The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 888 If what you said is true, how can the dynasty last long?
The economic sanctions and military countermeasures imposed by various countries on Qi did not change despite Tianxin City's severe suppression of the mutiny.

The expansion of the pioneer groups in North America seriously damaged the overseas interests of various countries, at least Spain and France.

After conquering the west coast, Dong Shaowei and his men had no intention of stopping, but instead set their sights on central North America, which was the French sphere of influence.

Thanks to the cooperation with the Indians, the Qi people made quite smooth progress.

The Indians provided a steady supply of soldiers and supplies to the pioneering group, while the Qi people shared land, water and pastures with the indigenous people.

Just how much control the officials of Tianxin City have over the pioneering groups thousands of miles away is becoming an increasingly puzzling question.

The ambassadors from various countries stationed in Tianxin City, especially the French ambassador, gave the officials of the Da Qi cabinet a slightly exaggerated description of what was happening on the North American continent.

The French ambassador, on behalf of their emperor, the Sun King Louis XIV, ordered the State of Qi to take practical and effective measures to curb this "Caesar-style military adventure in North America" and emphasized that the serious consequences of this adventure would be borne by the State of Qi.

Intelligence shows that the French are withdrawing their investments and businesses in Qi in an orderly manner.

Tea previously ordered from Longyan and other places was returned, and Jingdezhen lost at least 100,000 porcelain orders this year.

There are countless losses like this.

With the French taking the lead, Spain, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire followed suit and indefinitely postponed their commercial dealings with the Great Qi.

Kang Guangxu did not expect the situation to develop to this point.

In his view, the imperial court had made huge concessions, the instigators of the mutiny had been arrested and killed, even the pioneering groups thousands of miles away had been punished, and various compensations had been paid, but the Europeans still refused to give in.

Do we have to force this old man to death?
Kang Guangxu called himself a pacifist and was a dove in the cabinet.

If you can't even talk to yourself, the only option is to go to war.

~~~~~~~~~~
"It's a troubled time, it's a troubled time."

One morning in early September of the second year of Jingyan, Kang Guangxu led the cabinet ministers to stand in the Wenhua Hall to discuss countermeasures.

The elderly Kang Guangxu kept muttering about the troubled times. In the two years since he became the chief regent, the situation has been changing rapidly, with military mutinies and trade wars, which have made this man in his seventies overwhelmed.

The struggles between factions in the government and the opposition have also distracted the prime minister's attention. Since the beginning of this year, he has successively demoted several Beijing officials who advocated war against Europe.

There are rumors that Prime Minister Conrad received 1450 million pounds from France. Some people also swear that they have seen beautiful Western women coming in and out of the Prime Minister's residence. They must be beautiful women given to Prime Minister Conrad by British merchants.
There are many rumors.

All the pressure fell on one person. Under internal and external difficulties, Kang Guangxu, who had been an official for decades, felt unprecedented fatigue.

However, his colleagues showed no sympathy for the Prime Minister.

Kang's old enemy, Grand Secretary Zhang Tingyu said in a veiled tone:
"Nations are vying to impose sanctions. The French have compared our dynasty to Russia in their newspapers, likening Your Majesty to the tyrant Peter I. The Spanish are threatening to send their navy to blockade the Yangtze River estuary to protect trade. The British are doubling tariffs, and even Japan is flirting with foreigners... Our country is in danger. Does Prime Minister Kang have any good strategies?"

All the ministers turned their eyes to the old and frail prime minister.

Kang Guangxu said calmly: "There is no need to worry about other countries. Britain needs us. The so-called tariff increase is just a threat."

Zhang Tingyu smiled and said, "I would like to hear your profound opinions."

Kang Guangxu sneered: "Louis XIV is in power and is determined to dominate Europe. He threatens Britain. The British need the Great Qi, not the Great Qi needing Britain."

"As long as we strengthen our alliance with Britain, the remaining threats will be eliminated without any effort."

Kang Guangxu believed that Britain needed to sign a new treaty with the Great Qi to jointly fight against France's growing expansion on the European continent.

Zhang Tingyu laughed and said, "That's nonsense!"

Kang Guangxu said with disdain:

"The British always want to use others as their pawns. Da Qi is a great power in the East and should be aware of being a chess player in the future."

It's just that the future is out of reach.

Nian Gengyao said cautiously, "Prime Minister Kang, there are more difficult matters to deal with right now."

Kang Guangxu stroked his beard and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Some governors demanded a war with Europe, driving the Europeans back to Europe so that our merchants could monopolize the East Indies..."

Kang Guangxu interrupted, "You absolutely can't do that!"

The remaining ministers emphasized to Prime Minister Kang the importance of occupying the rubber producing areas.

Jakarta, Malacca and other places have considerable amounts of oil and iron ore.

Occupying this area means having sufficient raw materials, and coupled with the strong industrial production capacity within Qi, the future is limitless.

Kang Guangxu suddenly asked: "What about the market? Without a market, who can we sell the goods we produce to? Besides Europeans, who else can we sell them to?"

"Do you expect poor countries like Rakshasa, Japan, Korea, and Annan to do business with Da Qi?"

Everyone was silent.

Zhang Tingyu angrily said, "According to Prime Minister Kang's wishes, surrender to the European nations? Were we to give away the Yinzhou we conquered with such great difficulty once again for nothing?"

Da Qi has already lost North America once and cannot lose it a second time.

Kang Guangxu angrily said: "The North American issue is our fault, and we should retreat."

Zhang Tingyu sarcastically said:

"Anyone can argue! Right now, the factory has no customers and the people are unemployed. What's the point of talking big here?" Zhang Tingyu looked around and suddenly raised his voice:
"Therefore, we should follow public opinion and declare war on France as soon as possible."

The ministers were discussing the matter.

Without the Prime Minister's clear statement, Zhang Tingyu's opinion could not influence the cabinet's final decision.

Kang Guangxu was silent for a long time, and finally spoke:

"Everyone, back then, I risked my life to travel to the Crimean Peninsula and sign the Yalta Agreement with other nations, bringing over ten years of peace to Da Qi. Where were the war advocates back then?"

"After enjoying a few years of peace, you want to repeat the same mistakes? Challenge all nations and fight a hundred with one?"

Zhang Tingyu's face turned pale.

The ministers fell silent again.

Kang Guangxu looked around and made the final decision.

"Resume trade with other nations as soon as possible. If the lords of the provinces suffer any more, I will bear the blame."

~~~~~~~~~~
In February of the second year of Jingyan, the process of liquidating the North American pioneering group was officially launched.

In October, Commander Jiang Bailing and his capable subordinate Dong Shaowei were summoned back to the country and escorted back to Tianxin City for trial.

There were some disagreements between Tianxin City and the local governor on how to deal with Jiang, Dong and others.

Kang Guangxu and his cabinet colleagues advocated public trials for criminals, with envoys from various countries attending the trials and imposing heavy sentences on the leaders of the pioneer group in accordance with the law, so as to improve the perception of the Great Qi among other countries.

In the official document sent to the provinces, it was written:

"... The evil deeds of Dong Shaowei and his ilk are too numerous to list! They are no less evil than the Witch Queen (referring to Princess Liu Yufei). They have slaughtered people without reason, destroyed merchants and travelers, engaged in excessive military spending, offended our allies, and betrayed our trust. They have destroyed our thirty years of reform! The allies regard Da Qi as the second Rakshasa and are taking strict precautions. Since last year, France has withdrawn its merchants and investment, England has doubled its tariffs, and Spain has threatened to send troops... Now, Guangdong's foreign trade has been halved, and foreign merchants have fled. In places like Panyu and Bao'an, all industries are in decline, and people are in chaos. Tea merchants in Longyan are bankrupt in droves. If we don't severely punish these scoundrels, make an example of them, set the record straight, and appease the nations, and allow riots to continue, not only Guangdong, but also the trade of Da Qi's forty-nine provinces will be in jeopardy!"

Faced with the wrath of Tianxin City, the governors of the central provinces remained silent.

These bad things are too far away from them, or they haven't affected them yet.

In sharp contrast, the governors and governors-general in the southeast region reacted strongly.

Regarding the pioneers who committed heinous crimes, they advocated "turning big things into small things, and small things into nothing, so as to keep the peace."

Faced with foreign businessmen whose interests have been damaged, the governors hope that the government can take strong measures!

Ye Chen, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, persuaded Kang Guangxu to declare war on France.

The attitudes of the provincial governors in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Liaodong and other places were similar. They supported the development of the pioneering groups in North America and continued to put pressure on the French.

The governors hoped that the imperial court would follow the example of the Taizu era and be tough enough on the Europeans. Only in this way would the French change their ways and attitude towards the Great Qi.

In Ye Chen's words, "The barbarians fear power but not virtue, so we must not show weakness!"

~~~~~~~~~
Although he was taught by the best missionaries in Europe, lectured by the most prestigious scholars of the dynasty, and enjoyed a top-level education from an imperial tutor, for an eight-year-old child, his daily homework was still heavy and boring.

The young emperor did not pay much attention to the assignments assigned by the lecturers, and could even be said to be perfunctory, especially the part about Confucian classics.

Since the time of Emperor Taizong Liu Kan, the abolition of Confucianism has been put on the agenda, and it has been thirty years now.

However, after all, this land has a history of thousands of years of Confucianism, and with thousands of years of cultural immersion, the concept of ruler-ruler, minister-minister, father-father, and son-son is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Moreover, in the past thirty years, there have been several reversals of Confucian forces...
Therefore, despite the dynasty's ancestral system of "abolishing Confucianism", these learned Confucian imperial tutors in the palace still insisted on teaching the young emperor Confucian classics, and taught him tirelessly day after day.

What worries everyone is that, no matter from which angle you look at it, the little emperor does not look like a diligent and studious student.

Jiang Fan's hobbies, just like the name his grandfather gave him, are mainly reflected in the fields of sailing and warship models. Needless to say, these hobbies are all considered unorthodox by the imperial teachers and can easily lead to people losing their ambition.

However, the young emperor did not show even the slightest interest in the imperial psychology and political tactics that the great Confucian scholars and imperial tutors taught him.

What made everyone even more frightened was that the young emperor always made some surprising remarks about the history of the dynasty and national policies, showing a governing philosophy that was incompatible with that of the previous emperors.

These remarks are not only sensational, but also heretical.

On the first day of October, Kang Guangxu and Zhang Tingyu met with Emperor Jingyan together and reported to the young emperor on the recent domestic and international situation, especially the handling plan for the North American pioneer group.

After the young emperor gave tea to the two ministers, he was not in a hurry to ask about the outcome of Jiang Bailing and Dong Shaowei's treatment. Instead, he casually asked them how Taizu had obtained the world.

"I heard that Emperor Taizu was originally a soldier, and with the help of Emperor Zhenwu, he escaped danger many times on the battlefield. He even lent money to Empress Dowager Cisheng for her 30th birthday. Is this true?"

Faced with the little emperor's sudden question, Zhang Tingyu was stunned and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Kang Guangxu said calmly, "Master Zhang doesn't know much about what happened back then. My grandfather was once the military supervisor at Sarhu. He knows some of the details. Please tell your majesty."

So Kang Guangxu started from the Battle of Sarhu a hundred years ago, telling the story of Liu Zhaosun's early days of entrepreneurship, how he was romantic, armed to the teeth, decisive in killing, the bloody battle of Hunhe, the eastern expedition to Japan, the western pacification of Russia...all kinds of details, and finally talked about Zhang Chun's assassination of Zhu Youjian in the last years of Emperor Tianqi's reign.

Liu Fan listened with deep worry, and finally burst into tears with red eyes:

"If it is really as Mr. Kang said, how can our dynasty last long?!"

Kang Guangxu and Zhang Tingyu were stunned. They had originally wanted to use these stories of Taizu to inspire the young emperor, asking him to emulate the sages and strive to become a great ruler.

I didn’t expect Liu Fan’s perspective to be so tricky!
The two regents asked in unison, "What does your Majesty mean?"

The young emperor said quietly, "Since the founding of our nation, our dynasty has been plagued by frequent turmoil and disasters year after year. From this perspective, it's all because Taizu favored his concubines over his wife, indulged in excessive military spending, and controlled the people with the will of one man. With such reckless behavior, how could he not fail?"

Kang and Zhang Moran.

(End of this chapter)