The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 737 The Eve of War
April 1796, 4. This was the second day of the third month in the 9st year of the Guangzhong reign of the Great Yu Dynasty in China, originally the first year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty.

In this year in history, Emperor Qianlong, who had enjoyed great power for decades, finally retreated to the second line and handed over the Qing Dynasty to his son Jiaqing, starting a rapid decline.

However, Qianlong's abdication was just a formality, and the country was still in his hands.

However, since he was the emperor emeritus after all, it was inconvenient for him to directly deal with many things, so Qianlong turned to use Heshen as a white glove to continue to control everything in the court. As a result, he was directly sidelined by Heshen.

In this time and space, Qianlong had long since died, Jiaqing was still called Yongyan, and he no longer had the status of a prince. He was currently working as a proofreader in the Wenhua Academy of the Imperial College.

This Wenhuayuan was originally the Wenyuan Pavilion, which was mainly responsible for managing the royal collection of books and albums. In layman's terms, it was the royal library.

After Mo Zibu established Dayu, he delegated the functions of Wenyuan Pavilion to the Imperial College, and made the royal collections of past dynasties completely public and open to readers all over the world.

As long as you have a scholar title or a high school diploma, you can borrow books after completing the formalities.

Jiaqing, the proofreader, was almost a clerk in the library who enjoyed the treatment of a section-level official. His original power was completely incomparable.

But Jiaqing was very satisfied. He had no ambitions and had no other hobbies except listening to operas, singing operas and drinking.

This proofreading position was just right for someone like him. This guy would often run away after get off work to the theater to have fun with his fellow theater buddies, and sometimes even sing a few lines himself.

Of course, what made Jiaqing most satisfied was that he realized that Mo Zibu didn't want to kill him at all, so he lived in peace and security.

In fact, Mo Zibu let Jiaqing live because this guy was still useful. After all, he was the most obedient and submissive, and he was also the first Qing prince to defect to Dayu.

However, in various parts of Dayu, especially in the border areas, there are still 30,000 to 40,000 bannermen serving the court. Because of their original sin, most of them do the most tiring work but receive the least rewards.

The reason why these bannermen could still endure it was that they hoped that Mo Zibu would forgive them after they atoneed their sins.

If Mo Zibu did not give them this hope, then the bannermen north of the Greater Khingan Range, around Lake Baikal, in the Altai Mountains and on the Pamir Plateau would definitely not work so hard for Dayu, and might even cause trouble.

To be honest, Mo Zibu really couldn't do without such useful slaves. Besides, the Mongols were not completely at ease and were afraid that Mo Zibu would bring up old grudges when he got old.

Therefore, letting Jiaqing, now Yongyan, live in peace and happiness in the capital is the best sign. Mo Zibu can just treat it as raising a parasite, and he can still afford this amount of money.

However, Yongyan, who was about to slip away today, was caught before he could even go out.

Crown Prince Mo Zhousen came out with a large group of Chinese and French scholars, smiling. Yong Yan was quite a man of manners. When he saw them from a distance, he shouted "Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince" and then prostrated himself on the ground.

"This is Yongyan, the former Qing emperor's prince. If he had arrived twenty years earlier, not only would you not be qualified to see him, but even if you did, you would still have to perform this solemn kowtow."

Big Brother Sen pointed at Yongyan, who was kneeling on the ground and didn't dare to raise his head, and said to the French scholars around him with a smile, "But, there is something else behind these words."

In Big Brother Sen's opinion, his father seemed to give too much face to these French people. Although they were indeed masters of various fields, they were just scholars after all.

At the same time, he had made no contribution to Dayu, so how could he be worthy of being welcomed by the prince and the emperor condescending to host a banquet for him?

Therefore, Da Lao Sen used Jiaqing to give these French people some advice.

Sure enough, the French scholar, who had been feeling a little elated by Mo Zibu's courtesy, was immediately shuddered.

Many people suddenly remembered that the crown prince in front of them was a figure comparable to the vice-emperor of the Roman Empire, and that the emperor who had been so kind to them a few days ago was an emperor of the Eastern Empire as great as Augustus.

"We all know that His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are serious about and respect science, and they have applied this seriousness and respect to their tolerance and preferential treatment of us.

Please rest assured, Your Highness, when the Chinese Empire treats us as its own people, we will also regard ourselves as citizens of the Chinese Empire and serve the Empire and Your Majesty with a loyal heart!"

Lavoisier was actually a very sensible person. Of course, his chemical research required a lot of money, such as experimental equipment and materials, which were quite expensive at the time, so this guy was also very money-conscious.

Once a person is obsessed with money, he will be quite obedient to power. After all, only power can bring wealth in the fastest and highest quality.

Big Brother Sen was satisfied. He smiled and looked very tactful. He said to Lavoisier with a bit of flattery: "The emperor has agreed to build a new imperial college. This imperial college will be built in half Eastern style and half Western style.

Among them, Danish chemistry will be the most important subject, and the Royal Science Fund will allocate 4 million silver dollars each year for chemical research.

From now on, Mr. Lavoisier, you don't have to worry about research funding anymore."

"Long live, long live, long live!" Lavoisier was ecstatic. For him, there was nothing better than not thinking about making money and just doing research. In his excitement, he even shouted out the first sentence of Chinese he had just learned.

Hearing the Crown Prince's hearty laughter in the distance, Jiaqing didn't dare to raise his head or complain at all.

Jiaqing knew very well that the person in front of him was the most powerful crown prince in history. He almost controlled the entire northwest, including Shaanxi, and had a certain influence on the court.

I'm afraid that even the Prince Yiwen Zhu Biao in history cannot be compared with him. He is almost half an emperor. How could he dare to offend him?

"Stand up," Big Brother Sen raised his hand to let Jiaqing stand up. "I heard that you love to listen to operas. Is that why you often leave your post?"

With a thud, Jiaqing knelt down again. He was a little confused about what the prince meant. Wasn't it an open secret that he skipped work to attend the opera? Wasn't it tacitly approved by the emperor?
“But when he’s on duty, he’s quite diligent. I guess he has too much free time, so he likes to run around.

So, I have a task for you. These Western scholars have brought a large number of books. Since you are good at French, you can participate in the translation work.

If you do well, I can let you go to Suwu City and bring your uncle Wei Dexin back. I heard that he is old and frail, and can't stand the cold winds of the north. He suffers terribly every winter."

Jiaqing's mother was from the Weijia clan. Generally, people with this surname are basically Han Chinese. The Weijia clan was the same, and was descended from the bannermen. In other words, if one had to trace his bloodline, Jiaqing was not a pure-blooded Jianzhou Jurchen.

"I thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for his grace. I will do my best to be loyal to Your Majesty and serve Your Highness!" Jiaqing was overjoyed and kowtowed his head to the ground.

At this time, the bannermen still called themselves slaves, because according to the law, they were all prisoners of war of Emperor Mo Zibu and the emperor's slaves. Only those who had made meritorious service and were rewarded would be stripped of their bannerman status at the discretion of the emperor and would then officially become his subjects.

This is the opposite of the Qing Dynasty, when only those who could call themselves slaves were considered to be our own people. But now, only officials who could call themselves ministers were not considered slaves.

Of course, Jiaqing was not happy about this. He was happy that his uncle Wei Dexin and his family might come back. This way, he finally had a close relative. Secondly, Jiaqing had actually been restricted from leaving the capital for many years, but he just didn't say it explicitly.

Now, Crown Prince Da Lao Sen's statement that he could go and bring his uncle back has in fact lifted the ban.

After the kowtow, Asen continued to lead everyone into the Wenhua Courtyard. All the original books brought by the French were also to be treasured here.

As for Jiaqing, he was not trying to play tricks on him on purpose, but the policy of the Dayu Dynasty towards the bannermen was going to be further unlocked. As long as these bannermen were willing to take root in the frontier, their original sins would be gradually resolved, and they would eventually be integrated into the Han people.

April 4. Construction began on the Imperial College, which Mozibu had built for French scientists like Lagrange and Lavoisier.

This Imperial College is located in Xingtang Taiping Prefecture (Ma'anshan) and is expected to enroll 8,000 students, including more than 2,000 European students. As long as they are willing to come and can pass the examination and obtain the degree of Dayu scholar, the emperor will provide them with a full scholarship.

Mo Zibu planned to use this trick to form the first batch of elite Europeans for Dayu, especially to absorb a large number of French talents for Dayu, laying the foundation for profound influence on Europe in the future.

At the same time, the fourth Western Expedition Army, led by Mo Zibu's sixth brother Mo Ziling as military supervisor and his nephew Mo Gongleng as General Zhenxi, had arrived at the Hui tribe.

At this time, there were almost no people in the Hui tribe, not even a single Hui person, uh, that’s not right, there was not a single Hui man.

In the vast territory that originally had a population of more than 400,000, only a series of oases remain, and agricultural cooperatives have been built one after another in these oases.

From Yanqi, Kuche, Baicheng, Qiuci, Wushi, and Shule, hundreds of agricultural cooperatives were lined up like pearls. They provided the incoming army with supplements that were not particularly sufficient, but very timely and necessary.

When they reached an oasis town called Fenjin, eighty miles west of Kucha, Mo Ziling and his four thousand vanguard troops rested there for a night.

Before night fell, an elder in his forties, yes, here in the Western Regions, since all the laborers are immigrants from the Red County of Shenzhou, people in their forties or even fifty are considered elders.

The elders and villagers came to entertain the troops, carrying a camel, more than 30 cattle and sheep, and hundreds of carts of flour and vegetables.

Mo Ziling was a little surprised. He took a look and asked calmly, "Why is there no pork? Beef and mutton are still too lean and not as nutritious as fattier meat."

The elder smiled without surprise and said, "We used to think that Hui people don't eat pork because of religious beliefs, but now it seems that there are other reasons.

There is not abundant water here, and the water dries up quickly due to hot weather, but pigs love water the most, much more than sheep. At the same time, they eat a lot and poop a lot, so the water in the water is very likely to breed mosquitoes and is also very dirty.

Only in our Han land, with its abundant water and large population, can we raise pigs easily and get a lot of fat. Here, with its limited water and vegetables, raising pigs is not cost-effective. If the general wants to eat, he has to go to a big city like Shule.

Mo Ziling had actually asked this before, and only after the two factors confirmed it did he believe it. As a member of the Mo royal family, he was deeply influenced by Mo Zibu and was extremely wary of the Tianfang Sect.

It now seems that the reason why Hui people raise few pigs is largely due to environmental reasons, that is, the environment's carrying capacity makes it impossible to raise pigs, which have to compete with humans for food, like water, eat a lot and excrete a lot, and are not very convenient to adapt to nomadic life.

"Thank you, old man, but you brought too much flour. Please take some back. I can't let you suffer such a big loss."

According to the Dayu Military Law Supply Order, there are regulations on the quantity and quality of supplies at each place. For example, in Fenjin Town, the white flour they provide can only be one-third of the coarse grains, and the army can only pay according to this ratio.

This is to avoid a situation where one unit is oversupplied in one place and uses up the supplies of the unit behind it.

"General, without the Heavenly Soldiers of Dayu and His Majesty the Emperor, how could we, the old man, have gone from being a poor, homeless Korean to a good life where everyone has dozens of acres of land and dozens of cattle and sheep? These are all our wishes."

When the elder said this, seeing that Mo Ziling still refused to give in, he immediately said, "General, don't worry about me losing money. Last year and this year were both bumper harvests, and the court hasn't had a large army for several years.

We can still afford this little bit, and I still have time to ask the general for help."

Hearing this, Mo Ziling nodded, and then the soldiers smiled and asked the united warriors who were accompanying the army, that is, the auxiliary soldiers who were equipped with their own equipment, to unload the things they brought with them.

These things were basically brought from the Red County of Shenzhou, including the Hui people’s most precious iron farm tools, hardware products, etc.

These things were not sold, but used to be bartered for military rations.

This is also one of the main reasons why the agricultural cooperatives from Lanzhou to Hezhong in Dayu can exist. Not only does the army need agricultural cooperatives that can provide supplies along the way, but the people in the cooperatives also need the army.

Mo Ziling looked at all this in the distance with a smile on his face. His brother, the emperor, was really amazing and had a real foresight.

This is the reason why the Dayu army could be in the Western Regions at this time just like they were in the Red Land of Shenzhou, which was more convenient than in the Han and Tang Dynasties.

Almost all the Hui people had been taken away, and all the men had moved away, leaving only 40,000 to 50,000 women, who married immigrants from the Red County of Shenzhou.

After all these people left, this place directly belonged to Dayu. There was no one else here. Even the nomadic people migrated from Mongolia south of the desert. Therefore, the problems encountered by the Han and Tang dynasties were not a problem at all in Dayu.

At present, the per capita land area and cattle and sheep of these 110,000 immigrants in the Hui tribe are at a historical high. They live a rich life and are unprecedentedly enthusiastic in supporting the court. Of course, this makes the most important supply for the march extremely simple.

Just when Mo Ziling finally felt the benefits of the great migration of the Hui people that Mo Zibu had insisted on spending tens of millions of silver dollars to organize seven years ago, the Central Asian region centered on Samarkand was experiencing a terrible catastrophe.

When the ice and snow had not yet completely melted, the war had already broken out here. With the support of more than 10,000 local people who had taken refuge, Dayu's 20,000 elite cavalry split up into small groups and swept everywhere.

Wherever they went, they reduced everything to ashes. The herdsmen's houses were burned, and the stored fodder, food, and even cattle and sheep that could not be taken away were all burned or killed and buried.

Not to mention cattle and sheep, all the animals they could find around, even wolves, were killed to prevent them from becoming food for the Bukhara people.

What makes these Bukharan people even more uncomfortable is that they have nowhere to go. Because the ecological environment here is poor, they can only settle in places with the most abundant water and grass, so they have to find a place that suits them best.

Under this terrifying pressure that left them with no chance of survival, a large number of Bukharan people gave up the idea of seeking refuge in Dayu. They fled to the side of Bukhara City and were then organized.

Unfortunately, this is also what the Dayu Western Army expects to see. They are not afraid of the Bukhara people gathering. The larger the army gathers, the less chance they have of winning.

Because whether it is in terms of command and dispatch, equipment supply or the quality of soldiers and generals, the two sides are not comparable at all.

As a result, the two sides engaged in a brutal tug-of-war. More than 400,000 people in the Samarkand River Basin were forced to leave their land, and more than 100,000 were killed in just two or three months.

At the same time, the foreign aid that Grand Sheikh Ali really wanted arrived.

In February, the Qajar Empire of Persia captured Ashgabat, the capital of later Turkmenistan, and destroyed the lingering Asaf Dynasty, officially becoming the Persian dynasty that once again set its sights on the edge of Transoxiana.

In March, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, the famous eunuch Khan of the Qajar dynasty, held a coronation ceremony in Ashgabat and officially crowned himself the King of Iran, also known as Shah Shah, which means King of Kings.

Agha Muhammad, who was castrated at a young age and then established such a great dynasty, lost one of the greatest pleasures in life, so he devoted all his energy and energy to expanding territory and seeking wealth.

After receiving the promise from Grand Sheikh Ali that the entire Bukhara Khanate would surrender and pay a tribute of more than 30 million rupees in silver coins, he decided to come and save the Bukhara Khanate.

Just like what the Abbasid Caliphate did in Talas, defeat the Taohuashi Empire in the east and maintain the status of Muslims in Transoxiana.

As a result, with the participation of more than 150,000 Bukhara people and 50,000 elite soldiers of the Qajar Dynasty, this decisive battle finally became something worth watching.

(End of this chapter)