The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 220: Foreign vassal
"Actually, in the eyes of the cabinet and the military, the Weiyi Islands are not as important as imagined." Niu Yi, deputy commander of the Weiyi Squadron and Lieutenant Colonel Linghui, stood on the battleship "Nuyu" The bow of the ship looked at the faint column of smoke ahead and sighed softly.

"Sir, that's what you said." Fu Youlin, the captain of the Fuyu and Major Xuangjie, nodded in agreement: "When our Weiyi Squadron was at its peak, we had sixteen large and small ships and more than 2,500 officers and men. , including the entire Western Pacific Ocean, is where our fleet cruises. But now, our Weiyi Squadron only has three or five cats, and the number of officers and soldiers is less than 400. How can we continue to do so. Covering the Western Pacific Ocean. Well, even if we face the Spanish Pacific Squadron, we may not have an absolute advantage."

"Oh, with the strength of the Spaniards, they should not offend us. It is probably because of this that the big shots above feel that the entire Pacific Ocean is basically no threat, so they have repeatedly reduced the strength of our Weiyi Squadron." Niu Yi shook his head. Said: "The great civil war broke out in Japan. In order to strengthen the response force in the region, the Ryukyu Fleet Headquarters will transfer two ships of the squadron back to the waters near Japan. As a result, our Weiyi Squadron only has three warships left. How can we still take care of such a large area of ​​sea?”

"Who says it's not the case? From now on, we can only carry out routine patrol missions at sea by single-ship cruises." Fu Youlin sighed: "Of the three warships, one goes out for cruise, one is repaired and maintained in the port, and one is ready for combat maneuvers. Ha, if there is a problem with any of the warships, our Weiyi Squadron may not be able to operate!"

"I still remember that when Emperor Taizu was still alive, he attached great importance to the Weiyi Islands, saying that he wanted to build them into the largest naval base of Qi State, so as to control the entire Pacific Ocean, and then lock the key to America and Yinzhou." Niu Yi said and couldn't help but smile bitterly, "But now, in our naval organization, apart from the South Pacific Fleet, our Weiyi Squadron is the least valued."

"Yes, the purpose of our Weiyi Squadron's existence is probably to maintain a symbolic military deployment and prove that this ocean is under the control of Qi State. If we want to make achievements, there is probably no hope. Unless, we all work together China will have another fight with Spain. Only then will our Wei Squadron be able to make its mark."

"It is impossible to fight the Spanish again in the short term." Niu Yi glanced at Fu Youlin and knew what he was thinking, "In the just-ended war with Britain, Spain was our de facto ally of Qi after all. , we have worked together to defeat the English, but we cannot fall out with them in a blink of an eye. Recently, our two countries are planning to build a railway across the Isthmus of Panama to connect the two oceans and speed up the exchange of trade and personnel. Under this situation, the cabinet. The military and the military will not allow any incident to destabilize the relationship between the two countries. Besides, not everyone is like the deputy commander of Japan's Hengguan Security, relying on their close and deep friendship with His Majesty to make such a decision. Some outrageous things were not punished in any substantial way.”

The "person" Niu Yi mentioned was Li Yanliang, the deputy commander of the Hengguan Guards, and the "extraordinary thing" refers to the fact that Li Yanliang secretly dispatched a hundred soldiers during the Battle of Hagi that broke out between the shogunate army and the Sacho alliance. Yu Qi Army officers and soldiers participated in the war, most of whom were professional artillery officers and tactical staff officers. In this battle, the Sacho coalition forces defeated the shogunate army with precise and ferocious artillery fire, and won a hearty victory.

In the ensuing war, the shogunate army jumped with anger after learning this information after interrogating the prisoners of the Sachō alliance. General Tokugawa Yoshimune immediately summoned Qi's minister in Edo and asked Qi whether he wanted to intervene in the internal affairs of the shogunate and openly side with the Sasho rebels.

Naturally, the Minister of Qi tried his best to deny any involvement in Japan's internal affairs. He said that the Qi soldiers who appeared on the battlefield were civilian armed volunteers employed by the Sachang Allied Forces and had nothing to do with Qi. Qi has always valued the friendly relations between the two countries and will never interfere in Japan's situation.

But you, a small deputy commander of security, did not report to the Qi Embassy in Edo in advance and dispatched troops to intervene in Japan's overthrow war. Do you still understand the rules and do you care about "politics"?
It is reported that because of this incident, the Cabinet Foreign Affairs Department and the military were at loggerheads. One side demands that this "lonely" behavior, which is tantamount to a private military operation, be severely punished to serve as a warning to others. The other side believed that urgency should be followed and protected and sheltered Li Yanliang on the grounds that the military enjoyed small-scale cheap military mobilization rights in overseas governor-general territories.

Well, the prince and Emperor Taiping passed away one after another, and the grandson succeeded to the throne. In addition to drastic changes in the cabinet, the military forces were bound to undergo a wave of reshuffles. In this period of excessive political situation, it is better for everyone not to act rashly, otherwise they may fall victim to political strife and give people an excuse to be dismissed.

Although the military did not agree with the slightly conservative strategy of the cabinet, it did not object to it openly, and it did not want to leave an image of the army as unruly to the new emperor, so it issued instructions to the navy and army stationed in various places. Except in response to external threats of force or in the normal defense of Qi's overseas territories and commercial interests, border provocations are not allowed without authorization.

In addition, His Majesty the Emperor did not impose any further punishment on him. Instead, he ordered the military to transfer Li Yanliang to the Xuanzhou Governorate (today's California and Baja California) as deputy commander of security to temporarily avoid the limelight.

In the end, in order to quell the dissatisfaction of the cabinet, the young emperor dismissed Li Yanliang from his post, making him the deputy commander of the Hengguan Garrison with the shortest tenure.

Otherwise, where did the empire gain so much territory over the past decades come from?

In addition, His Majesty the young Emperor has just taken over, and many political affairs at home and abroad have not yet been started, and many policies are also being gradually adjusted. This makes it even more necessary for both domestic and foreign countries to try to stay calm and not cause any messy incidents, so as to avoid influence His Majesty's decision.

It is true that in terms of overall strategy, our Qi State does not allow de facto unification in Japan, and is happy to see Japan's current situation of numerous vassal states operating independently.

Although the shogunate authorities were prevaricated at the diplomatic level, the actions of the deputy commander of the Hengguan Guard still made the Minister of Qi dissatisfied, believing that his hasty actions had made Qi fall into a certain degree of passivity.

However, the situation in each overseas territory is different, and not all of them condone local troubles in this way. A mature country like Japan with a well-organized political power and a regional power with a population of more than 20 million must be cautious and must not let Qi fall into a fierce regional conflict needlessly.

As long as local affairs are not messed up, and territory is expanded and wealth (or resources) is harvested, it will be of great benefit to the country and the people.

However, with the strength of the Weiyi Squadron, even if they wanted to stir up trouble, they would still be unable to do so.

Qi's many overseas territories are too far away from the mainland and have inconvenient communication. Each has a lot of autonomy, causing some minor frictions and even provoking armed conflicts in surrounding areas. Whether it is the cabinet or the military, basically It's the default attitude.

It's not like taking the only three battleships on hand - oh, by the way, two of them are traditional sailing battleships - to fight Spain, right?
According to the routine patrol mission of the squadron, after leaving Huaiyang Port, the battleship "Fuyu" sailed to Huining (today's Vancouver Island), Pengzhou Governorate, on a heading of 60 degrees south-east, and then sailed along the It went all the way south along the coastline and entered the Xuanzhou Peninsula (today's Baja California Peninsula), then turned around and headed west, returning to Hawaii Island.

Today, this old sail warship was left behind after less than two days of sailing with more than a dozen merchant ships. It was slowly walking in a zigzag pattern with several merchant ships that were also pure sails, catching the weak The wind force is moving towards the direction of the Kuroshio Current in the North Pacific.

In the mainland of Hanzhou and the Indian Ocean, even commercial iron ships of several thousand tons have begun to ply the sea. However, in the North Pacific region, the Imperial Navy's Weiyi Squadron is still operating this kind of "outdated" sailing ship. , can not help but make people lament. Is this the case with the Weiyi Islands, the so-called strategic locations claimed by Emperor Taizu in the past? ——
"Waiwai Island is still relatively important to us."

In the early morning of December 12, in a two-story building in the east city of Huaiyuan (now San Francisco), a group of business owners and directors stood respectfully in a row and listened carefully to the lectures of a middle-aged man wearing luxurious clothes.

"There is abundant sandalwood there, and there is a huge market demand in the mainland Qin State. In addition, the Hawaiian Islands are located in the tropics, with a hot and humid environment. They are the best places for sugar cane to grow. If they are not utilized, wouldn't it be cheap for the mainland? Those businessmen who came." Qi Siyi paced back and forth in the room and said with a high expression: "Recently, the Governor-General of Weiyi has given us a letter of approval. As long as our Yizhou trading company goes to invest in setting up factories, we can build several islands. The land above can be occupied at will, and some indigenous labor can be provided. After the sugar factory is completed and put into operation, taxes and fees will be exempted for three years, and only 50% will be collected for the following three years.”

"Think about it, there are more than 200,000 people in the entire Yinzhou Dingkou. If we add the Spanish American Territories of Mexico, Lima, Upper Chile (now northern Chile) and Qingguo Zezhou area (now southern Chile), I am afraid there will be more than 200,000 people." Millions of people. This is a huge market size! Therefore, we must seize the opportunity and seize the opportunity before the large-scale influx of local businessmen. This time, before I go to Han. When we come to the mainland, you can discuss it and recommend a few capable people to follow me and get everything done on Weiyi Island first. At that time, I will recruit some skilled technicians and workers from the mainland and try to open the sugar factory as soon as possible. "

The shopkeepers and principals present couldn't help but look at each other in shock when they heard this.

Why, more than ten years ago, we ran from Yizhou to Xuanzhou, and now we want to get people to Weiyi Island?

Do our Yizhou trading companies want to stretch our hands that far?
"Okay, now bring me the account books for the second half of the year." Qi Siyi ignored the thoughts of the people below, turned around and sat behind a desk, casually plucked the abacus next to it a few times, and then Waiting for the ledger to be presented.

"Sir, the account books are all here. Among them..."

"You don't need to tell me, I can see it myself." Qi Siyi waved his hand, interrupting the other party's words.

Several shopkeepers watched with uneasy expressions as the man sitting behind the desk kept flipping through the account books, not daring to express their anger for fear of disturbing the noble man's thoughts.

"How come the income has dropped so much in the past few months?"

However, after flipping through it for a while, Qi Siyi became impatient and simply jumped to the end of the account to check the operating results of the past six months. After confirming the figures, his face could not help but darken. He closed the account book and threw it directly at the feet of the shopkeeper and chief executives in front of him.

"Back to my lord, my income in the past six months has actually not decreased. Compared with the first half of the year, it has even increased slightly." Gao Wanliang, the manager of Yizhou Trading Company in Huaiyuan, clasped his hands in his fists, bowed slightly, and said carefully: "However, The Xuanzhou Governor-General announced four months ago that it would double the mining tax and fur tax from the original basis, and also impose a 2% port management fee on ships entering and leaving the port. In addition, for the processing and refining of gold, Special product taxes are also required. The total of these will wipe out the increase in profits in the second half of the year. Master, this information was sent back to Yizhou a few months ago..."

"Huh?..." Qi Siyi closed his eyes and thought for a while. It seemed that he had received such a letter, but he didn't take it to heart at the time. He thought that with the power of their Yiwang Palace, the Xuanzhou Governor-General would never really come. Dare to collect taxes from Yizhou Trading Company.

"What the hell! The business was doing well in the past, and taxes and fees were never increased. What do they want to do in the Xuanzhou Governor's Region? Oh, these taxes and fees, you just pay them as you say? They know that this trading company is our Yi The palace’s business?”

"Sir, the Governor-General of Xuanzhou said that he plans to build a railway from Wuding (today's Oakland City on the east coast of San Francisco) to Guangfeng (today's Sacramento), so he will increase these taxes and fees to raise construction funds." Gao Wanliang He replied with a bitter look on his face: "As for the collection of taxes and fees, the Governor's Office issued a document stating that all people, regardless of nationality, must pay taxes and fees in full. Our Yizhou trading company is in Huaiyuan City, and even in the entire Xuanzhou Having existed for more than twenty years, the Governor's Mansion naturally... naturally knows our identity. "

"How brave!" Qi Siyi said bitterly: "I in Yizhou are a clan member of the royal family, a vassal of the empire, and the Xuanzhou Governor's Office doesn't even give me any face!"

"My lord..." Gao Wanliang hesitated for a moment and then said bravely: "It is said that during the local tax audit last year, the Prince Supervisor ordered the General Department of Taxation to send personnel to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the Royal Trading Company. I think this news reached Xuan State, so..."

"So, the Xuanzhou Governor's Mansion just used chicken feathers as arrows and didn't give our Prince Yi's Mansion any face?" Qi Siyi's face turned livid.

Since the first year of Shaoning (1685), King Yi was demoted to Yizhou. Because he is the direct descendant of Taizu, he has always been a transcendent existence in the entire Yinzhou area. He not only has a vast fiefdom and an independent "food town" In addition, the purchase of furs and mining of minerals (gold mining) in several governorates such as Linzhou (today's Alaska), Pengzhou (today's Wenzhou in Canada and Washington State in the United States), and Xuanzhou are also exempted from various taxes. The privilege of taxation allowed Prince Yi's Mansion to accumulate countless wealth in just a few decades.

But I never thought that today I would be harvested and taxed in the Xuanzhou Governor-General's District.

How can this not be annoying!
However, what does the governor of Xuanzhou mean by this move?

Could it be that he had received a secret decree from the new emperor or an instruction from the cabinet to suppress and warn King Yi?

(End of this chapter)