The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 495 The mission of Mingxiang people has ended

June 1781, 6 AD, May 20, the sixth year of Guangzhong in Dayu.

The Qing Dynasty? Well, the Qing Dynasty ended in the 46th year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign and will never appear again.

Before completely ending the Qing Dynasty's status as a central dynasty, Mo Zibu personally went to the Ming Tombs to pay homage.

Moreover, he did not wear the emperor's court robes, but a combination of a green Taoist robe and a square scarf, just like an ordinary scholar of the Ming Dynasty.

In this auspicious place at the foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping, Mo Zibu and his cousin Chen Guangli, grandson of Chen Shangchuan, as the last two Ming Dynasty citizens, offered three animals and sacrificial wine to the Ming emperors in the Thirteen Tombs.

In addition, Mo Zibu also allocated 300,000 silver dollars from his private treasury and ordered the Ministry of Works to immediately begin repairing some of the dilapidated tombs in the Thirteen Tombs.

"I heard that in Wugang Prefecture, Baoqing Prefecture, Hunan, there are still descendants of the Prince of Nan'an, a descendant of the Min King. We should transfer thirty households to Beijing and allocate three thousand acres of land around Changping to them to guard the tombs of the Ming emperors."

Lin Qiaoyin, the Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace who was following behind Mo Zibu, immediately nodded and took note. Then he pointed to the distant Si Mausoleum of Emperor Chongzhen and said to Mo Zibu:

"After the reign of Emperor Qi of the Ming Dynasty, the country was in dire straits. Emperor Weizong ascended the throne in dire straits and could not afford to build a mausoleum. When he died on Coal Hill, it happened suddenly, and he could only be hastily buried in the tomb of Imperial Noble Consort Tian.

Although it has been renovated three times by the Qing Dynasty, it still conforms to the specifications of a concubine's tomb and does not conform to the regulations of Emperor Weizong. I petition Your Majesty to order the Ministry of Works to rebuild the mausoleum for Emperor Weizong according to the imperial regulations."

After Emperor Chongzhen died for his country, he was given many temple names. The Qing Dynasty gave him the title of Emperor Huaizong Duan, the Hongguang regime gave him the title of Emperor Liezong and Emperor Sizong, and the Longwu regime gave him the title of Emperor Weizong.

When they arrived in Dayu, Mo Zibu's great-grandfather Mo Shiping and his maternal grandfather Chen Shangchuan both accepted official positions in the Ming Zheng regime.

The legal system of the Ming Zheng family came from the Longwu clan, so in the officialdom of Dayu, Chongzhen's temple name was Weizong.

Before Mo Zibu could express his opinion, his cousin, Chen Guangli (Chen Dali), Marquis of Xuwen, intervened, saying, "The tombstone of Emperor Weizong is inscribed with the name of Emperor Huaizong Duan, which was proposed by the Manchus. This is not in accordance with etiquette.

Your Majesty, I would like to raise 300,000 silver dollars in the name of the Ming people to rebuild the mausoleum for Emperor Weizong. Please approve it."

Mo Zibu finally nodded and said, "I will provide 50,000 silver dollars. The rest will be raised from the Ming people in Ha Tien, Gia Dinh, and Hoi An. As for the precious wood and other materials needed for the reconstruction of the mausoleum, they will be transported from the Yuling Mausoleum of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty."

For Mo Zibu, rebuilding Chongzhen's tomb was as important as taking over Beijing.

The former could end the spiritual suffering of the Han people since the Jiashen Incident, and the latter represented his achievement in regaining the lost territory.

Especially since Mo Zibu was born in Mingxiang, rebuilding Chongzhen's tomb was also an explanation to his own ethnic group.

At the same time, the future mausoleum of the Mo royal family will definitely not be built in Beijing. His father Mo Tianci has already said that he wants to be buried in his ancestral land in Haikang County, Leizhou Peninsula.

Mo Zibu himself planned to be buried in Jiading after his death, to remind the Chinese people that Nanyang was a land that must always be firmly controlled.

So after Yongzheng was moved to Qianlong's Shengshuiyu Mausoleum, it would have been a pity to abandon many of the rare woods in Yongzheng Yuling, which were just right for expanding the mausoleum of Emperor Chongzhen.

"I understand. Let the officials from the Ministry of Works implement it immediately." Although Lin Qiaoyin could not understand the special feelings of the Ming people towards the Ming Dynasty, he still hurried down to make arrangements.

Chen Guangli smiled and looked at Mo Zibu, "Your Majesty, you have finally fulfilled the wishes of your ancestors. A new Ming Dynasty belonging to the Han people has finally been established.

From now on, there will be no more Mingxiang people, because we have returned to our hometown with dignity."

May 30th, summer solstice.

Mo Zibu received reports from various parties in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The cavalry led by Reinstein captured Chengde and Chifeng, while the Huainan Cavalry Regiment led by Yang Kaijia also defeated the Chahar Mongols including the Yellow Bordered and White Bordered Mongols outside the city.

Liu Yong went to Taiyuan and used his ability and reputation to recruit the entire province of Shanxi for Mo Zibu, and the operation to confiscate unscrupulous businessmen in Shanxi was also progressing smoothly.

Mo Zibu sent his second brother, Mo Zitang, Duke of Cai, to Datong Prefecture to recruit the knights from northern Shanxi, or they could also be called the Bingzhou Iron Cavalry.

In China at that time, these warriors from northern Shanxi, who were mainly of Han descent and supplemented by Mongolian descent, were probably the only classical cavalry who could still perform horse archery.

At the same time, Chahar and Tumed Mongols were also distributed north of Datong all the way to Guihuating (Hohhot).

Dayu does not have enough cavalry now to completely force them to surrender, so let Mo Zihuang go to Datong in the name of the emperor's brother and promise some benefits to stabilize these Mongols.

The only viable option at present is to wait until a cavalry division recruited in northern Shanxi is ready, and then take control of them step by step.

On the sixth day of the sixth month, Mo Zibu declared Shuntian Prefecture as the temporary imperial court and ordered more than half of the court officials in Yingtian Prefecture to go north to work.

The chief minister, the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace, the Duke of Shuofang County, and the son-in-law of the emperor, Li Xianwen, continued to stay in Yingtian Prefecture.

Afterwards, Mo Zibu made some changes to Dayu's four-capital system again, changing the capital Shuntian Prefecture to Beijing Shuntian Prefecture, restoring the name of Nanjing to Yingtian Prefecture, and changing the original Nanjing Chengtian Prefecture to the Southern Capital Chengtian Guangzhou Prefecture.

Former Han officials of the Qing Dynasty in Beijing who were over 65 years old were allowed to retire and return home, except for those who were specially retained by the emperor.

A large number of officials were arranged by Mo Zibu to continue to revise the Siku Quanshu. Firstly, there were indeed some parts in the Yongle Encyclopedia that needed to be deleted and revised. Secondly, the Siku Quanshu had been revised halfway and it would be a pity to give up now.

Of course, Mo Zibu's Siku Quanshu was different from the Siku Quanshu of the Qing Dynasty. Except for some books related to cults that were sealed, the rest were required to be included in the Siku Quanshu.

Mo Zibu planned to compile it into the most valuable encyclopedia of ancient Chinese historical books, surpassing the Yongle Encyclopedia. It was all-encompassing, and the organization and compilation of rare and unique books far exceeded those of any previous dynasty.

In addition, since the current officialdom of Dayu cannot include all the officials left over from the Qing Dynasty at once, they can first be asked to compile the Siku Quanshu, which will at least give them a place to go.

After establishing the basic framework, Mo Zibu announced that the Xinchou Imperial Examination, scheduled for the sixth year of Guangzhong, would be postponed until next year, when the situation in Beijing would stabilize. With this in mind, Mo Zibu's mission to expel the Tartars and recover the lost territory was largely complete. The remaining task, retaking Northeast China, Northwest China, and Qiangtang, could be considered a war of rebellion and unification.

. . . .

While Mo Zibu was focusing on domestic affairs, the world situation became even more turbulent.

Between March and May 1780, 3 British troops in North America, led by Commander Henry Clinton, took the initiative to attack the city of Charleston, where North American militia was stationed.

Before the attack began, Benjamin Lincoln, the American commander in Charleston, repeatedly asked the Continental Congress and the militias of South and North Carolina to come to reinforce him, because he only had 3,000 people and was sure he could not hold the city.

As a result, reinforcements were delayed and no definite orders were given. Benjamin Lincoln had no choice but to take a step back and ask for the conscription of blacks to supplement the troops. As a result, this time the order arrived quickly.

The Continental Congress rejected Benjamin Lincoln's request and did not allow him to recruit animals (referring to black slaves) as soldiers.

Well, you don't send reinforcements, and you don't allow replenishment of troops. What on earth do you want to do?
Benjamin Lincoln, the American commander, whose mentality was unbalanced by the Continental Congress, immediately became angry. Full of resentment, he did not choose to abandon the city of Charleston to preserve his strength before the British army surrounded him, but chose to hold on and fight hard.

But he was not prepared for a tough battle, and was surrounded on all sides by the British army's overwhelming superiority in strength, and was put into a desperate situation.

Under pressure from all sides, Benjamin Lincoln, whose mentality became even more unbalanced, announced his surrender to the British army on May 12.

In this battle, the British army forced the surrender of 5,500 American soldiers, three frigates, seven schooners and three armed galleys at the cost of 76 deaths.

This was the most severe blow the United States had suffered since the independence of the thirteen North American states.

Afterwards, the British army marched into North and South Carolina in one go, and won a decisive victory in Camden, South Carolina, despite inferior forces.

In this battle, British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis led 2,100 regular troops and met 4,000 American troops led by Major General Horatio Gates.

At the beginning of the battle, the British army defeated more than half of the Virginia militia in the US army, and then cut off and surrounded the US regular army and successfully wiped them out.

In this battle, the British army suffered about 310 casualties in exchange for more than 2,000 casualties and prisoners of war for the American army.

The failure of these two wars greatly shook the fighting will of the people in the thirteen North American states. Many people expressed deep concern and dissatisfaction with this war that had been going on for five years and had no end in sight.

This concern is further released to the fundamental issue of a country, namely currency.

Starting in August after the defeat at the Battle of Camden, the weekly credit currencies of the colonies that made up the new United States of America depreciated rapidly.

The Massachusetts pound, issued by Massachusetts, was worthless and even less than a pile of slightly polished shells that could be used to trade with inland Indians.

Seeing this situation, the French were almost driven crazy. If America was defeated, the anti-British war in which the French had almost won over the whole of Europe would be completely defeated, and the French would never have the chance to stand up straight in Europe again.

In this crazy gamble where everything was at stake, the French registered more than three shell companies in September alone and provided the United States with more than 10 million livres in various supplies within a month.

He even paid the militia in the thirteen states directly in livres to maintain morale.

At the same time, Louis XVI ordered all Franco-Spanish warships, except those participating in the siege of Gibraltar, to be transferred to North America and the Caribbean.

This was really selling one's life to aid the United States. France's own finances were already stretched to the limit, but Louis XVI and his ministers were still desperately trying to aid the United States.

The Dutch also fought desperately at this time. The United Provinces took out all their warships and fought with the British fleet in various places along the Atlantic coast of Europe. They refused to surrender even when Amsterdam was burned and looted.

The Dutch's stubbornness successfully delayed the British fleet's efforts to support North America, allowing the Franco-Spanish fleet to gain certain advantages in both quantity and quality in North America and the Caribbean.

Driven by this direct shot in the arm, the situation in North America finally began to improve, and the people of the thirteen states, who had extremely lacked confidence, began to feel that the war could be won.

In October, the North American militia won the Battle of King's Mountain, almost wiping out the pro-British colonial militia. British Colonel Patrick Ferguson, who invented the breech-loading rifle, was killed by the American army.

Then, in January 1781, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan of the United States dramatically defeated the British at the Battle of Cowpens.

Although the two sides fought a bitter and evenly matched battle, the British attempt to control all of North and South Carolina was thwarted.

It exposed their inability to defeat the United States in North America while being constrained by all of Europe.

The morale of the North American people was completely boosted, and they began to support the independence movement of the thirteen states as they had done before the war began, and the balance of power began to change significantly.

The North American continent thus fell into a brief period of calm, with the British army and the French and American sides confronting each other at various locations along the east coast of North America, each waiting for the other side to make a mistake.

The final decisive battle is about to come.

In India, the Sino-French-Mysore coalition finally won the siege of Madras (Chennai).

In February 1781, the Allied forces relied on fifteen 2-pound cannons and -pound mortars towed from warships and finally captured the last British stronghold in South India, the St. George Bastion in Madras, after five months of hard work.

The British Governor of Madras, John Whitehill, the Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, Brigadier General Joseph Smith, and 400 others were captured.

British colonists in South India and more than 20,000 local people who came to them were executed by the Mysore tyrant Hyder Ali.

Subsequently, the Sino-French-Mysore coalition forces began to move north and approached Calcutta in May 1781, preparing to launch an attack on Britain's last stronghold in India.

The most difficult time was approaching for the Kingdom of England, which had not yet become the British Empire.

(End of this chapter)