The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 596 Everything is ready except the steam engine

Mo Zibu had a great time in Beijing's Shuntian Prefecture, the Forbidden City, Taiyuan and Datong, and then returned slowly.

Mo Gongbai, the nephew who had been placed in Beijing as a shield, finally escaped and went to Shangchuan Province (Upper Myanmar).

"My son is really smart. When he arrived in Lingnan, he immediately found the crux of the problem." Mo Zibu handed the report sent back by Asen to his little cousin and Ye Xiaomei.

The little cousin's face suddenly showed an irrepressible joy, but after a while, she said with some worry:
"My father wrote to me saying that Asen had a close relationship with a female Dean named Wang from the Imperial College of the Sanzhong Temple.

He said that the female manager had a terrible reputation in Guangzhou, and many people secretly called her a vixen. Asen was still so young, if...

Mo Zibu couldn't bear to listen any longer and interrupted her immediately, "Tell your father to stop gossiping and go back to Jiading to farm if he's really bored."

"Ah Zhen, after dinner, you should dismiss all the maids over forty years old working for the imperial concubine. Give each of them a little extra severance pay and let them go back to take care of their sons and grandchildren.

Damn, they treated my son like a robber. I think they will treat their grandchildren the same way when they go back. Can my son and daughter-in-law obey her? "

Some people are just like this. Mo Zibu doesn't really despise the poor or anything. When it comes to educating children, there is indeed a trend that the lower the education level and the less experience, the more extreme they become and the more they like PUA.

Although there are people who are good parents despite having low education and little experience, they are definitely a minority.

Take my little cousin's rebellious father for example. It's not enough that his daughter keeps a strict control over his grandson, but how can a grandfather not protect his grandson and even secretly complain about him?

But it’s a good thing this way. Asen probably won’t have to worry about his in-laws interfering in his politics anymore.

Ye Xiaomei was also a little overwhelmed. Should she say that such a grandpa was cute or not?

From this perspective, her father has been a vegetarian for the past two years and even spent his own money to build a fertility-sending Guanyin Temple in his hometown of Jingtangzhai to pray for her, which is considered quite qualified.

The little cousin twisted her body uneasily. At that time, the palace of the Dayu Dynasty was not as strict as that of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Apart from the three inner court departments directly under the emperor, namely the Attendant Civil Service Department, the General Staff Officer Department, and the Inner Court Transportation Department, there was also the Imperial City Department composed of the emperor's eunuchs.

As for the rest of the empress and the concubines, except for the eunuchs who were dispatched by the Imperial City Commander, all the palace servants were recruited by themselves.

So the thirty or so maids in their forties who worked for my cousin were recruited by her herself. Most of them were from Mingxiang, Jiading, and many of them were related to the emperor and her, the imperial concubine.

The little cousin was a little unhappy, not because they were relatives, but if these maids were dismissed, wouldn't it be tantamount to denying her strategy of raising her children? She still felt that she was quite capable and doing a good job.

Since Asen is so smart now and is valued by the emperor, doesn't it prove that her strategy is correct?

Mo Zibu was helpless. His mother was not happy about this kind of thing, and it was really difficult to deal with. But he was not going to ignore it. Asen was so old, he didn't want to turn him into an anti-human perverted tyrant.

So he glared at his little cousin fiercely, "If you let it continue, Arsen will be treated like Li Chengqian and find a satisfactory answer. I'll see what you will do!"

Hearing the emperor's harsh words, Yu Yuan felt heavy in her heart and the little cousin finally stopped talking.

Seeing this, Ye Xiaomei puffed out her belly and advised her little cousin, "Sister, you have to listen to His Majesty. Asen can no longer control you like before.

You should go and send the maids back yourself. If I really want you to do it, I might not be able to take care of so many things."

The little cousin nodded. She was still a little worried about Ye's younger sister because she was pregnant again.

As the saying goes, there will never be a fourth time. It is impossible for Ye Xiaomei to give birth to three daughters in a row and then have the fourth one be a daughter.

If she gave birth to a son, she would piss off Ye Xiaomei, their alliance would break down, and Asen's biggest rival would appear.

"I think Asen will be in charge of promoting the research of steam engines. I will immediately issue an order for Wu Wenyao, Qian Duo, and others to rush to Guangnan with their teams and materials."

There is one thing that Asen's report said correctly: those who are currently researching steam engines in the Dayu Dynasty, whether they are the talented Wu Wenyao and others or others, are actually not driven by demand.

They studied the steam engine, hoping to gain the emperor's attention through this new track. If they really came up with something, they would enjoy the credit for their whole life.

“I’m afraid this won’t be enough. Your Majesty may have to build a university in Quang Nam, or even in Ha Long, dedicated to coal, iron, and steam engines.

Because the Sanzhongci Imperial College focuses too much on literature, the Guangzhou Imperial College focuses entirely on business, and the Jiading Imperial College focuses more on Danish chemistry, we currently lack a truly industrial machinery Imperial College."

Mo Zibu nodded. Just from the name of Sanzhongci Imperial College, one could tell that this kind of university, which was established specifically to commemorate loyal ministers and righteous men, must have an atmosphere that was very biased towards liberal arts and politics.

"Then let Fuxing Company organize it. I will personally fund it and contribute the imperial palace in Jiaozhi Prefecture to establish a professional industrial university in Jiaozhi Prefecture. Let's simply call it Fuxing University."

In later generations, Hanoi changed its name from Thang Long back to Jiaozhi because the name Thang Long was used in Haikang County, Leizhou Prefecture, the hometown of Emperor Mo.

This small county town, like Xingtang Hexian Prefecture, is one of the only two prefectures in the Dayu Dynasty where the prefect is of the third rank. Like Yingtian Prefecture, Shuntian Prefecture, and Chengtian Prefecture, it is a prefecture directly under the imperial court and is called Xingtang Shenglong Prefecture.

The Jiaozhi Palace, also known as the imperial palace in Hanoi, was the former Annan royal palace of the Later Le Dynasty. Mo Zibu basically never lived here, but because it was a symbol of Annan's thousand-year independence, it had to be kept here and not used for any other purpose.

Now it is used as the Imperial College, so the name of the palace is removed directly.

Ye Xiaomei's eyes lit up. "It's just right to put it in Jiaozhi Prefecture. I think the coal and iron base in Xialong Port can be expanded a bit."

In fact, the current scale of the Halonggang coal and iron base is the result of the joint efforts of Emperor Mo Zibu and the court.

In order to prevent Jiaozhi from rebelling again, in addition to Deng Chenchang's killing and immigration occupation, benefits must be given. Otherwise, it would not be so easy to stabilize it by relying on force alone.

Jiaozhi's economic lifeline was now completely controlled by the coal and iron base at Halonggang. With the emperor's permission, all the high-ranking families of the Northern Hejing Han clan, who had pledged their allegiance to the clan, invested in Halonggang and reaped the benefits. It was precisely because of this cooperation, once they understood the emperor's willingness to treat them as ethnic Chinese, that they turned a blind eye, even actively participating in the deception and forced labor of large numbers of the Northern Hejing natives into the coal and iron mines.

Only with the consent and even participation of these people can the local people of the Beihe Plain be governed so obediently.

At the same time, people from other parts of the court also invested heavily in Halong Port and were deeply involved in the distribution of benefits. Now, even if Emperor Mo Zibu said he wanted to give up Guangnan, the court would not agree.

If Guangnan can become independent one day in the future, it will probably be described as the traitorous Beihe nobles who sold the country to the evil emperor and the Northern Kingdom, and treated the ordinary people of Beihe like slaves.

But it is estimated that there is a high probability that that moment will never come.

After dealing with these family matters and preparing to let Fuxing Company set up the university, an even more troublesome thing came.

Since the eruption of Mount Asama and other volcanoes in Kanto, Japan last year, that is, in 1783, not only has Japan suffered large-scale disasters, but Korea and the areas north of the Yangtze River in China have also suffered serious disasters.

The situation was most severe in the Bohai Rim area, where it snowed several times in May of the lunar calendar. The temperature hovered around five degrees Celsius for half a month, making spring plowing impossible in at least twenty counties because the seeds would hardly survive.

"Your Majesty, the land reclamation plan for the three northeastern provinces is unlikely to advance within the next five years, according to a report sent back from Aihui City, the headquarters of the Heilongjiang General's Special Zone Aihui Military Commissioner.

"North and south of Aihui, the sky is dark, with no distinction between day and night. The temperature is much lower than in previous years, and the wheat and corn we planted are basically not growing. Please ask the court to allocate grain relief."

Aihui City is slightly north of Heihe City in later generations. Further north, it is a designated patrol area but there are no permanent troops stationed there.

At this time, the Dayu Dynasty still did not have enough control over the Outer Khingan Mountains, which was why Fukangan and others had been hiding in the Outer Khingan Mountains and had not been captured.

"Your Majesty, urgent reports have arrived from Penglai, Yingzhou, Chaori, Fusang, Lelang, and Silla. The disaster is so severe it's even worse than in China. Thousands of victims are starving in every direction. Request that the imperial court allocate food for disaster relief."

The division of Japan into four provinces, Penglai, Yingzhou, Asahi, and Fuso, was carefully arranged by Mo Zibu.

The division of these four provinces was entirely based on the differences in customs and habits of Japan in order to create internal divisions among them. The Japanese Zongli Yamen even encouraged them to engage in regional discrimination against each other.

Moreover, Japan is about four times the size of Zhejiang Province, so it makes sense to divide it into four provinces.

The Korean Peninsula is almost the same size as two Zhejiang provinces, so it is divided into Lelang Province in the north and Silla Province in the south.

"How much do they sell their contracted farmhands for?" Mo Zibu asked unexpectedly.

"Ten silver dollars per person." The left secretary of the Toyo Prime Minister's Office who rushed back from Asahi replied.

"It's too expensive!" Deputy Minister Lin Tong snorted coldly, "The imperial court plans to send three million or even five million people from the He and Chao tribes south. In this case, just buying people will cost more than 30 million silver dollars.

This is too high a price to pay for the Chinese in Southeast Asia. If the mortality rate is taken into account, the price would actually be even higher.”

As expected of a Fujianese, he was unwilling to buy a half-slave for ten silver dollars, but this was within Mo Zibu's expectations. Lin Tong had to consider his fellow Fujianese.

"Then give half of the disaster relief supplies and inform the retired emperor and the governors of these six provinces that disaster relief is necessary, but only half. Let the people go hungry, but don't let them starve to death.

Tell them to coordinate well, the court can only afford five silver dollars per person at most."

Ahem, the Japanese and Koreans are lucky to have such an emperor. They are neither able to live nor to die. He even wants to sell himself as a pig and still be picky.

"Has the route from Fuso Province to the north been opened? Is the plan to transport supplies from Fuso to Heilongjiang feasible?"

After discussing disaster relief, Mo Zibu asked two questions in quick succession, to which the Minister of Works replied:

“The route has been opened, but it still depends on the monsoon for power.

The Ministry of Industry tried to install the current steam engine on the sailboat, but it could only play a very small auxiliary role and still could not become the main power source of the sailboat.

After controlling the Japanese, transporting supplies to the Northeast had an additional option that was not available in later generations.
That is, instead of transporting supplies through the old forests of the Northeast using human and animal power, they would transport the supplies from Japan's Northeast region by sea to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, and then go upstream.

It is really convenient. If this land area can be passed down to future generations, people can take a boat directly from Harbin to Tokyo, Japan.

However, due to the influence of geographical location and ocean currents, the navigation time is very short, and can even be described as a window period.

"Steam engine, steam engine!" Mo Zibu was angry. Now everything was ready, except for the steam engine.

Whether it is pumping water from coal mines, draining swamps and reclaiming land in Southeast Asia, building railways or sea and water transportation, they all need this thing.

As long as the steam engine is in place, it doesn't need to be very powerful. For example, a train can carry 50 tons, run at a speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour, and travel 60 kilometers continuously without stopping. It can bring about earth-shaking changes in China.

“I will offer a hereditary earldom to an eunuch, and Taiping and Andai each a prefectural earldom.

Whoever solves the problem of the steam engine for me, regardless of race, nationality, gender, age or even women and slaves, I will make him an imperial earl!

With a wave of his hand, our Emperor Mo offered a terrifying reward. You have to know that the second-in-command Lin Tong was just an eunuch who inherited the title of Enping Earl.

The court was in an uproar. Such a reward had a huge impact even on the top civil and military officials of the Dayu Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)