1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 915 Shackles of the Continent

On December 1675, 12, Jinan.

Li Dingguo lay powerlessly on the soft bed, staring at the small snowflakes constantly falling outside the window, in a daze.Most of the two brocade quilts covering his body had slipped off, but he didn't seem to notice it.

Two pots of charcoal fire in the corner of the room were burning extremely vigorously, and a huge gray hound was lying on the side, drooping its head, looking listless.Occasionally, when I heard a few slight coughs from the owner on the bed, I immediately turned my head to look over, and my tail wagged a few times accordingly.

With a "squeak", the door was pushed open, and a gust of cold wind blew in.The hound stood up abruptly, making a defensive movement towards the door.

When Li Sixing passed the hound, he reached out and rubbed its head vigorously to calm it down.Then gently moved to the side of the bed, lifted the brocade quilt up, and looked at Li Dingguo with concern.

"...Let's talk." Li Dingguo didn't look back, still looking at the scene outside the window.

"Ten days ago, Emperor Jianping summoned a group of ministers from the Huangming Zu Temple and issued an abdication edict to resign from the throne. After three speeches, Sun Kewang agreed to abdicate on the grounds that he obeyed the fate of heaven. Afterwards, he ordered people to build an altar of abdication , It is scheduled... in three days, I will ascend the altar to accept the throne, worship the heavens and the earth, offer sacrifices to the five mountains, and establish the dynasty as Qin." Li Sixing said in a low voice.

"..." Li Dingguo turned his head gently when he heard the words, with a wry smile on his face, "Sun Kewang... he finally won the position of emperor."

"Father..."

"what else?"

"The imperial court...the imperial court conferred on the father the King of Jin, and the imperial edict will be passed to Jinan in the near future."

"Oh? Hehe..." Li Dingguo was taken aback for a moment, and then chuckled a few times, "Prince Jin, this is second only to King Qin. When Sun Kewang ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he did not forget my old brother!"

"Father..." Li Sixing hesitated for a moment, and then said bravely: "Father, King Qin treats my family Li like this. If you think about it, you won't break your promise and keep us in trouble. Then, does the move of the clan still need to be done?" conduct?"

"After Sun Kewang proclaims himself emperor, he may miss his old love, or he may be concerned about his reputation, so he won't leave you in trouble. But what about his... descendants? Cough cough..." Li Dingguo coughed violently after finishing speaking, his face paled. A flush.

Li Sixing got up in a hurry, and while stroking Li Dingguo's chest, he called out to the doctor outside.

After requesting an order in August to resign from the post of General of the Peking University, Li Dingguo left Datong with ease and prepared to return to Nanchang to recuperate.However, when he traveled to Baoding, he was seriously ill and could not continue on the journey, so he temporarily stopped in Baoding to recuperate his body.

However, Li Dingguo's illness kept recurring during the journey. He stopped and walked, and when he arrived in Jinan, he was completely bedridden, unable to see things, and could only stay in Jinan.

After hearing the news, Li Sixing, the son of King Gan, immediately galloped from Nanchang on a fast horse, and served Li Dingguo attentively in front of Li Dingguo's bed.

However, more than a dozen physicians who treated him privately told Li Sixing that King Gan's body had reached the point of exhaustion, which could not be recovered by medicine and stones, and hoped that His Royal Highness would make preparations early.

Half a month ago, two military doctors were sent from the Qi State Naval Base stationed in Fushansuo (now Qingdao) to examine the pulse.

Li Sixing was grieved, so he sent a letter to Nanchang, summoning all the family members of Prince Gan's mansion to see his father off for the last journey.

After the court heard about it, it also sent several important officials to Jinan to visit King Gan and comfort his family.Ten days ago, in the name of the imperial court, Sun Kewang granted Li Dingguo the title of King of Jin.

A few days ago, Qi Yuanshan, special envoy of the State of Qi and vice-premier of the cabinet, also rushed to Jinan from Nanjing to visit Li Dingguo and expressed sincere condolences to him on behalf of the emperor of the State of Qi.

"The envoy of the State of Qi...has he ever left?" Li Dingguo asked softly as he lay on the bed after being given acupuncture and a few spoonfuls of decoction by several doctors.

"The special envoy of the State of Qi and his party left Jinan yesterday and transferred to Fushan Station. They are going to board a ship of the State of Qi and return to Hanzhou." Li Sixing's face was full of worry.

A few days ago, I didn't know what the special envoy of Qi State had talked with his father for more than half an hour.Afterwards, the father remained silent all the time.Except for the sleeping time, when I am awake, I always look at the scenery outside the window in a daze, meditate, and seem to be thinking about something.

"Oh..." Li Dingguo couldn't help showing disappointment when he heard that the special envoy of Qi State had left.

"Go and hang that map of the world on the bedside for me, so that I can take a look at it again." After a while, Li Dingguo ordered softly.

"Father..." Li Sixing originally wanted to persuade Li Dingguo to take a good rest, but seeing the stubborn expression in his eyes, he sighed and ordered a guard to fetch the map of the world that his father regarded as a treasure, and hung it on the On the curtain at the end of the bed.

"Help me... get up." Li Dingguo looked intently, but he was dazed, and he couldn't see clearly, so he struggled to sit up.

"Daming..., Monan..., Mobei..., Western Regions..." Li Dingguo sat on the head of the bed, muttering to himself, "Hezhong (in today's Central Asia)..., Uszang..., Nanyang , Hanzhou... Huaxia...Community, Prosperous Empire..., sad, sorry, the sky does not have a holiday, the sky does not... a holiday..."

Li Dingguo's eyes gradually became lax, but an extremely clear picture appeared in front of him.

Countless turbulent officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, with banners waving, rode horses and galloped in the vast world, charging again and again towards the Qing captives, Mongols, Rakshas, ​​and countless foreign barbarians. Wherever they passed, there was blood, but All the conquered lands became the land of China.

On the boundless sea, hundreds of powerful gunboats let out fierce and huge roars, tearing the oncoming enemies to pieces, and piercing the countless islands and territories that the fleet passed by. Red Yellow Dragon Banner.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese people are comfortable and prosperous, and the society is peaceful and stable. Everyone's faces are full of happy and self-sufficient smiles.

"Fortunately...! Pity..."

On that day, Li Dingguo, King of Jin of the Ming Dynasty, passed away in Jinan, Shandong.
-
On December 12, Haizhou (now Lianyungang City).

"Will the people's lives improve a little after the change of Ming dynasty?"

Qi Zilun stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the long queues of immigrants on the pier, who were slowly boarding the immigration boats under the organization of Qi State immigration officials and sailors.Every immigrant boarding the boat will receive a steamed bun with thick noodles and half a piece of dried salted fish, which are temporarily needed to satisfy their hunger.

The weather was cold, and the thick noodle steamed buns and dried salted fish that were handed out had already become a bit cold, but every immigrant had a tearful expression on his face, expressing his gratitude to the people of Qi.Seeing this situation, Qi Zilun couldn't help feeling emotional and full of sympathy.

"Sun Kewang used the Qin Dynasty as the Ming Dynasty. Maybe in order to show that he obeyed the fate, he would give some benefits to the people all over the world, but in general, the effect of improving the quality of life of the people is not very great." Qi Yuanshan shook his head and said: "The situation in the mainland is very complicated. , far from being solved immediately through a change of dynasty.”

"Didn't my father say that our country of Qi should give some support to the industrial development of the mainland?" Qi Zilun asked, "If so, can it play a positive role in promoting the economy of the mainland?"

"Limited support for the mainland's industrial development will have a certain effect on promoting the people's livelihood and economy. But I think the effect will not be too great for a long time. The social and economic structures of the entire mainland , There are too many constraints and obstacles."

"Restrictions and obstacles?" Qi Zilun was full of curiosity.

"During the thousands of years of development of the mainland, in its overall social and economic system, I believe that there are three interconnected counterforces, the first is agriculture and agricultural superiority, and the second is the farmers who control and own the land , and the third is the system of emphasizing agriculture, or the central government centered on agriculture.”

"Agriculture, as the pillar industry of the continent's economy, is the basis for the livelihood of most people in society, and farmers provide labor for agriculture. Secondly, agriculture provides resources for the imperial government, and the imperial government relies on these resources to obtain necessary fiscal revenue. Provide political protection for agricultural development. Thirdly, the peasants provided the imperial government with a popular base to rule. The imperial government also provided political protection and necessary public goods for the peasants.

"Only when the three counterbalancing forces become three equilibrium points can an interacting super-stable structure and an incentive mechanism to further solidify this structure be formed, and most of the external impacts on this system can be neutralized, making this system The structure becomes incredibly stable."

"In the long history of China for thousands of years, this three-dimensional structure has ingeniously woven together the economic, social and political life of the mainland of China. The dynasties of all dynasties will carefully maintain and continuously improve this three-dimensional structure. This three-dimensional structure The Yuan structure allowed Huaxia's territorial expansion to reach the limit of agricultural economic operations, and enabled the entire continent to pass on and continue the imperial dynasty from generation to generation after experiencing huge disasters one after another."

"The ternary system brought stability and prosperity to the dynastic government, but it also meant that excessive stability made the dynastic system incapable of controlling long-term sustainable development and change. It is very close to the initial stage of our country’s industrialization in Qi. However, the economic development of the Song Dynasty was still ups and downs, and its demise was booming, and this revolutionary change seemed to pass by.”

"This shows that in terms of supporting continuous intensive growth and industrialization, the Chinese mainland has a much higher threshold than the European countries, and even higher than the Qi vassals such as Luzon and Wei - at least, they have no There are too many ideological and institutional constraints. The achievement of a powerful empire in time and space is a trade-off between its long-term development, while the various systems and ideologies of the mainland regime, as well as the social structure, may be an obstacle to intensive economic growth and industrialization. A place that blooms and bears a faint hostility.”

"Therefore, the development of the mainland is subject to a three-dimensional equilibrium. Institutional factors, including socio-economic structure, property rights, ideology, values, and court policies determine the path of social development. These institutional factors ultimately determine whether a society can Developing and consolidating industrialization. The three-element equilibrium structure of the mainland makes its overall environment more or less not suitable for the development model of our Qi country, so it will try its best to turn to the dynamic return of equilibrium, which is doomed to the economic growth and development of the traditional mainland dynasty limit."

"So, in most cases, the end of any kind of equilibrium will require an external push. Similarly, whether it is the previous Great Ming or the upcoming Great Qin, its three-element equilibrium will continue indefinitely. .Unless they encounter a higher-level irresistible force that collapses their usual institutions and systems.”

"This can also be seen from the differences in the changes of the vassals of Wei, Shun, and Luzon. They can undertake one or several unique industrial technologies in accordance with our Qi State's overall industrial plan without any constraints. Transfer, and concentrate on building and developing for it.”

"The opportunity cost of mainland reform is much higher than the opportunity cost of Wei, Shun, Luzon and other vassals. The Central Plains dynasty is too large, coupled with a larger population, and the inherent social and ideological systems need to slowly adapt to this world. The changes are also natural. Even if Sun Kewang is as willing to reform as the vassals such as Weiguo and Luzon, due to the huge inertia generated by the success of successive dynasties, and because of the need to dismantle the stubborn three-dimensional structure, the modernization of the mainland has to go through a period of time. It took a very long time to get it off track."

"This is the root cause of the difficulties experienced by the mainland dynastic regimes in the development of industrialization. An external push is the only way to end their equilibrium. And our country of Qi is a powerful driving force that can push them to carry out gradual changes. Of course, all The premise is whether the future mainland dynasty, um, the Great Qin established by Sun Kewang, has the courage and wisdom to carry out institutional changes and social changes."

"That is to say, in a short period of time, the dynasty on the mainland is not yet ready to pose a challenge to our country of Qi?" Although Qi Zilun did not quite understand what Qi Yuanshan said, he can still understand the key points. catch.

"I think that at least in the next 50 years, the mainland will not pose any threat to our country of Qi." Qi Yuanshan nodded and said: "Whether it is to eliminate the border troubles in the north and northwest regions, or to carry out a limited internal innovation, it is not a short-term What can be done. And during this period, our Qi State will develop in multiples, both in terms of population size and military strength, which is enough to establish our Qi State’s hegemony in the Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean regions.”

"In the future, will our Qi Congress have friction with the mainland... and then a big war?" Qi Zilun asked cautiously.

"The world is unpredictable!" Qi Yuanshan looked towards the direction of Haizhou City in the distance, "Maybe there will be no war between the mainland and Qi in our lifetime. But after three or four generations, if the homeland complex is no longer there, then it will not happen." I can guarantee that there will be a gap between each other due to the conflict of interests, and then a war will be triggered."

(End of this chapter)