1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 855 Proclaiming Emperor
On August 1670, 8, Hanzhou, Upper Valley (now Bowen, a small harbor town in Australia).

Shanggu is located on a rectangular peninsula, bounded by the sea to the north, east, and south, and connected to the mainland of Hanzhou to the west, where the plains formed by the Qingshui River (the Manton River near Bowen) have fertile soil. It is also located in the dry tropical area, with a dry and hot climate, and most of the crops can be double-cropped. It is the most developed and mature agricultural production area in Guangling Prefecture (Guangling was separated from Weihai Prefecture five years ago).

Shanggu County has a total population of more than 25 people, and has seven townships, [-] villages and villages under its jurisdiction, of which the county seat has a permanent population of more than [-] people.The food crops in Shanggu County are mainly rice, wheat, and corn; the animal husbandry is mainly to raise pigs, cattle, sheep, and poultry; the industry is mainly to process agricultural and sideline products such as grain, oil, non-staple food, and wool.

Four years ago, a coal mine with rich reserves was discovered in a mountain area more than ten kilometers southwest of the county seat. The local government officials immediately set up a mine, invested manpower and material resources in small-scale mining and processing, and then passed the simple horse-drawn track And Qingshui River, transported to Shanggu Wharf, and then transferred to Guangling and Yunyang (now Mackay, the eastern city of Australia) by large ships to earn a little financial income for the county.

In February last year, the Ministry of Communications, together with Guangling Prefecture and Yunyang Prefecture, prepared to start investing in the construction of the Yunguang Railway, and the line happened to pass through Shanggu County, which made local officials and people rejoice.Although China's sea transportation is well developed, it is still slightly inferior to the railway in terms of speed.As long as the railway is opened, various agricultural and sideline products and coal resources produced in Shanggu County can be continuously transported along the railway line to Weihai in the north and many coastal counties in the south.

It was originally thought that this 350-kilometer-long railway would take at least two years.Unexpectedly, officials from the Ministry of Communications and Guangling and Yunyang used tens of thousands of new immigrants along the railway line, as well as an equal number of native laborers, to step up construction from both ends at a speed of almost one kilometer per day.

By the end of June this year, the construction of this railway was completed, and then it took another month to conduct a line operation test, and finally it was officially opened to traffic on August [-].

In the afternoon of this day, the railway station on the west side of the county was heavily guarded. In addition to the more than 200 rotating rural soldiers temporarily recruited by the county to stand guard outside the station, there were also nearly a hundred guards and military police with live ammunition on both sides of the railway. Arriving trains were heavily guarded.

Royal Guards!

Oh, no wonder this railway was built so quickly. It turned out that when the king of Qi State moved his capital to Chang'an with his royal family, he wanted to take the train to tour the coastal areas!
Seeing the situation at the station from a distance, those who know the machine immediately understood that this is clearly the king who has come to my Shanggu County in person.

The cheers of the people on both sides of the street, from a few people, to the end of the crowd, shook the city.

"By the way, I have been in Qi State for more than ten years, not to mention the king, even the prefect of our Guangling Mansion has never seen it!" A man in his 30s said with a smile: "Now, the king is visiting the valley, Let me wait for Xiaomin to witness the beauty of the sky!"

Just as they were talking, an imperial guard officer hurried over and told everyone that the problem of the steam locomotive could not be ruled out for the time being, and they needed to wait for a new locomotive to be dispatched from Yunyang.

The prefect of Guangling and the county magistrate of Shanggu heard the news, so they tried their best to persuade Wang Shang and many officials to stay in the county for a night. After the arrival of the new locomotive, they will drive to Yunyang early in the morning.

"I didn't say anything..." The man named Sun Xiaohu seemed to realize that he was talking bald just now, and said with some guilt: "I don't admire Tianyan, but I want to take a closer look at the king's face." Majestic. Besides, Wang Shangkuanren, even if I say something false, I will definitely not be punished for it."

I saw more than 100 imperial guards and military police coming in a majestic line up with muskets in hand, and the policemen and rural soldiers on duty on both sides of the street immediately drove the restless crowd out with batons and scabbards in their hands. .Dozens of black-clothed guards and spies from the polling office were scattered among the crowd, shooting sharp eyes at the onlookers.

Several carriages came slowly, and the glass windows on both sides of the carriages were hung with dark curtains, making it impossible to see which carriage King Qi was riding in.

"Your Majesty, long live!"

"I don't know if you have paid attention to our natural population growth rate, that is, excluding the number of immigrants, it is purely the net increase in the population of Hanzhou. Other prefectures and counties are not clear, but in the past ten years in Jianye Prefecture, the population The natural growth rate reaches about 5%, and even reaches 7% in some years. Do you know what this means? If the natural population growth rate of all prefectures and counties in Hanzhou is the same as that of Jianye Prefecture, then the population of Qi State will not have any Under the premise of immigration, it will double in 15 years to reach 1000 million!"

On August 8, King Qi arrived in Chang'an.

"Is there any new news from Daming?" Qi Tian shook his head, and then asked about the situation in the mainland.

"We speculate that the Ming army wanted to control the Xuan Mansion first, so that they could rebuild the northern line of defense after cleaning up the mess in the pass." He Qing said: "As for going out of the fortress, I am afraid that within a few years, the Ming army will not be able to do so." To achieve this, the most important thing is to restore the original nine border towns of the Ming Dynasty... After all, it will take time to build a strong cavalry. In addition, in Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, there are still a large number of remnants of the Qing Dynasty. The Ming army needs to eliminate them one by one.”

The large coastal railway planned by the Ministry of Communications of the State of Qi is not fully connected. The more than 300-kilometer section between Xiangjiang (now Rockhampton, Australia) and Yongshun (now Maryborough, Australia) has to cross several rivers. The railway has not been built for the time being. If Qi Tian and his party want to go to Chang'an, they need to transfer to the merchant ship at least Liang (now the Sunshine Coast of Australia) in Xiangjiang again, and then they can take the train all the way to Chang'an.

"In my Hanzhou territory, do we need such a battle?" Qi Tianxia got off the train, looked around, and frowned.

In this border of Qi Kingdom, well, the emperor was out on patrol, and the streets were crowded with onlookers, and there was no look of fear on their faces, but full of joy and curiosity.

"Kings!"

"My lord, long live! Long live!"

The people on both sides of the street couldn't help but hold their breath, watching several carriages drive through the street in awe.This is the king of Qi, the supreme ruler of Hanzhou, and the father of millions of people.Under his wise leadership, the people of our state of Qi lived and worked in peace and contentment, had no worries about food and clothing, and the country was thriving, conquering Nanyang.Hundreds of thousands of displaced refugees and dying of hunger and hunger each year, survived in the Hanzhou Continent because of King Qi's unremitting immigration policy, and were able to multiply.

"Hey, Liu Erzhu, what are you doing!" A tall, thin man was pushed and shoved several times by the soldiers maintaining order, and couldn't help being very dissatisfied, "Everyone is from the village, why are you pushing me so hard. Could it be that you still think that I will take the opportunity to murder the king?"

"Although the population statistics for this year have not yet been released, we can still roughly estimate that the population of Hanzhou, Weiyuan, Xuanhua and other overseas territories is probably close to 500 million. Although this population size cannot be compared with that of Daming, Ming, Compared with the tens of millions of people in countries such as India and Japan, they are also among the big countries in the Southeast Asia and even the Indian Ocean region.”

"My lord, long live!"

"..."

"All of you think that after the unification of Ming Dynasty, we will inevitably confront Qi, and even have conflicts." Qi Tian shook his head and said: "Actually, the conflict between us and Ming is nothing more than immigration. They think that we It's lying on Daming's body to suck blood and damage their foundation. However, it's not impossible to reconcile on this issue."

"Your Majesty, if it was more than ten years ago, it would not have been arranged like this." Qi Continental, Commander of the Gendarmerie and General Zhen Guo (Lieutenant General), said solemnly: "However, since a few years ago, the Qing captives have been sending spies to infiltrate the immigrants. , came to our territory in Hanzhou, with the intention of assassinating important officials of our Qi State and destroying factories in various places. Although the polling offices and police offices in various places have also carefully screened and investigated in detail, and arrested many spies from the Qing Dynasty, it is difficult to keep them from slipping through the net the existence of fish."

Zhou Fugao flocked to both sides of the street with a crowd of people, everyone with excited expressions on their faces, stood on tiptoe, and kept looking towards the west.

At the beginning, the King of Qi insisted on his resignation, saying that the people of Qi State were still few, and his achievements could not compare with the founding emperors of previous dynasties, so he was still called a king.

"Cut, don't say that you have been in Qi for more than ten years. I was born in Hanzhou, and I haven't met the king!" A young man in his 20s said: "Our Qi is a large country. In a country that is thousands of miles away, how could the king visit this small coastal town in person on weekdays? I heard that this time, because of a steam locomotive failure, the king had to stop here for a short time, and let me wait for the people to see the king's demeanor."

"That's right, the king should be proclaimed emperor!" Tang Qimin, the prefect of Guangling next to him, also nodded in response, with an excited expression on his face.

Half a month ago, accompanied by several important cabinet ministers, Qi Tian and members of the royal family first arrived in Weihai from Jianye on several merchant ships, and then transferred to a train, preparing to go all the way south to inspect the development and construction of various coastal counties.

"Here we come! The king's chariot is coming!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Go, go, go, so much nonsense, stay back, stay back!" The village soldier waved his scabbard, and drove the man and the surrounding crowd back slightly, leaving a wider distance on the street .

On September 9, Zhang Wenqi, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and officials from various ministries persuaded the King of Qi to proclaim himself emperor in the Taiji Hall of the Qi Palace.

"It is estimated that it will take at least seven or eight years for Ming to complete the digestion of the newly occupied land, rectify the interior, and restore the economy and people's livelihood in the north." Qi Yuanshan, the deputy prime minister of the cabinet, said: "So, we still have a buffer period in Qi. Readjust the relationship with Ming Dynasty. Even if they want to turn around and ban us from emigrating in the short term, or completely eliminate our influence in Ming Dynasty, I am afraid they will have to weigh more."

In the land of the Qing Dynasty, let alone the emperor, even the county lords of Changli went on tour back then. There was a big battle. Not only did they have to send many yamen servants to help clean the streets in advance, but also there were gongs in front of the official sedan chair to clear the way. Seven beats is called "beating the seven-stick gong".It means "soldiers and civilians wait to get out of the way". At the same time, the soldiers of the guard of honor have to be called seven words, "A gentleman who is not serious is not powerful."

"What your majesty said is very true." Qi Yuanshan echoed, "Besides, even if the Ming Dynasty issued an immigration ban, it may not be able to stop the determination of the people in the country to go overseas. I have immigrated from the Qi country for more than 30 years, and the people of the Ming Dynasty have treated me with respect. I know all about the treatment of immigrants entering the country. If you want to live a good life and seek wealth, you will naturally find ways to cross the sea and come to our country."

"Hush..." The village soldier was startled when he heard the words, and subconsciously looked to the left and right, "Sun Xiaohu, you are a real tiger! You should be careful not to let the police arrest you if you speak such nonsense in public. You caught it!"

Zhou Fugao looked at the crowded crowd and the noisy discussions, with a bit of surprise and apprehension on his face.The king of this country is patrolling the place, why doesn't he clean up the entire street like my Qing-ah bah-Qing captives, and drive all irrelevant people away, without even the minimum ceremonial guards.

"Long live..."

"Without the cover of a large number of cavalry, the Ming army dared to go out to chase and wipe out the Qing captives?" Qi Tian couldn't help being surprised.

"I received the news two days ago that in mid-June, the Qing captives voluntarily withdrew from the capital, one fled to Jining (now Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia), and the other fled to Guisui (now Hohhot City) He Qing, the deputy commander of the black guards and general Guangwei (major general), bowed and said: "The Ming army gathered all the cavalry of more than [-] to pursue along the road, but in Zhangjiakou, they were hit back by the Eight Banners of the Manchus and Mongolians. More than [-] cavalry fled back to the capital. Li Dingguo, the commander of the Ming army, led the main force out of the capital, passed through Changping, Nankou, and Huailai, and slowly pushed into Xuanhua and Zhangjiakou."

"King Shangqianqiu"

After hearing the gong, the people along the way should consciously back down or kneel down to greet them.When encountering a superior official on patrol, the junior official has to stop to avoid the side of the road, and the official himself has to stand up and kneel in front of the superior's sedan chair, and wait until the senior official has passed before he can go on the road again.

"I think that the king should step up and proclaim himself emperor, in order to meet the wishes of all the people." Qi Yuanshan looked out the car window and looked at the countless excited people on the side of the street, and said softly.

"So, as far as the population is concerned, we are not as urgent and eager as we were ten years ago. What we need to do now is to consolidate various domestic foundations, improve the level of industrialization, and research more cutting-edge and advanced Science and technology must keep our country in a leading position in the world forever. At present, our country has a population of 500 million, which is enough to dominate the Southeast Asia, and can gradually control many key points in the Indian Ocean, so as to consolidate and maintain our current possessions. Commercial markets in countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, India, Persia and Arabia."

"Yuanshan's words are very good." Qi Tian nodded and said: "There is no common people who do not yearn for a better life. If the officials and gentry in Daming territory are too oppressive, the common people will naturally choose their own way out with their feet. Therefore, near Denglai The Changshan Islands and Aniangxie Island near Guangzhou (now Weiyuan Island in the southwest of Dongguan City, on the east coast of the Pearl River Estuary) must be controlled by our Qi State to transfer spontaneous immigrants from Daming. In this way, how many can Gathering tens of thousands of immigrants will be of great benefit to Qi."

All the ministers paid homage again, and said that although the king was born in a poor family, he was able to lead the people to establish a foundation in the remote continent of Hanzhou, create an inexhaustible career, conquer the surrounding land and barbarians, resist the western Diyi, and save China from danger. To save tens of millions of people of the Han family, to stabilize the world, to compare the merits of the monarchs of the past, to proclaim the emperor and establish the system, and to be respected by the public.

King Qi pondered for a long time and accepted it generously.

In the first three days, the king of Qi practiced the ceremony in Huayuan Pavilion in the north of Chang'an City; in the first two days, it was displayed in the palace;At the end of Daxin, the ceremonial envoys led the guards to serve their own clothes, and went to the King Qi's bedroom to hold the dental plaque.

On September 9th, the King of Qi wore a twelve-pronged crown and a twelve-piece suit, led by an attendant, entered through the Chongtian Gate, and ascended to the Taiji Hall.

(End of this chapter)