The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 884 The new emperor ascends the throne
Although the colonial governors dared not speak out against the atrocities committed by the Chinese on the west coast, when the news reached Europe, it immediately aroused strong dissatisfaction among Britain and France.

According to the Yalta Agreement, North America is God's gift to all nations and the last piece of pure land discovered by the civilized world...

In short, the Spanish also have reason to occupy a part of it.

However, the people of Qi tore up the agreement and attacked their allies without provocation.

Judging from the situation, they are going to become the second Rakshasa and monopolize the West Coast.

Yes, the British, the French, and the Dutch all had their own agendas.

However, no one wanted to see the people of Qi enjoying the "gift from God" alone.

In the first month of the fifteenth year of Tianshou, before the traditional Spring Festival of the Qi people was over, the British envoy Colomwell stationed in Tianxin City went to the Cabinet Yamen.

The British prepared to question Kang Guangxu in person and express the British king's dissatisfaction to the most senior prime minister of Da Qi.

"Shameful liars! Satan's accomplices! Poor King George was deceived by you! ...Send the Prime Minister out! Tell him that the British ambassador is waiting for him at the door!"

The guards were frightened by the British posture, saluted Colomwell, and hurried in to report.

Colombwell paced back and forth, building up his emotions and preparing his words, imagining that he would use the harshest diplomatic rhetoric to teach this untrustworthy old man a lesson.

Back in Yalta, I thought you were a gentleman, a gentleman who had transcended vulgarity! I never expected that such a graceful gentleman like you could be a liar who broke his promise!

Colombwell had thought about it countless times in his mind.

However, after waiting for half an hour, he was only accompanied by a pair of majestic stone lions.

The elegant old gentleman did not come out for a long time.

Even the soldier who had gone in to report never returned.

The British envoy was furious. He shrugged his shoulders, walked quickly forward and banged on the door.

After knocking twice, the door suddenly opened from the inside, and a man who looked like a housekeeper stuck his head out. He ignored the furious foreigner in front of him, rubbed his red eyes, and cried:
"The Emperor has passed away!"

"The emperor is gone!"

As a British who grew up in London, pursued freedom and independence since childhood and hated the monarchy, Colmwell certainly could not understand the devastating grief of the old butler in front of him.

The British ambassador grabbed the man by the collar and said loudly in slightly stiff Chinese:
"Where's your old Prime Minister? Why doesn't he come out to see me? Is he scared?"

The pioneer group caused such a big mess in North America and killed so many people. The cabinet and the empress are to blame. Kang Guangxu should be afraid!
"Does the Qi Prime Minister want to be a coward? He signed the treaty in person in Yalta a few years ago! I saw it with my own eyes! Oh my God! What a liar!"

The crying butler suddenly came to his senses like a person who was rescued from drowning. He opened his eyes and looked at Colmwell's ugly rosacea, then pushed the British envoy away.

"The master just entered the palace through the back door! Now the emperor has passed away! We don't even know where the new emperor is. Our Great Qi cannot live without the master!"

After the butler finished speaking, he pushed away Colombell who was blocking the door and closed it with a creaky sound.

“Fuck!”

Colombwell was almost knocked to the ground and he cursed.

"Hurry to the palace!"

Without time to get angry, he hurried to the palace with his guards.

~~~~~~~~
The inner hall of Zichen in Daming Palace, Tianxin City.

In a huge bronze tripod, a century-old turtle trembled slightly in boiling water.

The 68-year-old Emperor Tianshou was no longer able to govern the country and was lying on his bed, dying. Kang Guangxu, Zhang Tingyu, Nian Gengyao, Ogyū Sorai and others were standing around him.

Eunuch Li Juying knelt in front of the bed and sobbed softly, while the palace maids scooped up turtle soup and placed it in bowls.

A large group of princes and grandchildren were standing at the door of the inner hall, all with solemn expressions on their faces. A few of the younger ones were curiously looking into the dark inner hall.

"Kang Xiang, you're here."

"I'm late, Your Majesty!" Kang Guangxu looked at the blood dripping from the corner of the emperor's mouth and couldn't help sobbing. Tears flowed down his face.

"It's nothing, it's just that my old illness relapsed and I fainted at noon," the queen shook her hand gently, as if she was talking about something very far away from her.

"Western doctors said it was lead and mercury poisoning... Thanks to Leo for discovering it early."

Kang Guangxu knew that the empress had taken elixirs almost every year when she was practicing in Wudang Mountain.

In the first few years after she took over Tianxin City, Taoist priests successively presented inner elixirs to the palace, but they were all rejected by the empress.

Unexpectedly, this time Liu Ruolan couldn't resist the temptation of immortality. Yesterday, the young eunuch found a long-sealed wooden box in the secret passage behind the Cining Palace. When he opened it, he found that it contained an elixir.

The empress, who was over sixty years old, recognized at a glance that it was the elixir left by Emperor Taizu.

Immortality
However, one man's medicine is another man's poison.

I didn't expect that the elixir of immortality that Liu Zhaosun spent so much effort to refine would turn out to be such a poisonous drug that could cause bad stomachs.

"I heard from Johann Adam Schall von Bell that he knew a missionary in Macau who knew how to detoxify lead and mercury. Your Majesty! I will send someone to Macau to find him..."

The Queen forced a smile and shook her head, struggling:
"Forget it, stop struggling. My time has come."

"I have been trapped in a cage for fifteen years. I am tired and want to follow my grandfather. After I die, please do not punish those two eunuchs."

Eunuch Li Juying cried loudly.

The ministers then began to cry.

After crying for an unknown amount of time, Kang Guangxu finally steeled himself and asked, "Your Majesty, I have something to say, I dare to say..."

"Go ahead."

Kang Guangxu looked around and mustered up the courage to say:
"If Your Majesty is not shy about this, who will be the successor?"

At this moment, the Queen on the bed was breathing weakly, already on her deathbed, and said with her dying breath:

"Didn't the cabinet ministers make plans ahead of time? At this point, you still have to ask me?"

Everyone remained silent.

The empress struggled to raise her hand and tremblingly pointed at Kang Guangxu who was kneeling in front of her:

"Liu Fan is gifted and intelligent, and has the spirit of Taizu. He established Liu Fan, carried out the work of Duke Zhou, and appointed Prime Minister Kang as regent."

Kang Guangxu bowed his head and said, "I am not as good as Ogi Sūrai."

Ogyū Sorai stopped crying and quickly waved his hands, saying:

"I am a Japanese, not as good as Prime Minister Kang. If I were to serve as regent, the Japanese would laugh at the Great Qi."

Nian Gengyao also advised: "The emperor has high expectations for you, Prime Minister Kang cannot refuse!"

Liu Ruolan started coughing violently, and blood started flowing from the corner of her mouth again. Li Juying stood up and carefully wiped it with a handkerchief, and the palace maids carefully fed her turtle soup.

Kang Guangxu crawled forward on his knees.

The empress cried out in pain, "Come closer, come closer."

Kang Guangxu stretched out his hands, which were held tightly by the Empress:
"Three generations of the Kang family have assisted the Great Qi, saving the day numerous times. This time, I'll be counting on you again. After my death, carry out the reforms to the end, return power to the people, and do not lightly provoke border conflicts with other nations."

All the ministers knelt on the ground, and Kang Guangxu sobbed:

"Your Majesty, don't worry. I will do my best to assist the Emperor's grandson..."

I couldn't continue speaking halfway through.

So Kang Guangxu was appointed as Prime Minister and Regent, Ogyū Sorai as Vice Prime Minister, Nian Gengyao as Minister of War and Commander of the Army, and Zhang Guogang as Commander of the Navy...

All the ministers knelt before the bed and received the imperial edict to assist the young master Liu Fan.

~~~~~~~~~
On the second day of the first lunar month in the fifteenth year of Tianshou (1721), Empress Tianshou was poisoned by taking an elixir and fell into a coma. Both Chinese and Western doctors were helpless.

On the 21st day of the first lunar month, the empress summoned all the ministers to the Zichen Inner Hall and established the emperor's grandson Liu Fan as emperor.

Kang Guangxu was assisted by four ministers: Zhang Tingyu, Nian Gengyao and Ogyū Sorai.

Liu Fan is the grandson of the deposed crown prince. He just turned six this year. His father died of illness in Sakhalin Island five years ago. He grew up in the palace since he was a child.

On the night of the 22nd, Liu Ruolan passed away in the Zichen Inner Hall of Tianxin City at the age of 68.

In March, the ministers proposed the posthumous title of Emperor Ruiwen Xiaowu and the temple name of Daizong.

In May, he was buried in Jingling Mausoleum in the northern suburbs of Tianxin City. In September, he was enshrined in the Taimiao.

In the first month of the following year, the reign was changed to Jingyan.

(End of this chapter)