Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 611 Li Yu: In order to build a "population galaxy", we must be soft-hearted and soft-handed

Autumn 1782
At the graduation ceremony of the Civil Service School.

The atmosphere was frenetic.

Li Yu's speech:

"There are 3 million people in the empire, and I want them to eat rice with meat soup and steamed buns with meat soup every day. To achieve this goal, you need to be bolder and take bigger steps."

"There are too many vacancies in the empire waiting for you to fill."

"From county magistrate to frontier governor, from county magistrate to minister, it is not a dream. From now on, there will be no age limit for the promotion of civil servants in the empire. I will give you the greatest leniency and the greatest freedom."

"The empire belongs to me, and it belongs to you as well!"

The graduates' faces flushed with excitement, they raised their arms and shouted "Long live!"

After the ceremony,
Fishermen from nearby Taihu Lake caught 8000 kilograms of large fish floating on the water. When customers took them home and cut open the fish, they found that the fish bladders were all exploded.
……

Throughout 1782, the empire did not use military force, but instead devoted its energy, financial resources and manpower to people's livelihood, science and technology, and industry.

The rapid development this year is mainly reflected in:
First, Guangzhou's foreign trade volume soared month by month, and merchant ships were constantly coming and going all day long. After asking the court for instructions, Governor Fucheng expanded the capacity of Guangzhou Port and built Xiangjiang Port as a supplement.

Second, the empire's tea production soared again, and various regions continued to promote the conversion of rice to tea, and all hills and mountains could be converted.

Third, the Yellow River control project continues to advance, and the work is busy but not chaotic.

Fourth, steamships began to be mass-produced and steam locomotives continued to be improved.

Fifth, the scale of the cotton textile industry, metallurgical industry, and mining industry continued to expand, and machine production was unstoppable. The wealthy businessmen who were still not satisfied began to absorb private equity.

6. Various scientific and technological inventions emerge in an endless stream. Although there is good and bad mixed in, there is also some gold in them.

7. Various resources from the colonies were imported into the empire, and the empire began to taste the sweetness of colonialism.

8. The reclamation in the Northeast and Northwest is going smoothly.

Ninth, international relations were stable, and Earl Jia publicly advocated the values ​​of "free trade" and "people-oriented" in European newspapers.

In stark contrast, education and health are again lagging behind.

……

According to the loan agreement, the merchants' third loan payment arrived.

3500 million taels.

This time, there was no money spent on purchasing goods from factories owned by giant merchants.

Instead, it was used in infrastructure.

Among them, 700 million taels were used as construction funds for Ili Prefecture, 500 million taels were allocated to Jiangbei Province as river management funds, 500 million taels were used as inter-provincial cement road funds, 250 million taels were used as dredging funds for the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and 100 million taels were used as rewards for scientific and technological inventions.

Emperor Wu spent money like water.

The main thing is to use the left hand to deposit money and the right hand to withdraw it.

Fortunately, according to the empire's annual financial settlement, the annual revenue in silver soared to 280 million taels.

……

Ningxia Plain, on the bank of the Yellow River, Mingsha Castle.

The remnants of the Xiliang Kingdom finally came to the end of their lives.

The defenders generally showed signs of swollen and rotten gums, hoarseness, fever, and bleeding from the mouth and nose.

There are food and gunpowder in the fort.

But scurvy is inevitable due to lack of vitamins.

Ma Qingshu, with bleeding eyes, leaned against the firing line with great effort, trying to absorb some of the sun's heat, and hallucinations kept appearing.

There were many people in the castle with similar symptoms as him.

Mingshabao's combat power is close to 0.
……

Outside the fort, the Wu army, which had been besieging the city for a year, was full of vigor.

They have a supply of food, meat and vegetables, and carry out daily patrols, so their life is like a vacation.

Occasionally someone would look up and take a look at the Mingsha Castle.

"he~tui".

Three days later, Ma Qingshu died of illness.

He died with his eyes open and blood gushing out of all his orifices.

The defenders' will collapsed, and they climbed out of the fortress and raised the white flag.

While on patrol, Lieutenant Wu Laoer of the Cavalry Corps suddenly saw Mingsha Fort raising a white flag and quickly reined in his horse to observe.

In the camera, groups of non-human men looked like ghosts, weak and moving at a snail's pace.

……

In the military tent,
The highest-ranking lieutenant on the scene whispered:

"Everyone, the remnants of Xiliang can no longer hold on. But I think they are pretending to surrender."

Wu Laoer was startled and immediately agreed:

"Yes, it must be a false surrender."

The officers nodded their heads in indignation.

2 quarters of an hour later,
The besieged Wu army used guns and sabers to easily kill hundreds of remnants of the Western Liang Kingdom who climbed out of the fortifications and attempted to surrender, without any casualties themselves.

Easily capture Mingsha Castle.

The last bit of light of Xiliang disappeared.

The news of the capture of Mingsha Castle didn't even cause a ripple, and no one paid attention to the small war here.

However, the military doctor was frightened by the enemy's miserable death.

Orders were given to burn and bury everything, and to dig deep and bury it deeply.

……

Current~
The entire Northwest is busy with one big thing - immigration.

500 miles south of Mingshabao.

The people in the village looked at a group of soldiers appearing on the skyline in horror.

The Wu army's immigrant dragoons rode both on horseback and on mules. The red and black uniforms they wore formed a sharp contrast with the desolate yellow earth beneath their feet.

Wangshan is a dead horse.

It was half an hour later that they arrived at the village gate.

More than 50 soldiers dismounted in advance, tied up their mounts, loaded bullets and fixed their bayonets.

after that,

Then they dispersed their formation and walked towards the village.

A middle-aged disabled non-commissioned officer, hand on the hilt of his sword, walked slowly towards the crowd.

The gray gate reads:

"Fengshui Village".

He couldn't help laughing. There was only one small river within a radius of 50 miles. Where could Shuifeng be?
……

"Who is the captain? Since the imperial court has given the order, why don't you move?"

An old man stepped out from the crowd. Although his expression was submissive, his tone was firm:

"Master Jun, my ancestors have lived here for generations, so we are used to it."

The middle-aged sergeant pushed the captain aside, stood on the millstone, and looked coldly at the more than one hundred people present.

Loudly said:
“Old people don’t have to move, but young people must.”

"There is water and land west of Alashankou. If you go there, you will get 50 mu of good land. This is the kindness of His Majesty. If you don't know what's good for you, then it means that you are living a good life."

"Since you are living such a good life, you have no reason not to pay the imperial taxes. Today, pay all the taxes that have been in arrears for years, and you can continue to live here."

"Otherwise~"

The sergeant lit a stick of incense and stuck it into the ground.

"When the incense is gone, the village will be destroyed."

……

Under the threat of force,
More than thirty young people embarked on the relocation journey in tears.

They kowtowed, bid farewell to their loved ones, and looked back every few steps as they left their barren but nostalgic homeland.

The middle-aged non-commissioned officer looked at this "heart-wrenching" parting scene and actually laughed out loud. He even took a sip of rum from the leather bag next to the saddle.

As long as these immigrants leave Alashankou, they will have fertile land adjacent to the river bank. In less than two years, they will be able to appreciate your majesty's kindness.

Trees move to death, people move to live.

Old ideas are unacceptable.

Your Majesty's starting point is good, and the way your brothers execute it is also good.

It's impossible to reason with him, the general is not a scholar.

……

recent,
From the central government to the common people, the conservative idea of ​​"guarding two acres of barren land and refusing to move even if death comes" was criticized every day.

If officials are conservative, they will be dismissed from office.

If a businessman is conservative, he will go bankrupt.

If the common people are conservative, they will be exiled.

……

Li Yu almost slammed the table and yelled:

Whoever is conservative shall die.

If we miss this century-long window, there will be no unowned land in the world.

At present, the empire must actively grab land in five continents and four oceans, evacuate the population, and plan for the next 500 years.

Colonies will become independent sooner or later, but the descendants of immigrants around the world will always exist.

How unshakable will it be?
Chinese will become the world's first common language.

Han Chinese will be citizens of the world.

What kind of influence will an industrial empire have if it has a huge number of descendants of immigrants spread across five continents and four oceans?

……

What is the empire's most valuable asset?
It is not gold and silver, not culture, not minerals, not territory, but population.

The highest level of competition often only requires the simplest approach.

migrant!

Immigrants flowing like the Yangtze River!

The future pattern,

The empire is the moon, and the hundreds of millions of immigrants scattered outside are small stars, fragments, and dust. The stars surround the moon, creating a "population galaxy" that has never appeared in history books.

The powerful empire provides gravity for the small stars, and they serve as monarchs and subjects and provide mutual support.

Even if there are disagreements, it will not affect the overall situation.

Li Yu's ambitions are deep and far-reaching.

Zongfan? A minor path.

Free trade? The middle way.

The population galaxy is the great way, the hegemonic way, the extreme way.

……

In order to achieve this goal, Li Yu will not be soft-hearted.

Those who stand in the way will die.

For the sake of our descendants forever, we must not be soft-hearted or lenient.

Under his strict order, a large amount of funds were invested in the Colonial Department. From the Yellow River to the Ili River, except for the season when the mountains were blocked by heavy snow, the immigration teams continued all day long.

The team is almost entirely made up of young people.

The future of the empire lies in young people, and precious immigration funds can only be used for young people.

Many people fled secretly and were shot dead.

Many people died of disease and were buried on both sides of the road.

More people finally walked out of Alashankou after going through untold hardships. They looked at the lush greenery and the endless expanse and burst into tears.

The cries of tens of thousands of people shook the sky.

Over time,
Alashankou has earned a nickname: "Crying Valley".

The escort personnel of the Colonial Office did not try to persuade them, but let them cry. Some of them would even say: Cry, let out all your grievances, and you can walk the rest of the way with a smile.

……

In Little Juz, located in the west of the Kazakh Khanate, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, smoke of war was rising.

Xiqing was fighting with the local tribes, the tribes were fighting with the Rakshasas, and the Rakshasas were also fighting with Xiqing.

Anyway,

Everyone is Li Yu's pawn.

In addition to tea, silk and porcelain, Yili Zhili Prefecture also sold arms.

The remnants of Xiqing who still have pigtails are here, sell them.

The herdsmen in fur coats came to sell.

Here comes the Cossack with the big axe, sell it.

Free trade, free Yili.

Anyone can come and go freely, but the Wu army will keep their weapons and take them away when they leave.

War is war, and trade is trade.

Every gold bar is clean.

……

The Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Colonies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Customs all have resident offices in the provincial capital.

Busy~
Everyone is busy with their own affairs.

Those who built cities built cities, those who fought fought wars, those who settled in the land settled in the land, those who sold goods sold goods, those who sold arms sold arms, those who collected taxes collected taxes, and those who engaged in diplomacy engaged in diplomacy.

The main idea is that everyone is busy with their own things and does not interfere with each other.

The Admiralty also arrived.

Steam gunboats were to be launched on the Irtysh River and the Ob River.

Just as the Russians had encroached upon Siberia along the rivers over the past few hundred years, the Wu State was preparing to encroach upon it back in the same way.

The ancients have long said: The highest good is like water.

The kind-hearted Emperor Wu is particularly knowledgeable about water.

Wu Jun was ready to drive a steam paddle wheel along the Russian colonial route again without even having to think.

hehehe~
……

Suzhou Prefecture.

After traveling tens of thousands of miles, the Rakshasa delegation finally met Li Yu.

The process went very smoothly.

In the palace,

Suvorov cautiously proposed:
"Your Majesty, can you follow the previous example and open up the border trade between the two countries?"

Li Yu waved his hand:
"That's right."

Suvorov suppressed his joy and continued to ask:

"May I ask Your Majesty, where do you plan to open a port? Will there be any restrictions? Can you add a few more trading points?"

Finance Minister Hu Xueyu immediately told Old Man Su:

"Your Majesty is sympathetic to the long trade line between the two countries and your transportation costs are too high. Therefore, a land trade point is opened in Yili City, west of the Western Regions."

"From now on, your caravans will no longer need to go through Irkutsk and Novosibirsk, but can directly open up the Ili-Tyumen route."

……

moment,

Everyone in the delegation exclaimed.

Feeling that this is a huge victory.

The grace of Empress Catherine has reached the Far East, and the stubborn old Eastern empire has also extended an olive branch of goodwill.

Suvorov was half happy and half worried.

He always felt that this was not that simple.

Looking at the jubilant crowd, he asked a question without authorization:
"Your Majesty, for the sake of friendship between our two countries and peace on the border, can you use the Heilongjiang River as the boundary, with the north belonging to my country and the south to your country?"

For a moment, there was silence.

The hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

The delegation looked at Suvorov, who had gray hair on his temples, in horror. The Empress had not mentioned this before the mission.

are you crazy?

……

Li Yu slowly stood up and stared at the famous general in his early 50s in front of him.

"Regarding the Treaty of Nerchinsk, which you also call the Treaty of Nerchinsk, my attitude is unreasonable and unfair, and I do not recognize it."

Suvorov remained silent and bowed slightly:
"The Great Emperor wants to redraw the borders of the Far East?"

Li Yu smiled faintly.

Eyes full of contempt:
"To correct your Excellency's statement, it is not the East Siberia region, but the entire region."

Wow~
The delegation was shocked.

Suvorov was very calm and asked steadily:
"Can I understand this as a threat of war?"

"absolutely okay."

In the delegation, a nobleman asked anxiously:
"What about the border trade that your country just promised?"

"Proceed as usual."

……

Suvorov finally lost his composure. He couldn't understand this train of thought. He stared at the translator, thinking that the translation was wrong.

A lot of confirmation back and forth.

He heard the most absurd reply in the world:
"War is war, and business is business. These are two different things and should not be tied together. Your concerns are seriously inconsistent with the free trade concept that I have always advocated."

"A contract is just a piece of paper. As for land, whoever has the most soldiers and horses gets it. Isn't that how your Romanov family always thinks?"

Finished~
Li Yu left quietly.

Leaving Suvorov with a meaningful smile.

……

Finance Minister Hu Xueyu immediately handed over the formal contract that had been prepared long ago.

"Lao Su, if you are willing, then sign it. If you are not willing, don't force it."

"You also know that the trade volume of Guangzhou Port is quite considerable. Whether the Yili Port is opened or not is actually nothing. The trade volume is just a drop in the bucket."

(End of this chapter)