The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 886 The Road to Slavery
On the night when the Tianxincheng Mutiny (also known as the April 22nd Mutiny) broke out, Prime Minister Kang Guangxu was gathering with his cabinet colleagues at his residence to engage in a heated discussion on the issue of North American colonies.

The four regents were divided into three factions, each with different opinions on how to quell the situation in Tianxin City.

Zhang Tingyu advocated a tough stance against Europe, "using the imperial sword to plow the land for the imperial plow." He believed that the people's hearts could be used and that this opportunity should be taken to launch a full-scale counterattack against Britain, France and other countries.

Nian Gengyao maintained a neutral attitude, neither advocating action against European countries nor changing the status quo of North American colonization.

Kang Guangxu and Ogyū Sorai planned to channel the people's growing war sentiment.

Of course, if persuasion fails, these thugs who trample on the new policies and act recklessly must be suppressed.

As for Jiang Bailing and Dong Shaowei, the "war heroes" called by fanatics, they must be punished.

The first thing to do is to immediately cut off the supply to the North American development group. At the same time, investigators should be sent to North America to conduct a thorough investigation into the crimes committed by Jiang Bailing and others on the west coast. After finding out the truth, those who should be arrested should be arrested, and those who should be killed should be killed.

Kang Guangxu and Ogyū Sorai planned to use this method of cutting off the source of the problem to curb the situation that was getting out of control.

Some other young parliamentarians began to take sides. Except for a small number who supported Zhang Tingyu and advocated immediate war with the Europeans, most of the others chose to remain silent.

Most of the silence.

Kang Guangxu was furious when he saw this and said, "You keep saying you're returning power to the people, but when things get tough, you want to go back to your old ways! You're hiding your head in your shell. How ridiculous, how lamentable, how pathetic!"

Everyone was silent.

Zhang Tingyu was in his forties, the youngest of the four cabinet ministers, and his passion was still fresh.

"Taizu has been managing North America for decades. If it weren't for the internal strife between Taizong and his eldest princess, how could he have handed over this fertile land to others?"

Without waiting for Kang Guangxu to refute, Zhang Tingyu said:
"I don't know who it is that always mentions the West, treating foreigners as saints. In my opinion, Europeans call themselves gentlemen, but in reality they are all thieves. They took advantage of our misfortune to seize our territory, and now they are pretending to be benevolent and righteous by holding the Yalta Conference to return the land that originally belonged to Da Qi to us? How can this be called equality by taking advantage of others' generosity? There are no people in the world more shameless than them!"

Kang Guangxu listened patiently to the end of his speech and said coldly, "So, according to Master Zhang, you want to encourage Jiang Bailing and his men to continue their conquest of cities?"

A young council member interjected, "Survival of the fittest—that's what Emperor Taizu taught the Hanlin Academy. Why doesn't it apply to Prime Minister Kang?"

Kang Guangxu smiled and was about to open his mouth to refute, when the guards of the Prime Minister's Office hurried in from outside, ignoring the presence of a group of ministers, and said breathlessly:
"Prime Minister Kang, it's a mess outside. It's getting chaotic."

Kang Guangxu looked around and saw that everyone's faces were filled with fear, so he said to the soldiers:
"Tell me more slowly."

The guard took a short break and caught his breath.

"Thugs came out of nowhere and suddenly surrounded our Prime Minister's residence. They shouted that you should go out and accept the trial of the military and civilians, otherwise..."

The guard didn't dare to say anything more.

Kang Guangxu laughed and said, "Why don't you go out? Are you going to kill me?"

"They threatened to set you on fire. To burn you to death."

"A bunch of idiots! More trouble than success, yet they still want to return to the days of Taizu!"

Kang Guangxu couldn't help but curse.

He turned his gaze to Zhang Tingyu.

"Zhang Xiang?"

Zhang Tingyu was eager to clear himself of any connection with the mob, and before Kang Guangxu finished speaking, he shook his head repeatedly.

"This matter has nothing to do with me! Although I advocate being tough on foreigners, I won't be so radical."

Kang Guangxu angrily said: "Is this radical? This is simply nonsense!"

Everyone was silent and no one dared to speak again.

"Prime Minister Zhang, do you dare to go out with me and take a look?" Zhang Tingyu, who was so arrogant just now, couldn't help but take two steps back when he heard this.

Everyone knows that if they are defeated and the rebels come to attack, no matter who they are as prime minister or parliamentarian, they will be killed in battle.

These new recruits who claimed to save all of humanity ended up not being able to save themselves.

At this time, noisy voices were heard on the street, and occasionally one or two dull gunshots were mixed in the boiling voices.

"Could it be that a fight broke out?"

From the guards' perspective, they could see huge crowds of people pouring towards the Prime Minister's Residence from all directions of Beijing.

A frenzied atmosphere permeated the streets.

Just as Kang Guangxu crossed his legs and was about to close his eyes, someone leaned over and whispered something in his ear.

The next morning, Kang Guangxu was unwilling to give up and asked again:

"Is it absolutely true?"

"real."

Kang Guangxu pointed at the air and cursed loudly:

"What a bunch of fools! Taizu's militarist path has long been proven unworkable. I can't believe these fools are still thinking of going to war with other nations at this time? Do they want to go back to the old days? Do they really think they are so far ahead in military operations?"

Kang Guangxu became more and more angry as he spoke.

As far as he knew, outside Tianxin City, some people had instigated the mob to smash carriages and tear up the tracks. Even the bicycles, which had long been popular, were described by them as strange and illicit things that brought disaster to the Great Qi and poisoned people's minds.

·······
The Japanese Ogyū Sorai interrupted the Prime Minister and said calmly, "Prime Minister Kang, it's very chaotic outside. You should take shelter for now."

Kang Guangxu declined the offer: "Chaos? I have seen more chaotic situations than this before! Back then, when the princess and her group attacked Tianxin City, I was one of the soldiers guarding the gate..."

After nightfall, the streets of Tianxin City were already in a mess, with more and more people gathering from the city gates and nearby prefectures and counties.

Some of the busybodies even clamored to rush into the palace and discuss the pros and cons with the little emperor.

Fortunately, Kang Guangxu had already dispatched troops from other places in advance, and as the capital was in chaos, the troops guarding the capital began to intervene.

Everyone knew what would happen next, but the empire continued to advance in that unknown direction.

The chariot of empire is in danger of losing control;
It is of course impossible to hijack the imperial policy and lead Da Qi towards the endless abyss.

So, when the rebels carried the portrait of Emperor Taizu and strutted across the main square of Tianxin City, Kang Guangxu, who was standing on a high building, was not moved at all.

The Empress kept repeating in her life: "Whoever offends the Great Qi will be punished no matter how far away they are", "The territory of the Great Qi has no boundaries", "Although the Great Qi is large, not an inch of land is redundant".

There are countless such iron-blooded remarks.

In front of the angry crowd, Kang Guangxu signaled everyone to be quiet.

The soldiers who participated in the rebellion and stood in the distance felt as if they were facing a great enemy, and those who didn't know thought that the court was playing another trick to persuade them to surrender.

Kang Guangxu angrily said: "The strategy of expanding the border that Taizu implemented back then was wrong. If you know it is wrong, why do you still insist on it?"

"It has been fifty years since Emperor Taizu ascended to heaven. You are using his few words to try to obstruct the new policies and to revive his militarism. That is wishful thinking!"

"You are vainly attempting to manipulate the imperial court and the cabinet with public opinion. I am telling you today that you are not on the right path; it is the road to slavery!"

(End of this chapter)