1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 819
On March 1666, 11, Hanzhou, Jianye City.

At the foot of the West Mountain, in a green valley, there are densely packed tombstones, with a total of thousands of tombstones.In this cemetery, all the officers and soldiers of the sea and army who fought for the Qi State over the years and died of battles or illnesses are buried.Of course, there are also some senior officers who did not die of illness in non-combat service, but in view of their outstanding contributions to the country and the army, they will also be allowed to be buried here, and guard here together with their former comrades-in-arms or subordinates.

Today, a grand funeral is being held in the most sacred and solemn national cemetery in Qi.Luo Rucheng, the former commander of the Ryukyu Fleet, the head of the General Armament Department, and General Zhenguo (Lieutenant General) died of illness at home a few days ago. All come to the funeral.

More than 60 gendarmes stood near the tomb with muskets on their shoulders.The family members of the deceased looked at the coffin with mournful faces and wept softly.

"Stay ready!" ordered a gendarme officer loudly.

More than 60 gendarmes immediately lowered their guns to the shoulders, holding the body of the gun with both hands, and the muzzle of the gun was facing upwards.

"First row, let go!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." Twenty soldiers in the first row fired their muskets into the sky.

"Retract your guns!...Second row, release!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

"Retract your guns!...Third row, release!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

"Shut up!...Salute!"

According to the military funeral ceremony, the highest etiquette is to fire the gun twelve times, which is to commemorate, but when the soldier is buried, the gun is only fired three times.One is to comfort and reminisce, expressing the memory of comrades-in-arms; the other is to comfort the dead, expressing blessings to comrades-in-arms;

The entire funeral ceremony lasted about two hours. Qi Tian waved a shovel symbolically, added some soil to the coffin in the tomb, and then turned around to condolences to Luo Yongcheng's widow and children one by one.

Surrounded by the imperial guards and several attendants, Qi Tian walked slowly towards the outside of the cemetery. The atmosphere in the cemetery was solemn and the environment was quiet and quiet.All the tombstones inside are carved with white marble, which makes people feel that the development of Qi State in the past 30 years seems to be telling people in a prominent and silent manner, and clearly reminding everyone who comes here People, don't forget the courage and cruelty, devotion and burial, glory and darkness, justice and guilt contained in all the deaths here.

"Chasing Luo Ru as Marquis of Ningping, General Hussars (Admiral)." After staring back for a moment, Qi Tian dictated an order to his attendants, "But the deceased is already dead, so order his eldest son Luo Rongliang to succeed him. .”

"Your Majesty, is this title hereditary, or hereditary (for life only)?" Duan Fangping, an attendant, asked cautiously.

"Hereditary. Those who have no great achievements will be reduced in each generation, starting with males."

Qi’s system of titles is basically inherited from Ming Dynasty. There are five ranks of titles to confer meritorious relatives, duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male. There are two types of titles, one is only granted for life, and the other can be hereditary.At present, there are only a few dozen or so people in the country who have been granted titles, becoming one of the few nobles in the kingdom.

"Come down and count, how many people who made great contributions to the former Dengzhou veterans are still alive?"

Qi Tian rubbed his foreheads on both sides with both hands, showing a trace of nostalgia on his face.In recent years, those Dengzhou veterans who were the first to land on the Hanzhou mainland and establish their foundations have gradually withered.Some of them hollowed out their bodies and died in wine glasses or on women's bellies because they were indulged in pleasure and indulgence.Some, like Luo Rucheng, worked hard for the country and the army, and due to the impact of previous injuries, they died when their careers were not accomplished.

For these Dengzhou veterans, Qi Tian has always behaved quite gracefully, as long as they don't mess around too much, he generally allows them to do anything.After all, back then, they followed their uncle Cao Xiong all the way to the remote Hanzhou Continent without complaint or regret. From opening up wasteland to farming, setting up camps, and then immigrating tens of thousands of miles from Daming, to repelling the Spanish invasion, He made an indelible contribution to the establishment and development of Hanzhou.

In order to protect and safeguard their interests, Qitian specially set up a Hanzhou Investment General Trading Company, and the shares were evenly distributed to every Dengzhou veteran.At that time, more than a dozen of the earliest trading companies and workshops established by Hanzhou had the share capital of this general investment trading company.According to the planning and design, as long as Hanzhou is not broken and Qi is not destroyed, these Dengzhou veterans and their descendants will always enjoy an extremely good life.

After more than ten years of development in Hanzhou, with the gradual abundance of manpower, most of the Dengzhou veterans gradually withdrew from the navy at that time and began to enjoy a rich life.For them, they are just a small military household who was lucky enough to pick up their lives, and they don't think about grand plans for dominance.

Now, we have established our own kingdom and become a master, and there is a king covering us, that is not enough to enjoy.Back then, we have to learn how those wealthy lords and wealthy businessmen and gentry in Shandong lived in luxury.

Qi Tian was also quite speechless about the extravagant and vicious behavior of some Dengzhou elders who ate and waited to die.He has warned them several times not to be so high-profile in luxury and extravagance when the people's livelihood in Hanzhou is still difficult, which will ruin Qi's hard-working and simple fighting spirit.

In fact, thinking about it now, they were a group of defeated Dengzhou soldiers who were first engulfed in the rebellious army, and were involuntarily regarded as rebellious by the court, and finally forced to flee to the sea.Being a pirate with Liu Xiang for two years is also precarious.Immediately afterwards, in Tianweiyang, there was another battle with Zheng Zhilong, and more than half of the people were killed or injured.With great difficulty, he fled from Luzon to Hanzhou, and only temporarily got rid of the shadow of death.

A few years later, Hanzhou was founded, and they became the masters of the family. Naturally, they cherish every moment of life, hoping to enjoy life wantonly in their limited lives.They are afraid that such a good time will be short-lived and suddenly disappear.

"After counting the information of all Dengzhou veterans, send an invitation to all of them, and I will treat them to a meal."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Duan Fangping promised, "When will the date be fixed?"

"It will be the winter solstice next month."
-
Not long after Qi Tian left in a carriage, the high-ranking military and political officials who participated in the funeral also met and dispersed.

"I heard that the cabinet government has approved the Ming's arms purchase agreement." In a carriage, the Minister of the Army and General Zhen Guo (Lieutenant General) Niu Hu sighed: "With such a large-scale arms purchase plan by Daming, it's not ugly. Now, Sun Kewang has completed the internal integration and is about to launch the Northern Expedition again."

"So?" The Chief of the General Staff, General Guangwei (Major General) He Yunfeng heard the words and replied with a smile.

"Da Ming has stronger economic strength, and has a larger population than Qinglu." Niu Hu glared at He Yunfeng, "If their hundreds of thousands of troops are equipped with a large number of firearms, Qinglu must not be their opponent. Maybe, the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty will soon be successful, and the north and the south may be unified. So, how can our country of Qi easily immigrate in Daming again?"

"Old sir, do you think the cabinet can approve the military purchase of Ming Dynasty without the king's nod?" He Yunfeng said with a wry smile: "Although the quantity of this batch of military equipment is huge, the total amount is only more than one million Hanzhou silver dollars, and the profit is only [-] million yuan." Hundreds of thousands will not benefit the cabinet's tight finances."

"For the long-term consideration of our country, Ming should not be unified." Niu Hu said in a deep voice: "In addition to the immigration issue, a strong Ming in the future will inevitably affect our Qi in North Korea, Yunzhou (Hokkaido), Japan, and even Annan. And other regions, forming a powerful threat. Moreover, a divided continent will inevitably not be able to form a joint force, which will help us to make a move in the region and hold any force in the region."

"We all understand this truth." He Yunfeng said helplessly: "It's not that our general staff has not deduced Wang Shang about the various challenges we will face after the reunification of the mainland. Even, we are in the Northeast, Yunzhou, Japan , and various arrangements in the Annan area will be destroyed.”

"Then, what is your attitude, Your Majesty?"

"Old sir, don't you think that since we started intervening in the chaos of Daming more than 20 years ago, the king seems to have been working hard to support Daming, support Daming, and even want it to recover again and become a powerful continental power. empire."

"Huh?" Niu Hu was stunned for a moment, "At that time, the Qing captives were about to sweep the world, and our military strength was not enough, so naturally we had to spare no effort to support Daming and support Daming. Otherwise, let a group of Tungusic barbarians invade the Central Plains and kill us all. Thousands of Han people are being driven into slavery, even though I am in Hanzhou, I can't bear to look directly at it."

"That's right." He Yunfeng nodded and said, "However, over the past ten years, Ming and Qing have maintained a delicate balance. It stands to reason that our country of Qi should always remain on the mainland as you imagined just now. Split, so that our country of Qi can have a hand in it, and we can have both sides. However, the king seems unwilling to see this happen. He seems to want to reunify Daming and restore it to its former strength."

"Why does your majesty have such an idea? This is... conflicting with the future strategy of our country of Qi." Niu Hu said in a low voice: "Didn't your majesty ever say that our country of Qi is located in the continent of Hanzhou, the most effective The means of fighting for hegemony is to occupy the key points of the sea in advance, and to balance the offshore power of the surrounding land powers, try to make it troublesome, so that no land power poses a potential threat to our country. If the Ming Dynasty is unified, then it will be integrated The huge human and material resources in the country will inevitably pose a serious challenge to Qi."

"Your Majesty, it seems that he has a special friendship with Daming. So..."

"Is it because of the noble concubine's status as a Ming princess?"

"Should...not."

"What's the reason for that?"

"Maybe it's a continental complex."

"...Continental complex? Our Hanzhou is also an unprecedented continent, and it is also the foundation of our Qi country!"

"Different."

"What's the difference?"

"Your Majesty seems to cherish the unity and stability of the Chinese mainland."

"Treasure the unity and stability of the mainland of China, so we will ignore the fate of our country in the next few hundred years?"
-
"The fortunes of our Qi State in the next few hundred years will not be achieved once and for all by simply suppressing and splitting the mainland." Qi Tian solemnly looked at his prince Qi Zixing, "Before, I also said that the future , the hegemony in this world will be divided into two types, one is dominated by traditional continental hegemony, and the other is dominated by sea power countries like ours."

"Our country of Qi monopolizes the continent of Hanzhou, surrounded by countless island territories. It can be said to be a natural sea power country. In this case, we only need to develop a powerful navy to be invincible. If so, with the continuous growth of our maritime power, it will be no problem to occupy major maritime strategic locations in the world, control a series of key maritime trade routes, and achieve some hegemony."

"On the other hand, the mainland of China, despite having a huge population and endless resources, may soon rise to become a land power after the unification is completed. If the king works hard to rule, and the people work together, after dozens or hundreds of years of development, it will be the final achievement. It is not impossible to achieve continental hegemony."

"However, in the north, west, and south of the continent, it will face more challenges from land neighbors. Under such constraints, in the future, the unified continent will still devote more energy to the vast land In addition, it needs to establish and maintain a huge land force. Therefore, in the foreseeable future, Ming Dynasty will probably not be able to build a powerful navy to challenge our maritime hegemony."

"But, father." Qi Zixing thought for a while, and continued to ask: "Hundreds of years ago, during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, didn't the mainland rely on its strong national power to have a huge land force and at the same time establish A strong navy?"

"It is very difficult for an empire to maintain hegemony over land and sea at the same time. After all, you can't have both, you have to give up one." Qi Tian was slightly taken aback, then shook his head and said: "You know, Ming's enemies have always been from the north, the Mongols, the Jurchens, and waves of nomads that will eventually weaken and exhaust Ming's fragile economy. Even if, in the future, Ming achieves unification and expels the Qing captives, they will The greatest risk of war is still in the north or the west. Don’t forget, apart from the Qing captives and the Mongols, there is a more ferocious enemy, yes, that Tsarist Russia who is endlessly greedy for land.”

"So, the father wants to do his best to promote the unification of the Ming Dynasty, because he doesn't want to waste the vitality of the mainland of China so that he can deal with the rising Zhungeer and the covetous Tsarist Russia?"

"There is such a consideration." Qi Tian nodded and said: "A divided continent cannot concentrate on dealing with the enemy in the north."

"If so, after the unification of the Ming Dynasty, a ban will be issued to prevent us from immigrating. Then how should we deal with it?"

"Do you think that the government's ban will definitely stop the immigration?" Qi Tian smiled and said, "Do you know how many spontaneous immigrants from the mainland besides the immigrants organized by Qi State?"

"Children don't know."

"More than [-]!" Qi Tian said: "Everyone who lives along the coast of the mainland knows that immigrants from Hanzhou will get fields and houses, and various taxes are light, enough to live and work in peace. Therefore, unless the mainland imitates the Qing captives, The strategy of banning the sea, otherwise, it will be impossible to ban the immigration route.”

"In addition, the birth population of our country has exceeded the annual number of immigrants four years ago. Therefore, even if there is no importation of foreign immigrants in the future, the population size of our country can still achieve a natural high-speed growth."

(End of this chapter)