The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 232: Establishing the Country

Kaiyuan General's Mansion.

People kept coming in and out of the general's living room. Liu Zhaosun, wearing his second-rank official uniform with a crane patch, was busy receiving the heads of civil affairs and workshops.

After recovering from his injury, Ping Liaohou continued to be busy and had no time to spare.

As the year draws to a close, many things become complicated and he has to make decisions personally.

Yang Qing'er was concerned about her husband's health and worried that he would not have good food and accommodation outside, so she refused to let Ping Liaohou return to the barracks.

When he was still a lieutenant general, Liu Zhaosun practiced frugality, employing only three maids to cook and keep the house. Yang Qing'er did many of the household chores herself, and after two years of training, the young lady of the governor's mansion had acquired many skills, not least cooking.

I wonder what Yang Hao felt when he returned to Kaiyuan and saw his daughter become like this.

Yang Qing'er personally cooks every day, following the dietary prescriptions prescribed by Old Song, and meticulously prepares dishes that her husband likes. Looking at his wife's busy figure, Liu Zhaosun enjoys this rare warmth and thinks about having a child with Yang Qing'er as soon as possible.

Kaiyuan was still in turmoil, and the merchant's assassin had yet to be found. On the seventh day, at the hour of You, in complete darkness, another civil official was murdered on his way home. The killer left a note stating that he was avenging the death of the Mongolian merchant.

The next morning, patrolling pacification soldiers discovered the body, and Zhang Dong hurried to the general's residence to report the matter.

This lone wolf terrorist attack was a headache for Ping Liaohou. It was a sensitive time for the rectification movement, and the people of Kaiyuan were in a state of panic. Ping Liaohou ordered the news to be suppressed to prevent those with ulterior motives from exploiting it and causing large-scale vendettas between the Han people and the foreign tribes.

It is certain that the mastermind behind this is someone from the imperial court, either someone from the East Factory or someone sent by the Ministry of War.

Perhaps there is also internal rebellion.

It seems that Emperor Taichang has decided to go to war with him.

The seemingly harmonious relationship can no longer be maintained.

War is inevitable.

Ping Liaohou soon realized that whether he liked it or not, as the current situation continued, Kaiyuan would soon break completely with the court, and he himself would most likely be elected emperor by his subordinates.

After going through all these things, Liu Zhaosun no longer has any aversion to becoming emperor, but instead has a vague expectation of it.

If he didn't go out for a few days, he would start to have wild thoughts.

This may be the life of a superior.

What should the new country be called? Which Chinese character can replace Ming?

The first thing that came to Liu Zhaosun's mind was "Han." Since his surname was Liu, the same as those of other emperors like Liu Bang, Liu Xiu, and Liu Bei, naming his new country Han would both inherit the great cause of the Han and Tang dynasties and boost the morale of the Han people, killing two birds with one stone.

It is entirely possible to make up a tortuous but touching story in which Ping Liaohou becomes a relative of emperors such as Liu Bang, Liu Xiu, or Liu Xuande, thus proving the legitimacy of the new dynasty.

If you think this routine is too low-level, you can let Kang Yingqian create various public opinions first.

Liu Zhaosun believed that as long as he expressed his willingness to become emperor, within a few days, under the manipulation of Kang Yingqian and others, all kinds of miracles, or more precisely, auspicious signs, would appear in Liaodong.

The gentry and elders held wheat ears the size of sorghum, led a few white-haired sacred deer, and declared to the soldiers and civilians in the tone of a shaman dance:

General Liu was the true Dragon Emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang and his unworthy descendants were false emperors. The Han Dynasty was the Mandate of Heaven.

Ping Liaohou thought about it for a long time and began to worry about whether naming the country Han would conflict with the policy of transforming the Xia into the Yi, and whether it would give other ethnic groups a bad impression that the new dynasty was exclusive to foreigners.

After all, Kaiyuan’s basic base is the Liao people, and the Liao people are not only the Han people in Liaodong, but also people of all ethnic groups.

So he thought of his original surname - Qi.

If the country's name is Qi, which is the same as his surname in his previous life, it would be fine.

According to the current expansion trend, the Kaiyuan Army is inside the Great Wall, and the next step is to occupy the canal cities and control the entire Shandong Province.

When that time comes, the capital will be established in Jinan or Linzi, and the land of Qi and Lu will be used as the foundation to sweep across the world. Therefore, it is understandable to call the country Qi.

While I was still daydreaming, the guard came in to report that Director Xie had arrived.

"The Civil Affairs Bureau has finished its inventory? So quickly?"

As the Lunar New Year approaches, all departments are starting their year-end inventory. The heads of the civil affairs and workshops are exhausted every day. Even Qiao Yiqi has given up his job as an executioner and gone to help the trading company with their accounts.

Liu Zhaosun's previous life grew up in a state-owned enterprise. Every year at the end of December, his parents were busy taking inventory at the company. He lived and ate at the company and sometimes did not go home for two days in a row, leaving his grandparents to take care of the child.

Liu Zhaosun felt quite sympathetic towards these officers who worked so hard, but despite his sympathy, someone still had to do the work.

Xie Yang came to the general's residence holding a large stack of account books to report on the Liaodong Trading Company's profits this year.

Marquis Ping Liao received this diligent civil official in the living room.

A thick stack of account books was piled on the desk, recording the details of Kaiyuan's trade with various provinces of the Ming Dynasty, as well as Korea and Mongolia this year.

According to civil affairs regulations, any inflow and outflow of money exceeding one hundred taels will be recorded in a book and summarized in the accounts.

Liu Zhaosun opened the top account book and looked at it carefully.

The account book recorded the details of trade between the Liaodong Trading Company and Shandong. Shandong was Kaiyuan's largest trading province. Liu Zhaosun stared at the densely packed account book for a while and found that the most traded items were ores and seafood.

There are many kinds of minerals in Shandong, including gold mines in Zhaoyuan, sulfur in Linzi, and silver mines in Zhifu. After the Wenxiang Sect was pacified, a large amount of minerals from all over the country poured into Liaodong.

The imperial court did not interfere with this kind of private resale of mineral deposits. They were only responsible for collecting taxes. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, large-scale private mines appeared in Jiangnan, Fujian and other places. The owners behind the mines were all local dignitaries, so the mining tax naturally could not be collected.

Liu Zhaosun nodded as he read it, and encouraged Xie Yang:
"Good, now that we have more iron ore, we can make more flintlock rifles next year!"

After Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he looked at the marine goods account and saw that he had spent more than 30,000 taels. He could not help but say in surprise:

"Why do seafood products cost so much? Can't North Korea give Kaiyuan a preferential price?"

After hearing this, Xie Yang quickly explained to Ping Liao Hou:
"General Liu, you may not know that Kaiyuan's residents are mainly merchants who love seafood and consume a lot of it. In previous years, we bought it from southern and western Liaoning. The journey is not far and the price is cheap. This year, because of the blockade of Liaozhen and Houjin, they won't sell goods to us. Seafood is hard to come by and the price has risen a lot. Trading companies can only get it from North Korea and Shandong. North Korea deliberately raises the price..."

Liu Zhaosun nodded repeatedly. He didn't expect that Kaiyuan had the custom of eating seafood. He was usually busy with military affairs and knew little about the details of civil affairs. It seemed that he would have to make up for it in the future.

"It's okay. Next year we will annex southern and western Liaoning. Then we will have our own ports and our own fishing grounds..."

Liu Zhaosun suddenly thought of something and said solemnly:
"I'm thinking of setting up a marine fishing team next year, which will be under the management of your Civil Affairs Department."

"Fishing team?"

Xie Yang stared blankly at Ping Liao Hou.

"Yes, specializing in whale hunting."

"whaling?"

After hearing this, Director Xie, who had never seen the sea in his life, touched his head which was gradually becoming thrush, and was at a loss.

The first thing that a time traveler thinks of is lighting.

With the continuous development of commerce and trade, the urbanization of the entire Liaodong will continue to accelerate.

The demand for high-quality lighting fuel in these cities with short days and long nights in winter must be extremely strong.

Better lighting is one of the important criteria of urbanization.

Thinking of the murdered civil officer.

Imagine him surrounded by the Eastern Depot thugs.

The bandits hit his nose and eyes, and stabbed him repeatedly with a dagger until he finally lay in a pool of blood...
Liu Zhaosun clenched his fists and vowed to avenge the civil official.

Unknowingly, Kaiyuan City under the cover of night became dark, gloomy and full of dangers.

After defeating this group of assassins, Liu Zhaosun plans to increase the number of street lights in Kaiyuan, replace tung oil with whale oil, increase the burning time and brightness, and then promote it throughout Liaodong.

He knew that whale oil was brighter, odorless, and more efficient than other fuels. Besides being a lighting fuel, whale oil was also a good lubricant.

In addition, whale meat can not only meet daily needs, but can also be used as rations for soldiers after being canned.

Baleen and bones can be used to make a variety of useful products, such as baleen can be made into candlesticks or corsets.

In fact, throughout the seventeenth century, both Europeans and Japanese had a fanatical pursuit of whaling.

In 1614, English explorer John Smith discovered that whales were plentiful and accessible near Cape Cod and Long Island, so he put his expedition aside and turned to hunting whales.

Not to mention Japan. In 1606, Wada Yoshimoto, known as the father of whaling in Japan, advocated "military whaling", treating whales as "enemy chiefs" on the battlefield and hunting whales through tactical cooperation.

I was just about to explain the significance of whaling to Director Xie.

The guard knocked on the door and came in to say that Captain Zhang and Military Supervisor Qiao had arrived and wanted to see you urgently.

Xie Yang immediately stood up and said goodbye. Liu Zhaosun saw him out and said to the guards, "Let them come in together."

After a while, Deputy Captain Zhang Chao walked into the living room with excitement on his face, followed by the exhausted Qiao Yiqi.

Zhang Chao ignored Qiao Yiqi's presence and shouted loudly before he even got close:

"General Liu! The murderer has been caught!"

Liu Zhaosun was overjoyed: "Hahaha! We were just talking about whaling, and now you've caught a big fish. Tell us more!"

Zhang Chao realized that he was being abrupt and quickly asked Qiao Yiqi to sit down before continuing:
"That killer just found out that the workshop was closed for the holiday and there weren't many people around, so he disguised himself as a pacification soldier and sneaked into the artillery warehouse, preparing to set it on fire. He was discovered by a female worker who was working overtime drilling gun barrels. The two of them got into a fight, but fortunately, the soldiers arrived in time..."

Liu Zhaosun served tea to Qiao Yiqi and laughed loudly, clapping his hands:

"Great! Women are as good as men, and they can hold up half the sky. Is that killer still alive?"

Zhang Chao breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly, "He's still alive! Worried about alerting the enemy, I've locked him up in the workshop and assigned someone to keep close watch."

"Alright! Find the accomplice as soon as possible. Today, we have to catch the big fish."

(End of this chapter)