Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 359: Becoming an Official
The Oirat and the Tatars were both peoples of the grasslands. There were conflicts and cooperation between them, but when they encountered a powerful enemy, they cooperated more often.

But the Oirat did not expect that the Tatar king would bring his remnants into the Oirat.

The King of Oirat did not want the King of Tatar to bring troops into the country, but after the King of Tatar presented a large number of gifts and promised to just lend him a passage, the King of Oirat agreed.

The King of Oirat also learned that Daqian had invaded the Tatar tribe and occupied the entire Tatar territory.

Therefore, the King of Oirat deployed heavy troops on the border with Tatar to stop Daqian's army.

One day after the Tatar king entered the territory of Oiran, in the Oiran camp on the border, the Oiran general was talking with his generals.

"What happened?" The Tatar general felt the vibration from the ground and asked loudly outside the tent.

"Report, there is a devil!" A panicked voice was heard, and then a trembling Waqar scout was seen kneeling down to salute with a pale face.

"Get out of here!" The Tatar general was furious. He walked up to the scout and kicked him down.

He didn't believe in any devil. He had a talisman given by the Venerable Waqira on him. Even if there really were devils, they would be afraid of him.

He went up to a nearby observation tower, and the other generals followed.

The Waqir general saw a scene that he would never forget in his life: on the grassland, a row of steel monsters were spewing white gas and coming quickly towards the camp.

Above the steel monster, there was an even larger monster floating in the air, also flying towards the camp.

Only when he saw the Daqian soldiers behind the steel monster did he suppress the fear in his heart.

These are not demons, but weapons developed by Daqian.

Daqian was good at this kind of military equipment. Even the siege equipment used by the Tatar army came from Daqian.

"Organize the army and prepare for battle!" the Tatar general ordered loudly.

Just as he issued the order, Daqian's two hundred steam chariots launched the attack.

The attack launched by the First Guard of the Beijing Camp was one of the battle plans formulated by Li Qiang.

Li Qiang named it blitzkrieg, using the speed of a steam chariot to launch the fastest attack on the enemy.

Because it takes some time to assemble the army nowadays.

Even a nomadic people like the Oirat can exert their combat power as long as they can mount war horses. However, in the camp, the war horses cannot always follow the soldiers, and it also takes a certain amount of time to assemble them.

Blitzkrieg is based on this time difference. When running at full speed, the speed of a steam chariot can reach 50 kilometers per hour. Even if the Tatar scouts discover it, they will not be able to notify the main camp in time.

The two hundred cannons on the steam chariots fired their powerful weapons, half of which were incendiary bombs and half were explosive bombs, falling into the Tatar camp.

The Tatar cavalry were still gathering, and explosions kept occurring around them. The fragments emitted by the exploding bombs caused large numbers of Tatar soldiers to fall down.

Incendiary bombs were even more cruel. Most of the burning Tatar soldiers could not die immediately. Their bodies were on fire, and they let out shrill screams and scattered in all directions without direction.

It also expanded the range of the fire, igniting more objects.

The 100,000-strong Waqar army in the border camp was stunned before they even met the Daqian army.

The steam tanks would not stop after one round of attack. After defeating the Tatars, they obtained supplies and now had sufficient ammunition.

The steam chariot equipped with two hundred new artillery pieces launched a long-range attack on the Waqir camp that lasted for the duration of an incense stick.

When the steam chariot stopped attacking, soldiers armed with long muskets arrived and began to rush into the Waqar camp.

The Waqir camp experienced the baptism of artillery fire, and few soldiers who survived were uninjured.

Some of them who were still able to move had already fled from the rear of the camp, and those who were unable to escape were unable to move and were waiting to die.

"Don't clear the battlefield, keep moving forward!" Zang Feiyu gave the order loudly.

What he wanted at this moment was to advance as quickly as possible, not to catch up with the Tatar king, but to severely damage the Tatars or even occupy them.

The First Guard of the Beijing Camp was followed by the Artillery Corps, which would later split up with the First Guard of the Beijing Camp. Wu Hou did not steal Zang Feiyu's limelight at this time.

This was another war that the Daqian court was unaware of, and in the entire Daqian, only Li Qiang knew the movements of these two armies.

Military camps across the northern part of Daqian received transfer orders from the Ministry of War. Due to the improvement in the overall quality of the Daqian army, 200,000 troops were assembled in many border towns in just ten days.

The cabinet also acted quickly. They transferred dozens of officials from various prefectures in the north near the border towns. These officials would follow the Daqian army into the Tatar tribe and be used to build cities and governments in Tatar.

Just one month after the Tatars destroyed their country, something major happened in the Daqian Cabinet.

Cabinet Grand Secretary Tian asked Li Qiang to retire, but Li Qiang rejected Tian's request. Then Tian asked Li Qiang to retire again, but Li Qiang still rejected it.

At this time, all the officials in the court realized that the era of Grand Secretary Tian was over.

The relationship between Grand Secretary Tian and Li Qiang was what is called three requests and three replies. This was a fulfillment of the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects, and a way to show the court's reluctance to part with Grand Secretary Tian.

After three requests, Li Qiang finally issued an imperial decree, appointing Tian Daxueshi as Taifu and allowing him to retire.

This Taifu was just an honorary position, a reward given to Grand Secretary Tian in recognition of his life's contributions.

Naturally, the influence of Tian Daxueshi's sudden retirement also ended with Li Qiang's appointment as Taifu.

Regardless of the reason why Grand Secretary Tian retired, Emperor Li Qiang was extremely kind to him and his treatment was impeccable.

The weather was sunny that day. Although it was winter, many trees were still green.

Scholar Tian was riding in a carriage, and behind him there were more than a dozen other carriages, which contained family members who were willing to return home with him, as well as some family property.

Of course, before an official retired, most of his property had already been returned, and he only took a very small portion of it with him.

Otherwise, if there were really hundreds of large vehicles following his retirement, it would affect his reputation as an official.

Scholar Tian said goodbye to his colleagues in front of the city gate. He looked back at the capital with deep reluctance in his eyes.

He followed three emperors in his life, from the retired emperor to Emperor Jingwen, and then to Li Qiang.

Daqian prospered during the reign of Emperor Taishang and declined during the reign of Emperor Jingwen. The current Daqian made him a little confused.

If possible, he still wants to stay in the capital and see the changes in Daqian.

"Master, there are people at Qili Pavilion ahead!" the old butler came over and reminded.

Qili Pavilion is the place for farewells outside the capital, so when the old butler saw someone at Qili Pavilion, he guessed that they were there to see off his master.

And the person who can come here alone to say goodbye must be the master's good friend.

Academician Tian looked towards the Qili Pavilion and saw a eunuch walking out of the pavilion with his body bowed.

"General Manager Jin!" He was shocked. The eunuch was the current personal eunuch, the chief official of the imperial palace, Jin Dong. With Jin Dong here, there was no need to tell who was in the Qili Pavilion.

"Butler, help me out of the car!" he hurriedly ordered the old butler.

Seeing that the master was so anxious, the old butler hurriedly and carefully helped Scholar Tian out of the carriage.

Scholar Tian adjusted his clothes, fearing that they might be stained with dust. After everything was done, he went to meet Jin Dong.

"Chief Steward Jin, is the emperor here?" asked Grand Secretary Tian excitedly.

"The master has prepared tea in the pavilion!" Jin Dong replied with a smile.

Of course, Academician Tian was excited. Li Qiang's appearance here meant that Li Qiang recognized everything he had done.

Even though Li Qiang played a role in his retirement this time, the fact that Li Qiang went to Qiliting to see him off was enough to make him be recorded in history.

The Emperor escorted me for seven miles. What an honor it is.

He walked into Qiliting and saw Li Qiang who was smiling at him.

He hurried forward and was about to kneel down to pay his respects, but was held back by Li Qiang.

"No need for formalities. I will just prepare some tea for you as we are parting ways now to preserve the friendship between the king and his subject!" Li Qiang said with a smile.

"How dare I act like this in front of His Majesty!" Grand Secretary Tian said with emotion, tears in his eyes.

With the help of Li Qiang, Academician Tian sat on the stone bench.

Li Qiang sat opposite to Mr. Tian. He picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Mr. Tian.

"Your Majesty, I have already left the court. I would like to hear your final ideas for Daqian." Grand Secretary Tian calmed down. He did not take the teacup, but spoke slowly.

He left the capital, and even though he had old friends in the capital, he could no longer access many important information.

He always had a feeling that Li Qiang seemed to have a plan for doing something, which was why Li Qiang compiled those books and personally participated in the design of the steam engine and a series of subsequent machines.

Li Qiang also vigorously developed the Daqian army. Since many aspects of the army would not be explained to the cabinet, the cabinet was not clear about how powerful the Daqian army was now.

However, from the fact that Scholar Tian conquered Tatar silently in a short period of time with the help of Li Qiang, one can imagine the strength of the Daqian army today.

He used to be a cabinet minister, representing the interests of many civil servants, which required him to stand on his own position.

It’s different now. He has retired and it is possible for him to hear the real information from Li Qiang.

"How big do you think this world is? How much of it does Daqian occupy?" Li Qiang asked with a smile.

His question surprised Academician Tian a little, because it seemed to have nothing to do with the question raised by Academician Tian.

"Daqian should account for a small half!" Scholar Tian is not an ignorant man. He has also seen some foreign maps and has his own understanding of this world.

"This world is a sphere, and Daqian is just a corner of it, not even one-tenth of it. There is a country in the southwest of Daqian, which is larger than Daqian. It can grow three crops a year, and even without any work, as long as it is watered, its crop yield will exceed that of the best farmland in Daqian.

There is a country whose iron ore production is almost comparable to the roughly processed iron ingots of Daqian.

There is a country with endless gold and gems hidden underground, which can be dug out at will!" Li Qiang said lightly.

"Does such a country really exist?" Academician Tian was fascinated when he heard this. At the same time, he felt that Li Qiang was talking nonsense, because Li Qiang said that this world was a sphere, which he could not accept.

"My Daqian has the ability to wipe out everything. I plan to make Daqian the only country in the world!" Li Qiang expressed his thoughts in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, a country is so big that it will perish if it loves war!" Grand Secretary Tian took a breath of cold air and hurriedly persuaded.

Li Qiang smiled, stood up, walked to the north side of Qiliting, and looked towards the north.

"The Tatars have already surrendered to Daqian. Do you know that half of the Waqar are now in my hands, and I have only mobilized one guard of the Beijing Camp!" Li Qiang said, pointing to the north.

"What?" Academician Tian stood up suddenly. As he was very old, he almost fell down.

But he didn't care at all. He came to Li Qiang at a speed that was not in line with his age and looked at Li Qiang with a confirming look.

"In terms of military power, Daqian is invincible in the world. I originally wanted to use cheap goods to sell to foreign countries to earn money, but I had an opportunity that made me change my mind. I plan to incorporate this world into Daqian!" Li Qiang explained with a smile.

"Can a single guard from the Capital Camp be invincible in the world?" Grand Scholar Tian felt that the world had changed so much that he couldn't understand it anymore.

In his opinion, the previous victories of the Daqian army over the Tatars and the Oirat were acceptable.

But in such a short period of time, with only the funding from Datong Bank, Daqian destroyed the Tatars and occupied half of the Waqar, which was unacceptable to him.

What was even more unbelievable to him was that the person who did all this was just a guard from the Daqian Jingying.

Each guard has only 5,000 soldiers, while the Tatars and the Oirat have a combat force of tens or even hundreds of millions.

At this time, Academician Tian began to understand Li Qiang's thoughts.

With such military force and the ability to continuously destroy powerful countries without spending the Daqian treasury, how could Li Qiang miss this opportunity?

Except for those incompetent emperors, any ambitious emperor in history had the desire to expand the territory.

It’s just that some emperors did it and some didn’t.

The most crucial thing is that Li Qiang is still very young. Even if another thirty years passes, Li Qiang will not be more than sixty years old. In thirty years, he can conquer many territories and accomplish great things that no emperor has ever done.

"Your Majesty, I have no hope of seeing the heyday of Daqian again!" Grand Scholar Tian sighed and said helplessly.

Even if Li Qiang could accomplish the great things he envisioned in twenty years, Academician Tian would not be able to see it due to his age.

This made Tian Daxueshi very unwilling. He worked hard for Daqian all his life, but he could not see the prosperity of Daqian.

At this moment, he completely believed in Li Qiang and believed that Li Qiang could accomplish the great things he had envisioned.

Tatar and Oirat are the most powerful countries near Daqian.

But now, one of these two countries has been destroyed, and the other is being destroyed.

"Give me your wrist!" Li Qiang said after thinking for a while.

Scholar Tian didn't quite understand, but he still stretched out his wrist in front of Li Qiang.

Li Qiang pressed two fingers on the wrist of Tian Daxueshi. Based on Tian Daxueshi's vitality, he judged that Tian Daxueshi still had about eight years to live.

After years of hard work, Grand Secretary Tian's body has almost exhausted its potential. Even if he goes back to recuperate well, he will not be able to live more than ten years.

"I grant you twenty years of life, you should be able to see the heyday of Daqian!" Li Qiang injected a stream of 'Healing Spell [Advanced]' energy into Tian Daxueshi's body and said.

(End of this chapter)