liguo Mine also received rewards - as long as they can find the mine located underground in Nanshan, the silver will be theirs.And they also get the rights to the mines they discover!

As for Pukou Iron Industry, Li Zhongshan hired it from Foshan, Guangdong with money from the Military Industrial Supervision. The Military Industrial Supervision provided factory construction subsidies and issued orders at the same time, just to let the iron industry owners from Foshan come to Pukou in Yingtianfu. The county opens a semicolon.

After four years of hard work, Yeshan's pig iron production has tripled compared to a few years ago. Pukou Iron Industry has now begun to take shape, and Nanshan's prospecting bounty has now been obtained. However, Nanshan's iron ore is buried a bit deep. , buried 70 feet underground, it seems a bit difficult to dig out!
Although the Nanshan Iron Mine cannot be developed for the time being, Yeshan and Pukou are still prosperous. There is also great hope that the north of Nanjing's outer city will become a new prosperous place driven by the Jinling Shipyard.

Within the Ming Dynasty, like Nanjing, there are many cities that have experienced a round of great development in the past four years, such as Baoshan County in Songjiang Prefecture, Guangzhou Fucheng in Guangdong Province, and Xiamen Island in Fujian (where the Zheng family’s new home base is). There), Yangzhou City, an important town in Jiangbei.

However, as peace enters its fifth year, the peaceful and peaceful atmosphere is fading, and the smell of gunpowder in Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, is becoming stronger and stronger.

There are more and more Tangma flying horses under the jurisdiction of the left and right military divisions of the General's Office walking through the streets of Nanjing. The sound of Dede's hooves and the sound of bells on the horses' hooves ring in people's ears from time to time. , sometimes it’s not easy to live in peace in the middle of the night.

And on the afternoon of the second day of February in the eighth year of the Republic of China, when it was almost time for dinner, in the dusk, several healthy horses passed through the streets of Nanjing, clanking all the way to the center of Nanjing's inner city. The General's Mansion.

"General, there is an urgent military report from the Bintan Island General Military Office transferred from the Guangdong Admiral's Office!"

After hearing Zhou Peigong's report, the two players in the King of England by the Mochou Lake trembled.Li Zhongshan was playing Go with his father-in-law Wu Guogui. He said nothing, just put down the chess pieces in his hand, and then reached out to take the copy of the urgent military report that Zhou Peigong personally brought.

The military report was jointly sent by the co-organizer of the Nanyang Minister Jia Guozhu and the Bintan Island Commander-in-Chief He You. It contains two main contents. The first is a report on the achievements of the Sino-French joint fleet in the Maluku Islands and Banda Islands in December last year. The "results" of the war. The results were certainly considerable, enough to anger the Dutch East India Company, and enough to drag Louis XIV, "the scum of men" into the quagmire of a war!

The second is to report that Jia Guozhu has led a mission, riding a "mission and merchant fleet" composed of fifteen armed Galen ships, following four fourth-class ships to form a French fleet, heading west out of the Strait of Malacca, toward the distant Went to Europe.

Also marching westward with Jia Guozhu were 3000 "Japanese-French troops and Little Eight Banners soldiers" and a large amount of silk, porcelain, tea, sugar, and spices that the "Japanese-French troops" grabbed for the Sun King Louis!

This really makes Louis XIV unable to clean himself even if he jumped into the English Channel!
And will Louis jump?

This black pot is worth at least 5 million livres! (The exchange rate of the livre was considered low before. In the early period of Louis XIV, the lifre/silver ratio was about 1:[-])

Is Louis XIV the person who can give [-] million livres to William III?

Therefore, Li Zhongshan's plan of "blaming France" was really costly, and it was so bad that even Louis XIV had to fall into the trap if he saw through it.

What if Louis XIV had collected all the spices, sold silk, porcelain, tea, sugar and Fuquan, and then sent all the 3000 "Japanese-French soldiers and small Eight Banners soldiers" to Rakshasa?How else could he explain it?How else to shirk the blame?Who would believe that he is not a gangster and that he was tricked by Li Zhongshan?

You were tricked, so you made [-] million livres in vain?Is this human language?

Even if William III does not declare war immediately, the relationship between France and the Netherlands will break down.

As long as France and Holland break up, the next step will depend on Jia Guozhu's ability!

Once the Netherlands decides to launch an anti-French alliance again, then the Netherlands, Spain, and even England will have to focus their main energy on opposing France. After all, this "French" rebellion is not good and fatal! "Ming" is not good, at most we will lose some colonies.

Who can't tell which one is more serious?

Seeing the joyful expression on Li Zhongshan's face, Wu Guogui, who was sitting opposite him, was a little confused: "Uncle, what's the good news? Can you tell me about it?"

He has been sitting in Xuzhou in the past few years, presiding over the affairs of the Mongolian East India Company. It cannot be said that the business is not going smoothly, it can only be said that it has gone through ups and downs, and there is no hope of profit!

The difficulty of reopening the overland Silk Road is really extraordinary!

The investment required in the early stage can only be described as staggering. Not to mention road construction, most roads these days are about "more people walking". When there are more people walking, it becomes a road!

But there must be some post cities built along the way that can accommodate merchants and have certain defensive capabilities, right?The cost of this alone is staggering!In addition, the cost for the Mongolian India Trading Company to organize a trade in the Western Regions is also ridiculously high. Even if the tax cards along the way are tax-free, merchants, guards, coachmen, and camel riders all have to spend money, and those who use horse-drawn carriages and camels to transport goods The efficiency is too low, so there are not many goods that can be transported at one time. If you add various costs, there will be basically no profit.

If we insist on the value of the Western Region Trade Road, it probably facilitated the westward migration of the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. Of course, it was also conducive to the spread of Han culture to the west.

When Li Zhongshan heard Wu Guogui's question, he just smiled lightly and said: "Old Taishan, the day when we make the northern expedition to the Central Plains and start mixing with the mainland is not far away!"

"Really?" Wu Guogui's expression was a bit complicated.

Li Zhongshan nodded: "But this war will not end easily because it will be an unprecedented war!"

"Why is this unprecedented?" Wu Guogui said, "It's just three points unified."

Li Zhongshan shook his head: "It's more than just three points returning to one. In the final analysis, it's a matter for the three families. And this battle will probably involve the entire world!"

"The whole world?" Wu Guogui frowned, seemingly worried.

Li Zhongshan looked at him and asked: "Old Taishan, are you unwilling to meet Wu Zhou's swordsmen?"

"No, no, no" Wu Guogui quickly shook his head, "I am the Prince of Ming Dynasty, and I am your father-in-law. Of course I will help you fight, and the same goes for Shijue!"

Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "Old Taishan, there is a battlefield where you can avoid meeting Wu and Zhou's swordsmen. You will definitely not! How about you and Shi Jue go there and stay for a few years."

"Is there such a battlefield?" Wu Guogui asked, "It can't be Liaodong, right?"

"No, it's not Liaodong," Li Zhongshan said, "it's the New World! Old Taishan, are you willing to go through this journey?"

"Yes!" Wu Guogui nodded, and then asked, "But it's about the Mongolian East India Trading Company."

Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "I know that there is a person who can enjoy the Ming, Qing, and Three Kingdoms who can take over Lao Taishan. You have to work hard to get this thing done, and then go to the New World to take office."

"That's very good," Wu Guogui paused again, "But who is that person?"

"It's my old enemy. Shang Shuying!"

On the 20th day of February in the [-]th year of Kangxi's reign, Guihua City was established.

This famous fortress city built by Anda Khan obviously benefited from Kangxi's Western Expedition and the establishment of the Mongolian East India Trading Company.In the past three or four years, it has also become prosperous and has become one of the two major routes of exchange between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.

Furs and livestock from Mongolia and Siberia, tea bricks, ironware, and salt from the Central Plains all meet here.As the trade routes between the Qing Dynasty, India and the Ottoman Empire were opened up, "Made in India" and "specialties" brought by the Ottoman Empire from Ukraine and the South Russian steppes also appeared in Guihua City in small quantities.

With the support of Empress Yang and her four most trusted auxiliary ministers (two of whom were from Shanxi), a large number of Shanxi merchants flooded in from the area south of the Great Wall and took control of all kinds of business. It also gives this city outside the Great Wall a strong "Jin flavor".

The whole city was noisy and noisy, with people of all nationalities and nationalities going back and forth. Teams of camels and teams of carriages and horses kept passing through the city.

However, in the past few days, Guihua City has rarely become more heavily guarded. A large group of elite Qing soldiers wearing blue jackets, carrying flintlock guns and waist knives were patrolling back and forth in the bustling city. Someone asked them who they were. Partially, there is always no answer.

Considering that the war in the West seems to have come to a standstill, and the fragile peace between the Ming, Qing, and Zhou Dynasties has entered its fifth year, the Ming Dynasty in the south seems to have sorted out its internal affairs well. The smell of gunpowder in the entire city, It also started to get stronger.

At the north gate of the city, at this time, it was already controlled by hundreds of heavily armed "blue mandarin jackets". There were also dozens of extraordinary "blue mandarin jackets" surrounding a man who was dressed simply, but had a very graceful figure and looked quite a bit... A very arrogant beauty, waiting for someone to arrive.

This beauty is no ordinary person, but Yang Xiaomi, the current empress of the Qing Dynasty!
She came out of the country to be naturalized this time to welcome Aisin Gioro Wu Xuanye, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, who returned in triumph.

She and Kangxi had been separated for three to four years. As for Fuquan... they hadn't seen each other for more time.

But now, seeing the couple meeting soon, there is no smile on that enchanting face.Some are just cold and solemn!

Such an expression made the four Han auxiliary ministers Chen Tingjing, Yu Chenglong, Xiong Cilu, and Wang Xi who were following her feel a little worried.

What happened to the queen?The emperor is coming soon, why does she look so glum?

Could it be that he has been in power for a long time and is a little reluctant to return the power to Emperor Kangxi?

Or maybe she still has the regent Prince Yu in her heart?

This is a bit difficult!
Now that Kangxi has returned victoriously and is very popular, Empress Yang may be wishful thinking in trying to seize power from him.

Several auxiliary ministers looked at each other, and then Xiong Cilu, who was most trusted by Empress Yang, came closer to her and whispered: "Your Majesty, the emperor is coming... This time, the emperor was victorious and triumphant. Come on, you should look a little happier."

Empress Yang looked back at her confidant, sighed softly, and lowered her voice: "Master Xiong, you don't know yet, do you? The emperor is not coming back this time because of his triumph..."

"It's not because of the triumph? What's the reason?" Xiong Cilu looked at Queen Yang as he spoke and thought to himself: Could it be that the emperor returned from the Western Regions because he missed the queen?
"He wants to rebel again..." Queen Yang whispered.

"Who? Who wants to rebel again?" Xiong Cilu didn't understand.

"Who else could it be? Of course it's our emperor." Empress Yang sighed again and said in an inaudible voice, "The emperor wants to rebel against the Ming Dynasty again."

Just as she finished speaking, she suddenly heard the clatter of horse hooves, and then saw several flying horses in blue jackets approaching. As they raced, they shouted: "The Emperor has returned in triumph! The Emperor will be here soon..."

(End of this chapter)