The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 325 Moving the capital?

On the shore of Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, there is a very famous building, covering an area of ​​more than 200 acres, with a quiet and elegant environment, called Bishui Pavilion. However, this building is neither the exquisite garden of a noble official of the Qin Dynasty, nor the residence of a wealthy merchant, but the embassy of the Great Qi Empire in Nanjing.

This huge and mysterious embassy is located on the southeast side of Xuanwu Lake, facing the lake and backed by Zhongshan Mountain, with beautiful mountains, waters and beautiful scenery. The entire embassy is surrounded by lush trees, and a wide bluestone road leads to the gate. The towering gate looks magnificent and solemn. Two antique bronze lions are arranged in front of the gate, with their teeth bared and claws waving, as if blocking all evil invasions. On one side of the gate, there is a three-story clock tower with a huge bronze clock on top, which provides accurate time for every visitor.

Walking in from the gate of the embassy, ​​there is a wide lawn and a huge courtyard. In the center of the courtyard are three circular pavilions and corridors with flowing water and falling flowers. The shape and charm of the pavilions and corridors have obvious meaning of the Jiangnan water village. There are stone tables and stone benches in the pavilions and corridors, and the hollow walls are also filled with colorful bonsai flowers and trees.

The buildings in front of the embassy are beautifully laid out, elegant in style, with carved beams and painted buildings, and spotless. There is a huge plaque in front of the main entrance, with "Qinghe Hall" engraved on it. The fresh name is integrated with the atmosphere of traditional oriental culture, making it look particularly solemn.

The building is clean and bright, with profound and elegant ink paintings and quaint calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls, which promote the profoundness and aesthetic taste of Qi culture.

In the minister's office, there are several mahogany furniture with magnificent colors. On the coffee table nearby are some blue and white porcelain. The looping branch and leaf patterns on the rims of the bowls seem to give the place a sense of vitality.

Sang Yanguo, the head of the Black Guards of the Great Qi in Nanjing, the Zhaoxin School Lieutenant (Colonel), was holding a teacup, sipping the tea while secretly observing the minister Jiang Mingqing standing opposite him with his peripheral vision.

The Minister was wearing a pair of reading glasses and was studying some intelligence materials that he had just handed over. From time to time, a sarcastic smile appeared on his face, and the pen in his hand kept marking and circling the key contents one by one.

"Why didn't Qin call back the two new armies sent to Guangxi and Yunnan?" Jiang Mingqing suddenly asked, "Could it be that they are still unwilling to give up and want to wait for an opportunity to stir up trouble on the border of Liang State?"

"Mr. Ambassador, we in the Black Guards believe that the reason why Qin did not immediately order the two new troops to be transferred back to their original garrisons is that they may not want to lose face." Sang Yanguo said with a smile, "It is conceivable that if Qin heard that our Great Qi had settled the situation in Annan within ten days, they would immediately withdraw the troops they had mobilized. It would seem that they were afraid of our Great Qi. Therefore, I believe that Qin will withdraw the two new troops in three or four months. Well, that is, when the Annan incident has fermented, everyone's attention is no longer on this matter, and the Qin army will quietly withdraw. After all, it is still very expensive to feed and feed a force of several thousand people."

"Haha..." Jiang Mingqing thought about it and laughed. It was true. "The Emperor Qianyuan of Qin State was deceiving himself. He clearly didn't want to fight with Qi State, but he had to let the ministers in the court cry and persuade him. Only then did he humbly accept the advice and give up the idea of ​​stopping the war."

"Anyone with a discerning eye can see that a war between Qin and Da Qi will do more harm than good. If Qin becomes as embarrassed as Annan, the reputation of this great country will be completely torn off, and it is hard to guarantee that there will not be a series of chain reactions, causing Qin to be surrounded by enemies on all sides." Sang Yanguo said: "By then, if there is more chaos within Qin, the Qin Dynasty may be ruined. Emperor Qianyuan has been on the throne for fifty years. I guess what he is most worried about is the violent fluctuations in the domestic political situation and the outbreak of large-scale civil unrest among the local people, which will endanger the entire Qin Dynasty. If a large-scale war is carried out with Da Qi, the entire continent may be out of control. The lesson of the previous Ming Dynasty's defeat is vividly placed in front of them."

"Yes, a war between the two countries will do more harm than good to Qin, and it is not a good thing for us Qi either. Even if we defeat Qin in the end, we may not be able to gain more benefits. If we accidentally defeat Qin and make it fall apart, I am afraid it will be difficult to clean up this mess."

"It's hard to clean up the mess?" Sang Yanguo thought for a moment and said, "Oh, the Northern Ming must be very willing to clean up the mess on the mainland, and they hope that the Great Qin will collapse and then restore their Great Ming Dynasty."

"Bei Ming?" Jiang Mingqing put down the document in his hand and shook his head. "Even if Qin collapsed, we would never allow Bei Ming to reoccupy the entire continent. If that happens, the new Ming will have terrifying strength. We in Qi may not be able to control such a country."

"If that's the case, then we in Qi shouldn't have helped Qin unify the continent, but let it remain divided and opposed."

"What Emperor Taizu did back then is not something that we, the descendants, can speculate or judge." Jiang Mingqing paused and said, "Perhaps, Emperor Taizu's decision may have a deeper meaning, which we still cannot understand."

After saying this, he couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly, feeling that even he couldn't convince himself with these words.

If Qin and Qing had remained separate and formed a north-south confrontation, Qi's eastern diplomatic strategy at this time might have been more flexible and it might have been able to better control Qin.

"Oh, by the way, Minister, I have another piece of intelligence I received this morning. It has not yet been analyzed and confirmed, but I still think it is necessary to report it to you." When Sang Yanguo was about to get up and say goodbye, he suddenly remembered something and turned back. He walked behind the desk and said solemnly: "In two days, the sixth son of the Qin Emperor, the Prince of Jin, Sun Youyu, will be inspecting the north on behalf of the emperor. It is said that he will bring a large number of officials and military generals to inspect Henan, Hebei and Shaanxi."

"Oh?" Jiang Mingqing asked with interest, "The person who represented the emperor to inspect the north was not the crown prince? Could it be that Emperor Qianyuan is thinking of changing the crown prince again?"

"Perhaps. But the spies we planted in the palace reported that Emperor Qianyuan asked Prince Jin to tour the north. In addition to showing favor to this favorite prince, another important purpose was to investigate a suitable location for relocating the capital."

"What? The Qin State is considering moving its capital again?" Jiang Mingqing was shocked.

That’s right, after the Qin Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, it had considered moving the capital, believing that Nanjing had lost its vitality and was not suitable to be the capital of a unified dynasty. Moreover, compared to its vast land area, Nanjing was too far to the southeast and could not radiate to the vast northern region.

What made the rulers of the Qin Dynasty even more wary was that since ancient times, the regimes that had their capital in Nanjing seemed to have never lasted long. They were all short-lived separatist dynasties, including Sun Wu, Eastern Jin, Liu Song, Southern Qi, Southern Liang, and Southern Chen. The longest lasted no more than a hundred years (103 years for the Eastern Jin) and the shortest lasted only a mere twenty years (23 years for the Southern Qi). It was really not a good place to be.

In the first year of Yongxing (1676), Qin Wang Sun Kewang accepted the abdication of Emperor Jianping of the Ming Dynasty, ascended the throne and established the Qin Dynasty. It has been years since then. The economic and people's livelihood development in the Jiangnan region with Nanjing as the core has long surpassed the most prosperous period of the former Ming Dynasty. More than % of the country's population, more than % of the economy, and % of the taxes come from Jiangnan.

However, the northern region (including Liaodong, Mobei, Mobei, the Western Regions, and Qinghai), which occupies more than 80% of the country's land area, has a declining economy and a small population, and is in urgent need of development and construction.

In addition, due to external threats from the Northeast, Mobei and the Western Regions, the Qin Dynasty deployed almost all of its main elite military forces in the north, resulting in a certain degree of military shortage in the south.

Especially during the Annan crisis, Qi State was so unscrupulous in stirring up trouble in its southern vassal state that it aroused great anxiety and vigilance in Qin State.

When the crisis occurred, the Qin court was shocked to find that the entire southern region was in an embarrassing dilemma with almost no strong troops available except for the useless local garrison troops. It was forced to draw two new armies from Nanzhili and Sichuan, and travel thousands of miles south to rush to the border of Guangxi and Yunnan.

After learning about how the Qi army destroyed Annan, the Qin court was shocked. Nanjing was not far from the mouth of the Yangtze River. Once Qin and Qi went to war, the Qi navy could completely replicate the battle to capture Annan's Dongjing City and go upstream along the Yangtze River all the way to the city of Nanjing.

You know, when the Qi navy was not yet as big as it is now, it had united various anti-Qing forces, fought its way into the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then attacked Nanjing at an extremely fast speed, and finally broke it in one blow, capturing the Qing governor-general, Minister of Military Affairs of the South, Hong Chengchou, and more than a hundred senior officials and generals under him, which greatly boosted morale and brought about a fundamental change in the anti-Qing war in the entire Chinese continent.

Although during this period, the Qin Dynasty established more than ten large and small river defense forts in Chongmingsha, Nantong, Jiangyin, Zhenjiang, Qixia, Pukou and other important towns along the Yangtze River, which could theoretically block the entire Yangtze River waterway and sink any foreign armed ships that dared to enter the Yangtze River. But to be honest, after repeatedly evaluating the strength of the Qi Navy, the Qin military was really unsure whether it could stop the Qi ships on the Yangtze River. Especially after visiting and understanding the new ironclad warships of Qi, they lacked enough confidence.

If a few ironclad ships were sent in, relying on their strong protective capabilities, they might be able to withstand the interception and bombardment of the river defense artillery batteries, and drive all the way to the city of Nanjing, and launch a forced landing attack at the risk of certain casualties.

You have to know that apart from the Royal Guards who have some combat effectiveness in Nanjing City, the remaining tens of thousands of garrison soldiers are only slightly stronger than the temporarily recruited militiamen, and they can barely shoot in battle with their muskets.

Under such circumstances, the city of Nanjing seemed less safe.

Unless the Qin Dynasty spends a large amount of money to train several more new troops, all of which are stationed in Nanjing and surrounding areas to guard against the invasion of Qi at any time.

Therefore, against this background, the issue of moving the capital, which had been dormant for many years, reappeared in the Qin court, triggering a heated discussion.

In order to prevent the central government from being wiped out by the enemy, should we choose a safer place to build a new capital?
Count Sergei Ignashevich, the Russian Empire's ambassador to Daqin, left the Honglu Temple with a gloomy face. After getting on the carriage, he leaned dejectedly on the leather chair without saying a word.

"My Lord, the Qin people still haven't agreed to our request to send troops?" Daryl Kuzyaev, secretary of the embassy's counselor, asked carefully.

"They believe that distant Siberia is not important to their country and is not a priority for them." Count Ignashevich said frustratedly, "Their goal is always to keep an eye on the Tatars who have retreated to the Kazakh steppes, hoping to completely destroy them. In addition, their biggest concern is the people of Qi. Humph, Qin's protectorate was shamefully invaded by Qi, which greatly increased their sense of crisis. It is conceivable that Qin's strategic focus is likely to shift from the north to the south to respond to Qi's strong challenge."

"Then, our Russian Empire will face the military threat of the Bohai Kingdom alone in Siberia. Oh, yes, there are also the Qing people entrenched in the Kobdo Mountains (now the Tuva Republic of Russia). I am very worried whether the Yenisei Military District can withstand the joint attack of the above two powerful local forces. It is said that the Bohai Kingdom has moved their capital from Zhongjing (now Chita, Russia) to Xijing on the shore of Lake Baikal. Oh, that is our former Irkutsk Fort. This shows that this country is full of covetousness for the vast Western Siberia."

In June 1730, King Sengge of Bohai died, and Crown Prince Shude ascended the throne with the support of his ministers.

However, the third prince Mut, who was proud of his bravery, openly declared in the name of Jiangdong Governor-General and the commander of the first mixed regiment of the new army that Shude was plotting to murder the king and usurp the throne. He took the opportunity to raise an army and prepare to return to Zhongjing City to seize the throne of Bohai King.

However, this move was firmly opposed by the Northern Ming and Qi, who jointly warned Mut not to resort to violence and seize the throne. Otherwise, the two countries would take "decisive measures" and conduct necessary military intervention.

Faced with the strong political pressure from Ming and Qi, Mut's growing ambition was immediately extinguished. He honestly pulled his troops back to Guangyang City (now Svobodny on the Zeya River) and recognized Shude's status as king.

Shude, who had firmly established himself as king, did not make things difficult for his half-brother. He simply removed him from his position as the commander of the first mixed regiment of the new army and transferred him to Xiyingbao in the west (now the city of Kansk on the Kan River in Russia) to preside over the development and conquest of the Yenisei Military District of the Russian Empire.

In October of the following year (10), the Bohai Kingdom moved the royal court from Zhongjing to Xijing and began to intensify its conquest of the Yenisei River basin, attempting to seize the rich fur resources and gold mining areas there.

Faced with the aggressive Bohai Kingdom, the Yenisei Military District continued to request Moscow to recruit more troops and immigrants to defend this rich border region.

However, the situation of the Russian Empire was not very good at this time. There was a military threat from Sweden in the west, the Ottoman Empire was advancing in the south, there was a newly born Kalmyk Khanate causing trouble in the lower reaches of the Volga River, and in the Caucasus Mountains, several kingdoms supported by Qi State and the Safavid Empire of Persia were constantly encroaching on and squeezing the living space of the Russians. The entire empire was simply a broken house with leaks on all sides and was full of crises. How could it have any extra energy to take care of the distant Western Siberian border area?

However, at this time, some imperial ministers thought of Qin, a powerful and prosperous Eastern empire.

Several years ago (1727), the Russian Empire sent an embassy of several hundred people (mostly merchants and scholars) to the State of Qin to establish formal exchanges with this oriental country.

At that time, the merchants accompanying the delegation carried a large amount of goods, including more than 130 million furs, as well as a small amount of leather, woolen cloth, mirrors, etc. They exchanged them for tea, silk, porcelain, which were extremely popular in Europe, as well as a large number of fine industrial products (most of which were re-exported goods from Qi State). In total, they made a profit of more than rubles, which greatly supplemented the empire's extremely weak treasury.

It is said that in addition to the continuous tug-of-war with the Tatars of the Dzungar Khanate, the Qin State also had a fierce border conflict with Bohai, Dongdan, and Ming. In this way, the Russian Empire and the Qin State in the east have a common enemy. Can they join hands and launch military attacks on the two countries of Dzungar and Bohai from the east and west to stabilize their respective border security?

So, last June, Moscow sent an envoy, which took more than nine months to arrive in Qin State and conveyed the Tsar's instructions to Count Ignashevich, the minister in Nanjing, asking him to do his best to promote a military alliance between the two countries and jointly launch a military strike against the Bohai State.

In return, the Russian Empire will send more military armed personnel and settlers to the Omsk Military District to flank the Dzungar Khanate from the northwest, prevent it from fleeing northward and westward, and cooperate with the Qin State to strangle this grassland force that has been defeated repeatedly but not destroyed.

Then, Count Ignashevich visited the Honglu Temple, the Ministry of Rites, and even the Cabinet of the Qin Dynasty several times, but was politely rejected by the other party, who stated that the Qin Dynasty did not want to fight on multiple fronts, especially against the Bohai Kingdom.

What a joke! The environment of Bohai State: vast deserts, endless forests, and continuous mountains is not a good place to launch large-scale military operations. If we reluctantly send troops to attack, the painfully long logistical supply will drag down our Qin army.

Even if they invaded Bohai, they would most likely not get anything (in fact, Bohai was the largest fur exporter), so this war would definitely be extremely unprofitable.

Now that Qi has conquered Annan, our Great Qin has gained another strategic defense point, so we can no longer invest our energy in that desolate place in the north of the Ling Mountains.

At the same time, the Great Qin government informed Count Ignashevich that if he really wanted to cooperate with Great Qin, he should seriously join us in attacking Dzungar, and not always choose to stand by and watch, hoping to take advantage of the situation.

"Dear Daryl, do you think that if we directly contact the Qi people and express to them the most sincere friendship of our Russian Empire, will we get a positive response from them?"

Count Ignashevich looked out the window at the carriages passing by, the bustling crowds and the noisy shops on the street, and suddenly had this idea. He then looked at his assistant for advice.

(End of this chapter)