The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 650 Who Can Be the Blood Food of Emperor Xuanyuan

January 1790, 1, was the 25th day of the th lunar month in the th year of Emperor Guangzhong of the Great China, which was originally the th year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.

The Crown Prince Mo Zhousen of the Dayu Dynasty of the Chinese Empire set out in full ceremonial array, with three hundred armored cavalry of the Yulin Guards, one hundred Mongolian Quexue, one hundred Xiongnu Changshui Hu cavalry as the vanguard, and three thousand Jingying Shenwei Army dragoons as guards.

Starting from the Governor's Office in Xi'an, it took four hours and 24 kilometers to walk to Changling, where Emperor Taizu of Han, Liu Bang, and Empress Lü were buried together.

When the ceremonial procession crossed the Wei River, the streets were deserted, and half of the people in Xi'an city were out. Many people who could not come to watch crossed the Wei River from other places and headed to Changling on the north bank in advance.

The 30,000 Guanzhong elders, local celebrities, warriors with official robes, local gentry, inspectors, etc. who followed Asen were all on foot, with only cavalry on horseback guarding on both sides.

They braved the cold wind and made the procession as lively as if they were on a spring outing. There was excitement hidden in the solemnity as they headed towards Changling. This was probably the first time since the fall of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties that so many people had come to see Liu Bang.

Asen, as a descendant of the younger generation, offered sacrifices to Liu Bang and Empress Lu in the same manner as he offered sacrifices to his own imperial ancestors. He presented sacrifices that only the royal family was qualified to use as blood food to Liu Bang and Empress Lu, and personally read out and burned the eulogy written by Mo Zibu for Liu Bang.

Afterwards, a buffet was held outside Changling for five consecutive days to entertain the elders of Guanzhong. He also met with talents recommended by the local sages of Guanzhong and recruited and promoted them as appropriate.

This trip has significantly improved Asen, allowing him to fully appreciate the vastness of China's territory, the strength of the country, as well as the various crises hidden beneath that strength and the difficulty of governing such a large country.

It also made him fully realize why his father Mo Zibu clearly disliked the behavior of a large number of Confucian scholars and despised their way of governing the country to the point of ruin, but had to continue to train, promote and make use of these Confucian scholars.

Without the existence of Confucian civilization, China would not have been able to maintain such a vast territory.

After Confucianism became inclusive, it has been absorbed into the blood of the Chinese people. To put it bluntly, every Chinese person has been marinated in Confucianism.

Moreover, the problem lies with the Confucian scholars, not Confucianism. Confucianism has not yet reached the point where it needs to be torn down and rebuilt.

Of course, after seeing the big picture, Asen also saw the dark side of society that he had never seen before, as he lived in the imperial capital and interacted with important officials of the court.

After reading the sacrificial text, Asen began to mutter to Liu Bang's mausoleum between the stele pavilion and the stone beasts. This was also a way for him to relieve stress.

The most direct thing that broke the defenses of the 17-year-old crown prince was the coal industry.

This emerging industry in Dayu is developing very rapidly. When Asen came from Henan, he found that Kaifeng, Zhengzhou and Luoyang rarely burned firewood, but instead used coal.

Slightly wealthier families used clean coal shipped by steamships, which produced less smoke and no odor. A good stove could ensure there was fire all day long, so hot baths went from being a luxury to becoming available to ordinary people.

My family is not well off. Although we don’t have enough money to buy clean coal, we can still afford a relatively good honeycomb coal stove.

Just a few copper coins a day saves time and effort. You no longer have to go out of your way to buy firewood and light a fire that fills the house with smoke.

The rapid development of this industry has brought about rapid changes and improvements in the lives of urban residents. It has also played an indirect protective role in the rapidly decreasing forests in the north. Everything seems so positive.

However, behind this relatively cheap coal lies the blood and tears of the coal workers.

What’s even more terrifying is that these coal miners are not adults, most of them are children aged twelve or thirteen.

Because the explosives at that time were weak, difficult to transport, and expensive, coal mine owners were reluctant to open a large coal mine, so they often made the opening very small, so that adults could basically not enter, and only children could enter.

The smaller the coal mine entrance is, the less safe it is. Some unscrupulous coal mines have entrances so small that child laborers often get stuck and cannot get out, and are often trapped to death.

But Asen has no way to ban it. This industry is related to national strength and people's livelihood. Compared with these, the tens of thousands of child laborers in coal mines across the country seem insignificant.

"Your Highness, solving this kind of problem is not something that can be done with just a single order.

Because the imperial court cannot fully monitor the localities, and at the same time, as long as there is profit to be made, there will always be treacherous and vicious people who violate the law, and it is difficult to prevent them."

At this time, the somewhat old-fashioned Zuo Shuzi Dong Jiaozeng was very qualified.

"So we should start with the profit. I've heard that coal in Shanxi is often gathered in mountains and can be mined directly without the need for mines.

The imperial court could encourage coal production in Shanxi by reducing or exempting taxes, and use prices to eat up the profits of coal yards in other places that needed mines.

Once they no longer see any profit, they will naturally stop doing such evil things."

"Mr. Dong's words make sense, but if we want to use Shanxi coal to squeeze out the coal produced by child labor in other places, we also need convenient transportation to transport coal to various places at the lowest price.

The steam engine that Your Highness once researched with us can be put to good use now."

Seeing the person sleeping next to him, the future emperor of the empire felt a little depressed, and Wang Zhenyi hurried over to persuade him with gentle words.

"The four Imperial Universities of Jiading, Sanzhongci, Guangzhou, and Nanjing are jointly conducting research and development. I believe that steelmaking and gunpowder will be improved again in the next twenty years.

When technology develops and the cost of transportation and explosives drops, we can quickly resolve these unforeseen issues."

Wang Guoyuan, the Right Minister of Justice, was relatively optimistic and said, "Today, coal replaces firewood not only for convenience, but also because the price is not much higher than firewood. Many coal merchants say that if the price of coal exceeds twice that of firewood, sales will plummet.

Therefore, looking into the future, as the consumption gradually increases and the price cannot go up, the survival space of small coal mines will become smaller and smaller.

It is truly rare that Your Highness cares about the people, but you should not take all the responsibility on yourself.

A real man is bound to have an unvirtuous wife and unfilial sons, let alone a country. Even Emperor Gaozu of Han had to endure the Siege of Baideng, and after his death, the Lu family took over the throne.

Moreover, the Lord worries and the ministers are humiliated. We who eat the Lord's salary must share His Majesty's worries. After returning to the capital, I will take up the post of Special Envoy for Shanxi Coal and Iron in the Internal Court Transportation Bureau to relieve Your Highness's worries."

This is the advantage of having an inner court. If someone like Wang Guoyuan, who passed the imperial examination and became a third-class Jinshi just two years ago, had held all his official positions in the outer court, he would probably still be observing politics or serving as a candidate somewhere.

But in Dayu, people like Wang Guoyuan who have some talent can be directly promoted to the high position of Provincial Coal and Iron Special Envoy, known as Half-Step Governor, through the inner court selection method.

Of course, this kind of rapid promotion is not common, and there are only a few times a year.

Asen knew that Wang Zhenyi and her subordinates were comforting themselves to a large extent, because these tricks might be effective, but it was impossible to completely eliminate the phenomenon of child labor abuse.

Of course, although there was no child labor two hundred years later, the blood and tears of coal mining was not resolved until the second decade of the new century.

The young boy once again witnessed the cruelty of the world, and realized that even as an emperor, there were many things he was powerless to do, and he could not make the whole world obey him with just a single decree.

This is a very good and very necessary experience. Many of the incompetent emperors in history made the emperor seem omnipotent.

He thought that once he sat on the throne, he could control the whole world at will and would not tolerate any disobedience from others. Then, without realizing it, he destroyed all the foundations supporting the emperor's throne.

Fortunately, Arsen was still very strong mentally. After being depressed for a while, he recovered and said to those around him:
“My father once told me that for a person with ulterior motives, being an emperor is the cruelest profession, because often for the development of the country and the well-being of the majority, the interests of some people must be sacrificed, even their own.

At that time, I didn't understand it at all. I thought that as long as I was kind and benevolent, I could do everything well and benefit everyone. Now it seems that this is not the case at all."

Wang Zhenyi saw that Asen was almost ready, so she said with a smile, "That's why it's so rare for people like Emperor Gaozu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang to be praised in history books for their benevolent governance without harming the people."

Asen smiled bitterly but shook his head, "It's not easy, but I think it's even harder for the other person."

These words stunned all the confidants present. Looking at the thousands of years of Chinese history, apart from those ancient sage kings who sounded fabricated, whose achievements could surpass those of Emperor Gaozu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang?
"I think it was even more difficult for Emperor Xiaowu of the Han Dynasty." Unexpectedly, Asen was talking about Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

"How ruthless a heart must one have to watch their own people wail in agony amidst a sea of blood and corpses, draining the nation's resources to save their descendants from worry. A husband died, and his wife went to carry food. A brother died in battle, and his younger brother followed. The last rations for the crying children were also packed into bundles and carried to the front lines.

If it were me, I might have collapsed from the Weiyang Palace before the Xiongnu were completely annihilated.”

Everyone suddenly realized that this is what you were talking about.

That is true. Among the emperors who still had some conscience, that is, apart from Emperor Yang of Sui who simply did not treat people as human beings, Emperor Wu of Han was definitely the most ruthless of the ruthless.

He is the only one in the past two thousand years who can withstand the torture of his conscience and do things to the utmost, and as long as the result is concerned, he can ignore all other feelings such as father-son, husband-wife, etc.

After Asen finished speaking, he no longer had the depressed mood he had just had, and strode out.

Dong Jiaozeng and Wang Guoyuan behind him looked at each other, and both showed happy expressions on their faces.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is actually quite capable. He has a kind heart, the ability to implement benevolent policies, and the ability to quickly adjust himself and avoid being overly emotionally overwhelmed.

Emperor Taizong of the Dayu Dynasty should not have produced an emperor like the early Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties, but instead produced an emperor like Emperor Ming of the Later Han.

After Asen walked out, he did not continue to have a banquet with Shaanxi Governor Bi Yuan and other high-ranking officials, but went directly to the outermost part of Changling and attended a banquet for the men from Guanzhong at the outermost area.

The accompanying Jinyiwei Palace Guards were frightened and quickly came over to protect Asen and pushed away anyone who approached Asen.

Asen waved his hand, jumped onto a stone beast, sat down sideways, and said loudly: "I am among the loyal and brave men of the country. If there is any danger, you must protect me."

The Guanzhong men who were eating big chunks of meat and drinking big bowls of wine were so moved that they cried and laughed excitedly as if they were swept by the sun's rays.

"Your Highness, after paying homage to Emperor Gaozu, it's time to pay homage to Emperor Taizong, right?" someone asked eagerly.

As expected, in the hearts of the people in Guanzhong, the weight of the Tang Dynasty and Li Shimin is still unmatched.

"Of course, I will definitely go to Zhaoling. I will also go to Maoling with everyone." Asen replied with a smile.

If you feel depressed by the petty and mean-spirited world, the best way to deal with it is to sit with a group of young men and let their heroic spirit infect you.

"I think we should go to the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor first, to my hometown, where the Yellow Emperor is buried." Some people have different opinions and think that they should go to the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor to pay homage.

Asen had originally come out to vent, but it became more and more amusing. He simply stood there and shouted to the people below, "Who here can recite Lu You's Shier?"

Unexpectedly, there were quite a lot of people who could recite it. As soon as the words fell, everyone started reciting it at once.

The Dayu Dynasty restored Ming Dynasty private school teaching in inland provinces and the activity of improving literacy rates has lasted for eight years, and the effect is very good.

After hearing the noisy recitation, Asen praised them a few times and then said to them, "When the king's army conquers the Central Plains in the north, don't forget to tell your father during the family sacrifice. The Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan is the father of all Han people.

But now, ever since the decline of the Tang Dynasty and the loss of Tingzhou and Yizhou by the Guiyi Army, we Han people have not been able to recover the lost territories in the Western Regions for nine hundred years.

Although the Zunghar and Hui tribes are still in the country today, they were recovered by the bannermen. We can't use this to offer sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor. If the golden bowl is broken, we have no face to see our ancestors!

Moreover, five hundred years ago, the Ming Dynasty was unable to advance westward due to the sparse population in Shaanxi and Gansu. But today is different. We are capable of taking back the Western Regions.

So I thought, when I recover the Western Regions, I will go to pay homage to the Yellow Emperor again. Perhaps, then it won’t be me who comes, but Your Majesty who will come in person to pay homage to my ancestors!”

"That makes sense, that makes sense!" When the Guanzhong men below heard this, they all praised it and it quickly ignited a strong desire to fight in their hearts.

Word spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. Soon all the men who were having the banquet had basically come over, and there were also a lot of children crawling around between the adults' legs. It was very lively for a while.

"Recover the Western Regions and offer sacrifices to our ancestors. Recover the Western Regions and offer sacrifices to our ancestors!"

"As long as the imperial court gives the order, we two million people in Guanzhong will help the court to reclaim the Western Regions."

"Is the fight finally about to begin? I was just about to go see what the hell happened in the west that's causing such a mess to us Guanzhong people!"

The crowd was getting more and more excited, and the mood was getting more and more agitated.

Arsen immediately raised his hands and pressed them down, signaling them to be quiet, and then asked the guy closest to him.

"Why do you want to go to the Western Regions? Don't say it's for His Majesty. I want to hear the truth."

The young man had an excited look on his face, his face flushed and he couldn't speak. Amidst the laughter and teasing from others, it took him a long time to calm down.

"There are eight people in my family, and we own over 200 acres of land. My four brothers are all grown up, and they keep eyeing on our parents' property. I find it disgusting. We are Qin people, so if we need land, why don't we just go out and rob it?"

"Well done, that's what a man should be!" Asen laughed and clapped his hands. After clapping, he gave a thumbs up and asked the next man, "What about you? Tell me something."

The sturdy man twisted his wrists nervously a few times, "I've never been good at farming since I was a child, I just like to wield swords and clubs. I want to accumulate some military merits while I'm still young, get rewards from the court, and get a Flying Tiger uniform or a Jade Lion uniform, and then get a patrol inspector position."

"Then you are not afraid of death?" Asen continued to ask.

"I'm afraid, but I'm more afraid of facing the earth and working hard for the rest of my life. Besides, if I die, I can still give my parents a pension, which will make it worthwhile for them to give birth to me and raise me."

"Good boy, there is no need to worry about not accomplishing great things!" Asen's eyes became brighter and brighter. This is a good candidate for being a soldier!

Afterwards, more and more people came up and surrounded the Crown Prince, who they had never dreamed was so down-to-earth, and kept pouring out their inner thoughts.

"My parents are old, and I don't want them to still be working in their fifties or sixties. I heard that anyone who goes to the Western Regions can capture a few Kunlun slaves. I thought I'd go there too and get a few Kunlun slaves to help my parents farm."

Asen was speechless. He asked, "Young man, did you come directly from the Tang Dynasty?"
There are no Kunlun slaves now, and the Kunlun slaves did not come from the Western Regions, and they were not used for farming!
"I just can't stay still. I'm not interested in studying, and I don't like the hard work of farming. I can't be a playboy all my life, so I have no choice but to find a job that requires more effort."

"A true man, born in heaven and earth, cannot be a petty clerk. Your Highness, I heard that the court has allowed colonization in Hezhong. I want to recruit my fellow villagers to capture a city and become a vassal."

"Your Highness, I feel that the girls in Guanzhong are too fierce and demanding. I don't want to marry them. I heard that the Bodhisattvas in the river are quite well-behaved and sensible. I want to go and snatch one I like."

Damn, you still want to learn a foreign language.

"Your Majesty, he didn't want to snatch one, he wanted to snatch two. Last year, Heiwa found a marriage partner, and because he thought he had some money, he wanted to marry both sisters. In the end, he didn't marry either one and was even beaten out. Hahahaha!"

There was also such exciting content that everyone burst into laughter, even Arsen was laughing so hard that he fell backwards.

"Oh my god, who's talking nonsense!" Heiwa was angry and anxious. He rushed over and started fighting with the local men who exposed his dirty laundry.

Amidst the laughter, Asen felt the gloom dissipate. He asked the Jinyiwei Dianqian Division to help maintain order, and then said to the Guanzhong men below:
"The disciples from the west have been causing trouble for Shaanxi and Gansu for hundreds of years. This account must be settled, and not just with the Hui people, because those Khojas are from Hezhong. The final account must be settled with the barbarians in Hezhong.

Not only do we need to recapture the tribe, but we also need to go to the river and capture those evil priests.

Send them to Xi'an, send them to Huangling, and use their heads to comfort the deceased elders and announce the good news to Emperor Xuanyuan!

(End of this chapter)