1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 962 Daqin’s Financial Help

March 1680, 3, Chang'an, Zhuque County.

"Big scholar, try wearing it."

Hearing this appellation was very helpful, Wang Jie nodded with a smile, took the prepared glasses from the man, tried to put them on the bridge of his nose, and then adjusted the frames a few times.

The clerk graciously handed a copy of "Chang'an Chronicle" to Wang Jie.

"Well, I can see a little more clearly." Holding the newspaper for a while, Wang Jie took off his glasses and said softly, "However, the left eye is a little blurry, and I'm afraid it needs to be polished a little bit."

"Bachelor, wait a moment." The guy took the glasses and quickly returned to the inner studio. After a while, he changed a new lens and asked Wang Jie to try again.

The invention of glasses can be traced back to the optical experiments of Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk in England around 1270.At that time, glasses were only used for reading by the elderly. They spread to France in 1290 and to China by sea in 1310.

The notion that glasses are a by-product of printing may surprise many, as is saying that microscopes and telescopes are by-products of glasses.

Although glasses appeared very early, they were only paid attention to after the large-scale development and application of printing technology.As we all know, printed characters are generally smaller than handwritten characters, and the early printed characters were not clearer than handwritten characters. In addition, the lighting conditions at that time were not good. Printed books also caused common eyesight fatigue and myopia and glasses while expanding reading. It will soon become the daily necessities of scholars.

The earliest spectacle lenses were convex lenses to correct long-sightedness, and then concave lenses to correct short-sightedness appeared.The progress of Qi State's glass optical technology has also led to the prosperity of the glasses manufacturing industry.

With the development of optical technology in Qi State, various convex lenses, concave lenses, and magnifying glasses, microscopes and telescopes with multi-lens combinations were produced in Hanzhou.Microscopes and telescopes led to revolutionary breakthroughs in emerging disciplines such as medicine, biology, and astronomy.

It can even be said that without a microscope, there would be no new microbiology. All of this is actually a matter of course.Every tool created by human beings contains meaning beyond itself.

According to Aristotle, the ancient Greek sage, technology is a creative act associated with rationality and knowledge.Just as ancient China invented the compass, which led to the later Western voyages.In a sense, it is the endless emergence of new tools and machines that triggered the industrial revolution in Qi, but these new tools and machines were born by seemingly inconspicuous instruments—such as glasses, magnifying glasses, telescopes, Barometers, thermometers, vacuum pumps, even clocks.

If glasses (such as presbyopic glasses and nearsighted glasses) have greatly extended the professional life of watchmakers, then magnifying glasses have made it possible to miniaturize clocks and watches, and smaller pocket watches and wrist watches have completely liberated time.Among these details of production and life, if clocks and watches have changed people's concept of time, then telescopes and microscopes have changed people's concept of space.

Wang Jie is the left servant of the Ministry of Rites of the Great Qin Dynasty. He arrived in Chang'an with the Qi mission earlier this month. He met the emperor of Qi and the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and reported the huge changes in the Great Qin Dynasty.

Great Qin Emperor Sun Kewang passed away in September last year. With the support of his ministers, Rui Wang Sun Zhenghao succeeded to the throne and changed his Yuan to Chengde, making it known to the world.

After Daqin's new emperor ascended the throne, in addition to immediately notifying the surrounding vassal states to send missions to Nanjing to mourn the late emperor and worship the new emperor, he also had to inform his strategic partner thousands of miles away—Qi, that Daqin had changed. New speakers, but still hope to continue to deepen cooperation and exchanges between each other, and maintain the strategic cooperative relationship between the two parties.

Of course, in addition to informing the Qi State of the news of the change of the Great Qin Emperor, the mission also had another most important purpose, which was to borrow another sum of money.

A few years ago, Da Qin broke out a large-scale conflict with the Beiming regime in Yunzhou for the sake of North Korea.The Qin army successively mobilized [-] troops into North Korea, intending to completely wipe out the forces of the Northern Ming Dynasty from the peninsula, so as to maintain the prestige of the heavenly kingdom.However, although Beiming was small and weak, its troops were extremely powerful. They defeated and severely damaged two Qin armies successively, and then fought back and forth with the huge Qin State, forming a see-saw trend.

Later, under the mediation of Qi State, Qin and Ming stopped fighting and divided their spheres of influence in North Korea without invading each other.In this war, Great Qin was not worth the loss. Not only did it cost millions of taels of silver, but it also allowed Beiming to take over [-]% of the territory and population of North Korea, greatly embarrassing the face of Emperor Sun Kewang of Great Qin.

For this reason, Daqin began to make great efforts to govern and reform the military system. It was necessary to imitate the Qi army model and establish a new Daqin army.

However, to the surprise of the king and ministers of Qin Dynasty, the cost of the new army was so huge.Only more than 120 officers and soldiers spend more than [-] million taels of silver every year from personnel salaries, uniforms, weapons and equipment, training ammunition, and the entire logistics.If so, it is estimated that it will cost more to fight a few battles on the battlefield.

This new army is simply a monster that devours gold!
But thinking of the performance of the Qin army on the Korean battlefield, Emperor Sun Kewang gritted his teeth and continued to increase investment, expanding the size of the new army to 1 people, which is bound to raise the combat strength of the Qin army to a new level.

At a time when there are still more than 500 old-style troops in the country that have not yet been eliminated, limited fiscal revenue will inevitably be unable to support the continuous advancement of Daqin's military system reform.Under such circumstances, in January last year, Daqin borrowed [-] million Hanzhou silver dollars from Qi State for a period of ten years to supplement the empty treasury with the Guangzhou Shipping Department as collateral.

However, just as Daqin was recuperating and accumulating strength, a very unexpected military conflict came unexpectedly.

At the beginning of 1679, a warning came from the northwest frontier.The Junggar Khanate, which had pacified the Mongolian Dulbert, Huite and other Moxi Oirat tribes, suddenly marched into Qinghai, trying to bring this former Heshuot Khanate territory under its command.

At that time, Wu Sangui, who was in charge of the northwest region, was seriously ill and was bedridden, unable to take care of things. His son Wu Yingqi was timid and cowardly, and deliberately gave up Qinghai.However, Wang Fuchen, the titan guarding Xining, was unwilling to give up the territory he had managed for many years to Mengtar, and insisted on resistance.On the occasion of the New Year, he led three thousand troops to attack Lanzhou from Xining. With the help of Nei Ying, he controlled the whole city in one fell swoop, and beheaded Wu Yingqi, Wu Sangui's son-in-law Guo Zhuangtu and Fang Guangchen, and suffocated Wu Sangui, who was seriously ill.

Afterwards, Wang Fuchen sent an envoy to Qinzhou (today's water), and urgently told Xiong Tianlin, the governor of Ganliang, the Great Qin Dynasty, to ask the imperial court to send heavenly soldiers to Qinghai to drive away the Mongolian Tartars.

After Xiong Tianlin heard the news, without the order of the governor of Shaanxi, he raised three thousand troops, braved the wind and snow, and quickly rushed to Lanzhou.

After taking control of Lanzhou City, Xiong Tianlin continued to request Shaanxi to send reinforcements quickly, and at the same time sent [-] soldiers to Datong (now Menyuan County, Qinghai) with Wang Fuchen's troops to guard the Junggar tribe entering Qinghai.He led two thousand elites to suppress the chaos in the city and rectify thousands of Wu troops who were in disarray.

Galdan, king of the Junggar Khan, sent envoys to negotiate with the Qin army, pointing out that this place was originally the territory of the Heshuote tribe of Mongolia, and there were still a large number of Mongolian tribes in the territory.Then Junggar came here to unify the tribes of Mongolia. It was a tribal civil war, and asked Daqin not to interfere.

Xiong Tianlin felt that the area around Qinghai was broken by Wu Sangui back then and brought under his rule.And Wu Sangui submitted to the former Ming Dynasty as early as ten years ago.Now, this place has naturally become my Daqin territory, and people have asked me, how can I ignore it.

Therefore, after Xiong Tianlin drove the Junggar envoy out of Lanzhou City, he ignored Galdan and continued to urge the rear to send troops for reinforcements.

When Galdan saw it, he didn't listen to good words!But if you want to fight hard, you may not be able to fight hard. The Yarkand Khanate in the rear has not yet been conquered, and the Heshuote Khanate in Tibet is ambiguous. Go deep alone.But if there is no fight, how will the Mongolian tribes in Qinghai see themselves.

You know, he only accepted the title of "Danjin Boshuoktu Khan" awarded by Da Lai last winter, and he also thought that after he led troops into Qinghai and Tibet, he would definitely let the Mongolian tribes all over the place compete to follow and vote for him. Attached to the Junggar Khanate, thus easily conquering the Hoshut Khanate.

But unexpectedly, these Han people were still able to firmly control the situation in Qinghai and did not give him any chance at all.For a while, Galdan was caught in a dilemma.

The stalemate lasted until the first ten days of April. After hearing that the Qin army had gathered more than 1 troops in Lanzhou, Galdan had no choice but to withdraw his troops.

Although the Junggar troops had withdrawn, the Qin army gathered in Xining and Lanzhou did not return to the interior. Instead, they selected [-] elite and [-] Mongolian tribe warriors and marched towards the city of Lhasa, Tibet, while the weather was getting warmer. , ready to deter with powerful force, subdue the Heshuote Khanate, cut off its connection with the Junggar Khanate, and stabilize the situation on the southwestern frontier.

On June 6, the Qin army entered Yushu, the former site of the Daming Dogansi Xuanwei Division, and took over the local tribes belonging to the Nangqian royal family.

On July 7, the Qin army entered Qamdo and captured the officials and local lamas of the Heshuot Khanate.

After hearing the news, the Dalai Khan of the Heshuote Khanate (not the lama, also known as Redan Taiji) and the fifth Dalai Lama in Lhasa were terrified, and immediately sent their respective envoys to Qamdo. I beg the army of the Celestial Dynasty not to march into Lhasa and commit massacres.

The leading generals of the Qin army told the envoys sent by the Heshuote Khanate and the fifth Dalai Lama to surrender the whole country immediately and pay tribute to the Great Qin.Otherwise, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Chinese army will enter Lhasa and slaughter all of them.

After a heated discussion and weighing the pros and cons, the Dalai Khan of the Heshuote Khanate was forced to give in, and sent his brother Gandan Tsewang to Lanzhou to surrender to Daqin.

The fifth Da Lai Lama promised that he would lead monks and officials to set off for Nanjing in June to worship the Great Qin Emperor, accept the canonization, and express his surrender.

By mid-July, the frontier troubles that plagued the northwest and southwest of Great Qin were temporarily resolved in a very accidental event, and it also expanded thousands of miles. Momentum soared.

However, this short military operation was too far away from the hinterland of the inland area, so that it consumed a lot of money and materials, and spent more than 200 million taels of silver before and after, and spent the loan borrowed from Qi State Mostly.

Expanding the territory, accepting the Heshuote Khanate, and extending the power of the Great Qin to the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor and the former Uszang area, made Emperor Sun Kewang very proud.Excited, the emperor held a banquet in the Forbidden City in Nanjing.

However, extreme joy begets sorrow, and Sun Kewang died suddenly on the dragon couch on the night of September 9th while pampering a beautiful woman after drinking, leaving behind the Great Qin Empire he founded.

With the support of several important ministers and veteran generals, the new king, Sun Zhenghao, ascended the throne and became the second emperor of the Great Qin Empire.Considering that the late emperor had just passed away, there was a hint of Northwest Junggar re-invading Qinghai and the Hexi Corridor, and the remnants of the Qing captives in the north were also beginning to move around, preparing to link up with Khalkha Mongolia and plot Liaodong.

Although the Northern Ming Dynasty was suppressed by the Qi State and did not directly initiate military provocations, it encouraged North Korea's southeast three provinces and northwestern Xianning North Province to establish a Koryo puppet kingdom to stand side by side with North Korea.

In Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, there are also various rumors and turmoil among the people, as if some local forces are trying to provoke a rebellion against the imperial court.

Amid internal and external troubles, the Great Qin court assembled several groups of soldiers and horses and dispatched them to the northwest and north to deal with the invasion of the Tartars, while at the same time strictly ordered the local government to suppress civil unrest and riots.

Seeing that the national treasury is empty again, additional taxes are levied in various places, fearing that it will arouse even greater civil uprisings.The embarrassing Qin court had to seek help from Qi State again, hoping to obtain a loan of several million yuan to alleviate the current empty finances and solve the severe domestic situation.

Under the coordination of the Minister of Qi State in Qin State, the Governor-General of Annan and the Governor-General of Ryukyu first provided Qin State with an emergency aid of 30 yuan, but more loans can only be granted by the local people, and Qin State is still needed The government sent a mission to Chang'an to discuss with His Majesty the Emperor and the cabinet.

To this end, the State of Qin sent Wei Wen'an, the second assistant of the cabinet, a scholar of Dongge University, and the Minister of Rites, as the main envoy to visit Qi, Yue Jingxiu, a scholar of Wenyuange University, as the deputy envoy, and more than 160 officials and clerks from various ministries as the mission. Members, on November 11th, took several ships of Qi State and traveled all the way to Chang'an.

Regarding the loan demand of the Qin State, His Majesty the Emperor and the cabinet government agreed in principle, and prepared to provide another 300 million Hanzhou silver dollars in loans to the Qin State government to stabilize the finances that were on the verge of bankruptcy.

After finishing their official business, the members of the mission naturally want to make a lot of purchases in Qi State, which can produce all kinds of strange and obscene things.In addition to meeting the needs of myself and my family, relying on the tax-free status privilege of diplomatic missions, I naturally have to "purchase" a batch of people with many needs in China to earn some hard-working errand fees.

Those glass mirrors, clocks, exquisite tools, soaps, tortoiseshell shells, sea pearls, ivory products, ambergris and other commodities that are sold at sky-high prices in Daqin can be easily packed into the luggage for only a small amount of money in Qi. middle.

Presbyopic glasses made of glass are still treasured in Daqin and are expensive.Therefore, Wang Jie took the time to come to Chang'an market with several Qin officials to equip himself with a pair of suitable glasses.

Although China has been the only large porcelain country in the world for a long time, and has ancient glass technology, there has been no practical glass.

This may be due to aesthetics. Eastern culture has a special preference for uncertain and mysterious things. Translucent porcelain or jade are more popular than transparent glass (even crystal).During the Ming Dynasty, there were also glasses on the market, but they were basically polished with crystal, and the price was high. A pair of glasses was as expensive as a good horse, and they were extremely rare.

As shown in the radical of the word "mirror mirror", Chinese mirrors are generally made of metal, that is, polished copper mirrors. In order to ensure the use of mirrors, they must be ground and polished frequently.As a result, the mirrors made by Qi State have earned extremely high profits since they landed on the mainland more than 40 years ago.

Up to now, the glass and mirrors commonly used in Qi State are still luxuries that can only be enjoyed by a few wealthy people and princes and nobles in Daqin.As for installing glass on the windows of ordinary families, that is simply unimaginable. At most, the windows are pasted with white paper.

Qi State, relying on the industrial strength they claimed, has made a lot of money in my Great Qin, and its wealth is far beyond that of my mainland China!

(End of this chapter)