The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 656: The Fall of the Giant

In the summer of the third year of Guangde in the Great Qi Dynasty, the canal transportation that had been running for a thousand years finally came to an end.

On May 30th, Emperor Guangde Liu Kan issued an edict:
Starting from the first day of July in the third year of Guangde, the grain transport was abolished, the grain transport troops were dismissed, the official positions of the Banknote Customs Office and the Grain Transport Censor were abolished, the grain transport was abolished, and sea transport was implemented.

In the past two months, canal cities such as Yangzhou, Guazhou, and Huai'an have been flooded with blood and suffered countless casualties.

After killing more than 100,000 rebels, all resistance to the abolition of the grain transport system was completely crushed by the empire.

After the Ten Days of Yangzhou and the Three Massacres of Huai'an, the surviving gangs of grain transport soldiers, merchants and refugees were sent to work in factories and mines across the country, or were incorporated into the Imperial Development Group and sailed to Sakhalin Island to build and cultivate land.

By the end of May, the port expansion projects of Jiaozhou, Lianyungang, Chongming Island, and Zhoushan Shuangwei Island were completed.

On June 18, eighty ships set sail from Chongming Island Port, fully loaded with rice, cotton and fodder sourced from Taicang, Suzhou and Hangzhou, and headed north.

After the grain and fodder arrived in southern Liaoning, they were first transferred from Jinzhou to Shenyang, and then distributed to various places in Liaodong from Shenyang.

Due to insufficient cultivation north of Sakhalin Island, the local garrison could not be supplied, and all the necessary supplies were distributed from Shenyang.

~~~
On the eighth day of May, the Second Corps recovered Gansu. The Emperor ordered Deng Changxiong to reclaim land in Shaanxi, train new troops, and prepare for entering Sichuan.

At the same time, the Fourth Corps entered Yunyang Prefecture and stationed troops in Zhushan County.

Zhushan thus became the headquarters of the Fourth Corps.

Yunyang Prefecture was established in the 12th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty and was abolished in the early years of the Republic of China, lasting for about four hundred years.

Jingxiang is located in the three provinces of Huguang, Henan and Sichuan, with rolling mountains, winding rivers and deep forests.

During the Zhizheng period of the Yuan Dynasty, refugees had already gathered here, and throughout the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court was unable to control them.

In the early years of the Hongwu reign, Zhu Yuanzhang feared that refugees would gather and cause unrest, so he established a restricted area with Yunyang as the center, extending west to the eastern end of Mount Zhongnan, southeast to the Tongbai and Dabie Mountains, northeast to the Funiu Mountains, and south to the Jing Mountains, prohibiting civilians from entering to farm. (Gu Yingtai, "Ming History Chronicles: Suppressing the Yunyang Bandits")
After the collapse of the Wei Suo in the early Ming Dynasty, a large number of unemployed people and farmers fleeing famine from Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Northern Zhili and other provinces fled to Yunyang, totaling more than 1.5 million people.

The Ming court was deeply troubled by this.

Therefore, a policy of forced expulsion and forced return to hometowns was adopted.

The contradiction between the imperial court's closure of the mountains and the refugees' opposition to the closure intensified, and finally led to the second large-scale uprising of refugees in Jingxiang.

After Liu Qi replaced the Ming Dynasty, there were constant civil unrest in Jingxiang, and the continuous riots by refugees gave Liu Zhaosun a lot of headaches.

In the second year of Taichu, refugees from Yunyang burned down the Tianxin City under construction, threatened Wuchang to the south, and advanced to Henan to the north, causing severe turmoil.

The retired emperor sent Qin Jianxun to Yunyang to train new soldiers, one to guard Jingxiang and quell the civil unrest, and the other to prepare for the future entry into Sichuan.

~~~
Bashu is surrounded by dangerous passes on all sides.

The difficulty of the Shu Road is as difficult as reaching the sky.

However, no matter what, Liu Zhaosun must control the Land of Abundance.

Controlling Sichuan is just the beginning, as well as Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and the Indochina Peninsula further south.

For the empire, no one can be left behind.

The Qi army planned to enter Sichuan from the north and east.

The northern route goes through Hanzhong and enters Jiange. This route is roughly the same as the later Baoji-Chengdu Railway. It was first opened by Sima Cuo of Qin State during his attack on Shu.

Hanzhong (which had already submitted to the Great Qi) was the barrier of Sichuan.

To enter Sichuan, you must first enter Han.

During the Chu-Han Period, Han Xin secretly crossed Chencang, and Zhuge Liang of Shu Han launched a northern expedition. Among them, the Jinniu Road was the main road, which could lead directly from Hanzhong to Chengdu.

The other two roads are Migang Road and Litchi Road.

Deng Changxiong and the emperor are still discussing the specific route of the Second Corps.

In addition to entering Sichuan from Shaanxi, you can also go upstream, both by land and water, and enter Sichuan from Hubei.

During the Han Dynasty, Gongsun Shu occupied Baidi City, Liu Bei entered Sichuan, and the Battle of Yiling between Wu and Shu all took this route.

By this time, the Three Gorges waterway was already quite mature, and as long as there were enough trackers, going upstream was not a problem.

The third route is less commonly used, going from Zhushan around Chongqing northeast into Sichuan.

Since the third year of Guangde, Liu Zhaosun began to lay out three routes: Hanzhong, Zhushan and Three Gorges to ensure victory in the battle to enter Sichuan.

~~~~
In the summer of the third year of Guangde, the war and famine that had lasted for many years in various parts of the north and south finally subsided (although a major rebellion in Fujian was brewing). The weather was good everywhere, the crops were harvested, the country was peaceful and the people were safe, and the Great Qi gradually became prosperous.

On June 18th, the Qi delegation that went to Sweden to propose marriage returned safely.

King Gustav of Sweden welcomed the marriage.

Gu Erye hoped that the emperor would send troops to help Sweden gain hegemony in the German region.

The delegation also brought back the coronation document from Pope Eleuthyrus, conferring the title of Grand Emperor. "I am the King of Kings, why do I need his coronation?"

Liu Zhaosun was indignant about this coronation. At this moment, he began to understand how Toyotomi Hideyoshi felt when he received the letter from Emperor Wanli.

According to the title that the retired emperor bestowed upon himself ten years ago (too many words to quote here), Rome was under the jurisdiction of Da Qi, and the Pope was the retired emperor's younger brother.

Now, this old man actually wants to confer a higher title on the retired emperor. It's really ridiculous!
Fortunately, the emperor was broad-minded and did not bother with barbarians, so he spared the Pope this time.

The Pope also wrote a letter, and Francesco, who was familiar with various languages, translated it.

"Letter from Pope Eleuthyrus to the Khan of Qi:

Bishop Eleuthyrus, Servant of God, writes to the King of Tatar and his subjects: "God, with his love for life, created man, animals, and all organic matter on earth. Following the example of the bright God, all living things love one another, live in peace and contentment, and never disturb one another. I have heard that your king and his followers have invaded the territories of Christian nations, killing, destroying commerce, and shedding blood. Even to this day, the king and his followers continue their cruelty and destructive hand. All natural bonds have been broken, and no one, young or old, will escape your sword or your cannonballs."

Liu Zhaosun could tolerate the Pope calling him a Tatar, but he could not tolerate the other party's distortion of the truth and nonsense.

"Nonsense! The 30,000-li coastal area of Da Qi, including all islands and land, belongs to our territory. Da Qi has indisputable sovereignty over it. Recovering the west coast of Yinzhou and southeastern Australia is only the first step. In the future, I will recover more land."

The high priest gasped.

Thirty thousand miles along the coast.

I'm afraid Europe will also be included in the rule of the emperor.

"Keep translating!"

Francisco wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued to read the letter from the Pope.

"I preach on behalf of God, and I am astonished to hear that the king has done such a thing. I follow God's virtue of loving life and want to unite all mankind into one family. According to the principle of respecting God, I hereby give you advice and warning, and ask the king and his subordinates to stop such atrocities, especially not to abuse Christians. The crimes committed by the king are many and serious, and there is no doubt that he will be punished by God. The king must repent urgently and satisfy God. The reason why America and Australia were conquered by the king in the past was God's will, not the power of the king's army. From now on, the king and his subordinates must stop the atrocities as soon as possible, and you must know that God is to be feared. Arrogant and domineering people may sometimes escape God's law. However, if they persist in evil and never know how to change for the better and be humble, God will punish them severely..."

Liu Zhaosun laughed.

"A monk who talks about killing and violence all the time, even uses evil gods to scare me, hahahaha, a monk who doesn't study the scriptures properly and interferes in government affairs also deserves to die."

"Please write him a reply for me."

The high priest immediately took out the quill he carried with him and said respectfully:
"Your Majesty, please speak."

Liu Zhaosun looked at a huge world map behind him, covering all of Europe with his hand. He pondered for a moment and said in a firm tone:
"The Retired Emperor of Great Qi, King of Kings, Governor-General of Korea, Father of Japan, Lord of Yinzhou, Governor-General of Australia, Archbishop of the East, and Father of all mankind:
Your great Pope, and the Christian people of the West, have sent envoys with letters from their credible lords to come with me to negotiate peace. I have always cherished the friendship of distant people, and I have summoned the envoys, listened to their words, and read their letters. I know that you are truly desirous of peace.

However, since you wish to negotiate peace, you, the Pope, the Emperor, the King, and the powerful men of all cities, must all come to Da Qi as soon as possible to negotiate peace, listen to my will, submit to Da Qi, and accept the baptism of human civilization.

In your letter, you were full of rude words, calling me a Tatar, and falsely claiming that I and my subjects must be baptized and convert to Christianity. You also slandered the Great Qi for occupying European colonies, which is totally absurd!

I tell you, it is not just Yinzhou and Australia, but all the places reached by sunlight and moonlight are the territory of Da Qi. What is wrong with our country recovering its homeland?

They do not follow the great way, gather together to do evil, invade the homeland of Da Qi, and are confident that they are the only ones who believe in Christianity, and look down on others.

We also serve the Emperor of Heaven respectfully, and with the power of Heaven, we will conquer the world. We are also human, and without the help of God, how can we succeed?

~~~~
After the high priest finished writing the letter, the emperor dismissed everyone and went alone to meditate.

Liu Zhaosun does not currently have the ability to intervene in the European war and mediate disputes among countries.

Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire were fighting to the death, and the Eastern powers were unable to reach them. The most Liu Zhaosun could do was to give some support to Gu Erye.

But if he didn't help, Liu Kan's marriage would be ruined.

After thinking about it for a long time, I still can't figure it out.

After the emperor finished his dinner, he suddenly felt his whole body trembling and he couldn't move or sit still.

That night, Liu Zhaosun couldn't sleep, so he got up and sat in the inner room, reading a book by candlelight. He felt dizzy and fell down on the table.

Suddenly a cold wind blew in the Wenhua Hall, the lights went out and then came on again. Looking up, I saw a man standing under the lights with disheveled hair and blood all over his body.

The Emperor said angrily, "Are you an assassin from Huaiyang?"

The other party did not respond
"Over the years, there have been at least a thousand people who have attempted to assassinate me, and none of them have succeeded. Go away. I don't want to kill anyone today."

After saying that, he raised the wine glass made from Zhang Chun's skull, filled it with wine, and drank it all in one gulp.

The man didn't answer.

The emperor was suspicious and stood up to look with a lamp, and it was Lin Yu.

The whale oil lamp emitted an orange light, illuminating Lin Yu's bloodstained face. When Liu Zhaosun looked up, the big man hurriedly dodged.

"Lin Yu, aren't you in Yangzhou?"

Liu Zhaosun was puzzled. Lin Yu was his trusted and important minister, so why was he hiding from him?

"say!"

(End of this chapter)