The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 281 Connections
"So, these thieves from Chang'an University despise and humiliate us, but deep down they actually envy our Imperial University!"

Several detention rooms at the Zhuque District Police Department were filled to the brim with dozens of arrested college students. However, these students had no sense of being "criminals" at all. Instead, they were lying down one by one, chatting animatedly, making the usually sober prison look like a vegetable market.

The few police officers guarding the detention room were not bothered. Instead, they smiled and watched these bold "criminals" bragging and chatting. They did not strictly enforce the necessary silence as usual.

"That's right!...I believe that after our imperial university's co-educational trial, maybe at some point in the future, all universities in the country will open the ban on women. By then, I would like to take a look at Chang'an University What words will those thieves say again?"

"Hehe, I guess they will all be like dogs, wagging their tails around the girls who enter the school."

"Ha ha……"

"Hey, by the way, how long will the people from the police department keep us in detention? Should they send us directly to Dali Temple and sentence us to disturbing public order?"

"Probably not, and no one was hurt. Besides, there are so many of us, and if we are all sentenced at once, it will not look good on the school's chief dean and many teachings. Wait a minute, tomorrow morning, it will definitely happen Someone will take us all back, but we will need some punishment when we return to school."

"I'm so afraid! After all, we are here to safeguard the honor and dignity of the Imperial University. I believe that the teachers and teachers will be merciful, lift them up high, put them down gently, and will not punish us severely."

"Hey, Ke Manzi, before the fight just now, I saw you going to the night market with a young woman. How did something happen?"

"Hey, you're tired from the fight. ...Are you asleep?"

"Tch, you are the young prince of Luzon. You usually have fine clothes and fine food, and are served by countless servants. You probably have no experience of fighting like this. A child like me who grew up in a military camp , I have to fight with people almost every day, and I don’t know how many people I have beaten since I was a child...Well, of course, I have also been beaten by many people. The fight just now was considered a small scene!"

Maybe an alumnus or classmate who has been in the same class for a few years will become a cabinet minister or senior official of the empire. Even the governor of an overseas territory is an extremely important human resource for the Xia vassal states, whether it is providing economic support to the vassal state. assistance, or the formulation of preferential trade policies. For the sake of former classmates, the emotional card should be played more or less slightly.

Some of the Xia vassal states that had a little bit of spare power even formed African colonial companies, crossed the oceans, came to the vast and mysterious African continent, and established colonial territories one after another in the areas designated by Qi State, plundering various local resources.

"Brother Luo, your family has been in the military for almost generations. How come you have to give up martial arts and study literature, and enter the Imperial University to prepare for a career in politics in the future?"

The Luzon Kingdom of the Zheng family, in addition to working with the Wei Kingdom to seize the South Taiping Islands that Qi has not yet occupied, it also cooperated with Sulu, Shun Kingdom, and the Borneo Governor-General of Qi to continuously encroach and seize the Kingdom of Brunei and Banjarsu. In the territory of the Dan Kingdom, large and small power territories were established, and the local wealth and mineral resources were wildly plundered.

"Hey, you are a young prince from Luzon. Why do you want to come to our country of Qi to study? What's the matter? You still want to learn something and do some research after you go back?" Luo Zhenming asked with a smile.

In fact, in Qi's political system, there are no strict boundaries between civil and military forces. Retired senior generals and officers in the military will also be appointed by the cabinet to serve as government administrative officials, and the governors of many overseas territories often also serve as commander-in-chief of local security. If there is a war, both the garrison in the jurisdiction and the mobilized rural soldiers will be subject to them. Commander, temporarily assumes the responsibility of leading troops in combat until a formal theater commander is sent from the mainland.

Under the protection of Qi State, the Xia vassal states in Nanyang have basically established a firm foothold on their respective territories, and with the rapid growth of population size and economic strength, they have also begun to follow Qi State in foreign colonial expansion. .

However, with the gradual popularization of cross-sea telegraph technology, large-scale military mobilization and disposal rights in overseas territories will most likely have to be returned to the central government, and specific military actions can only be taken with the approval of the cabinet or His Majesty the Emperor.

"Brother Ke was very skilled just now. After he came on the field, he knocked down two people one after another. It was like a tiger descending from the mountain and Zhao Zilong was reincarnated." A tall and thin classmate who was also sitting against the wall glanced at Ke Guangyong, who was silent, and helped him with a smile. He came to the rescue and said: "I think I am recuperating my spirit and regaining my physical strength. Hey, let alone such a fight, I feel sore all over at this time. I don't know if it was plotted by the gang of thieves from Chang'an University or if I used too much force." Too much force and injured the muscles and bones.”

What's more, in overseas colonial territories far away from the mainland, it is even less possible for governors to have greater autonomy while also holding local military power.

There are many "craftsmen" in Chang'an University, and there are many "nobles" in Imperial University. In addition to the local elites who like to send their children to Imperial University in order to gain a wide network of contacts, the overseas Xia vassal states also like to send the children of the royal family to Imperial University. Gold plated.

If an ambitious person appears here, he may cause trouble.

Quangnan, Cambodia, Siam, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and other regional countries and feudal states, also with the tacit approval of Qi State, the Xia vassal states flocked in like vultures to "eat", or directly occupied an enclave , or to delineate a sphere of influence, or to seize commercial interests, there is a strong tendency to gradually eat away at the above-mentioned countries.

"Brother Luo, you are kind of laughing at me." Zheng Shaofu smiled mockingly, "How can I learn anything with this little money in my belly! If it weren't for my status as a clan member of the Zheng family, I might not be able to learn anything at all. I'm not qualified to study in the Imperial University. Also, don't call me a little prince like that. Even my father is just a marquis in Luzon, and he only got it through the kindness of his ancestors. Classmate, the reason why I came to Hanzhou to study abroad was arranged by my family. I thought that if I could make more close friends in school, I would be able to come to Hanzhou to take care of you if I couldn’t survive in Luzon. , Give me a bite of food.”

With the huge economic size of Qi State, even a little leakage from the fingers is enough to make all the Xia vassal states happy.

"My old man thought that if all the family members were soldiers, the martial arts and murderous spirit would be too strong, so he asked me to enter the Imperial University to study politics and law, understand some economics and livelihood, and see if I could make a name for myself in the government system. come out."

The great affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military affairs. Naturally, sensitive military power cannot be easily delegated to others, but must be exercised by everyone above.

Of course, in order to avoid the shortcomings of the pre-Song Dynasty that civilian officials did not know the military and acted blindly, under normal circumstances, overseas governors only had the right to decide whether to fight. As for how to fight, it was left to the local garrison generals.

"..." Ke Guangyong was a little annoyed when he heard the other person calling him a barbarian, but thinking of the other person's identity and flamboyant personality, he didn't dare to get angry. He just leaned against the cold wall and pretended not to hear.

As early as the fifth year of Shaoning (1690), Qi State and the Xia vassal states in Nanyang had established a joint naval fleet headquarters. All naval fleets established by various countries were handed over to this headquarters for unified organization, unified training and unified operations. And share the military expenditures of the combined fleet according to the size of their respective economic strengths.

In the 1723th year of Taiping (), Qi State took advantage of convening part of the armies of the Xia Dynasty to go on an expedition to Persia, and proposed the establishment of a joint army headquarters to integrate the armies of various vassal states. In the face of external threats, the Xia Dynasty The coalition forces will be unified under the command of Qi State, fight together, and share risks.

This is equivalent to Qi State seizing the military command power of the Xia vassal states to a certain extent, and using the forces of the Xia Allied Forces for its own use in disguise, making the total number of troops available to Qi State exceed 160,000. . If a full-scale war mobilization was carried out, an army of four to five million people could be gathered in a short period of time, enough to launch a full-scale attack on a large country.

As early as decades ago, Qi State and the Xia vassal states in Nanyang established a unified customs alliance, forming economic and military integration. In addition, many economic lifelines of each country were also penetrated and controlled by Qi State's commercial capital. , already tied them firmly to Qi's chariot, and then took them to crush opponents one after another.

In addition, the royal family of Qi and the royal families of the Xia vassals frequently conducted marriages to strengthen the emotional ties between them.

It can be said that the Xia vassal states almost lost most of their military, diplomatic and economic autonomy and became a group of very obedient "little brothers" of Qi State.

Of course, Qi State did not treat these "little brothers" badly. In addition to opening up some of its colonial territories to Zhuxia and transferring some commercial interests, it also led them to continuously expand its territory and enrich its national strength, thus gradually developing and growing. Everyone lived a relatively prosperous and peaceful life.

In these days, if there was no Qi State, how could we Han people gain a foothold in this Nanyang region full of natives, let alone establish a country and then dominate those lazy and stupid natives?
To recognize your elder brother, you should find the one with the strongest strength. If you want to hug your thighs, you should naturally look for the one with the thickest legs.

This is true between big countries and small countries, and it is also true between people.

As a clan member of the Zheng family in Luzon, Zheng Shaofu also knew this very well. While studying at the Imperial University, he tried his best to build good relationships with classmates who had profound backgrounds for future use.

For him, studying hard and studying hard are not the main purposes of coming to Qi to study abroad. The advantage of entering the Imperial University is to make friends, and maybe someone will become a powerful person in a certain field twenty or thirty years later. Two or three years at university can fill the gaps in one's life. Only after one is in one's twenties can one enter the kingdom's political or business circles to seek development.

Even if you don’t learn anything “useful” after several years of college, there’s no regrets. For someone like him who can get a title from the Luzon royal family and a huge income, not getting a degree doesn’t matter. What a shame.

"Little prince..."

After all, they were college students who had not gone through any hardships. Late at night, most of them still did not sleep peacefully in the detention room.

The stinky smell, messy hay, dim oil lamps, and hard floors and walls made it impossible for everyone to fall asleep while tossing and turning. They could only wait for dawn with big eyes and small eyes.

Ke Guangyong heard Zheng Shaofu, who was lying next to him, turning over and over like a pancake, cursing in a low voice. He thought he couldn't adapt to the environment of the prison cell, so he called him softly.

"Huh?...Brother Ke didn't fall asleep either?"

"No."

"Anything on your mind?"

"...So there is."

"If it exists, it exists; if it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist. ...What does it mean to exist?"

"..." Ke Guangyong hesitated for a moment, and then tried to ask: "Little prince, do you have any money?"

"Why, have you spent all the monthly money your family gave you?...Okay, when we go out tomorrow, I will get you a few dozen dollars to use first."

"A few dozen yuan is not enough..."

"Hey, are you planning to buy something expensive? Dozens of dollars are not enough?...How much do you need?"

"...two thousand yuan."

"What?...Two thousand yuan!" Zheng Shaofu screamed in shock when he heard this, waking up the half-asleep students next to him, rubbing their eyes to find their way back.

"Shhh..." Ke Guangyong quickly signaled the other party not to yell like this, "Do you have two thousand yuan with you? If you can lend it to me, brother, I...will surely repay you!"

"Brother Ke, it's two thousand yuan! How can I get such a large amount of money at once? How about I follow you to rob the treasury? Or, you go to the custody room next door and find a quick-thinking person from Chang'an University Classmates, if you two work together to create a big invention, and then apply for the Royal Highest Science Award, you might be able to successfully receive a bonus of 3,000 yuan!”

"..." Ke Guangyong couldn't help but feel disappointed after hearing this, "Since the young prince doesn't have the money, forget it... I'll figure it out myself."

Co-author, this royal child from Luzon is also a pauper!

"Hey, what do you want so much money for?" Zheng Shaofu asked curiously.

In fact, two thousand yuan was not out of reach for him, but he felt that lending such a large amount of money to this "barbarian" classmate was not worth the gain.

Looking at him like this, he definitely couldn't get the money from his family, so he had to borrow money from others. But given his ability, I am afraid that he will not be able to repay this huge amount in the short term. It may take eight or ten years to repay it.

If Ke Manzi's family has a strong political and military background, it might as well be lent to him to build a good relationship and expand personal connections for the Zheng family.

However, as far as he knew, Ke Manzi's ancestors had extremely powerful power in the Ottoman Empire. For several generations, there were figures such as prime ministers and cabinet ministers. He definitely belonged to a top family background with one person below ten thousand people.

However, their family fell into decline decades ago and was liquidated by political opponents, so they had to flee to Qi State for refuge.

In the Qi State, except for a few important cabinet ministers and senior military generals who were Yi people during the period of Emperor Taizu, so far, only a handful of naturalized Yi people have been able to climb to high positions.

Non-my family, its heart must be different.

Be wary or discriminate, in short, there is a vague career ceiling for naturalized and naturalized foreigners in Qi State in the government and military fields. If you want to seek higher positions and power, you need to spend more energy and time. .

Even in Imperial University, many students mingled with Ke Guangyong, studying together, discussing topics together, living together, and even drinking and fighting together.

But deep down in the hearts of some people, a disconnect arises involuntarily.

This guy looks different from us Han people!

(End of this chapter)