The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 898 The winner and the loser
"Why did they want to kill you?"

"Those who oppose me are merely continuing the tradition of this land. The victors are kings and the losers are bandits. The victors possess everything, while the losers lose nothing, including their lives. We cannot deny this millennia-long tradition just because of the brief reforms of the three great Qi emperors."

Emperor Jingyan urgently needs to return to Tianxin City to deal with the crisis.

On the way back home, Mary tried to discuss deeper topics with her husband. The British woman did not understand what Liu Fan meant by "tradition" and could not comprehend it at all.

"Does this have to be a fight to the death? Is there no peaceful way to resolve the dispute?"

Liu Fan chuckled, "It's different here from Europe. The losers have nowhere to retreat. The entire Great Qi territory is desert in the north, snow-capped mountains in the west, the sea in the east, and rainforest in the south. You can think of this land as a huge cage. There's no way to retreat or escape."

Mary laughed and said, "So you are a geographical determinist?"

Liu Fan nodded without comment.

"Your intelligence chief messed up?"

“Yes, the situation is not optimistic.”

Wu Zhongguo messed up.

The chief of the Suoyi Guard formulated a strict plan to quell the rebellion for the emperor, but the plan failed before it was even half implemented.

The opposition was unwilling to surrender to the government, which means that Wu Zhongguo sent the money but the enemy did not surrender.

"They want the whole country, and," Liu Fan gestured with his hands, "my head."

Larger-scale strikes and marches are brewing.

The emperor said indignantly, "Those old men in the cabinet can only write official documents. Without Prime Minister Kang, they are nothing! We can see that a spark has already become a prairie fire."

At this point, Liu Fan must return to China as soon as possible to turn the tide.

Mary sighed. "How did the rebellion originate in the first place? Was it because of increased taxes?"

Liu Fan said disdainfully, "Taxes in the Great Qi are already very low, probably less than half of those in Britain. The rebellion..." The emperor raised his voice, "was instigated by certain nobles in order to become kings and emperors. It has nothing to do with the freedom and justice they advocate!"

"There's nothing new under the sun. Stories like this have happened in England and France." Mary shook her head and fell silent.

In the twilight, the sun slanted down on the Pacific Ocean, and the azure sea water turned golden under the golden light. A rainbow appeared where the water and sky met, as the rain had just stopped.

"The sunset is infinitely beautiful, but it's almost dusk."

Mary wasn't sure if she would ever get the chance to see such a beautiful sunset again.

Liu Fan gazed into the distance and muttered to himself, "After the rebellion is quelled, I will follow the example of Emperor Taizu and pass the throne to the crown prince as soon as possible. Then I can travel around the world with you. The affairs of Tianxin City are too worrying."

Mary gave a perfunctory smile. She knew that day might never come. According to the theory Liu Fan had just proposed, if he failed to quell the rebellion, the emperor and his empire would be destroyed, and she herself would probably die without a burial place.

Seeing the Queen's worry, Emperor Jing Yan quickly comforted her, "Tianxin City is the greatest city. It cannot be shaken by a few thugs. It is not easy to destroy this city!"

Mary asked curiously, "How was Tianxin City built?"

"It's a long story!"

Forget the past.

Emperor Jingyan patiently introduced the origin of this capital to his queen.

"To be fair," Liu Fan gazed towards the capital, "this capital has been rife with conspiracy and brutality since its founding." Mary nodded and said, "I heard in London that your ancestor, Emperor Taizu of Qi, was a murderer and a madman. He established the most terrifying rule, even more terrifying than Ivan the Great of Russia."

Liu Fan smiled awkwardly: "You're half right, Liu Zhaosun is not a madman."

Probably no emperor had ever belittled his own capital like Liu Fan, calling Taizu by his name and belittling his own ancestors.

Mary changed the subject and said, "Let's continue talking about Tianxin City."

Liu Fan squinted his eyes as the setting sun sank into the horizon. At this time, the captain of the guards brought a lantern and reported the sailing matters to the emperor in a low voice.

everything is fine.

Liu Fan told the captain of the guards, Wang Bin, to be careful at night and beware of attacks from pirates or the French. Wang Bin nodded and quickly disappeared into the night.

Only the Emperor and Empress were left in the cabin. Liu Fan said:

"Tianxin City was built by Emperor Taizu, or more precisely, by his uncle Jin Dajiu."

"At that time, the capital was already in ruins, with remnants of the former Ming Dynasty still lingering. Xi'an and Luoyang were in a state of decay, unfit to be our capital. Southern cities like Nanjing and Yangzhou lacked the power to dominate, so none of them were suitable as the capital. Furthermore, the main enemy at the time was the Red-haired Barbarians to the south. Therefore, Emperor Taizu chose Junzhou, as this was where his original birthplace was."

Only then did Mary realize that Taizu's hometown was in this place with beautiful mountains and rivers and abundant natural resources.

"It was later proven that using Tianxin City as the capital came at a heavy price!"

"It was tragic? Did many people die?"

Queen Mary listened attentively. According to the emperor's description, every palace and every section of the city wall in Tianxin City was stained with the blood and tears of the citizens (formerly known as the common people).

It seems as if the existence of this city is a kind of original sin.

It is indeed original sin.

Over a hundred years ago, Liu Zhaosun's brother-in-law, Jin Dajiu, mobilized hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians to build a capital city on the site of Junzhou. This cost countless manpower and financial resources, with thousands of laborers dying from exhaustion simply transporting massive timber from the mountains of Annan, Burma. Construction took a decade, intermittent, and was marred by an earthquake, two floods, and three fires. It's said that upon the city's completion, at least five thousand bodies were buried beneath the ground.

That was the era of crazy expansion of the Great Qi. The territory continued to expand, the population continued to increase, and various super projects were launched. In addition to building Tianxin City, Liu Zhaosun also dredged canals, opened up sea routes, expanded docks, and repaired post roads... These projects were magnificent at the time. However, shortly after his death, these costly and labor-intensive infrastructure projects were successively stopped - the empire could no longer bear these high costs.

Returning to the construction of Tianxin City, after its completion, this magnificent city, rivaling the Tang Dynasty's Chang'an and the ancient Roman capital, the imperial court quickly forced the relocation of 500,000 people from Wuchang, Changsha, Kaifeng, and Xi'an to fill the population. However, this misguided decision resulted in countless people being displaced, dying of disease, and starvation along the way.

Fortunately, Taizu died before he could complete his career, and he passed away at the age of fifty. Otherwise, who knows what kind of hell Da Qi would have become under his rule...

Over the past century, Tianxin City has witnessed the rapid rise and sudden fall of Emperor Taizu, the new policies of Emperor Taizong, the fratricide between the eldest princess and Liu Kan, the madness of the deposed crown prince Liu Wuji and the Empress Tianshou's efforts to turn the tide, and of course, Emperor Jingyan's return of power to the people.

The Great Qi Dynasty went through four generations and spanned a hundred years, and the evolution of various systems had gradually deviated from the original intentions of the founders.

"Utopia doesn't exist. Those monarchs who aspired to become saints ended up becoming tyrants. Take Emperor Taizu for example."

Liu Fan deeply detested the circumpolar system founded by Taizu. Although later historians, when recording that period of history, usually said, "Because of the instigation of treacherous ministers, the Great Qi took some detours in its early days and paid some prices, such pains of development were the price that had to be borne.

However, wrong is wrong.

The historian casually wrote a few words, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of people suffered.

Liu Fan has always focused on restraining imperial power, paying attention to his subjects, and protecting their rights and interests.

But even so, he was pushed to the guillotine by his subjects.

The opposition’s slogan is that if a complete peace cannot be achieved, then they are completely opposed to peace, and the emperor who is unwilling to step down from the throne should be beheaded!
(End of this chapter)