Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 72 Border Friction
It was another new year, and the whole year of Guangxu's ninth year of battle did not drag down the newly emerging famous family enterprises.Many local enterprises in the Qing Dynasty also made a fortune from the war.

The same Qing Dynasty also fully felt how much the prosperity of the family business brought to the country's fiscal revenue in the taxation of the tenth year of Guangxu. In early March of the tenth year of Guangxu, after three months of collection.Finally, all the taxes were collected and handed over to Li Zhen for the national treasury, a total of 3000 million taels of silver.

The tax revenue has increased by nearly [-]% compared with last year. This achievement is mainly due to Vietnam, which has just been included in the territory of the Qing Dynasty.It has to be said that France's ten-year rule in Vietnam has been quite successful, especially in Vietnam Province today. France has been struggling for a full ten years, but Guan Xuqing picked up a ready-made one.

Recovered many French Concessions and customs due to the abolition of some of the terms signed with France during the Second Opium War.The entire taxation has risen in a straight line, and it has to be said that the national power of the Qing Dynasty is so strong.The gross domestic product ranked first in the world that year, and the tax revenue for just one year was worth the tax revenue for the previous five years.So Guan Xuqing can do what he wants without any worries.

The morning atmosphere of that day was very relaxed, a festive scene of Chinese New Year.After discussing some irrelevant matters between the monarch and his ministers, he just retreated from the court.Prince Chun boasted a step forward.

"Show the emperor, I have something important to report."

"Seventh Prince, please tell me." Guan Xuqing looked at him curiously.

Prince Jin cleared his throat and said: "Now I am in peace and prosperity, and I have just defeated France. The whole country is full of praise. The emperor is 14 years old and has reached the age of marriage. Although he is already in charge, he is still not married. I suggest that you can Hold a draft and choose a queen. The whole country celebrates."

Guan Xuqing almost fell on the dragon chair after hearing it, draft?Getting married at 14?Thinking about the previous life, I was 26 years old and I was not married yet, but after wearing it back, I have to get married first.

Before Guan Xuqing could speak, almost all the civil and military officials in the court joined in.I kept agreeing that yes, in the end, everyone agreed to hold a draft ceremony on the eighth day of the next month. All girls under the age of 13 in the Eight Banners must participate. Wang Shang and others will conduct a preliminary review first, and finally select one hundred with outstanding appearance, temperament, and knowledge. The woman let the emperor decide for himself.

Guan Xuqing was both novel and excited about this kind of draft.After finally transmigrating back to be an emperor, of course you have to enjoy the privilege of being an emperor. I'm really sorry for myself if I don't marry ten or eight.However, later generations learned that the women in the harem are really not flattering. They really don't know what the selected one hundred so-called women with excellent knowledge, appearance and temperament are like.

After the early court, Guan Xuqing was still dealing with all kinds of cumbersome government affairs, and had already forgotten about the draft.Over the past year or so, the system of the Bank of Great Qing has become more and more perfect.After defeating the invincible French in the Sino-French War, the people's trust in China reached an unprecedented level.They are all willing to deposit silver in the bank and deposit it regularly for a long time. The Bank of Qing Dynasty has absorbed so many deposits and supported the construction of the country's heavy industry at low interest rates. The reconstruction of the Mawei Military Port has purchased a complete set of French shipbuilding equipment and equipment. After the technicians, Qing's shipbuilding industry quickly raised a level. It seems that it is only a matter of time before Qing builds its first ironclad ship.In addition, during the war, various countries drove up the price of steel, which had caused the gun bureaus in various parts of the Qing Dynasty to be in a state of suspension.However, for some unknown reason recently, the Qing Dynasty actually mined iron ore and smelted steel on its own in the country, apparently reaching a state of self-sufficiency.There is no need to import steel. In the face of this sudden blow, the Western powers headed by the United Kingdom, which drove up steel prices, could not imagine how a China with such backward mining technology could discover such a large iron mine!
Of course, Guan Xuqing directed the mining technicians to do all of these.At the beginning, everyone just carried out, and the imperial court issued an order to mine.Can you stand in the way?What's more, this little emperor has created miracles again and again, and the ministers, including the common people, have become numb.Everyone blindly worships this "true man" to the extreme.

Guan Xuqing was amused in his heart. Of course he knew the distribution of iron mines in China from later generations. Now he only singled out Daye Iron Mine in Hubei because it was closer to the Hubei Gun Bureau and it was in the mainland. depth.In the absence of aircraft today, it is still relatively difficult for the great powers to attack.For example, in several major iron mining areas in Northeast China, Guan Xuqing has already arranged heavy soldiers, but there is no mining.

Guan Xuqing suddenly saw an excerpt of "Russian cavalry harassing Mongolia", and Guan Xuqing put down the excerpt in his hand.Pulled out the telegram from Mongolia from the pile of memorials.

After reading the memorial, Guan Xuqing's face turned blue.He said to Wang Shang who was beside him, "Go, pass on Zuo Zongtang."

"twitter."

After a while, Zuo Zongtang walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"My lord, kowtow to the emperor."

"Be flat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Without raising his head, Guan Xuqing handed the telegram to Wang Shang, pointed to Zuo Zongtang who was standing in front of him, and said, "Have you read this telegram?"

Zuo Zongtang took the telegram from Wang Shang, looked at it and said, "Your minister and all the members of the Military Aircraft Department have already seen it."

"Huh? What do you think?" At this moment, Guan Xuqing raised his head and looked at Zuo Zongtang expectantly.

"I think that Tsarist Russia is just a small group of troops harassing our inland. At this time, Tsarist Russia is facing the hatred of Britain in Europe. They are engaged in fierce competition in Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey at the same time. For the time being, they are unable to take care of my Qing Dynasty. And I The Qing Dynasty just defeated France, and the fighting power it displayed should have attracted enough attention from Tsarist Russia. The ministers dare not speak nonsense, so they gave the emperor a preview." Zuo Zongtang said cautiously.

Guan Xuqing looked at the veteran who was getting older and less tempered, and wondered in his heart, can the years really smooth out a sharp temper?He was sure that if this happened to him ten years ago, this old guy would be the first to shout that he would lead troops to attack Russia.What's more, ten years ago, the Qing Dynasty basically used cold weapons, but now the guys in their hands are no worse than the Russians.The family is well-off, but the person is low-key.It also verified a sentence, barefoot is not afraid of wearing shoes.Now that we are wearing shoes, we have to think twice about everything we do.

Guan Xuqing just looked at Zuo Zongtang like this and didn't speak.The word "Chuan" was frowned, and I don't know how long it took before he said leisurely: "Since Britain launched the first Opium War in 1840, Britain has seized the most extensive privileges in China, including the one I hate the most. The opium trade was legalized. It goes without saying that opium is poisonous, and it shakes the most fundamental thing of a nation.”

"Yes." Zuo Zongtang was confused, not knowing why the emperor suddenly mentioned this.

Guan Xuqing ignored Zuo Zongtang's bewildered eyes, and continued: "It's hard to imagine how a country whose tariffs are still controlled by other countries can develop and become strong, not to mention such a large amount of fiscal revenue, what about such low tariffs?" Protect our own national industry. Even if it’s just for tariffs, there will be a war between China and Great Britain.”

Zuo Zongtang finally understood that the emperor wanted to fight Britain.But now Russia is harassing my frontier!
"What the emperor said is very true, but now that Russia is harassing our frontiers, and Britain has not done anything wrong, how can we start a war with Britain?"

"Hahaha, Zong Tang. Didn't you just say that the competition between Russia and Britain in Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan is quite fierce? There is an old saying: the enemy of an enemy is a friend. If you want to defeat Britain, you must unite with Russia. However, Russia Just like a jackal, if you want to cooperate with him, you must first destroy his wolf ambition. Only when you hurt your opponent can you attract the attention of your opponent. Before that, even if you put the best conditions, you will only be regarded as It's cowardly. Only wolves can communicate with wolves, and there is no possibility of dialogue between wolves and sheep."

Zuo Zongtang finally cleared the clouds and saw the blue sky, and said excitedly: "The veteran thinks that how to grasp the scale of the conflict is the key, so that Russia can realize the strength of our Qing Dynasty, and it will not turn into a large-scale war. Lay the foundation for future cooperation!"

Guan Xuqing looked at Zuo Zongtang with satisfaction. A conversation between a smart person and a smart person sometimes only needs a look.As Zuo Zongtang grew older, he was no longer the fiery old man Guan Xuqing had when he first met him.

"That's right, let the Nie Shicheng troops stationed in Mongolia not only have to guard the thousands of kilometers of border, but also cannot cross the border to pursue the enemy. I also know that this is tantamount to tying their hands and feet, but there is no difficulty, there is no tempering. As the saying goes "The edge of a sword comes from sharpening", and I am forging a peerless sword now." Guan Xuqing said with firm confidence in his eyes.

"I know, I'm going to the Ministry of War to issue an order to Nie Shicheng."

"Well, let's go."

After Zuo Zongtang left, Guan Xuqing walked alone to a 1:2000000 world map hanging on the wall.Looking at Russia on the head of the Qing Dynasty, Russia is the most barbaric and greedy among Western countries, and the Tsarist Russian royal family who controls it also has an almost crazy desire to expand its territory. In 1861, Russia took advantage of China’s failure in the Second Opium War to force China to recognize the legitimacy of the Treaty of Aihui, ceded the land east of Heilongjiang and north of Ussuri River, and inexplicably proposed to re-identify China and Russia Northwest border.In fact, the "Nerchinsk Treaty" signed as early as the Kangxi period clearly stipulated that China and Russia took the Sayan Mountains as the northern border, but Russia used the name of exploring the northwest border to divide the south and east of Balkhash Lake. The land of 44 square kilometers and the land of 17 square kilometers in the entire Tangnu Wulianghai were allocated to the Russian side. In addition to the land north of Heilongjiang and east of the Ussuri River, more than 20 million people were lost in just over 150 years. A square kilometer of land is equivalent to the area of ​​four.If you continue to let things go, you will only lose more land.

But now is not the time to start a war with Russia.The current Qing Dynasty is still unable to compete with Russia, which has more than 2000 million square kilometers of land and more than 200 million standing troops.The Qing Dynasty needs time to become strong, and Russia will inevitably grow old because of its own shortcomings. One day, there will be a big war between the two countries with serious land plots.

But before that, Guan Xuqing didn't intend to provoke Russia, and now his eyes were fixed on the emerald country in southwest China, Myanmar.Myanmar has been a vassal state of China as early as the Qianlong period, but historically in 1886, that is, next year, Britain launched the third Burma war, turning Myanmar into part of the British Indian colony.Guan Xuqing will never allow such a thing to happen again, not to mention that Myanmar is also tied to Guan Xuqing's dream of entering the Indian Ocean.

Mahan said in "Sea Power", "Whoever controls the Indian Ocean will control Asia. The Indian Ocean is the gateway to the seven oceans, and the fate of the world in the 7st century will be decided in the Indian Ocean." In fact, his words are in It came true in the 21th century.Shipping lanes to the Gulf, where more than half of the world's oil is buried, are seen as a country's lifeline.And if China wants to participate in the game of the world's largest colony in Africa, it must also have access to the Indian Ocean.

China's current ports are all located along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. To enter the Indian Ocean, it must pass through the Strait of Malacca. After the British exchanged colonies with the Netherlands in 1819, they occupied Malaysia and Singapore, which is equivalent to controlling the Strait of Malacca.That is to say, in the event of a conflict between China and the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom can close China's gate to the Indian Ocean at any time.

History has changed, and now even Guan Xuqing himself can't predict what the world will turn into in the end, so Guan Xuqing can only try his best to fight for the best situation for the Qing Dynasty.If the British were allowed to annex Myanmar, the British would build up a thick line from the Pamirs in the north to the Malay Peninsula in the south, and the three southwestern provinces of China would be completely under the noses of the British.Historically, even though the Himalayas were several thousand meters high, the British still cut off 9 square kilometers of land, but did not encroach on the southwestern part of China because it was designated as a sphere of influence by France, and the power of the two countries is here A delicate balance has been reached, and now this balance has been broken by Guan Xuqing himself. He has expelled all French influence on the Indochina Peninsula. After Britain occupies Burma, it will be able to enter Southwest China without any scruples.Therefore, regardless of whether there is a war in Burma or no war, China will face the British empire on which the sun never sets. If there is a war, the flames of war will burn outside the country.

Rather than sit and wait to die, it is better to fight to the death.

But if you fight to the death, you have to judge the situation. Blind fighting is definitely not the opponent of the empire on which the sun never sets.Beginning with the victory over Spain's "Invincible Fleet" in 1588, Britain experienced three centuries of overseas colonial expansion, especially after the Industrial Revolution. In the middle of the 3th century, when Queen Victoria reigned, Britain's national power finally reached its peak.By 19, its industrial capacity was equivalent to 1860% to 40% of the world, alone accounted for 45/1 of the world's commercial volume and 5% of the world's manufactured trade volume, and more than 40/1 of the world's merchant ships were flying meters on the topmast. "North America and Russia are our granaries; Canada and the Baltic Sea coast are our forest farms; Australia and West Asia have our pastures; Argentina and the wilderness of North America are our cattle herds." and France are our vineyards; the Mediterranean our orchards; we have long occupied the cotton fields of the American South, and are now extending them to all the warm regions of the globe"

(End of this chapter)