The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 843: Travel Notes on Kuyi Island
In early summer of September in Guangde, the energetic traveler Li Wenlong set out from Tianxin City and began his journey to the easternmost tip of the Da Qi Empire, 10,000 kilometers away.

Li Wenlong, who just turned thirty this year, is a favored disciple of the imperial geologist Li Sanguang. Having studied in Paris in his early years, he returned to Great Qi after Emperor Guangde ascended the throne. He has made significant contributions to mineral development, metallurgy, astronomy, and meteorology. In the third year of Guangde, Li Wenlong, accompanying the army on the southern expedition, completed a comprehensive survey of Annan. Based on his own observations, he created a detailed scientific map of Annan's mountains and rivers. This map made a significant contribution to the subsequent southern expeditionary force's entry into Annan.

As a result, Li Wenlong was received by the Princess and the King of Han. He was even called "the reincarnation of Zhang Qian" and "the rebirth of Su Wu" by the empire's fanatical war advocates. He enjoyed a very high reputation in the imperial military and was soon recommended to work in the Ministry of Works. He presided over the development of coal mines in Annan, Korea and other places, supporting the Qi army's continuous external expansion and conquest of cities.

However, from beginning to end, Li Wenlong had no interest in this fanatical expansion. He maintained a close but distant relationship with the pro-war faction, and declined all the recommendations for promotion from the princess and others.

Where were the limits of imperial expansion? Would prolonged foreign wars lead to deficits? Who would ultimately bear the cost of this war? Would issuing national debt to prop up short-term prosperity lead to chaos later on? These are the questions every sane person in the early Guangde era had to seriously consider, and Li Wenlong was no exception.

To some extent, the scholarly temperament displayed by Li Wenlong is incompatible with the fanatical Da Qi Empire. Perhaps because he has been away for a long time (this 30-year-old bureaucrat has lived in Da Qi for less than five years), Li Wenlong feels an inexplicable sense of alienation when facing the extreme system created by the emperor.

In Princess Liu Yufei, Prince of Han Liu Qian and others, Li Wenlong saw the shadow of the empire's dying struggle. As the saying goes, if God wants to destroy something, he must first make it crazy.

After returning to Tianxin City from the Annan battlefield, Li Wenlong began to distance himself from the pro-war faction. In his eyes, the successor to the retired emperor, Emperor Guangde Liu Kan, was clearly different from his sister and brother. This emperor was not a qualified polarized ruler. From the beginning of his reign, he advocated for the public disclosure of the salaries and incomes of officials in the Great Qi Dynasty, and the implementation of laws through legal provisions to eliminate all forms of corruption. The laws would be formulated by gentry and local sages selected from each province, and overseen by local censors.

Emperor Guangde's actions were different from those of the retired emperor, and even from those of emperors in all dynasties.

Li Wenlong admired this reform modeled after the European Parliament, but he also knew that it would be difficult to implement it in Da Qi. In the words of the opposition, "our dynasty has its own special national conditions."

Li Wenlong heard that similar reforms had been implemented in the later period of the Emperor Retired's reign, but the reforms were obviously not as vigorous as those of his son, Emperor Guangde. Even so, the Emperor Retired's reforms died due to fierce opposition from civil and military officials. Even the reform of disclosing the property of officials had not seen any improvement after being pushed for twenty years.

Li Wenlong was well aware that the greed of the officials of the Great Qi Dynasty was even greater than that of the Ming Dynasty, which had just collapsed. A small official in a southeastern county could own thousands of acres of fertile land. The fundamental reason why the empire was constantly at war was that these parasites could reap enormous profits through war.

One of the significances of Emperor Guangde's existence is that he shelters a large number of centrist forces like Li Wenlong. These people continue to survive in the narrow area between war and peace, although the space for the centrists to survive is getting smaller and smaller.

Li Wenlong accepted the title bestowed by Emperor Guangde and became a minor official in the Ministry of Rites. He was originally going to be assigned to Manila to participate in the negotiations between missionaries and Europeans. However, due to strong opposition from the ministers, Li Wenlong's trip to Manila was forced to be suspended, and he experienced several near-miss assassination attempts.

Now, he tried hard to keep a distance between himself and those warmongering lunatics and be loyal to Emperor Guangde wholeheartedly.

Everything seemed to be heading towards destruction.

The princess encouraged the Southern Expedition Army to attack Manila and even considered annexing Australia. In September, petitions from various armies requesting battle were sent to Tianxin City, but they were all withheld by the emperor. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, in compliance with the emperor's decree, withheld most of the food, fodder, and firearms, and halted pay for some troops.

Emperor Guangde repeatedly ordered that the southern expeditionary army be strictly prohibited from garrisoning Annan, and no imperial decree should be issued to escalate the war, otherwise it would be treated as treason.

At the end of September, the King of Han left the capital under the pretext of a vassalage, changing his route to the south. When the Suoyi Guard reported this to the court, Emperor Guangde waved his hand and said:

"If it rains, let it rain; if my mother wants to get married, let her get married."

"However, the King of Han is going here to instigate the Southern Expedition Army to mutiny. He previously served as a general in the 20th Corps..."

The leader of the straw raincoat guards seemed to want to say something but stopped himself.

"Let him go. He who does evil will eventually perish. I have given him a chance."

Emperor Guangde waved Shen Mo away and ordered someone to summon Li Wenlong, who had been waiting for a long time. The emperor and his minister exchanged pleasantries, and the emperor said with a pleasant face:
"Master Li, please go to Kuyi Island for me."

"I have long had this intention."

Kuyi Island is located at the easternmost end of the Da Qi territory. For every traveler, traveling to this big island is an extremely difficult and long journey.

Emperor Guangde said leisurely, "The world is about to be in chaos. Kuyi Island is where the Great Qi exiles prisoners. The current governor, Jiang Liuer, passed away last month. You will take over his position. It is expected that many more prisoners will be sent to Kuyi Island this year and next. I am confident in your management."

Although he did not like the position of Governor of Kuyi Island very much, Li Wenlong could understand the emperor's difficulties at this time, so he did not refuse and took the order and left.

At the end of September in the ninth year of Guangde, Li Wenlong led his family servants and left the precarious Tianxin City, officially setting off to see the terminus of the Da Qi penal assembly line, the new colony built with prisoners and exiles.

(End of this chapter)