I'm in the Red Mansion

At this time, not only the members of the Zhenzhen Kingdom's envoy group were shocked, but all the civil and military officials in the Daxia court were also shocked.

They couldn't help but sigh that the emperor was truly amazing. Not only was he well-educated and won six top honors in a row, but he also wrote first-rate poetry.

He was also the best archer in the world, and he was invincible in every battle he led.

And now they just realized that the emperor actually understood the language of Zhenzhen Kingdom.

The emperor is so powerful, it seems that there is nothing in this world that he doesn't know.

Jia Cong looked at the shocked expressions on the faces of the Zhenzhen Kingdom envoys and found it interesting.

Jia Cong nodded and said, "I have also read your country's letter, and I agree to your request."

"Trade between the two countries and mutual exchange of what they have and what they don't have can promote the commercial development of the two countries."

"By strengthening exchanges and communication, the two countries can learn from each other."

"China is willing to form a lasting friendship with the Zhenzhen Country. This time, China will also send a team of students to your country to learn about your culture and science."

After hearing this, Princess Zhenzhen was overjoyed and repeatedly praised Jia Cong for his wisdom and greatness.

And in the palace, many of the officials had slightly changed colors on their faces.

The vast majority of these were former conservative officials.

They have always been conservative and believe that China is vast and rich in resources and does not need to trade with a few small countries overseas.

As a great country, China does not need to send people to study in such a small country.

What can their country have? How can it be compared with China?

However, at this time, in front of the Zhenzhen Kingdom's envoys, no one stood up to oppose.

Naturally, they would not contradict the emperor in front of outsiders.

However, when the envoys are not around, they will definitely dissuade the emperor.

But Jia Cong was also very happy.

Then a banquet was held to entertain the members of the Zhenzhen Kingdom's envoys.

Jia Cong was usually quite frugal, and usually had four dishes and one soup for a meal.

Unlike the emperor of the previous dynasty, who had dozens of dishes for each meal, which was extremely luxurious.

Nowadays, banquets for distinguished guests are naturally much more elaborate than usual.

At the banquet, all members of the Zhen Zhen Kingdom envoy group, except for Princess Lilia of Zhen Zhen Kingdom, were completely conquered by the Chinese food.

I have to say that Chinese food is so delicious.

It was completely hard for them to imagine that there were such delicious foods in the world!

In their country, the daily food is basically just bread, roasted meat and potatoes.

The daily menu is almost the same.

Now, tasting the delicious food of China is like a door to delicious food has been opened before them.

This made them suddenly feel that they had lived in vain for the previous few decades.

Compared with Chinese cuisine, what they used to eat was simply pig food!

Barbarian countries have no idea of ​​etiquette.

Now that they have tasted the delicious food, how can they be polite?

Then, the members of the envoy group devoured the food one by one and ate with relish.

This made the accompanying Chinese civil and military officials full of contempt.

On the surface, he still smiled and gave in to them.

Princess Lilia of the Zhenzhen Kingdom has been to China, tasted Chinese food, and understood Chinese culture.

After seeing how the members of the envoy group ate, she felt very ashamed and couldn't face anyone.

Jia Cong didn't care much about these things. When it comes to state-to-state relations, these details don't matter.

Jia Cong asked the Princess of Zhenzhen Kingdom, "Princess Lilia, I wonder how advanced the technology of the four powerful countries around you is now?"

Hearing this question, Lilia said very proudly: "Your Majesty, your news is out of date."

"As early as half a year ago, our Zhenzhen Country had already destroyed the Eagle Country, one of the original four great powers, and became one of the four great powers."

"And it is the most powerful country among the four great powers. If the emperor wants to know how far our Zhenzhen country has developed, it is very simple."

"I believe that the international students you sent will be able to bring you detailed news soon."

Upon hearing the news, Jia Cong was really shocked.

He didn't expect that the Zhenzhen Kingdom was so powerful.

It actually destroyed the Eagle Country in one fell swoop and became the leader among the four major powers in the West.

My news is still too out of date.

It is necessary to let the Jinyiwei send people to collect information from the West.

However, this is not so easy to do.

After all, the appearance difference between the two sides is too big.

Asian faces will definitely attract attention in the West, and it is very difficult to collect intelligence quietly and calmly.

However, no matter how difficult it is, this thing has to be done.

Soon, the banquet ended and the envoys from the Zhenzhen Kingdom withdrew.

At this time, conservatives jumped out again and strongly opposed the establishment of diplomatic relations with Zhenzhen Country, and opposed sending international students to study in Zhenzhen Country.

What can the great China learn from those barbaric countries?
However, these objections were forcefully suppressed by Jia Cong.

After Princess Zhenzhen returned, she began to inquire which concubine of the Emperor of Daxia had asked her to write the poem.

Soon, they found out that it was Concubine Qin.

Then, Princess Zhenzhen prepared gifts and visited Concubine Qin.

The two girls hit it off immediately and had a great conversation.

But on the second day, Jia Cong proposed to form a team of 300 international students at the morning court.

Among these three hundred people, one place is for the royal family, one hundred places are for the children of civil officials, and one hundred places are for the children of nobles and military generals.

The remaining ninety-nine were selected from the Imperial College.

However, these selected children are not just selected, they also have to pass exams, and only those who pass the exams can become international students.

In fact, if one really wants to study abroad and learn advanced Western technology, one can simply send all children from poor families, or even children of ordinary people, to go.

They know how to cherish opportunities and study harder.

However, Jia Cong's purpose in sending students abroad was not to learn advanced Western technology.

According to Jia Cong's plan, in just a few years, China's technological development will catch up with or even surpass Western technology.

His purpose of sending overseas students was actually to relieve his own pressure and ignite more new learning in China.

He knows the personalities of these returned overseas students too well.

They will think that everything in the West is beautiful, and everything in China is decadent and backward.

They would vigorously promote new learning, and Jia Cong would guide them to set up schools and give lectures everywhere.

They are bound to come into violent conflict with the conservatives.

By then, the pressure on Jia Cong will be much less, and he can even hide behind the scenes and act as a peacemaker.

And with these three hundred sparks, a single spark will eventually start a prairie fire.

The promotion of new knowledge will inevitably accelerate progress.

But the emperor had given the order, and all civil and military officials had to obey it.

However, they naturally would not send their eldest son to study abroad.

Some families with few offspring are even unwilling to send their offspring abroad, and instead plan to select their own children to serve as international students.

Of course, even when selecting young men from the clan, one would not dare to choose those who are too incompetent.

The emperor said that after the candidates are selected, they still have to take an exam.

If the test results are too bad, the emperor will punish you severely.

The emperor was very cruel and merciless, so it was better not to give him a chance to lose his temper. Therefore, after the court was dismissed, the officials in the court began to allocate their quotas.

For example, among the civil servants, each of the six ministries is allocated a certain number of quotas.

The same is true among the nobles.

This time, the time left for them was extremely short, only three days.

Therefore, after returning home, all the officials were naturally busy.

Jia Cong planned to give the quota for royal family members to Jia Lan.

Jia Cong was very satisfied with this little guy Jia Lan.

However, Jia Cong was not going to let the little guy continue to study the Four Books and Five Classics.

No matter how well you read the Four Books and Five Classics, or how well you write eight-legged essays, what’s the use?
It would be better for him to go to the West, open his eyes, see the outside world, and broaden his horizons.

Three days later, all three hundred people arrived.

Jia Cong actually set the test questions himself and tested the 300 international students.

The test questions were naturally very simple, and Jia Cong did not choose well-educated people. He just wanted to select those who were not unlearned to fool him.

All three hundred candidates passed the test easily.

Then, half a month later, Daxia will also send a delegation of envoys and a fleet to follow the Zhenzhen Kingdom's envoys to visit the Zhenzhen Kingdom.

And three hundred international students will also follow the delegation to study in Zhenzhen Country.

For these 300 international students, they feel both anxious and excited.

What makes me nervous is that I will have to leave my hometown and go to a foreign country in half a month, so I naturally feel afraid.

What I yearn for is to be able to go to other countries and experience the scenery and customs of other countries.

Time passed quickly and soon half a month had passed.

The Chinese envoys, along with three hundred international students, set off along with the Zhenzhen Kingdom envoys.

……

After taking care of the affairs of the envoys and the international students, Jia Cong breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, he had to busy himself with another matter.

Now the national treasury is empty and many things need to be done, but a good cook cannot cook without rice. What can be done?
In fact, the funding problem is not difficult to solve.

Just wait a few years or so, and when the tax revenue increases, everything will be fine.

However, Jia Cong was unwilling to wait any longer.

Isn’t there no money in the treasury?

Then just raid a few more houses.

This time, Jia Cong targeted the eight major salt merchants in Jiangnan.

Each of these eight salt merchants is as wealthy as a country.

Moreover, they have deep roots and have fully fed the officialdom in the south of the Yangtze River.

It is not easy to move them.

However, as long as the emperor wants to move against them, they have no military power and naturally cannot escape.

Apart from the founding emperor, everyone likes to target those wealthy but unkind businessmen.

Didn’t Zhu Yuanzhang kill Shen Wansan’s entire family and seize his property?

Therefore, Jia Cong first instructed Ni Er to send people to Jiangnan to secretly investigate the evidence of the crimes of the eight major salt merchants in Jiangnan.

These eight salt merchants have done countless evil things.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just say that when Lin Ruhai was the Imperial Censor of Salt, his wife and son were all killed by them.

This shows how rampant and tyrannical they are.

The eight major salt merchants in Jiangnan have been domineering in Jiangnan for a long time, so it is inevitable that their behavior is not restrained.

Therefore, it is not difficult to find evidence of their guilt.

The difficulty lies in how to avoid being arrested and their homes raided by the Jiangnan officials.

The officialdom in Jiangnan must be tied to these eight salt merchants.

After thinking about it, Jia Cong finally thought of his senior brother Feng Ziying.

After the founding of the State of Hua Xia, Jia Cong sent Feng Ziying to guard the coast of the West Sea.

On the other side of the Western Sea, it borders the Kushan Empire.

The Kushan Empire is the magical country in later generations that specializes in producing strange things.

When Daxia was in turmoil, they often harassed Daxia.

However, after the establishment of the Great Xia Dynasty, they immediately became obedient.

In fact, there is no need for so many soldiers to guard the West Sea coast now.

Just like the powerful Tang Dynasty, during the period of its heyday, there were simply not many troops guarding the areas bordering the nomadic peoples of the grasslands.

However, those nomadic peoples did not dare to have any rebellious thoughts and covet the Tang Dynasty.

Because they knew that if they dared to invade the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty would definitely send a large army to destroy their country directly.

And now, China also has sufficient deterrent power.

Jia Cong ordered Feng Ziying to guard the coast of the West Sea, but it was just to train Feng Ziying and give him a chance to make merit.

The country is peaceful now and there is no war.

Anyway, guarding the border means hard work, even if there is no credit.

Therefore, Jia Cong gave Feng Ziying an imperial decree.

He was ordered to lead 10,000 troops to suppress the Japanese pirates.

Since the Ming Dynasty, coastal areas have been repeatedly invaded by Japanese pirates.

This was still the case in the Great Xia Dynasty.

After the founding of China, the Japanese pirates became more restrained and no longer dared to invade the borders of Great Xia so blatantly.

Jia Cong also knew clearly that only a small number of these Japanese pirates were ronin from Japan.

Most of them are black gloves kept by the gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan.

They used these black gloves to exclude dissidents, crack down on maritime trade, and allow them to monopolize trade with overseas countries.

After the founding of China, its military force was too strong.

The gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan were not stupid either. They were afraid that the imperial court would send troops to encircle and suppress them, so they dared not act as presumptuously as before and had restrained themselves a lot.

Therefore, Jia Cong mobilized Feng Ziying this time not really to suppress the bandits.

Instead, they openly repaired the plank road while secretly attacking Chencang.

It was mainly to deal with the eight major salt merchants in Jiangnan.

Jia Cong no longer trusted the troops stationed in Jiangnan and prepared to mobilize troops from other places to deal with the eight major salt merchants in Jiangnan.

Feng Ziying's army was not equipped with new firearms such as rifles.

However, Jia Cong was extremely confident in Feng Ziying's personal bravery and military strategy.

Therefore, this task was given to him.

At the same time, this was also an opportunity given to him by Jia Cong to make merit.

After all, Feng Ziying is not only his senior brother, but also his brother-in-law.

Well, okay, this relationship is indeed a bit confusing.

After issuing the decree, Jia Cong was still thinking about China's recent arrangements.

The international students have already been sent abroad, but it will take about two years for the results to be seen.

After all, the round trip alone would take almost a year...

It is not difficult to eradicate the eight major salt merchants in Jiangnan.

After getting rid of them, the treasury will have a lot more money. (End of this chapter)