unclear

Chapter 657 Tsar Romanov
In addition to the many changes in the country, the world was also busy at this time. Last summer, the General Staff learned from smugglers that Japan had also undergone a major change.

Osaka Castle was conquered by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son Toyotomi Hideyori committing seppuku, more than a hundred years of war came to an end, Japan was officially unified, and the Edo period began.

Hong Tao doesn't know much about this period of Japanese history. He only knows that Japan's political and economic center has since moved to Edo, and that Japan began a policy of isolation for more than 200 years almost at the same time as the Qing Dynasty, and that the country was also opened by the powerful ships and cannons of Europe and the United States at almost the same time as the Qing Dynasty. Oh, yes, Ukiyo-e is also a product of the Edo period.

In fact, even if Hong Tao knew enough, he had no intention of taking the Japanese archipelago. The investment was too large and the output was too small, so it was not worth it. As long as the Tokugawa shogunate did not take the initiative to provoke trouble, before completely eliminating the threat from the north, it would be good for the two countries to get along like this for the time being, which was in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

But another piece of news from Macau made him linger in front of the unfinished world map for a long time, his eyes fixed on the large blank area in the north of the Mongolian Plateau.

"Your Majesty, it's time to eat. Today we have your favorite mutton hotpot, and chili oil!"

The emperor stood there with a frown on his face, and Wang Chengen naturally did not dare to leave his side. He stood with him until the sun set, his calves almost swollen. Finally, good news came from the Cuju team: dinner was here.

"Bring it here and eat it here." But today the emperor was not tempted by the chili oil and was still staring at the map absent-mindedly.

"Your Highness, the water is boiling..."

Wang Chengen roughly knew why the emperor had lost his appetite, as he had personally delivered the secret report from Haojingao. But he couldn't understand what kind of big mistake could happen in such a small place to make the emperor so worried.

"...Slurp...the pepper isn't too spicy this time!" The emperor finally took his eyes off the map. He sat down, picked up a piece of meat and put it into the boiling copper pot to rinse it. He then dipped the meat in the bowl with some seasoning and stuffed it all into his mouth.

"This is what the Cuju team fried yesterday. It uses peppers picked from the Haihu Sihuang Manor. I think those guys didn't serve them wholeheartedly. I'll have someone fry another bowl right away."

Wang Chengen could not help the emperor with state affairs, but he had to serve him meticulously in his daily life. Eating discomfort was a big deal and must be taken seriously. He could not be careless or perfunctory.

"Forget it, it has nothing to do with them. Do you know where this pepper comes from?" Unfortunately, the emperor was not a glutton at heart. He had no particular preference for food and could tolerate anything salty, sweet, spicy or bland.

"I have heard from His Majesty that peppers, wheat, sweet potatoes, cocoa trees, rubber trees and other things all come from another land east of the ocean."

This question did not stump Wang Chengen. Even if his academic performance was poor, he could generally pass it. Especially since he had been with the emperor for many years, he was more knowledgeable than most eunuchs in the Cuju team.

"Well, that's right. Did you know that there is a large area of ​​land in the north of the Mongolian tribes?" The emperor gave a thumbs up to express his approval of the answer. But he did not stop there and asked another question.

"…The Xiongnu thought he was a god, so they moved him to an uninhabited place on the north sea, and made him herd sheep. Only when the sheep gave milk could he return. Su Wu herded sheep, and I dare not forget the story in the Book of Han. The Xiongnu land in the Han Dynasty is the land of Mongolia today, and the land further north is the North Sea." In fact, saying that Wang Chengen was unlearned is only a relative comparison. He was not talented, but he was taught carefully by the eunuchs in the inner book hall. Even if his familiarity with classics, history, and literature was not as good as that of a scholar, he was familiar with it. He gave the answer immediately and explained the source.

"Yes, it is the North Sea. Do you know where the Huns went?"

As they ate and talked, the emperor's appetite seemed to have recovered a lot. In a blink of an eye, a plate of mutton and a plate of mutton tripe were finished. The questions they talked about went further and further back, and suddenly they were talking about thousands of years ago.

"...This... should have been killed by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing?" This time Wang Chengen really didn't know. Mainly because there was no record of this in the classics, history, and literature he had read, so he could only guess.

"We did kill quite a few, but most are still alive. Some of them submitted to the Han and Tang dynasties, while others moved west with their families. You see, there should be a very large lake nearby, the water is salty, called the Caspian Sea.

The real sea is located west of the Caspian Sea, called the Black Sea. After the Black Sea, you will reach the European countries, the homeland of the Spanish and Portuguese, and to the north is the Rakshasa Kingdom.

They won the war two years ago, elected a new emperor, ended the turmoil, and unified the country. They are expanding eastward step by step, and it is estimated that they will soon take away the North Sea where Su Wu grazed his sheep. "

Where did the Xiongnu go and how did they live? Even in later times, there is no accurate answer, but generally speaking, they migrated westward. However, what Hong Tao wants to talk about is not the Xiongnu, but a certain country in the west.

In addition to bringing goods from Europe, the Middle East, and India to the Ming Dynasty, Portuguese ships also brought back some news and events happening in Europe, the Middle East, and India.

These stories were mainly circulated in the trading houses and taverns in Macau. No matter how big or small, as long as they appeared, someone would regularly report them to the emperor through the navy. This person was Gabriel, the local sheriff of Macau.

Most of his secret reports were about the movements of the Spanish and the Dutch, with a few major and minor events in various European countries mixed in. But this time, a country name appeared that had never appeared before: the Russian Empire.

In the ninth year of Jingyang (1613), the Russian Empire took back Moscow from the Poles and elected a new Tsar, Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov.

Hong Tao was not quite sure who the new tsar was or what he had done, but the name Romanov sounded familiar. The second and last dynasty of the Russian Empire was called the Romanov dynasty. Famous figures in history such as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and the last tsar Nicholas II all came from this family.

Who is the Russian Tsar and what influence does it have on the Ming Dynasty? Why is Hong Tao so worried? In the short term, what Russia is doing really has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty, but in the long term, the impact is still great.

Hong Tao didn't know when the Russian Empire began to expand eastward, but in the early days of the Qing Dynasty, they had already occupied the entire Siberia region. Judging from the time, the Russian Empire's power may have entered the Siberia region and gained a firm foothold.

(End of this chapter)